Cast List
What follows is going to be a MAJOR SERIES OF SPOILERS!!!
If you don't want to know about what happens in the series before you read it yourself, then STOP HERE!!!
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Kagura ver. 04
Yuka comments to herself in volume 2 that her's is not the first version of Kagura company, and it probably won't be the last. What we do know from volume 14 is that the original Kagura Total Security company was formed by Hiroyuki Kagura, and was acting as a regular security firm in the 1960's. At that time, he was approached by a member of the Japanese intelligence service, under the assumed name "Mori", to start chasing after a "mysterious ghost spy". This was the first report of Kuro-Neko, and the company then took on more members of Mori's organization to the point where Kagura himself left and joined forces with Kuro-Neko. This was the incarnation of Kagura versions 01 and 02. Version 04 was headed by Yuka, but from what we now know about the interaction between the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Labor, and Kagura Co., it's quite possible that Kagura 04 was actually staffed and designed by Yuma (in a group photo of Kagura ver. 03 along with Luger Ryuu, Yuma is shown standing in front of someone that looks a lot like Yuka, but has been ID'd as Rika, Yuma's younger sister). Most of the action in the series takes place in and around the fictional Ayagane City. When talking to people unaware of were-cats, the crew state that they work for Ayagane Security.
Yuka Kikushima
Yuka is Kagura's current president, age unknown, but at least 18 years old. (In 1995, she comments about remembering a TV show that had been on in Japan in 1979, and assuming that people can't remember anything before age 5, she may be 20.) Very adventurous. Main weapon is the crossbow. She's the only one that knows the history of the company, or the purpose and operations of the were-cat containment system located in the basement of the building. We also learn in volume 16 that she has a very strong sense of self-preservation.
Yoichi Taba
While it may not seem like it, Yoichi is the main character of the story (since the entire Kagura company group gets about equal face time). Initially, he's a job hunter responding to a "position open" ad in the paper. Afterward, he's Kagura's primary strategic planner and crossbow user. He's also the lust interest for Takami and Yuka, although he doesn't actually find himself attracted to anyone until volume 16, with Narusawa. He has a friend, Shiroi, that he plays arcade games against, and his main hobby is studying how to write resignation letters. Age not given.
Eiko Rando
Eiko is an attractive, elegant woman with a head for money. This results in her being harrassed by men ocassionally. Her family lives near Nara, but we only get to see one cousin (Yuuki, shown above) in volume 3. She's an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, and always carries a pair of brass knuckles with her. She's also skilled at fighting while on a bicycle.
Maki Umezaki
Maki is a firearms expert, ranging from pistols to heavy assault rifles. She's a walking movie trivia collection, being a big fan of Akira Kobayashi and Keiichirou Akagi films. She likes imitating Akagi, and her preferred pistol is a Colt. But she also likes Lugers, having had a crush on a gunman known as "Luger Ryuu". She used to do various jobs for a yakuza family, as shown in volume 2, but now calls herself an "office lady". Her nickname is "the Crimson Shooting Star".
Maki and Ryuu had an ongoing feud as to who was the better marksman, and when Ryuu retired he announced her as the World's #1. Maki frequents a black market arms dealer.
Takami Sakuragi
Takami is Kagura's resident computer genius, and even she doesn't understand the protect system very well. She's also an avid rollerblader, and a master at the butterfly knife. Often she attaches a grenade to the knife. No explanation for how she carries around so many knives and grenades. She comments at one point that she gets her grenades from Maki.
Yu Himehagi
Yu is the staff driver. If it has a steering wheel, she'll drive it. Otherwise, she'll just curl up somewhere and sleep. In volume 16, she says that she views herself as the tire of a car - if she's not moving, then her life is being wasted. Her family lives in Nagasaki. She has 5 sisters - You, Kei, Yui, Aya and Moe - and one older brother, Kou.
"We are family...", Yu's brother and sisters.
Vehicles
Kagura has a wide variety of vehicles at its disposal, including a boat, several jet skis, and several vans. Each one is identified by "K-" and then a number.
Hound and Labor Ministry
The Hounds are a paramilitary force that is specifically designed to fight were-cats. They use a more sophisticated version of the protect system for capturing were-cats that doesn't need setting up the seals in advance, and stores the target on mini-disks. They work within the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor. There are two real differences between Hound and Kagura - first, Hounds are professionals and Kagura's employees are beginners; second, Hound protects society, and Kagura protects individuals.
Shozou Irie
Irie (fake name) is the head of Division 2, in the Health branch (where "Health" can also mean "Protection"). He is most often seen in the background, reporting mission status to someone initially unnamed. Later, he specializes in "black ops", and we learn that his ultimate superior is Yuma Kikushima.
Yuma Kikushima
Yuma is one of two known daughters of Hiroyuki Kagura and Chieko Kikushima, born right after Mori joined the company. She is merciless, focused, and the head of Hounds' black ops group. While she's identified as Yuka's sister, we don't know if they are full- or half-sisters. In volume 9, we see that she has a nice little house out in the woods. Inside is an extensive library. While waiting for an operation to commence she likes to read novels (including F. Paul Wilson's "Sibs" and Dan Simmons' "Summer of Night").
Captain Hirokuni Yashima
Yashima first shows up in volume 2 as the primary leader of the Hounds ground forces. He's a skilled tactician that Kuro-Neko has dealt with before, and knows which end of a TOW to aim at the enemy, as well as how to fly a helicopter. Otherwise, there's not much information on him.
Squad Leader Kaoru Yoda
Team leader of the ground forces working under Yashima. Isn't given a name until volume 5. No personal information available on him, but he almost always appears when leading the Hounds against a were-cat initiative.
Ayumi Narusawa
Narusawa is one of the few (if not the only) female members of the Hounds ground forces working under Yashima. Initially she is shown to be fairly awkward and self-conscious, but later she proves herself as a master-class sniper. She and Taba become lovers in volume 16.
Kotoi
Agent Kotoi is one of the many drones working in Division 2 that don't show emotions and are focused simply on doing their jobs. But, she's one of the few actually identified by name. She first shows up in volume 10 as Irie's bodyguard when his supervisor tries to have him assassinated. At the end of the operation, Irie leaves her behind, lying on the ground from multiple broken ribs after being fired on by high-caliber weapons (she was wearing body armor, so she wasn't killed outright). There's no love lost between them in later chapters.
Tsuchida
One of the managers of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor who is constantly upset by Irie's head-strong behavior. In volume 10, Tsuchida orders Nimura to eliminate Irie, knowing that the woman behind Irie will get involved. Gives up when Irie blows up Shin-Nihon Avionics, stiffing him with the multi-billion dollar loss, and then threatening to blow up Zinguzi.
Kazuhiko Nimura
Nimura is a member of the Hounds ground forces, tasked by Tsuchida to assassinate Irie in volume 10. Nimura loses his entire team in the slaughter, and decided to back off when Irie threatened to destroy Zinguzi. He may have been involved in the fight against the were-cats in the Zinguzi plant in volumes 11 and 12.
Shimazaki
I'm particularly weak on the details for Shimazaki. She first appears in Atomic Attack as the leader of the Labor Ministry's Group 6 Investigative Department, tasked with coordinating the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in suppressing a were-cat take-over of a nuclear power plant. She later reappears in volume 13 on the battleship that Yuma visits off the Japanese coast as Eiko, Maki and Yu attempt to break through a picket line to get to Chieko Kikushima's island.
Phantom Cats
The exact origins and nature of the were-cats (also called "phantom cats", and "bake-no-neko" or "ghost cats") are unclear. They are said to live in a mirror world to humans, able to exist in concrete and data streams. They learn the ability to take over control of electronic systems, and to use said systems (such as a tank or a ballistic missile) to transport themselves. In volume 6, they figure out how to teleport through cell phones. In volume 10, we're told that Shin-Nihon Avionics and Zinguzi Heavy Industries have been working on electronic weapons to use against them, including DAX-1 (a suppression field generator) and the IrDA Tac guns (infra-red guns that inject a software virus into the were-cat. Unfortunately, once hit with a specific virus, the target becomes immune to it next time. Also in volume 10, we see Maya, when near death, commanded by Kuro-Neko to stand on her own two feet, changing from a kitten to a human for the first time.
Were-cats don't have names, but occassionally they'll take on nicknames for convenience (usually given to them by a favored human). In volume 14, many of the younger female were-cats are identified simply by number. There are too many were-cats in the series to list them all, so I'll just include the main ones here.
Kuro-Neko
Kero-Neko is one of the oldest of the were-cats, and the Japanese intelligence services started hearing reports of him (as a "ghost-spy") some time in the 1960's. He says that his earliest memories are of waking up in a cardboard box in the rain. His activities, and the services' inability to track him led to the conversion of the original Kagura company into a were-cat hunting force. He's rarely seen in the middle of combat, usually being more off to the side developing strategy. He's suspected at one point of betraying his own operatives in a mission to hijack a military vehicle, which results in the development of an anti-Kuro-Neko were-cat faction. No one's really sure what his goals are, outside of causing various disturbances. One of his closest aides is Maya.
Maya
Maya was abandoned in front of a temple by Taba in 1984, when she was just a kitten, at the urging of his mother. Initially identified as just #107, she is later called "Maya" by Taba in the year 1995. Like most young female were-cats, she is dressed like a school girl. Chronologically, she is 16 years old, but we don't know what that is in were-cat years. She can fight when needed, but isn't overly strong. She can take over some electronics and easily switches between human and cat forms (although she's most comfortable as a cat). She does remember meeting Taba, though it takes a while for him to recall her. She feels very protective towards him in a cat-like way, and likes receiving praise for doing a good job. She also works as a spy for Kuro-Neko, reporting on Kagura for him.
Socks
A female were-cat that tended to many of the kittens that get abandoned at the temples. In volume 2, she is the one that attempts to hijack PROWLER and tries to get it back to Kuro-Neko. Not overly vicious to humans, but then again she never had much of a chance to fight. Gets captured at the end of vol. 2, but reappears in volume 4 minus her memories, and attempts to kill Maya, but is executed by Taki instead.
Fisherman Cap
One of the earliest were-cats to appear that worked for Kuro-Neko. He was never given a name, but he seemed to be fairly high-ranking in the organization, and he managed various odd jobs in volumes 1 and 2. However, he went against KN's orders and attempted to kill Taba, resulting in KN's executing him were-cat style (slicing cut to the neck) in volume 2.
Vashuka
Vashuka is Kuro-Neko's right-hand woman when it comes to handling troubles that he's too busy to tackle (such as when he's watching Trigun). She seems to have a strong connection to Russia, and was given her name by Hiroyuki Kagura himself. While it looks like she was killed in the flashback to the 1970's in volume 14, she's still alive and active during the regular storyline.
Taki
Taki first appears in Volume 3 as one of the hijackers of the plane that Yu is on, but the actual target was Yuma. He's usually shown wearing sunglasses. He's something of a leader, but kind of bumps heads with Kuro-Neko when it looks like he's been considered expendable. He's given a name in volume 4, and in volume 14 it's explained that it was the name of Raymond Chandler's cat. He saves Maya from Socks (after she reappears with her memories wiped) in vol. 4 because Maya was the one holding him when he was first abandoned at the temple as shown in volume 2. He's one of the leaders of the anti-Kuro-Neko faction, but betrays them as well when one of the faction tries to kill Taba in volume 10 (Taka feels an attraction to Taba through Maya's connection to him).
Rudo
Rudo first appears in volume 5, when called back from the Japanese mountains to answer to Vashuka about some operations that had been going on in Nakhodka, Russia. He resurfaces during the battle for the Russian warhead in volumes 6-7.
Marvin
Marvin first appears in File.XX - Breakthrough, as an old man in a trenchcoat, protecting a young male were-cat from a gang of rogue were-cats. His trademark is having a pair of shotguns in the sleeves of his coat, with strings running from the triggers to rings on his fingers. In vol. 7, he represents the majority of were-cats who have lost faith in Kuro-Neko's methods. He shoots his way past KN's guards and attempts to blow him up with a pack of explosives. The mission fails, but it marks the escalation of in-fighting between the KN and anti-KN factions that starts coming to a head in vol. 12.
S
One of the leaders of the anti-KN group, most easily identified by his black suit and thin moustache. He initially appears as just one of the characters hunting Kuro-Neko's followers, and later spends most of his time in the HQ room running operations.
Assassin
I don't think he's actually given a name. He's disliked by most of the others in the anti-KN group primarily because he really enjoys torturing and killing his victims. He states outright that he doesn't fear Kuro-Neko, and has joined the anti-KN group because he thinks KN is moving too slowly. He hates KN's followers because they don't think for themselves. He's defeated by Maya, and killed by one of the anti-KN leaders in volume 12.
Albert
Albert shows up in volume 11 as a mega-large were-cat cannibal during the war against the Hounds and Kagura Company at Zinguzi Heavy Industry. He transmits through a phone in the company, which blows up because of the power inherent in his data stream, and doesn't recognize one of his colleagues, instead identifying him as an enemy and attacking anything that moves. He's defeated (to an extent) by Maya in volume 12, but his crushed body disappears and is probably taken by Irie.
#49
#49 is a young female were-cat that first surfaces in volume 12 when Eiko tries to read the 5" floppy disk that Ryuu had locked up in a safety deposit box. In volume 13 we learn that she was friends with the Kagura Company ver. 03 group, and that Ryuu had deleted her onto the floppy disk to save her from Rika. She's probably the one the newspaper articles claimed was the hostage kidnapped by Kagura ver. 03 when they were destroyed by Yuma. #49 looks a lot like Maya, and was eliminated on the island in volume 14 along with Chieko Kikushima.
Random Vehicles and Weapons
PROWLER
PROWLER is a remotely-controlled assault and recon vehicle that belonged to Shin-Nihon Avionics. It was developed by the U.S. to be protected against were-cat attacks, and is instead hijacked from Shin-Nihon by Socks. It's eventually incapacitated by falling off of a parking lot roof in volume 2.
DAX-1
DAX-1 (and the airplane-portable version DAX-1a) is a were-cat suppression field generator developed by Shin-Nihon Avionics and used by Hound to inhibit the were-cat's abilities of recovering from bullet wounds or moving around freely. It does work, but has massive power supply requirements.
Barracuda
A VTOL aircraft developed by Zinguzi Heavy Industries for Hound to transport DAX-1a. Has a minigun mounted on an extendable, positionable arm. The first Barracuda eventually suffers a complete failure and crash-lands. A replacement machine is built afterwards.
IrDA TAC Weapons
This is a range of electronic counter-measure weapons developed by Zinguzi Heavy Industries for Hound specifically to combat the were-cats. They include infra-red guns that disrupt the electro-magnetic structure of the were-cats, as well as a rifle that injects a software virus into the target to incapacitate it. There's also the portable protect system guns. Because the were-cats become immune to a virus after being infected by it, the rifles include optical disks containing a variety of viruses to choose from.
M4
M4 is a semi-trailer that has protect seals inside, plus a small generator. The odds are good that Irie had intended to use it to (re-)capture the were-cat cannibal Arnold, but instead it's software crashes when Irie and Kotoi try to activate it in volume 12. On the other hand, Arnold's body does disappear and Yashima suspects that Irie had something to do with that. Irie mentions that they've used M1-M3 previously.
Chief
While obviously not a weapon or vehicle, "Chief" is the lead engineer for Zinguzi, and developer of many of the weapons here. He's never given a name. What we do know is that he often sleeps in the lab, drinks coffee by the pot, runs his people mercilessly, and can single-handedly fend off waves of were-cats by himself. That and he's not a people person.
Kagura ver. 01
As mentioned above, there have been 4 known iterations of Kagura Company. It was first formed by Hiroyuki Kagura in the 1960's as a security firm, and staffed by a number of men. Chieko worked as the secretary. Later, Hiroyuki and Chieko had two daughters - Yuma and Rika. One day, Mori shows up and hires Kagura to take on a job that results in one employee getting killed. After that, Mori disappears and returns as "Komori" to become an employee of the company. Soon after, the entire company is staffed by Komori's men and the original workers have disappeared for one reason or another. Mori's goal for the company is to destroy Kuro-Neko's were-cats at any cost necessary. Hiroyuki joins forces with Kuro-Neko and they set up a base on an island near the Japan mainland. Komori ordered an airstrike on the island, which killed Hiroyuki in 1976. There's then a gap before the start up of the Kagura that Ryuu worked in. At the moment, it's unclear whether Kagura ver. 02 was actually the one on the island led by Hiroyuki, or if there was another group between Mori's and Ryuu's.
Hiroyuki Kagura
Little is known about Hiroyuki prior to his starting Kagura Security company. Shortly after being contacted by Mori, Kagura ran up against Kuro-Neko, who asked him to join forces to help protect the were-cats. Kagura tells his daughter that what Mori wants to do is to protect society, which is not the same as his goal of protecting his family.
Mori
A member of Japan's intelligence community working closely with the CIA. He hires Kagura Company to help fight the emerging spy threat formed by Kuro-Neko, and then returns as a newly-hired employee under the name "Komori". Eventually, Komori is running Kagura Company, and Hiroyuki starts up the "real Kagura" on the island. After Hiroyuki dies, Mori apparently decides to raise Yuma and Rika himself. This may be the starting point for Hound. He also visits Chieko on the island, promising to leave her alone with the remaining female were-cats.
Chieko Kikushima
Chieko worked as a secretary for Kagura Company, although one of the employees complained that her careless behavior was costing them customers. She had 2 daughters with Hiroyuki that we know of - Yuma and Rika. After Hiroyuki is killed, Chieko stays on the island that her husband was living on, and takes care of the remaining young female were-cats. When Kagura ver. 04 finds her, she refers to herself as #0, or the founder of Kagura company. She is eventually killed by Yuma at the end of volume 14. There are several photos of her family in the main housing on the island, but it's unclear as to how many children she'd had, or who the father(s) was/were. Some of the confusion comes in with Yuka's resemblance to Rika. The timing of Yuka's birth and Hiroyuki's death is unclear.
Kagura ver. 03
In volume 14, Yuka explains that Ryuu was one of the members of the Kagura group before her version. Assuming that Yuka's group is ver. 04, then Ryuu's was ver. 03. Which leaves the question of "who was in ver. 02?" kind of unanswered. According to Yuka, Yuma had envisioned Kagura's job as one of "balance", but then switched it to "hunting". Ver. 03 was governed by a "rule by the strongest" pattern, with the leaders taking over through attrition. While the girl in the photo looks like Yuka, she's called "Rika" by both Ryuu and Yuka in the flashbacks. Also in the group photo is Yuma Kikushima.
From right to left - Yuma, Rika, Ryuu, unnamed, unnamed).
Ryuu
Also known as "Luger Ryuu", he was one of ver. 03's leaders, as well as Maki Umezaki's lover when she was younger. In volume 3 he was last seen absconding with briefcases of yakuza diamonds and triad cash, in the arms of a woman that called him "Ryouji". He resurfaces in volume 8 during a battle involving the yakuza and the triad in the disguise of a dirty cop named "Mizushima". But he breaks his promise to never contact Maki, and Yuma launches missiles to blow up the plane he's on at the end of volume 9.
Rika Kikushima
Yuma's younger sister, and daughter of Hiroyuki Kagura (shown above at about age 4 or 5). She also uses a crossbow, and happily works with Irie in order to attack the were-cats and Ryuu at the time of ver. 03's final wrap-up. She looks exactly like Yuka, but according to Yuka, was betrayed by Irie, returned to the were-cat island, and killed. Her grave marker is found on the island in volume 13, but my contention is that Rika changed her name when Yuma set up Kagura ver. 04.
CIA
The U.S. has a vested interest in what happens in Japan, and in Hound and Kagura specifically because initially Japan's secret service forces were getting their information from the CIA before going independent. Two members of the CIA that show up in the story are minor reoccuring characters.
Mihara Hiiragi
Private First Class, working for Descartes for the CIA. She initially shows up in volume 6 as a family restaurant waitress interested in working for Kagura Company. Her assignment was to infiltrate the company and come back with a protect seal for analysis (which she fails to do). Is seen in volume 13 when Yuka gets abducted by someone connected to the CIA, and then held in captivity and fed drugs by Mihara. Mihara's the one that escorts Yuka to meet Descartes at the end.
Descartes
Director of the CIA's black ops division. First shows up in the "File.X - Rescue the Kitten" OAVs, then gets worked into the manga in between volumes 6 and 7 as the one directing the U.S. marines operating in Japan to retrieve the Russian warhead stolen by the were-cats. He has a wicked scar across his throat, implied to have been inflicted by Kuro-Neko at the end of File.X, and needs a voice amplifier to talk.
Underworld
Luger Ryuu and Crimson Shooting Star Maki had deep roots in the yakuza and occassionally get pulled back into gang wars that involve major underworld figures. These are the primary ones. The running gag in volumes 8 and 9 is that all of the characters have nicknames that usually start with the name of the weapon, and then their name. Such as "Luger Ryuu" and "Tokarev Masa". Yu tries her hand at this too, coming up with "Sleeping Tobacco Yu".
Chan
Chan is a Chinese gangster, running the Rinboshi gang. When he shows up in the story it's to exchange diamonds for money with a rival group. He's always been on the opposite side from Maki. In volume 8, he has a cross-shaped scar over his left eye, and a grudge against "Black Shooting Star".
Toyomura
The first gang leader that Maki works for in volume 3, exchanging money for diamonds. Last seen in the same volume in a big gang war.
Serizawa
The second leader that Maki works for, running the Highlight gang. Plans to do a money for diamonds exchange, and lets Yu and Maki run around in town as various petty thugs chase after them, but is killed soon after, probably by his brother. Only shows up in volume 8.
Ootsu
Serizawa's older brother, who takes over the Highlight gang in volume 8, and is last seen being handed over to Maki's gun dealer in volume 9 by Yu as payment for the Subaru that she destroyed. Shown here tied up.
Blue Shooting Star
Youko Fukami is the second of the three "Shooting Stars", the "blue" one. She's very elegant and drives a tricked out Bugatti that has voice activated weapons and thermal sensors. She's the only one that seriously wants to prove that she's the best gunslinger in Japan, and wants a duel against "Crimson Shooting Star" to prove it. She first appears in the File.XX - Breakthrough OAVs, and then again in volumes 8 and 9 of the manga. Unfortunately, the duel in volume 9 ends in a tie and she disappears to take on new jobs for the underworld.
Black Shooting Star
Black is never really a force in the manga. Chan claims that he received the scar over his eye from Black 3 years ago and he hires Blue to get revenge. But, when Black does finally show up in the middle of a diamonds-for-money deal in vol. 9, Blue shoots him down as an afterthought. There's no good image of him to scan.
Tokarev Masa
Masa is an undercover police investigator out against Serizawa and Chan. He gets his nickname from the two Tokarev pistols he carries with him in his trenchcoat (along with about 15 spare clips). Appears in volume 8 on Serizawa's side. In volume 9 he retires from gunslinging to return to his day job on the Force. Because he constantly ran into Maki and Yu in gyudon (beef bowl) restaurants, Yu calls him "Gyudon Masa".
Mizushima
A dirty cop that shows up in vol. 8 to get Maki involved in Serizawa's diamonds for money exchange and apparently disappears after Ootsu doublecrosses him. Resurfaces in vol. 9 and and is unmasked as Luger Ryuu.
Silver Nambu
A set of identical triplets who wear a matching Spanish-influenced outfit and speak in fake Harlem street slang. While they initially appear in the company of Ootsu, they're actually working for Luger Ryuu as his accomplices and possibly as lovers (the latter is never confirmed). Killed in action when Yuma blows up their plane at the end of vol. 9. The "Nambu" is a Japanese make of pistol.
Gunsmith
I don't think the gunsmith is ever given a name. He shows up occasionally as Maki's arsenal supplier. He can deliver just about anything, from grenades to anti-tank guns, but his primary trade seems to be in pistols. He operates from a rundown building right out on the street in Ayagane City. Shown here holding the pistol.
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