Karas (anime) - Characters

Characters

, it's about time for Japan to have its own local hero.

The production team intended Karas to be more than a mere henshin hero. Unlike the vengeful protagonist in Mazinger Z, the hero of Karas embodies the spirit of the city, and acts for the city's interest instead of his own. Screenwriter Shin Yoshida (吉田 伸, Yoshida Shin?) sets up a dualism of this idea in the form of two Karas characters; one who believes events are leading to a revolution, and the other viewing them as simply the passing of an era. Manga Entertainment also promoted the hero in Karas as "a cyberpunk version of the Crow".

Karas is the title for the city's appointed agents. Capable of transforming into automobiles and aircraft, they are suits of armor animated by human souls infused into them through Yurine's chanting of a Shinto prayer. Director Sato told his animators to enhance the Karas' dark nature by drawing their faces in shadows. Fight scenes involving Karas take place mostly in dark settings shrouded with steam or lit with spotlights. Animators touched up film frames by hand, creating an effect different from cel-shaded animation. To make the Karas more menacing, they highlighted the eyes as if light bulbs were shining through them, a technique inspired by the suitmation practice of using light bulbs for the eyes of costumes. Producer Takaya Ibira (伊平 崇耶, Ibira Takaya?) explained the presence of ravens in Tokyo and the Tower of London, inspired him and Sato to model the agents of the city after them. He stated ravens are believed to be omens of good and bad in superstitions, and they always seem to be watching over the cities. This resonated with his view of the raven in the story Noah's Ark, which cursed Noah as it scouted for land. The presence of ravens all over Tokyo led Ibira to notice the same of cats and conceive the Yurines as catgirls.

Otoha (乙羽, Otoha?) is the protagonist of Karas. Yoshida wrote out Otoha as a character dark in history and actions, breaking the traditional mold of a Japanese hero. He based his idea on his observation of Shinjuku, questioning what sort of a hero a ward exuding an aura of terror and happiness would produce. He portrayed Otoha as the product of incest between his mother and his brother who is the local yakuza boss. Otoha's back-story states him as suffering from congenital insensitivity to pain which lends the character a merciless reputation as his brother's enforcer. The initial concept of Otoha was much darker, casting him as a serial killer who hunts down mikuras to retrieve his lover's body parts. Japanese actor Sohkoh Wada (和田 聰宏, Wada Sōkō?) marked his voice acting debut as Otoha. His English counterpart is voice actor Steve Staley.

Eko Hoshunin (鳳春院 廻向, Hōshun'in Ekō?) is the antagonist to Otoha. His back-story states he was the Karas of Tokyo since the Edo period. In events before the start of the show, Eko turned his back on his duties, and started a plan to revitalize the city and its yōkai. He attracted several yōkai to be his cybernetic followers and intended to subjugate the humans. An Oedipus complex forms the basis for his motive. He views Tokyo as a father figure, and his Yurine as a mother figure; and aims to supplant the city's role in this relationship. Eko was a nameless character in the initial draft and known as "Another Karas" with a different appearance, although his prosthetic left leg is retained for the final version. Voice actors Takahiro Sakurai and Matthew Lillard provided Eko's Japanese and English voices respectively.

The Mikura (御座?) are yōkai who became Eko's minions and replaced their bodies with machinery. Its members consist of Suiko (水虎?), Wanyūdō, Tsuchigumo, Kamaitachi, and Ushi-oni. Ibira and Sato chose them to be villains, linking the act of the Karas as agents of the city killing these folklore creatures to traditional Japanese exorcism. The chimera-like Nue, however, is a tragic anti-hero who learned of Eko's plans and turned against him. Sato thought up the cybernetic angle to surprise the Japanese who perceive immaterial yōkai to lack physical threat. Creature designer Kenji Andō (安藤 賢司, Andō Kenji?) adapted the yōkai designs from artist Toriyama Sekien's illustrated folklore books, Gazu Hyakki Yakō. The few yōkai with prominent roles in the show underwent greater changes. Andō drew Amefurikozō (雨降り小僧?), a rain yōkai, as an anthropomorphic snail boy wearing a raincoat, and is amused viewers assume him to be a girl due to women voicing the character. Andō pictured mikuras as direct cybernetic versions of Toriyama's portrayals, and made Suiko and Nue look like robotic versions of their illustrated forms. Sato, however, was dissatisfied with two of Andō's designs, and redesigned them based on the concept behind the yōkai instead of on their appearance. Wanyūdō (the ghostly head in a flaming wheel) became a heavily armed skull-on-wheels, Tsuchigumo (the spider demon) became a mechanical spider, Suiko the Kappa became a mechanical kappa, Kamaitachi (the sickle weasel) became a humanoid with spinning razors, and Ushi-oni (the bull-headed spider) became a big-mouth, bug-eye, hungry-for-humans predator.