Kizuna: Bonds of Love - Main Characters

Main Characters

Kei Enjouji

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (OVAs 1 and 2) (Japanese), Kazuya Ichijō (OVA 3 and Drama CD) (Japanese), Dan Green (English)

The illegitimate son of a yakuza boss from Osaka and of a former geisha who did not want her son to be involved with the yakuza, Enjouji grows up in Tokyo knowing nothing about his father. He falls in love with Ranmaru in middle school. Their relationship evolves rapidly after Enjouji's mother dies. Ranmaru vows to take care of Enjouji and almost ends up crippled after saving him from an attempted hit. The tables now turned, Enjouji takes care of Ranmaru all throughout his recovery. Enjouji is not at all shy about his feelings for Ranmaru and even gives him a wedding ring to marry him. He does his best to remain uninvolved with the yakuza. For a long time, he cannot stand his younger half-brother, Kai, seeing him not only as a spoiled brat, but as an extension of the yakuza life. Nevertheless, he comes to care about his little brother in his own way.

Ranmaru Samejima

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese), Jamie McGonnigal (English)

Although he is a prodigy at kendo, Ranmaru does not have any friends until he meets Enjouji in middle school. He is initially taken aback by Enjouji's's straight-forwardness, but also impressed with his rusty kendo skills. The two end up confessing their feelings for one another in high school and take their relationship to the physical level. When Enjouji feels distressed over his mother's death, Ranmaru vows to always protect him. He keeps his promise by pushing Enjouji out of the way of a yakuza hit man. The assault leaves Ranmaru paralyzed on his right side and believing he can never do kendo again. After undergoing extensive physical therapy with Enjouji at his side, however, the outlook is promising. Ranmaru is very shy about his feelings, but there is no denying he loves Enjouji. Like him, Ranmaru wants no part of the yakuza life that nearly killed him. Although he takes kindly to Kai, he tries to draw the line when it comes to the younger man's affections. He wants Enjouji and Kai to put their animosity aside and have a brotherly relationship.

Kai Sagano

Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English)

The son of yakuza boss Takeshi Sagano from Osaka and Enjouji's younger half-brother. Despite being raised among the yakuza, he has no active role in his father's business. Masanori has been assigned as his father's successor when he retires, but Kai does not mind. His dealings with his father are extremely limited and they often fight with each other because, on the day of his mother's funeral, his father told him about Enjouji and his mother. Kai sees this other family as a betrayal and translates this into hatred against Enjouji. He is very talented at kendo and it is through it that he meets Ranmaru. He becomes fixated on him and his father eventually temporarily disowns him because of it. After resigning himself to an unrequited love, Kai focuses on kendo again and defeats Ranmaru in a match. Kai's relationship with Masanori is complex. Kai has always loved the much older man, but Masanori is afraid of his feelings for Kai. As such, Kai turns his attentions to Ranmaru. Once Kai is ready to focus on Masanori again, he has to practically beat the older man's head in to get his point across. Their relationship is sent into even bigger turmoil when Kai is raped by one of Masanori's scorned lovers, leaving him unable to handle intimacy without experiencing trauma. Kai feels guilty that he cannot overcome it, but Masanori understands and is willing to take things slow.

Masanori Araki

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka

A man of importance among the yakuza, selected by Takeshi Sagano himself to take over once he retires. The Araki family seems to be situated inside the yakuza lifestyle: Masanori's older brother Hitoshi is a member of the Kazama syndicate in the related series Hana to Ryū. He initially holds a low rank in the yakuza as Kai's caretaker. He falls in love with Kai's mother during that time and feels ashamed of his feelings. He has always been very protective of Kai but somewhat afraid of the affection Kai holds for him. When Kai holds on to those feelings in his adolescence, he becomes unnerved and pushes him away. Kai ends up falling in love with Ranmaru, while Masanori beds a few people to forget whatever feelings he might have held for Kai and his mother. When one of these bedfellows kidnaps and rapes Kai, however, Masanori wastes no time in killing him in revenge. Masanori later feels guilty because the attack was his fault, while Kai feels guilty because he feels that the scorned lover genuinely loved Masanori. The relationship between them is nearly permanently damaged, until Kai manages to put his feelings for Ranmaru aside and aggressively pursues the reluctant Masanori. Despite his disapproval of Enjouji's and Ranmaru's affair, he shows them the highest amount of respect out of loyalty to Sagano. He tries but fails to keep his growing relationship with Kai a secret, taking things slow in light of the trauma Kai suffered.

Roy Karstein-Tashiro

On the surface, he seems an easy-going Eurasian who makes light of any situation, but in fact he is a well-trained hit man trusted by the Sagano syndicate. Before becoming a hit man, he used to work at a church/orphanage. When one of the girls is gang-raped and the caretaker refuses to allow police intervention, Roy swears revenge. He meets J.B., a trained hit man visiting the church, and convinces him to teach him how to use a gun. During this time, he starts to feel attracted to J.B.. J.B. does not appear interested at first, but ends up kissing him. As Roy prepares to go kill the ones that raped his friend, J.B. tells him that he was not trained to kill, but to protect. Hearing this, Roy goes into a rage. He goes looking for the rapists and almost gets killed when he hesitates to kill them, if not for J.B.'s intervention. They spend the night together. J.B. then disappears, leaving Roy a message advising him to find another way of life. Roy decides to become a hit man anyway, hoping to find J.B. again. His job takes him to Japan, where he is known only as Tashiro. The Sagano syndicate hires him to kill the man who tried to mow down Enjouji with a car. Tashiro does the deed, but this further incites the wrath of the enemy organization the man was working for. Years later, the Sagano syndicate hires him to guard Kai from that same organization. It is during this job that Tashiro runs into J.B. again, who now works for the opposing organization. In the end, J.B. refuses to follow an order and the two are reunited. Recognizing that Tashiro wilfully chose the life of a hit man and that he had been looking for him all that time, the two hook up as a double team and do jobs together, while rekindling their old flame.

J.B.

One of the best hit men in the world. He is very calculating in his jobs and makes sure to follow through with them, but he is not a bloodthirsty killer. He is constantly ashamed of his profession and has a strict code to never harm any children. He is originally hired to kill Enjouji, but refuses because of his young age. He once visits a church/orphanage after carrying out a job, where he meets an overeager Tashiro. He becomes quite fond of him. When one of the girls at the orphanage is gang-raped, Tashiro is rearing to kill the men responsible. J.B. tries to diffuse that notion, but eventually relents and teaches him how to kill. As Tashiro rushes in to kill the rapists, J.B.'s interference is the only thing that saves him. Not wanting Tashiro to get involved in such a dark way of life, he leaves the younger man after taking him to bed. He continues his life as a hit man until he gets a job in Japan to kill Sagano, Masanori and Tashiro. Although he accepts the job, he is not wild about killing Tashiro and seeks the younger man out several times to try to get him to leave Japan. Tashiro will not be deterred, however, and each attempt to carry out their jobs, even being on opposing sides. In the end, J.B. cannot follow through with the job, since Kai, whom he considers a child, throws himself in front of Masanori as J.B. is set to shoot him. In the aftermath, J.B. and Tashiro are reunited as lovers and they start working jobs as a team.