Main Charaacter
Demon Eyes Kyo
Demon Eyes Kyo (鬼眼の狂 Onime-no-Kyō) is a legendary man, known for his red, demon-like eyes, and called the "Thousand Slayer" for killing over one thousand samurai during the Battle of Sekigahara before being defeated by a young man named Mibu Kyoshiro. After being defeated, his mind fused with Mibu, and his body was hidden away somewhere in the forest of Aokigahara. He is very sadistic and enjoys slaughtering anyone. Over time, his bloodlust slowly decreases, though he still kills without mercy. It continues to peak at times, though training with Muramasa helps fully calm him.
Kyo's weapon is Tenro, one of the "Four Great Demon Blades." It was forged by Muramasa, and it is nearly unbreakable. His sword style is The Sword of a Devilish Wind (無明神風流殺人剣 Mumyou Jinpuu Ryuu Satsujin Ken), which was taught to him by Muramasa. It teaches standard fencing skills and defense, but they are far more powerful than any of the skills of other sword styles. It is the most powerful sword school in the Mibu Clan. It utilizes attacks that can cut air and create illusions. He later learns a higher form of the style that utilizes the Four Symbols (Genbu, Seiryuu, Byakko, Suzaku and even Kouryuu), manifesting various different powers based upon the creatures.
Kyo is the last remaining True Mibu and has the True Red eyes, which allows him to turn into a Battle God or Demon God. After he turns into the Battle God and suppresses his battle lust, he is granted the mark, and thus the title of the Aka no Ou. Kyo was born in the Mibu village and was friends with the former Aka no Ou. Once the Aka no Ou turned evil, Muramasa took Kyo from the village so that he may grow up to be the 'hope' of the Mibu clan. Kyo travelled the world and formed the Shiseiten in order to become strong enough to return to the Mibu village and defeat the former Aka no Ou. By the end of the series, he is acknowledged as the strongest fighter in the series. In the bonus chapter of the manga Yuya and Kyo live together as lovers.
Mibu Kyoshiro
Mibu Kyoshiro (壬生京四郎 Mibu Kyōshirō) ; (English anime: Kyoshiro Mibu; Seiyu: Katsuyuki Konishi, English dub actor: Dan Green (credited as "Dan Greene")) is a fictional character in the manga Samurai Deeper Kyo by Akimine Kamijyo. His personality is almost a direct opposite of the series' main character, Demon Eyes Kyo. Mibu Kyoshiro has been ranked top 10 in every Samurai Deeper Kyo popularity contest. His personality and character can also be compared to Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin, since they both dislike violence, but will fight in order to protect their friends and are far more dangerous than they appear.
Awkward and funny at the beginning of the adventure, Mibu Kyoshiro is, in fact, a frightening combatant called "the Demon-God" who is the only one to have beaten Kyo. In the manga, Kyoshiro has the ability to transfer human souls. He uses this to transfer Kyo's soul into his own body while hiding Kyo's body. He killed many people in the past, including the brother of Shiina Yuya, Shiina Nozomu. He is actually a high ranked Mibu and is gifted in the handling of a sword and is thought to be the best swordsman of the clan to date. He knows the techniques of the Mumyou Jinpu Ryuu and is also the former owner of the Shibien. As far as areas of comparison go, his skill and potential rank him equal to Kyo and just below the former Crimson King. His only wish is to protect Sakuya, whom he is in love with, and implied in the anime, along with Kyo before the battle of Sekigahara. It is seen in the manga that he had always been in love with Sakuya and Kyo is a dear, close friend who cares for them both. In both the anime and manga, he cares greatly for Yuya and would do anything to protect her, saying he will not let Kyo have her. Also, it is noted by Sasuke how Kyoshiro looks at Yuya tenderly as seen in Chapter 234 (Volume 29).
Mibu Kyoshiro is one of the Red Cross Knights, created from the flesh and blood of the former Aka no Ou. He was a killing machine, but he had a very friendly heart, in the anime. In the manga, he only became friendly with Sakuya's influence. He was also a master of Mumyo Jinpu Ryuu Satsujin Ken. He once wielded the Shibien, one of Muramasa's Devil Swords, and killed many people with it until the sword turned black in color because it absorbed too much blood.
Shiina Yuya
Shiina Yuya (椎名 ゆや); (English anime: Yuya Shiina, Seiyu: Yui Horie); Dub actor: Veronica Taylor is a bounty hunter interested in the largest bounty she can find, that of 1,000,000 ryo that is on the head of Demon Eyes Kyo. She decides to follow Kyoshiro, bonding with him until he is "put to sleep" by the reappearance of Kyo. When Kyo wakes up completely, she follows him. In spite of his attitude, she comes to trust and believe in Kyo. In the forest of Aokigahara, she learns that Kyoshiro killed her older brother and decides to wait until he returns to the surface in order to get an explanation from him. Yuya is thus interested in Kyo and Kyoshiro. Somewhere deep in her heart, she knows the valuable secret of the Mibu Clan, a secret that her brother Nozomu shared with her when she was very young. The Aka no Ou also comes to believe that she is a seer, but this is neither confirmed nor disproven. In Chapter 229 (Volume 29) of the manga, while telling her brother that she would not forgive him if he killed Kyo, she admitted out loud in front of everybody that she was in love with Kyo.
Despite being very temperamental and even violent if irritated, Yuya has a gentle and kind personality. Besides Kyo, Benitora and Akira have a crush on her. Many other characters come to enjoy her company and regard her as an important friend whom they will protect. At the very end of the manga, Yuya is searching for Kyo and in the bonus chapter Kyo and Yuya live together.
At the end of the anime, Yuya is shown to make a decision about choosing Kyo or Kyoshiro, but it is not fully explained who she chooses.
Izumo no Okuni
Izumo no Okuni (出雲の阿国 Izumo no Okuni) is the best informer in Japan. She adores Kyo obsessively, to the point that to be hated by him would make her happy. That said, she joined the Jūnishinshō as Indara II, but she does not hesitate to sacrifice herself for Kyo. She then joins Kyo's team and assists Kyo in finding his real body. She knows many things about Kyo, Kyoshiro, and Sakuya, but she does not speak about it. She merely hints at it. She finds Akira in Kyoto and offers him her own life in exchange for Kyo's real body.
Benitora
The true identity of Benitora (紅虎 Benitora (lit. Red Tiger)); (Seiyu: Toshihiko Seki) is Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川秀忠). His father,Tokugawa Ieyasu, ordered him to spy on Kyo, but Benitora does this for fun and serves as the comic relief of the group. His weapon is the Hokuraku Shimon (Demon Spear) created by Muramasa. He falls in love with Yuya the first time he meets her and tends to be over-protective of her. In order to hide his true identity as heir to the Shogunate from her, he speaks with a noticeable Kansai accent (or in the English dub of the anime, a southern accent) when near her.
He first meets Kyoshiro in volume 2, mistaking him for Kyo. After sparring with Kyoshiro, he decides to join the group. When Kyo awakens in volume 3, he makes Benitora his #2 servant after a short fight.
During the Forest Arc, he fights his former ally, Mekira II. Mekira has the upper hand for most of the fight thanks to a hypnotic technique, but Benitora eventually sees through it and kills Mekira with a special technique of his own, although doing so exacerbates his injuries.
When Nobunaga reappears and overwhelms Kyo, Benitora intervenes, blocking the killing blow and briefly fighting Nobunaga one-on-one. He is completely outmatched, but eventually manages to unhorse Nobunaga with another secret technique, the reverse Hassun, almost killing himself in the process; he is saved from death at Nobunaga's hands by the revitalized Kyo.
Sanada Yukimura
Sanada Yukimura (真田 幸村); (English anime: Yukimura Sanada, Seiyu: Megumi Ogata) is a famous general who lost the battle of Sekigahara and ultimately Japan. He escaped Kudoyama and planned the assassination of Tokugawa Ieyasu, though it was never carried out. Yukimura travels with Kyo in order to defeat the Mibu Clan and Oda Nobunaga. In doing so, this would free Japan from the Mibu Clan's shadow governing and give Yukimura a chance at taking over Japan.
Yukimura is shadowed by a team of elite ninja called the Sanada Jūyūshi: Sarutobi Sasuke, Saizo, and his kagemusha Anayama Kosuke. His sword techniques are unnamed, but he uses the Sekireigan, which was taught to him by Anri. Yukimura can utilize the Sekireigan to access extreme speed, but Anri instructed him to never use it more than five times a day.
When he was young, his childhood girlfriend was killed in a massacre that could have been avoided, but was not for strategic reasons. He seems to have greatly admired the Toyotomi clan's founder,Hideyoshi, when he talked about his past, and the reason to his other given name Toyotomi Nobushige (豊臣信繁).
In volume 26, he fights and defeats Shindara. He also fights Kyo to a draw in volume 27, both of them using their most powerful techniques, however Kyo is not in his true body, nor has he awakened his true red eyes. Yukimura shows big progress throughout the story, but most of it occurs off the page, with Yukimura simply leaving the main party and returning a stronger warrior. He trains with Anri, one of Muramasa's guards, who teaches him the Sekireigan (Eye of the Sekirei). With this he is able to move extremely fast and attack from many angles simultaneously. He later faces both Chinmei and the Former Crimson King himself, though he loses to the King, he is able to defeat Chinmei with the help of Sasuke and the Jyuyushi. Although he is not on Kyo nor Kyoshiro's level at the end, he is clearly as strong as the Four Emperors.
Yukimura is renowned for his casual, cheerful demeanour; he is almost always seen with a smile and often seems very preoccupied with seducing beautiful women and drinking sake. He is thirty-seven years old, and attributes his youthful appearance to good skin care. Despite this, he can be terrifying when he is enraged. He is also notable for his treatment of his ninja followers, whom he cares about and respects deeply as members of his family. As a result, the Jūyūshi are not only loyal to him, but care about him personally.
Yukimura hates Ieyasu more than anything. It is interesting to note that historically, Yukimura had already fought Ieyasu's son, Hidetada (Benitora), at the battle of Ueda Castle. This is briefly mentioned in the anime and possibly the manga. It is a battle which is believed to have ended in Yukimura's loss.
Sarutobi Sasuke
Sarutobi Sasuke (猿飛佐助); (Seiyu: Akira Ishida) is a young ninja who is one of three members of the Sanada Jūyūshi who appears prominently throughout Samurai Deeper Kyo. He is only 12 years old, but even though he is young, he is very great at handling a sword. Originally, he lived in Aokigahara (a forest filled with the failed constructs of the Mibu) with his friend Kotarou (now Makora of the Jūnishinshō). Being of the Forest, he has heightened strength and abilities as well as characteristic golden eyes. Sasuke was involved in most of Yukimura's plots, but was ultimately left out of Yukimura's deception of the Mibu clan as Yukimura needed even Sasuke to believe he'd betrayed his friends in order for the Mibu to believe it as well.
Sasuke originally wielded a Muramasa blade which was physically identical to Kyo's Tenrou (one of the four masterpieces that Muramasa forged), but when that Muramasa was cracked in a duel with Demon Eyes Kyo (a fight to determine who had the real Tenrou) he was given the Shibien - the oldest of Muramasa's Four Masterpieces. The Shibien blade, however, is exceptionally bloodthirsty and its creator, Muramasa, had to have it bound in chains to prevent it from turning on anyone. Strangely enough, it serves Sasuke obediently. Sasuke seems to have control over Lightning techniques. Sasuke possesses a technique called Raikoken that electrifies his sword. Thunder Fire calls a bolt of lightning down to strike an enemy. Thunder Flower Storm brings many lightning bolts down around Sasuke and his enemy. Thunder Net or Lightning's web traps Sasuke's enemies in a web of lightning which never lets go. Thunder Tail connects Sasuke's lightning to his sword allowing him to kill an enemy with a physical strike. Sasuke's ultimate technique is Kirin which creates a lightning winged Pegasus that burns all it touches when it returns to heaven.
Also, it was seen in one of Sasuke's battles that he has the same red eyes as Kyo.
