|
This article lists all major and minor characters from Fred Gallagher's manga-style webcomic Megatokyo.
Main Characters
In Megatokyo, Japanese names are written in Western order, with the family name after the given name.
Piro
The main character, and in-story incarnation of Fred. He appears at first glance to be a fairly typical dorky American, a manga (especially shoujo) fan who can speak fluent Japanese and is depressive by nature often moping around by himself. He and Largo originally fled to Japan to escape the consequences of Largo mooning the E3 trade convention. Since arriving in Japan, he has been homeless twice, spending several nights in a park in downtown Tokyo. He and Largo spent six weeks basically squatting at Tsubasa's flat; before Tsubasa (with the prompting of Ping) leaves Japan for America. Piro's fortunes started to look up after he managed to get employment in a game and manga shop, Megagamers, where he works alongside Erika Hayasaka. He is an amazing artist who refuses to believe in his own talent, an exaggerated parallel of Gallagher himself. Piro is currently employed as a clerk/mascot in MegaGamers, a gaming retail store. Piro seems to have no ability to read women (either that, or he has a long history of destructive dating attempts), and so does not realise the feelings Kimiko has for him. He usally reads his old 'instruction manual to life', shoujo Manga, to try to work out the 'Correct' way to deal with women. However this philosphy is starting to change as he is spending more time over Kimiko and other women.
Largo
The other main character, and the comic's incarnation of former co-writer Rodney Caston. He is an American computer game fan who usually acts before (or instead of) thinking. Largo comes across as the archetypal l33t h4><0r (elite hacker). He is technically gifted; and cannot pass up the opportunity to tamper with anything even remotely technological in nature and usually works on computer hardware in the nude (as an extreme measure to avoid static discharge). He is also strangely obsessed with beer. He is often delusional, confusing reality with computer games. He can speak L33t, but not Japanese, relying on Piro or other bilingual characters to translate. He is somehow employed as an English teacher at Shiritsu Daitou High School, becoming 'Great Teacher Largo' (reference to the anime/manga GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka).He was also employed by the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Police Division but was removed from his postion after the fan boy riot in chapter 5. Largo is a menace to good looking women. He seems to either see women as fair game ('babe-o-rama' in his words), or as evil undead beings. In spite of this he seems to be developing a friendship with Erika Hayasaka.
Erika Hayasaka
(早坂 えりか Hayasaka Erika) A Japanese woman, Erika is Kimiko's roommate. She is a powerfully popular former "idol" (singer) and voice actress (seiyū). Though she's been out of the direct spotlight for three years, she still wields considerable fanpower: a mere sighting of her caused riots from fans. Erika seems to have become jaded due to her exposure to fan boys and other social misfits. Periodic work as a booth-babe at cons has caused her to at least partially support the idea that most men are dumb. Her contempt for fanboys knows no limits, but she respects honest admiration and takes no offence at it. It has been revealed that she was once engaged to a man much like Piro who eventually broke it off, believing he didn't deserve her and was holding her back in her career. She was deeply hurt and her distrust of men may spring at least partially from that. She works as a clerk/mascot at MegaGamers alongside Piro and appears to be developing a grudging friendship with Largo.
Kimiko Nanasawa
(七澤 美子 Nanasawa Kimiko) A Japanese girl, Kimiko is Erika's roommate. She is also a waitress at the apparently famous Anna Miller's. She is an aspiring voice actress (seiyū) who often finds herself too shy or insecure to take on roles.Kimiko is in general an incredibly kind person though she has a sort of impusive nature that impars her ability to deal with any sort of distress she causes in other people perfectly. She becomes extremely upset when she injures others, be it physically or emotionally. At the same time, her impulsive nature sets her up for extreme mood-swings, and quite often causes her abject embarrasment. Kimiko appears to have developed feelings for Piro, though these are currently murky.
Ping-chan
A robotic PS2 accessory. A non-H (implied: non-hentai; platonic love only - In actual Japanese "H" is not the same thing as "hentai") test model of the new Sony-EDS (Emotional Doll System), that fell into Tsubasa's hands somehow. She is designed to be used with dating sims, and after playing them she develops her own personality, based on choices in the games, but she has never actually been used with a dating sim, and therefore is learning from experience, and developing a personality unlike most characters in such games. She is learning quickly but is still woefully incapable of understanding the dynamics of real relationships; her programming has primed her to care for socially inept fan-boys who have the money to buy an EDS system to practice their fumbling dating techniques on. She does not handle rejection well and somehow can be put into a berserker like rage with immense strength when 'rejected' by her human companions. Tohya befriends her and takes her to school for the first time.
Miho Tohya
Miho appears to be a very strong-willed and manipulative young woman. She is highly intelligent, adept at both arcade and role playing games, and is socially active as a Goth. Not much is known about her own history. She seemed to have some history before Piro and Largo meet in Japan, with a MMORPG called Endgames. It seemed that Piro and Largo defeated her while she was finding a way to make her self stronger by using a secret "Personality" stat that was hidden from users. In the game she was a tall, handsome man with the same ribbon hair style as in the real world. It is now seen that this event seems to push her into becoming close to Piro and Largo, but at what end is still unknown. She is a friend of Ping, but is a little creepy. Largo believes that she is in command of an army of Zombies, powered by the Necrowombicon, an ancient evil book found in the sewers and used to make the video game Daikatana. Miho is drawn to resemble a gosurori (a Japanese interpretation of Goth subculture), and is often described as "darkly cute."
Miho is a frequent subject of speculation, both in the comic itself and on Megatokyo's forums. She is also a common subject of debate, the most common argument being between readers who believe her to be a supernatural evil, and readers who take the view that she is a mundane evil (or just misunderstood.) The latter position is in the majority among forum regulars, but the former also has vocal proponents.
Another common Miho-related debate is centered around the nature of her relationship with the robot Ping. Such debates can become very heated, as many fans are keen on defending both characters from what they perceive as libel.
A very large amount of writing has been done about Miho, and there are dozens of Miho Theories attempting to explain her past or behavior. This has become a topic of humor, as newbies on the Megatokyo forum will often independently create an obvious theory, believe it is new, and post it to those forums. This often results in flaming.
Seraphim
A miniature angel who takes the role of Piro's conscience, struggling to keep Piro on the straight and narrow when it comes to romantic attachments as well as personal entanglements.Seraphim is very concerned about Piro's attitude, and goes to great pains to keep him motivated towards going back to the States; her opinion of his abilities is not high. Seraphim is the comic incarnation of Sarah Wooden, Gallagher's wife, who has a penchant for fine clothes, and loves cats almost as much as they love the taste of her.
Boo
A small angelic hamster with strap-on wings, assigned to the role of Largo's conscience, a clearly impossible task, made only harder by the fact that Boo cannot speak, but only squeak (occasionally in L33t). A reference to the Boo character from Baldur's Gate, Minsc's 'Miniature Giant Space Hamster'.
Asmodeus
Piro's anti-conscience, from that so-called "other agency". He tries to undo everything Seraphim does, going so far as to tempt Piro to fall in love with junior-high-school-aged girls. Despite this opposition to Seraphim, he hits on her almost every time they meet. His partner is a vicious winged cat named Belphegor. He is a comic incarnation of Ken Hashimoto, one of Megatokyo forum's administrators.
Junpei
The L33t Ninja, Largo's apprentice. Junpei is a Ninja, though Ninjas in MegaTokyo seem far different from their historic counterparts. Junpei appears to be some sort of clean-up official for Law Enforcement; possibly he is a hostage negotiator, scout or some other special-operations officer. Certainly, whatever role he fills seems to leave him with a fair amount of free time, and allows him to cultivate his artistic side - much like a samurai. He is introduced when Piro and Largo arrive in Japan, and Largo has no passport. Customs tells Largo that, in order to get into Japan, he must defeat Junpei in mortal combat. Largo, being unsurpassable in all matters electronic, easily wins the contest by defeating Junpei in a match on the Mortal Kombat arcade game. Junpei is obviously greatly impressed by this, since the next time he meets Largo, Junpei apprentices himself in order to learn "Leetness" from Largo. Amusingly enough, Junpei supercedes Piro as Largo's minder; Junpei has had to get Largo out of jail, and has also on several occasions had to fetch Largo when Largo forgot about the classes he is responsible for teaching at Shiritsu Daitou.
Yuki Sonoda
Yuki is a 15 year old student at Shiritsu Daitou High School, which implies she is probably in Grade 10. She is apparently a diligent student, and has earned the rather undesirable label of "Little Miss Perfect" from her friends. Yuki comes from a stable home ; her father, Inspector Sonoda, is (possibly) the head of Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division. Her mother, Meimi, is quite possibly a housewife, but this has not been established. Yuki appears to have a normal relationship with her brother Yuuji - there is a lot of mutual antagonism between the two. Theoretically taking art lessons from Piro, but, in practice, something always gets in the way. She has some feelings for Piro but often denies or misunderstands them leading her into what has been interpreted as serious emotional trauma.
Groups and minor characters
Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division
A division of the Tokyo police force that monitors and ensures that riots, monster attacks, zombie hoards and other large disasters occur in a easy and mangable fashion.They use multiple high tech weapons including: Giant Robots and orbiting laser satellites, and often sport conventional weaponary. Yuki's father, Masamichi Sonoda, is an often encountered employee of the Cataclysm Division. After using Ping-chan to soundly defeat an alcoholic turtle of unusual size, Largo became a TPCD agent. Largo was removed from the division due to his failure in the Erika Hayasaka fan boy riot in chapter 5.
Yuuji Sonoda
Yuki's brother, a member of the Erika Hayasaka Fan Club.He also has a large stash of adult game hidden in his room.
Erika Hayasaka Fan Club (AKA "The Fanboy Horde")
A number of people obsessed with Erika Hayasaka, or at least her former persona as an idol (singer) and voice actress (seiyū). The club rediscovers her whereabouts during the comic's story, long after her sudden (and complete) disappearance from the public eye. This then led to the entire club as well as hundreds of other fans to swarm the Megagamers store to get a glimpse of their idol and have her sign some memorabillia for them. This huge mob was then referred to by Largo as well as members of the Megatokyo Forums as "The Fanboy Horde" or simply as "The Horde".
Rent-a-Zilla
Massive lizard hired by Junpei on occasion, paid in pork rinds.
Largo's definition of ravers, goths, or rabid fanboys; Largo is bent on eliminating these "undead minions" however he sees fit.
The once-great game designer of games, such as Doom and Quake. He formed the game development house Ion Storm, infamous for making Daikatana (a notable flop of a game after great hype), and after that he was promptly fired. Now he's broke and jobless.
L33T D00D
Strange raver type dude that appears whenever Largo must face the Z0/\/\B13 |-|04RD35 (zombie hordes; Tohya and Ping) in c0mb47 (combat; arcade games) and advises him in L33t which is invariably translated into erudite language (i.e. "1'm4 0wnz0r j00" becomes "I shall defeat thee"). He owes Largo a debt of gratitude for saving his life (see this strip (http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=9)).
Asako and Mami
High school students and friends of Yuki's. They think she has a crush on Piro, and they may be right.
Junko
The "angry schoolgirl" in Largo's class, she is usually the one who has something to say when Largo does something outrageous in his role as "teacher." She helps Largo disperse the fanboy horde that threatens Erika.
Tsubasa
A friend of Piro's from the internet, Piro and Largo bunk with him when they wind up in Japan. Later, he leaves Japan to "follow his heart" in America. He leaves Ping in the care of Piro and Largo. Tsubasa is a comic's incarnation Keishi Tada, Fred Gallagher's friend and primary consultant on all things Japanese. He writes the Japanese translation of Megatokyo
Ed
Sony employee, Dom's best friend and rival. Like Dom, he seems to have an unlimited supply of guns and a trigger-happy personality to match. After an encounter with Ping, he underwent a plastic surgery that turned him into a bishonen. His real life equivalent is Edmund Balan, Fred Gallagher's associate.
Dom
Sega employee, Ed's best friend and rival. Gun crazed and competitive to boot. Also known as SGD, Shirt Guy Dom. His real life equivalent does stick-figure guest strips when Piro is unavailable. Dom is the comic's incarnation of Dominic Nguyen, who currently works for Konami as a game or localization tester.
| 
