20th Century Boys - Characters

Characters

Kenji Endō (遠藤 ケンヂ, Endō Kenji?)

The central protagonist of the first half of the story, which revolves around his childhood in the 1970s to the present day. He is generally laid-back, and appears to be heavily interested in rock'n roll. He works at his family's store which used to be a liquor store but has since been converted to a subsidiary convenience store. He, his relatives, and friends play crucial roles as the plot unfolds. His whereabouts are unknown after the events of the Bloody New Year's Eve and was presumed dead, but later reappears under the alias of Yabuki Joe (矢吹丈, Yabuki Jō?) (a reference to the main character of Tomorrow's Joe), revealing that after barely escaping the robot's explosion, he suffered amnesia and wandered throughout Japan, only to regain his memory after the end of the year 2015.

Yoshitsune (ヨシツネ?)

Kenji's childhood friend who created the secret base with him. He was one of the few who answered the call to fight back with him on the Bloody New Year's Eve. In the year 2014, he is the leader of one of two underground organizations bent on taking down Friend, known as the Genji Ippa (ゲンジ一派?).

Yukiji (ユキジ?)

Kenji's female childhood friend and former classmate. During Kenji's school years, Yukiji was a high-toned tomboy who was able to fight off the bullying twins, Mabo and Yanbo. She also joins Kenji's gang when they were kids. In the late 1990s, Yukiji is a single unmarried woman who works as a customs official (often comically mistaken by Kenji's friends and local townsfolk for a narcotics officer) She bumps into Kenji and the gang at an airport in Tokyo when her disobedient drug sniffing dog named Blue Three (a Japanese pun on the name Bruce Lee), attacks Kenji. Yukiji later assists Kenji during Bloody New Year's Eve. Following Kenji's disappearance. Yukiji becomes Kanna's guardian.

Friend (ともだち, Tomodachi?)

The main antagonist of the series. An enigmatic cult leader who, in 1997, began using the symbol Kenji and his friends put together in the 1970s. His followers have filled venues such as the Budokan. One of his goals is to take over the world. His face is hidden in shadow throughout the series; he even confronts Kenji by wearing a mask. His true identity is one of the driving mysteries of the series. During the course of the story two different characters take on the mantle of Friend. As of 2000, the Friendship Democratic Party (FDP) is established as a political group with government representatives such as Manjome Inshu.

Otcho (オッチョ?)

Kenji's childhood friend. Around 1988, he was sent to Thailand by his Japanese trading company, but went missing for a week; upon his return he quit the company and divorced, and a year later was in India. Originally suspected to be Friend (perhaps due to the fact that he was the one who thought of the symbol which Friend's cult uses), it has been revealed that he went to receive enlightenment and training from a monk after experiencing the pain of the loss of his son, and was simply living in Asia's seedy underground. In 2000, he is in Thailand doing jobs such as "saving" kidnapped tourists, going under the alias Shōgun. In prime physical shape, he has escaped certain death many times, but a local drug boss allies with the Friends and hunts him, and he gets a plea from Kenji for help, so he returns to Japan. His real name is Chōji Ochiai (落合長治, Ochiai Chōji?).

Kanna Endō (遠藤 カンナ, Endō Kanna?)

Kenji's niece, introduced to the series in 1997 as a toddler under Kenji's care. Following the events of Bloody New Year's Eve, she becomes the protagonist in the story. She seems to possess supernatural abilities, the source of which is unknown. Friend, her father, claims her abilities to be the result of a secret medicine given to her mother before childbirth, though as with everything else he says, this may be a lie, so the truth is unclear. Coupled with her charisma, Kanna makes an able leader, leading a rebel faction against Friend under the moniker of "Ice Queen" (氷の女王, Koori no Joō?).

Kamisama (神様, Kamisama?, lit. "God")

Kamisama ("God") is the nickname of a homeless old man (real name: Kaminaga Kyūtarō (神永球太郎?)) who is bent on the return of ten-pin bowling as a major sport in Japan. Kamisama has the power of foresight and can see what will happen before it comes to pass. Kamisama and his friend lure Kenji out to the riverbank where he warns Kenji about saving the future. Later in the series, Kamisama becomes extremely rich by using his foresight to play the stock market. With his new found wealth, he becomes the first Japanese civilian to travel into space.

Fukubei (フクベエ, Fukubei?)

The true identity of Friend, Kanna's biological father is an extremely unbalanced man who nurtured a pathological envy of Kenji since their childhoods as well as delusions of grandiosity. A megalomaniac primarily motivated by a desire to live out childish fantasies of being recognized as a hero and to take revenge on the world for not recognizing the exceptionality he perceived in himself, Fukubei is an extremely charismatic leader who explores people's need to believe in something greater than themselves in order to fake a series of supernatural powers (in reality, only stage magic tricks) and pose as a superhuman prophet. He seduced Kanna's mother in order to enlist her help in developing a vaccine for the Ebola-like pathogens. Fukubei is shot dead by Yamane in the middle of the series.

The man who usurps Fukubei's place as Friend is most likely Katsumata, another one of Kenji's childhood schoolmates. Katsumata harbors a deep hatred of Kenji for stealing a prize from a candy shop in their childhood and letting Katsumata take the blame for it. This incident leaves Katsumata "dead": a social pariah, his very existence unacknowledged by his schoolmates. Unlike Fukubei, who only pretends to have paranormal powers, the second Friend is a powerful precognitive who could dream the future since his childhood. Also unlike Fukubei, who dreamed of conquering the world so his need for attention could be fed by the praise of others, Katsumata wishes to destroy the entire planet after deeming the world unnecessary. He conducted experiments on Kanna's mother during her pregnancy in order to create another paranormal. He is killed by a crashing flying saucer at the end of the series.