A demobilized soldier and veteran of the Russo-Japanese War. He served a private first class in the 1st Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, and fought in the battle of 203 Hill. He was feared for his savage fighting style and amazing toughness on the battlefield, gaining the nickname "Immortal Sugimoto" (不死身の杉元, Fujimi no Sugimoto). He seeks the gold to provide for Umeko (梅子), the blind wife of his dead comrade Toraji (寅次).
A young Ainu hunter who meets Sugimoto after saving him from a wild bear, and later partners with him to find the gold. She seeks to avenge her father, who she believes was murdered by hunters searching for the gold. Her Japanese name is Asuko Kochoube (小蝶辺 明日子, Kochōbe Asuko).
Yoshitake Shiraishi (白石 由竹, Shiraishi Yoshitake)
Voiced by: Kentarō Itō (Japanese); Ben Phillips (English)
A tattooed Abashiri convict and master escape artist. He is initially captured by Sugimoto, and later agrees to a truce after they need each other's help to survive the bitter cold after they fall in a river. He is based on Yoshie Shiratori.
A fictionalized version of the Shinsengumi commander of the same name who fought against the Meiji Restoration. Assumed to have been dead for decades, he was held in secret as a political prisoner before escaping alongside the tattooed convicts. He forms a group to search for the gold, which he plans to use to fund the secession of Hokkaido and creation of a second Republic of Ezo.
A fictionalized version of the Shinsengumi captain of the same name. Loyal to Hijikata, he learns he is still alive while working as the swordsmanship instructor for the guards at Kabato Prison.
A first lieutenant, platoon leader and military intelligence officer in the 7th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army. Harboring a grudge against the Japanese government for their failure to extract remuneration from Russia for Japanese veterans of the Russo-Japanese War, he seeks to use the Ainu gold to lead a coup d'état to form an independent Hokkaido. His forehead is covered by a ceramic plate, due to a head injury he sustained from an artillery bombardment during the Russo-Japanese War. Consequently, he suffers from the after effects of severe brain damage, including mood swings and sudden outbursts of violence.
A superior private and sniper in the 7th Division. He is the illegitimate son of Kojirō Hanazawa (花沢 幸次郎, Hanazawa Kojirō), a lieutenant general who was the commander of the 7th during the Russo-Japanese War. Ogata tried unsuccessfully to corrupt Yuusaku Hanazawa, his virtuous younger half-brother and legitimate son of Kojirō, but eventually shoots him during the Battle of Hill 203. He is skeptical about Tsurumi's ambitions and deserts the army, initially joining Hijikata's group. He later joins the Sugimoto group, however he eventually colludes with Kiroranke to find the gold.
A Matagi and a private first class of the 7th Division who joined the army to find the matagi Kenkichi Aoyama (青山 賢吉, Aoyama Kenkichi) who killed his sister Fumi (フミ). After an extended stay in a kotan (Ainu village) to recover from an injury, he joins Sugimoto's group to fulfill a promise to Asirpa's grandmother to bring Asirpa home safely.
A sergeant in the 7th Division. Stoic and serious, he often acts as the straight man to Tsurumi's and Koito's eccentric personalities. He grew up on the island of Sado where he was persecuted because of his violent and brutal father. He loved a woman called Igogusa, so named because of her seaweed-like hair, but when he returned from the Sino-Japanese War, he found that his father had told Igogusa that Hajime was dead and she apparently threw herself into the sea. Tsurumi approached Tsukishima when he was on death row in prison after killing his father and Tsurumi manipulated him into joining the 7th Division and becoming a Russian interpreter. Tsukishima became so loyal to Tsurumi that he risked his own life to save Tsurumi during a Russian artillery bombardment when Tsurumi lost part of his forehead.
A second lieutenant in the 7th from Satsuma. As a naval cadet and spoiled son of wealthy Commander Heiji Koito, he was kidnapped by Russian agents and saved by Tsurumi to whom he became fiercely loyal. He is intelligent although sheltered and inexperienced, but is an excellent swordsman, trained in Jigen-ryū.
Kōhei Nikaidō (二階堂 浩平, Nikaidō Kōhei)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese); Stephen Sanders (English)
A private first class in the 7th Division. Seeks revenge for his twin brother, Youhei Nikaidou (二階堂 洋平, Nikaidō Yōhei), who was killed by Sugimoto. A running gag in the series is how he continuously loses body parts following his encounters with Sugimoto.
A superior private in the 7th Division. He is unfailingly loyal to Tsurumi; when Tsurumi turned two moles on Usami's face into stick figures with a fountain pen, Usami had them turned into tattoos.
Mokutarō Kikuta (菊田 杢太郎, Kikuta Mokutarou)
Voiced by: Kenyu Horiuchi[4] (Japanese); Patrick McAllister (English)
A Warrant Officer of the 7th Division who collects rare weapons. His favorite weapon is the Nagant M1895. He was also an older-brother figure to Sugimoto.
An Ainu man and a Private First Class of the 7th Division. His Ainu name is Ipopte (イポㇷ゚テ, Ipopte) and his father was one of the men killed by Noppera-bo. Tsurumi discovers that he is secretly working with Hijikata and turns him into a double agent.
Voiced by: Yoshito Yasuhara (Japanese); David Novinski (English)
The head jailer of Abashiri Prison who collaborates with Hijikata. He tends to have poor luck which he attributes to being born under a bad star, however sometimes his poor choices have a beneficial result.
A pseudonymous prisoner who murdered seven Ainu to steal and hide a large quantity of gold, the location of which is in a treasure map in the form of tattoos painted on the bodies of 24 prisoners. His true identity is Wilk.
Originally named Chikanobu Ienaga (家永 親宣, Ienaga Chikanobu), a transgender woman and former doctor who feeds on the flesh of her victims to become youthful and beautiful.
Kiichirō Wakayama (若山 輝一郎, Wakayama Kiichirō)
Voiced by: Banjō Ginga[7] (Japanese); Michael Stimac (English)
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese); Chris Guerrero (English)[9]
A martial artist who escaped north to the island of Sakhalin and specializes in the Russian fighting sport of stenka. He relished his time in prison as an opportunity to indulge in the hand to hand combat through which he sought fulfilment.
An elderly former assassin (originally named Yōichirō (用一郎)) known as "Manslayer Yōichirō" (人斬り用一郎, Hitokiri Yōichirō). He moved to Nemuro in Hokkaido 30 years earlier and married an Ainu woman, but was sent to Abashiri Prison after killing the man who took his wife hostage.
A veterinarian and expert in poisons. He lost faith in god after his daughter was struck and killed by lightning and he placed his victims in life or death situations which would determine their fate. He is eventually killed by Hijikata who survived one of Sekiya's traps.
A small man with googly eyes and an expert gold panner. He once earned 50 yen a day by catching platinum sand, the price of which was suddenly skyrocketing as a material for the nibs of fountain pens. After Sugimoto saved his life, he teaches him how to pan for gold. He carries an Ainu cigarette case and a brown bear fur. Sugimoto and the others call him "Master Heita". In fact, he has multiple personalities.
A mentally unstable inmate who multiple tattoos everyone on his body and wears a cloth over his face to hide them. His habit is to trick and prank people, as he loves their looks of disappointment. After a troubled childhood, he started to prank and tell jokes to children, before abducting and burying them in his backyard.
Also known as Boutarou the Pirate (海賊 房太郎, Kaizoku Bōtarō) due to the different ways the kanji in his name can be read, Ozawa is a charismatic and cunning bandit and swashbuckler with an immense affinity for deep swimming, as he has large feet and webbed hands. Due to his talents, he started pulling people under water in his youth and robbing them, totalling at least 55 confirmed murders.
Michael Ostrog is a man in his fifties with a well-built stature, presumably of European descent, suspected of being the heinous Jack the Ripper, who is responsible for a string of gruesome murders in London, nearly two decades prior to his escape from Abashiri Prison. He is based on the real life Ripper suspect with the same name, Michael Ostrog.
Voiced by: Hiroki Tōchi (Japanese); Barry Yandell (English)
Asirpa's biological father. He is a mixed Polish and Karafuto Ainu who fled to Hokkaido. He stole the Ainu gold and assumed the pseudonym Noppera-bo, his ultimate goal being to use it to start an Ainu revolution against the Japanese government, with his daughter as their leader.
A friend of Asirpa's father and veteran of the 7th Division. His true identity is Yulbars (ユルバルス) (Russian: Юлбарс), a Tatar with Karafuto Ainu ancestry. A revolutionary and partisan in Russia, he assassinated Alexander II with Wilk at the age of 15, and seeks to use the gold to mount an invasion of Hokkaido.
A sly and cunning Ainu fortune-teller. Though Asirpa calls her "Cironnup" ("fox" in Ainu) and dismisses her as a scam artist, many of her prophecies have proven true. As a child she became acquainted with Wilk, which led to her affection for Asirpa later in life.
A Russian sniper pursuing Wilk and Kiroranke. During his pursuit, he is caught in a sniper duel with Ogata, during which he ends up shot in the mouth. He starts pursuing Ogata after this, continuously following Sugimoto's group to catch Ogata.
Sofia Goldenhand (ソフィア・ゴールデンハンド, Sofia Gōrudenhando)(Russian: София Золотая Рука))