Kokuboro - Kekkaishi characters

 

Kokuboro

The members of Kokuboro: from left to right: Aihi, Gagin, Byaku, Hekian, Koshu, Kaguro, and Shion.

The Kokuboro (黒芒楼, Kokubōrō) are a group of ayakashi who seek Karasumori's power in order to regenerate their leader, Princess. Kokuboro is also the name of the group's castle and the alternate world where they reside. They are the first major antagonist in the first half of the manga series, and the main antagonists in the anime. Their home is a region called the "Black Pampas Grass" (黒芒, Kurosusuki).

Princess (姫, Hime)

Voiced by: Naoko Matsui (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)

A nine-tailed fox that is able to take on a human shape, she is a demon whose powers nearly rival those of a god, the most prominent display of her power being the creation of Kokuboro's castle and the alternate dimension in which it resides. However, she is afflicted with a mysterious illness and, following the ending of the Kokuboro arc, an unexplained illness that leaves her bedridden and unable to move. She eventually perishes at the ending of the Kokuboro arc as the illness claims her life, and transforms back into a nine-tailed fox. When Yoshimori meets her, he notes that even though she is an ayakashi, she has an air of elegance and respectability around her that is comparable to a princess in contrast to "common" ayakashi auras which apparently arouses hatred and a sense of disgust.

Byaku (白)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese); Roger Craig Smith (English)

79 years old. However, looks to be around his late 20s to early 30s due to experimentation on his body he had received years previously. Strong follower of the "princess". Has an oversized left eye, with several special abilities that include being able to control bug ayakashi, controlling minds, regeneration, and gathering information from bug ayakashi that enter his body through it. Was thought to be an ayakashi, but he is actually still a human whose name is Shiranuma (白沼). Was believed to be killed by his former colleague and love rival Heisuke, and Heisuke's summoned demon servant, Kagami, but survived to carry out Princess as the Black Pampas Grass collapsed with her demise, the collapse of the dimension killing him as well.

Aihi (藍緋)

Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima (Japanese); Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English)

A scientist with blue hair, and high-level demon, her true form a flower-like cyclops. Years ago, as she was hunting humans, befriended a weak, young man who was, surprisingly not afraid of her. She became curious of him, they eventually developed a sort of friendship. Sensing he was dying, he lured her to his house and trapped her using special talismans so she could stay for the few months until his death. Eventually she came to like him, and after the sudden change in his brother's death that give him the will to live makes her envious of humans, wishing to be like them and abstaining from eating them if possible. Having been controlled by Byaku, she is forced into working for him in developing the human skin suits modeled after the man she met. Though free of Byaku's worms, Aihi fights with Kaguro as she tries to escape from the dimension and is mortally wounded. Dying, she releases dandelion-like seeds from her body, one of which was saved by Shion before she left. In the anime, one of her seeds is able to escape the dimension and return to the home of the man, now elderly.

Gagin (牙銀)

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)

With no human skin, he looks like a centaur with six arms. With skin on he looks like a large man (easily 2 meters tall) with ancient warrior armor on with spiky gray hair. He appears to have a short temper and is easily one of the most reckless in the Kokuboro and has a great desire to find strong opponents when the opportunity is given to him. He is very powerful and can throw balls of fire in battle that vary depending on his will. They can range from small, but fast, to immeasurable large and powerful, he was even capable of being able to nearly defeat Gen Shisho (who had completely transformed into his ayakashi form) and Yoshimori and Tokine simultaneously all by himself. Was killed by Masamori's zekkai in the manga, and in the anime by Yoshimori's kekkai.

Shion (紫遠)

Voiced by: Masako Katsuki (Japanese); Tricia Pierce (English)

She can control spider-like creatures to force others to do as she tells. She appears to be one of the most laid-back among the Kokuboro, but has proven herself to be a capable opponent as she was able to kill Heisuke by making him become host to her spiders and forced his arm to shoot himself, but this was later proven untrue as it was a weak Ayakashi that Heisuke had try on the human skin that he had taken from one of the ayakashi that was discovered by Yoshimori's grandfather. Once dressed up as Kaguro to lure Yoshimori to Kokuboro and while she had captured him, she had restrained Yoshimori under her spider creatures. She never participated in fighting the intruders during the destruction of their headquarters. She is also one of the few head officers of Kokuboro to survive the battle alongside Hekian who she had quickly taken under her control for his arrogant comments and knowledge of an escape route before leaving the collapsing dimension. She is also revealed to never have been controlled by one of Byako's worms like the rest of Kokuboro and had simply been faking it, as she stated to Hekian, because she had liked living with the organization as a home and being able to do as she pleased.

Koshu (江朱, Kōshu)

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese); Sam Riegel (English)

Works at the "general affairs department". His job was to maintain and redesign the castle of Kokuboro when need be. As such he is very protective of it, willing to fight any intruders that try to enter it despite his limited powers (this results in his demise in both versions of Kekkaishi). When he has no human skin, he looks like an angry octopus with long tentacles. When he has his human skin on, he looks like an extremely small man with glasses and wears a flamboyant priest-styled kimono. He is considered one of the weakest of the Kokuboro higher-ups as he did not last long in a fight in the manga or anime. Was killed by Yoshimori in the manga, and by Tokine in the anime.

Hekian (碧闇)

Voiced by: Kenshō Yamamoto (Japanese); Richard Cansino (English)

Works at the "bureau department". With human skin, he usually has a turban and draping garments, making it impossible to see his face. He appears to possess an ability that he calls the "Thousand Eyes", this allows him to be able to see spiritual energy to such a level that he can see past the swamp like water that covers the previous Landlord of Karusmori, however only states that he could see that there was a bottomless darkness that could be seen. He is considered one of the weakest amongst his group as even Shion was able to easily defeat him and put him under control with little effort. He is later on, at the end of the battle at Kokuboro, taken by surprise and controlled by one of Shion's spiders and turned into one of her subordinate puppets after he revealed he knew a way out in a condescending manner.

Kaguro (火黒)

Voiced by: Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese); Troy Baker (English)

A S-Class Ayakashi, Kaguro is one of the few members of the Kokuboro to act on his whim while possessing superhuman speed and able to generate blades from his body. Kaguro was once a human swordsman named Genichiro Kuroda (黒田 源一郎, Kuroda Gen'ichirō), a student of a dojo who was friends with his rival Sakai. But unable to beat Sakai, Kuroda's frustration and his friend's advice, misunderstanding the meaning, led him to go on a killing spree. In the process, Kuroda lost his humanity and killed Sakai prior to assuming his current form. Donning a human skin and leading a group of Akayashi in an attempt to take over Karasumori, Kaguro develops an interest in Yoshimori, who is unknowingly able to use Zekkai, a technique that Kaguro saw first hand when he was still human. After killing Gen, whom he attempted to have walk in his footsteps, Kaguro battles Yoshimori in the collapsing Kokuboro castle before being killed in battle by the kekkaishi.

Haroku (波緑)

Voiced by: Daisuke Nakamura

When turned into a beast, he looks quite like a frog with long hair. Was killed by Yoshimori.

Sekia (赤亜)

Voiced by: Setsuji Satoh (Japanese); Steve Staley (English)

Looks like a squid with four eyes when he has no human skin. Was killed by Kaguro.

Haizen (灰泉)

Ayakashi in human skin that has the power to melt kekkai with a green substance from his mouth. Was killed by Tokine's arrow-like kekkai.

Sanan (茶南)

Voiced by: Shunsuke Sakuya (Japanese); Richard Cansino (English)

Looks like a bat with two eyes parallel to each other. Was killed by Kaguro.

Observer (監視者, Kanshisha)

Voiced by: Takuma Takewaka (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)

An unnamed agent of Kokuboro as well as its first notable on-screen one, his main purpose is to collect data and return it to headquarters. He was first detected by Masamori, and then after a skirmish with the Shirahago, his skin begins to deteriorate and then is discovered by Yoshimori. After a short fight with the kekkaishi, he returns to Byaku, only to die after handing over the information. His only known power is that he can stretch his arm to any length and bend it as much as he desired.

Sakon (左近)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese) David Vincent (English)

Works at the executive department and is Gagin's right hand man. He replaced Gagin after his death as leader of the executive department and launched an attack on Karasumori but was defeated by Masamori's zekkai. With no human skin, he looks like a giant demon lizard. He has the power to control wind and use it as tornadoes for attack. The princess is shown to have great disdain for Sakon, as he possesses an evil aura greater than Gagin's, and she cannot tell what he is really thinking.