This is the list of the characters that appear in the 1998 manga and 2007 anime miniseries Afro Samurai, the television film Afro Samurai: Resurrection, the video game adaption and other related media.
Main characters Afro Samurai Child Afro Samurai Teenager Afro Samurai Adult Afro Samurai
Afro Samurai is the main protagonist of the series, who mourns for his father as a child and wears the Number Two headband on a quest to kill Justice and reclaim the Number One. As an adult, he often smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, drinks lemonade, and has a deep calm voice.
Ninja Ninja
Ninja Ninja is Afro's partner, who mostly speaks in a normal voice while Afro refuses to reply in conversations. Ninja Ninja wears a ninja motif and has white hair. As the series progresses, Ninja Ninja watches Afro seeking vengeance. At the beginning of Episode 5, it is revealed that Kuma apparently kills Ninja Ninja who saves Afro. About halfway through the episode, Afro confronts Justice who states that he watched him shed his "imaginary friend."
In the collector's DVD, interviews with the staff and writers concede that Ninja Ninja is indeed imaginary. However, even though Ninja Ninja is "imaginary," he appears to have some form of presence in the real world, as well. When Brother 2 of the Empty Seven spies on Afro, Ninja Ninja can be clearly seen from Brother 2's point of view through the binoculars. Ninja Ninja also interacts with items around him constantly such as catching Afro's spliff in his mouth, moving a hanging pillar inside Otsuru's home, putting Otsuru's comb into Afro's hair, eating the food that was intended for Afro given by Brother 3 (as seen in the Director's cut) and throwing the Afro-Droid's microchip at Afro to cut in two. The idea of Ninja Ninja having at least a partial existence, in reality, is once again brought into light when he is 'killed' by Kuma. Because Kuma was such a skilled warrior and had the intent to cut down Afro on the sword strike that killed Ninja Ninja, it would seem odd that he would pause from his attack and have a conversation with Afro if there was not a reason to give pause which strengthens the idea that he was taken aback by Ninja Ninja sacrifice before attacking Afro again. Additionally supporting his real-world presence is the scene in the video game in which he knocks the hand of one of the Empty Seven off of a ledge, killing him, as is the scene after Sword Master's death in which one of the many clones of Ninja Ninja grabs Sword Master's mouth and moves it up in down, pretending he is a puppet.
In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Ninja Ninja is confirmed to be emanated from the Number Two Headband in conjunction with the wearer's mind, restored to Afro with the band itself.
In the video game, Afro battles Ninja Ninja in his mind in order to regain his humanity which he lost as a result of being the Number Two.
Jinnosuke/"Kuma"
Jinnosuke is a swordsman wearing a cybernetic teddy bear helmet (the same design as Otsuru's teddy bear from their time as children in their dojo) earning him the nickname "Kuma," (Bear in Japanese). He wears black keikogi, hakama and toe strapping metal geta sandals and wields twin katanas. He also considers Afro Samurai to be his best friend and brother. In the series, he blames Afro for killing their master and even taking the Number Two headband. Jinno mourns for the others from the dojo, suffers his wounds at the Midnight Battle Under the Bodhi Tree and falls from the cliff. He is rescued by Dharman who creates his robotic body. Afro seemingly destroys his life-support system to defeat Jinno, but he recovers his body, straps it with the rest of all ranked headbands as bandages and sees to fight with Afro who wears the Number 1 headband.
In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, he works with his younger sister Sio, who lived with her foster parents as a child. Jinno shortly had muted his voice and cannot converse with Sio until Rokutaro seemingly kills Afro. Jinno and Sio are impaled and killed by Rokutaro, before Jinno's electricity from his robotic body travels through Sio's blood and resurrects Afro.
In the video game, Jinno's transformation into Kuma is not explained and does not recognize Afro after confrontation. He recovers his memory of the schoolyard massacre as the two battle each other and then appears to die at the conclusion.
Recurring characters Supporting characters Rokutaro
Afro's father and owner of the Number One headband who is decapitated by Justice, who mentions to Afro about the assassins fighting each other to the death for the headbands. Justice wears the Number One headband to become god while Afro wears the Number Two for revenge.
In Afro Samurai Resurrection, Sio and Jinno take Rokutaro's jawbone from his grave and help Dharman use it to resurrect Rokutaro as a clone. Sio kills Dharman for the loss of her henchmen leaving the mental recreation incomplete and makes him angry. After choking and seemingly killing Afro, Rokutaro impales Jinno and Sio with Afro's broken sword. Jinno's robotic body then uses electricity on Sio's blood near Afro to resurrect him. Afro defeats the cloned Rokutaro and takes both headbands.
Sword Master
The Sword Master is a one-eyed samurai adopting to train orphans as graduated warriors. He informs Afro Samurai that wearing special rank headbands would lead to murderous survival. At the cliff near the Bodhi Tree, the Sword Master wearing the Number Two headband, insists Afro to kill him. After the rest of all assassins and students were killed, Afro executes the Sword Master dead and takes the headband.
In the video game, the Sword Master and his older brother found and adopted Afro. Afto later kills the daimyō, suspecting him to be the Number Two. As he dies, the daimyō reveals the true identity of the Number Two. The incident triggers the schoolyard massacre carried out by the daimyōs men as an act of revenge.
The official site reveals that the Sword Master was Rokutaro's friend which helps explain the basis for his advice and world view.
Shichigoro
Shichigoro is the owner of the Number Two headband and Kotaro's stepfather. Like the Sword Master, Shichigoro hides it and meets Afro, who saves Kotaro from the assassin. On the night for the Japanese rap parade festival, Shichigoro battles Afro before killing Sio's ninjas for stopping the party. Shichigoro inadvertently kills the DJ and Afro impales them dead.
In the manga, he and the Oden Shop Master used to work for the Empty Seven. Shichigoro betrayed the Empty Seven after the Oden Shop Master botched an assignment and had to protect him from the Empty Seven's Cleaners.
Kotaro
Kotaro is Shichigoro's adopted son, who sadly vows revenge after Afro kills Shichigoro. In the manga, Kotaro is killed by Afro.
In the anime film, Afro hands the Number 2 headband to Kotaro and tells him to fight when they are ready.
Takimoto
Takimoto is a mysterious person who greets Justice in Afro Samurai: Resurrection.
In the manga, he holds a similar duty to Justice that the Empty Seven and Kuma held in the anime, protecting the "Number One" and defeating the current "Number Two." Although he explains himself as having the goal of observing the order of the world, seeing Afro about to reach the throne room made him ready to interfere. He even interacted with Ninja Ninja.
Depending on the possible third film, it is unknown if his motives and goals will be carried to the anime since many of the characters have similar but slightly altered parts in the manga.
Antagonists The Empty Seven Brother 1 Brother 2 Brother 3 Brother 4 Brother 5 Brother 6
The is a group of six monks who believe that attaining both ancient headbands will lead to immortality and godhood. They employ robots and mercenaries to do their dirty work, since the monks themselves have greatly inferior fighting skills when compared to Afro and Justice possibly due to their age difference. Brothers 1 through 5 look like identical wizened old men with long beards, dressed in robes with some other accessories:
Brother 1 was the apparent leader of the Clan (although such an authority was never outright stated). His personality and mannerisms were a mixture of an Evangelical preacher and a street pimp. He was almost always seen with an almost nude beautiful woman at his side. As with most of the Clan, he was a wizened old man with a long beard and has a prosthetic gold left arm (which can be switched out for a machine gun). In an attempt to ambush Afro from atop the elevator leading to Kuma following the Afro Droid's destruction, Brother 1 ended up being paralyzed and held in a stretcher with a catheter by Brother 3 in Afro Samurai: Resurrection, making him the only monk to fight Afro directly and lose but survive. Brother One's woman is also seen in Afro Samurai: Resurrection working as a stripper in Brother 3's gambling house at which she excels perfectly. Brother 2 was the eyes of the Clan often seen scoping out Afro from a distance with a pair of high-tech binoculars. Usually Brother 6 was shown assisting him. All of his observations of Afro during his reconnaissance were reported to Brother 1 via cell phone. In combat, he was shown to use an extending Buddhist staff or kunai. When Otsuru turns against the Empty Seven for Afro's sake, it was Brother 2 who stabbed and killed her. Later when he was lying in wait to kill Afro, Afro surprises him from behind by swiftly poking his eyes and shoving his binoculars deep into the wounds. Likely the brutal manner of his execution was out of revenge for Otsuru. Brother 3 was unusual among the clan because he was the most laid-back of the brothers. While the other Brothers would plot Afro's death, Brother 3 was usually content to face away off in the corner, listening to his circumaural headphones and bobbing to the music. During the few times that he actually spoke, he was shown to have a Southern US accent. He seemed to have a much more pacifistic approach than his comrades regarding decisions. When deliberating on which assassin to choose to kill Afro, rather than settle things through violence Brother 3 suggested looking at their individual credentials. Later when Afro invaded the Empty Seven's temple, he was waiting by the door with tea and rice crackers prepared while calmly chanting Hachimaki o kudasai, (Japanese for "headband please.") simply asking for the Number Two Headband, rather than attempting combat for it. Afro didn't take the rice and tea offered to him, but Ninja Ninja did. Because of this, Brother 3 survived while the other monks were killed and injured. In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Brother 3 uses the dice remote controller to change numbers, but Afro disqualifies him cheating the game. Brother 4 was a gruff deep-voiced monk in a green robe who usually carried a Buddhist staff and wore a metal kasa. He was usually seen side-by-side with Brother 5. In combat, Brother 4's weapon of choice was a sansetsukon. When determining which assassin would face Afro, Brother 4 insisted that Ivanov the Russian was the obvious choice which led to an argument with Brother 5 who held opposing views and felt Foo from China was more capable. Brother 1 settled the issue by suggesting a battle royale, an idea which greatly appealed to both 4 & 5. Later after Brother 6's defeat at Afro's hands, Brothers 4 & 5 launched out from where they were concealed in Brother 6's backpack and attempted to gang up on Afro from both sides. This tactic failed miserably and both monks were easily killed.