is a Japanese light novel series written by Ichirō Sakaki and illustrated by Namaniku ATK. Twelve volumes of the series have been published by Fujimi Shobo under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint. It has been adapted into three manga series. An anime adaptation was announced in July 2013 and aired from April 9, 2014, to June 25, 2014. A second season titled Chaika The Coffin Princess: Avenging Battle aired from October 8, 2014, to December 10, 2014.
Plot Five years ago, the 300-year-long war between the Alliance of Six Nations and the Gaz Empire finally came to an end when Emperor Arthur Gaz was killed by the Eight Heroes. The Empire's lands were then divided by the alliance, who later formed the Council of Six Nations to bring peace and order to the land. In addition, Gaz's remains, which possessed incredible magical energy, were divided up and granted to each of the Eight Heroes, who used their shares for various reasons.
In the present, Toru Acura is an unemployed who is unable to settle in this peaceful era as there is no demand for his Saboteur skills, and thus he sees no meaning in his life. While out foraging in the forest, Toru encounters Chaika Trabant, a white-haired who travels with a coffin. After saving her from a man-eating unicorn, Toru, along with his sister Akari, are hired by Chaika to gather the scattered remains of Arthur Gaz. It is revealed that Chaika is the former Emperor's daughter, who managed to escape in the chaos following her father's death and wishes to find her father's remains so that she can give him a proper burial. Over the course of the series, the group faces difficulties while facing against each of the Eight Heroes. Frederika, a shape-shifting dragoon who belonged to one of the heroes, joins their party. Meanwhile, the six nations sends the Kleeman Agency's Gillette Corps to hunt down Chaika to obstruct their quest in order to prevent another war. Other groups led by girls claiming to be Chaika Gaz also pursue them to take the parts.
Characters
Main characters
The protagonist is a Saboteur from the village of Acura. He has dark hair and eyes, but in the anime he has dark blue hair. After the downfall of the Gaz Empire and the return of peace, he has lost his way of life. When introduced, he is jobless and poor, and initially mistaken by Chaika to be a bandit attempting to rob her. However they inadvertently encounter a man-eating Unicorn and they work together to defeat it. He has the power of the mysterious Iron-Blood Form (also Iron-Blood Transformation) that when activated turn his hair red and cause crimson markings to appear on his body. He wields two short sword comblades that have retractable wires at their hilts. While he tries to keep their relationship as client and servant, Toru soon develops feelings for Chaika. He is named after Acura, the luxury automobile division of Honda.
The titular character of the series, Chaika is a young magic-user with silver hair and purple eyes who lugs around a giant coffin. She is the Princess of the Gaz Empire and Arthur Gaz's surviving heir. She's also sensitive about the thickness of her eyebrows. For most of the series, she speaks a broken and disjointed form of the common language. After their close-encounter with the unicorn she hires Toru and his sister Akari to help her gather the remains, but over the course of the series, she also develops feelings for Toru. Her weapon is a Gundo Sniper Rifle, which allows her to cast high-precision spells. She is noted to be the Chaika that most resembles the one that Stephan Hartgen killed who was the girl whom Gaz used as a model for the Chaikas. Her first name is derived from the GAZ Chaika, while her last name refers to the East German Trabant.
Toru's younger sister and a fellow Saboteur. She is tall with black hair styled in a ponytail and dark eyes, but in the anime, she has green hair and blue eyes. Although she calls Toru her brother, she is unrelated to him by blood but they are originally from the same area., Akari does not hide the fact that she is in love with Toru and is jealous of any other girl who gets close to him. She also uses the Iron-Blood Transformation; however, her markings do not crisscross like Toru's and are much thinner. Her weapon is a large war hammer with a retractable handle and a spike on one side of the head.
A dragoon, which are a race of magical armored dragons with the ability to shape-shift. She appears as a blonde haired girl with red eyes, and sometimes a grey cat. She was formerly partnered with Dominica Skoda, a Cavalier who made a pact with her during the war with the Gaz Empire in order to gain fame and riches for Dominica's younger sister, Lucie. However, after the war, Dominica discovered that Lucie had been killed by the villagers she ruled over when she refused to sell their family's land to them. Dominica and Frederika avenged Lucie by killing the villagers responsible, but Dominica soon died, due to having lost the will to live without her sister. Due to the close bond they shared, Frederika has been unable to forget her former master and has taken on Dominica's form and has been living as Dominica. After losing a battle with Toru's group, she takes on the form of Lucie Skoda in honor of her master's sister. She also joins Toru's group on their adventures with a new goal: to engage Toru in a fight to the death, although Toru continually postpones their fight, claiming that he must first accomplish his mission to assemble Emperor Gaz's remains for Chaika. At the end of the Soara arc, she proposes that Toru make a pact with her so that he can become a Dragoon Cavalier. In episode 10 of season 2, Toru finally agreed to the contract and is no longer a Saboteur but a Dragoon Cavalier.
Secondary characters and groups Chaika Bohdan
(), known as Red Chaika, is a silver-haired girl who is very similar in appearance to Chaika Trabant, but wears a red frilled headband, has shorter hair, and a more developed chest. Like Trabant, she speaks in the broken and disjointed form of the common language. Her weapon is a snake blade. While Trabant wishes to collect the remains of her father to give them a proper burial, Bohdan intends to enact revenge upon the Eight Heroes by killing them. After seeing that Toru is a capable fighter, she tries to have him and his sister join her cause, but they turn her down after she reveals she intends to kill the Chaika in their company as she claims there can only be one Chaika Gaz in this world. Another thing she seems to have in common with Trabant is her attraction to Toru.
Bohdan has two companions: () has brown hair and wears a metal plate covering his forehead. He fights with a spear. He prefers big-breasted girls. () is a Wizard with long red-braided hair. She uses a Gundo Sniper Rifle in the anime. She is named after Kenworth, an American truck manufacturer.
Kleemann Agency The , or more commonly called Kleemann Agency, is a multinational organization tasked with supporting the postwar reconstruction. The organization also includes a number of small field units such as the Gillette Corps and the Campagna Corps whose duty is the capture of bandits and other criminals.
The head of the Kleemann Agency. The Council of Six Nations do not heed Konrad's warnings that Chaika Gaz is still alive. They consider reports of her continued existence nothing more than a myth. However, after incident involving the Soara floating fortress, the Council begins taking the Chaika issue seriously. He got his name from Steinmetz, an aftermarket company specialized in Opel vehicles.
Konrad's assistant. In the anime she has short green hair and wears glasses.. She got her name from Bombardier Inc..
Gillette Corps A division of the Kleemann Agency who have been tasked with capturing Chaika. In season 2 their task switches to gathering the emperor's remains.
The leader of the Gillette Corps. A cavalier from a noble family, he wishes to stop Chaika Trabant's quest of reclaiming Arthur's remains which he fears might lead to another war. However, after learning of Trabant's reasons for her quest and the lack concrete information about Emperor Gaz from official sources, he starts to have doubts about his mission. When the Floating Fortress Stratus is sent by the Council of Six Nations to destroy the floating fortress Soara, he tries to stop the council forces from attacking, as his comrades Vivi and Zita are still trapped inside the Soara. However, he is supposedly killed when a large magic beam from the Soara strikes the council forces. Later it was revealed that he survives the attack, due to Guy's intervention and now serves as the bodyguard of Stephan Hartgen, one of the Eight Heroes. Under Hartgen's control, he fights Nikolai and Vivi, and during the fight, the latter cuts off his hand, breaking him free of Hartgen's control. He is named after Gillet, a Belgian automobile manufacturer.
A mercenary and the second-in-command of the Gillette Corps. His hair is shaved in a triangular brown mohawk. After the supposed death of Albéric, Nikolai is promoted to Captain of the Gillette Corps. He is named after Avtotor, a Russian automobile company.
An orange-haired assassin who is in love with Albéric. Her weapons are throwing needles. Vivi and Zita were sent inside the floating fortress of Soara after its ruler, Duke Gavarni, rebelled against the Six Nations. She reluctantly forms a temporary alliance with Toru so that both groups can escape the Soara, but upon returning to the Gillette Corps and learning of Albéric's supposed death, Vivi becomes mad with grief. As she screams in anguish, her hair and eyes turn white and purple respectively, revealing Vivi to be another Chaika. According to Guy, Vivi is a "half-Chaika" due to her friends preventing the completion of her transformation.
A green-haired female Wizard with glasses who is good at handling machines and drives April, the Corps magic vehicle. Like Vivi, she too has a crush on Albéric but is willing to support her friend. When she and Vivi were trapped in the Soara, she formed an alliance with Toru and his group, despite Vivi's objections, believing it to be the best chance for both groups to escape.
A male Wizard who can control creatures. He is bald but has markings across his face. He is named after Callaway Cars, an American automotive tuner.
A catboy demihuman and the Corp's spy. During the war, demihumans like Leonardo where created to perform dangerous tasks that humans wouldn't do. Since the war has ended, many humans look down on his race. Because Albéric treats him like an equal, Leonardo has a deep respect for him. He is constantly coming up with theories as to why there are more than one Chaikas; his current theory suggests that are all half sisters whose mothers were the Emperor's many wives. His last name comes from Stola, an Italian automotive engineering firm.
Soara Soara is a sky fortress that was knocked down in the war with Gaz. It had since been repaired and was active in the final storyline of the first anime season. The group attempts to start a war by destroying Cadwell, the capital of the Wiemac kingdom but the plans are foiled by Toru's group and the Gillette Corps.
The youngest son of Duke Gavarni. He has blond hair and blue eyes. A sadistic young man, he enjoys cutting open his victims. He killed his family and used his father's name to obtain one part of Arthur Gaz's remains and secretly took control of the floating fortress, Soara, with the help of Layla and Grato. He is responsible for torturing and killing the women in the village. He later fights Toru only to be critically injured. Before succumbing to his wounds as the Soara sinks to the bottom of a lake, he apologises to Layla for not fulfilling her dream but is glad to be with her.