Welcome to the Ayatsuri Sakon Character Guide!  In an effort to simplify things, characters have been divided up according to the manga or anime storyarc they appear in. When possible, colour images have been provided. This guide is mostly designed to "put a face with a name." Special thanks again goes out to Nataku for graciously providing Storyarc title translations (her translations are marked with an asterisk [*]).

For a more in depth look at Sakon and Ukon, click on their pictures.
Sakon the puppeteer				Ukon the puppet
last update:                                                                                                                              13 July, 2005
Vengeful Demon of the Abandoned School Manga Volume 1/ Anime episodes 1-3 Brought to a mysterious reunion at their old abandoned elementary school, five people are now the targets of a strange revenge! Can Sakon and Ukon discover the killer?
Kusunoki Osamu His tragic suicide begins the tale. In school, he enjoyed making dolls and puppets but faced ridicule and torment from his peers.
Funazaki Hazuki (seiyuu: Touma Yumi) Kind and gentle, she was the only person to actually care about Osamu. She invites Sakon and Ukon to come to the reunion since they've nowhere to spend the night.
Kitamura Kouji Salesperson
Oka Youko Office Lady
Saeki Tsutomu Student-College of the Arts
Saitou Kenichi College Rounin
Officer Eda Eda comes to investigate the strange reunion taking place at the elementary school.

The Zushuu Double Demon-Mask Puppet Hell Manga Volumes 1 & 2 / Anime episodes 4-7 Sakon and Ukon pay a visit to a mansion filled with weird karakuri puppets and scary dolls. Someone in an oni mask is on a killing spree. What or who is this demon and can it be stopped?
Kawaii Mai A young all-around idol. Mai is very talented and very cute! She and some of the other guests are from the same high school.
Kagao Yuki A school friend of Mai's.
Mori Seiichi One of Mai's classmates.
Sugiyama Hikishi Yet another classmate.
Takamura Katsuhiko TV Talent Recruiter.
Satou Yuriko Mai's personal attendant...
Mai's personal Coach
Sanjyo Shizuka
Shikiba Chuuta

The Chapter of the Sakon's Transformation Mechanism * Manga Volume 2 / Anime episodes 8-10 Sakon takes Ukon to the studio of a puppet builder for routine puppet maitenence. But nothing is routine for Sakon...an explosion, a murder, and Ukon's death?!
Fukami Sayoko A cheerful and outgoing little girl.
Ririsu Sayoko's favourite little cat. Ririsu plays an important role in solving the mystery of the explosion. Sadly, Ririsu isn''t in the story for long and moves on to the kitty afterlife...
Aoki Akihiko
Fukami Junichiro
Shiraishi Keiko
Kishikao Hajime One of Fukami-san's pupils.
Yoshida Tamotsu Another pupil of Fukami-san.

The Senshuu Byakko Bloodshed Hell * Manga Volume 3 / Anime episodes 11-13
Soushirou
Futaba Eldest of the three sisters.
Mika The middle sister.
Shiho The youngest and most outspoken of the sisters. She is creeped out by Ukon and his womanizing, so she often physically punishes Ukon for his actions. She is also the most helpful to Sakon in his investigating.
Kikuchi Hisashi
Yoshida Kenji
Oki Katsumi

The Hell of the Egyptian Pharoah's Curse Manga Volumes 3 & 4 / Anime 14-18
Kisaragi-sensei Manager of the museum, Kisaragi-sensei was once Sakon's mentor. Now he is suspected of being a criminal!
Takahashi Yoshie A private secretary
Iishiki Seiji Assistant Manager of the museum
Hamada Kouichisou One of Kisaragi's staff clerks

Eccentric Talk of the Okuhida Ghost* Anime episodes 21-23
Gouzou Terao (age 60)
Toshio Kobayashi (age 30)
Hoshie Nishimura (age 22)
Mitsuru Numata (age 27)
Tsukiko Nishimura (age 25)
Youko Numata (age 30)
Zenkichi Fujita (age 21) A photographer - he also appears in volume four of the manga
Love Flowers Tearfall Profuse Bloom Dance* Anime episodes 24-26 Sakon's uncle , the head of the Tachibana Bunraku troupe, is murdered.  But was the murderer actually aiming for him...or another of the Tachibana household?
Saemon Tachibana (age 68) Sakon's grandfather, a master puppeteer who has been declared a Living National Treasure by Japan.  His name might possibly be the author's nod to Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the "Shakespeare of Japan" and famed puppet play writer and enthusiast.
Chizuru Tachibana (age 36) Sakon's mother
Niemon Tachibana (age 64)
Nagare Tachibana Sakon's father
Tomonori Tachibana (age 33)
Takumi Shinozaki (age 30)
Katsutoshi Atsumi (age 36)
Ayano Shigurezaki (age 26)
Strange Report:  The Fantastic Dream of a Tragic Love Manga Volume 4 / Drama cd 1 / Novel chapter 2 This story only has two chapters and no storyarc title. Sakon accidentally travels back in time to the Edo period. In Kuribito Village, he meets Rinsuke (who looks rather like a certain absent red-headed puppet!) and Haruka and becomes involved in their tragic tale...
Kurokaa He seems to be Haruka's arranged betrothed. Say it isn't so! With a frog face like that, it's not a shame that his appearances in the story are few.
Totoroki Kurokaa's right-hand man. Not a nice guy...
Rinsuke Not only does he look like Ukon, he acts like him too! click here for spoiler info	click for full image (40k)
Haruka A gentle puppet builder. click here for spoiler info

Listen to the Voice from Within!! Manga Volume 4 While visiting Sakon, Kaoruko stumbles upon a child's doll in his workshop. The doll carries with it the memories of Sakon's early struggles to become a true puppeteer.
Hiroshi A quiet boy who has become severly withdrawn, confiding only in his doll.
Hiroshi's brother After seeing Sakon fooling around with Ukon, he asks Sakon for help in getting his little brother to open up.

Naniwa Photographer Bible Hell * Manga Volume 4 Sakon, Ukon, and Shiho ( from the 4th storyarc) meet up with a master photojournalist. His last and recently discovered roll of film leads the trio, joined by Kaoruko, to a dangerous criminal with an affinity for reptiles.
Fujita Zenkichi (age 21) A well-known photojournalist whose pictures prove to be both surprising and useful... Note:  Zenkichi also appears in anime episodes 21-23
Date Awww, a boy and his snakes. At first he appears to be a nice guy, rescuing Shiho from a ruffian. But then he quickly shows his true nature!