s-CRY-ed

s-CRY-ed

スクライド
2001 Sunrise TV Tokyo 26 episodes Completed
Action Sci-Fi Supernatural
Details & Synopsis
A geological disaster tears part of Kanagawa away from mainland Japan and creates the Lost Ground. One percent of the children born there develop Alter powers, the ability to reshape matter through will. The mainland responds the way institutions usually respond to people it cannot control: containment, classification, and a special police force called HOLY.

Kazuma is a Native Alter who takes mercenary jobs because rent still exists after the apocalypse. Ryuho is a HOLY officer who believes control is the only thing keeping the Lost Ground from collapsing. Their powers are different, their politics are different, and both of them solve emotional problems by hitting the other one harder.

s-CRY-ed aired in 2001, directed by Goro Taniguchi years before Code Geass. Adult Swim picked it up in 2005, where Steve Blum's Kazuma helped the show fit perfectly beside the network's louder action lineup. It never became the biggest title in that block, but the people who watched it remember exactly how committed it was. No ironic distance. No apology for shouting attack names. No attempt to make the rivalry healthier.

Twenty-six episodes built around two men who would rather punch through the world than admit the other one understands them.
Alt Title スクライド
Studio Sunrise
Network TV Tokyo
Aired 2001
Episodes 26
Genre Action, Sci-Fi, Supernatural
Status Completed
Search Go to ep Filters
Arc List (3)
The Lost Ground (13) The Mainland Threat (12) The Final Clash (1)
The Lost Ground 13 eps 13 canon 📷 13
001 Kazuma Aired Jul 4, 2001 canon 📷 450 ►
Kazuma makes his living taking mercenary jobs around the Lost Ground while hiding his Alter ability from Kanami. After Kimishima finds him work dealing with the Native Alter Biff, Kazuma wins easily, only to run straight into HOLY. Ryuho arrives with Zetsuei and gives Kazuma his first real look at how far above him the city's Alter unit can be.
Lore · 3 Debut: Kazuma vs. Ryuho (First Wasteland Clash)
+2
Debut: Kazuma vs. Radish & Slum Brawlers s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma Hates the Cage Before He Cares Who Built It Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
View all 450 screencaps from this episode →
002 Ryuho Aired Jul 11, 2001 canon 📷 450 ►
Mimori Kiryu arrives in the Lost Ground hoping to work with HOLY and reconnect with Ryuho, the boy she knew years earlier. The present-day Ryuho is colder than the child she remembers, and his treatment of Native Alters immediately clashes with the way Mimori sees them. Kazuma, meanwhile, is still in HOLY custody after losing their first fight.
View all 450 screencaps from this episode →
003 Holy Aired Jul 18, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
A flashback reveals the childhood trauma behind Ryuho's hatred of uncontrolled Alter users: an unknown Alter killed his mother and dog. In the present, Kazuma refuses to cooperate with Ryuho's interrogation, takes Mimori hostage and turns his imprisonment into an escape attempt. Cougar and Kimishima help create the opening that gets him back to the Lost Ground.
Lore · 2 Ryuho Sees Native Alters Through the Worst Day of His Life
+1
HOLD Is the Government Arm; HOLY Is Its Alter Unit HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
004 Big Magnum Aired Jul 25, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Kimishima take a job connected to Ayase Terada and a group of Natives captured by HOLD. The operation puts them against Tatsunami and his oversized weaponized Alter, while Ayase becomes leverage against the rescue. Kazuma refuses to accept the hostage situation as a reason to quit and forces the job through anyway.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
005 Mimori Kiryu Aired Aug 1, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Mimori travels into the Lost Ground to treat people who cannot easily reach medical care. Kazuma reluctantly needs her help when Kanami becomes sick, bringing the city scientist directly into the life HOLY normally sees only from the outside. Asuka Tachibana, assigned to protect Mimori, challenges Kazuma and learns how badly HOLY has underestimated him.
Lore Mimori Learns the Lost Ground by Leaving the Safe Side of the Wall
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
006 Zetsuei Aired Aug 8, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Pressure from the Mainland pushes HOLY into the Great Alter Hunt, a large-scale roundup of Native Alter users. Kazuma and Kimishima help organize resistance while Ryuho, Scheris, Elian and Urizane move against them. Kazuma forces Ryuho to reveal more of Zetsuei, but their clash is interrupted when the disgraced Tachibana returns and a landslide separates him from Kazuma.
Lore · 3 The Great Alter Hunt Turns Containment Into a Roundup
+2
Urizane's Watermelon Alter Alter Encyclopedia Absolute Perception Alter Encyclopedia
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
007 Asuka Tachibana Aired Aug 15, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Tachibana are trapped together after the landslide and have to cooperate long enough to get out. Their forced truce gives Tachibana his first real chance to hear how Kazuma sees HOLY and the Lost Ground. Once they escape, they settle their own fight, and Kazuma's victory leaves Tachibana questioning the path he had been following.
Lore Eternity Eight
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
008 Mad Sprict Aired Aug 22, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma enters HOLY territory in an attempt to reach the captured Native Alters, but Unkei's Mad Sprict turns the situation into a scripted reality built around Kazuma's own emotions. Even a staged boxing match with Ryuho becomes part of the manipulation. Kazuma eventually realizes he is being forced through somebody else's story and breaks the script by refusing to play his assigned role.
Lore · 2 Debut: Kazuma vs. Unkei (The Scriptwriter)
+1
Mad Sprict Alter Encyclopedia
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
009 Shell Bullet Aired Aug 29, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Knowing he still cannot beat HOLY at his current level, Kazuma enters the Alter Forest looking for a way to become stronger. There he encounters the same mysterious Alter being tied to Ryuho's childhood trauma. The encounter pushes Kazuma into a new stage of his power and gives Shell Bullet the form that will define most of the battles that follow.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
010 Super Pinch Aired Sep 5, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma goes looking for another HOLY opponent and finds Emergy Maxfel, whose cheerful public act hides a much more dangerous Alter. Maxfel's giant robot shrugs off Kazuma's normal attacks, forcing Kazuma to use the new Shell Bullet he gained in the Alter Forest. Elsewhere, Mimori's questions about what happens to captured Native Alters put her directly at odds with Zigmarl.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
011 Alters Aired Sep 12, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
While detained by HOLY, Mimori records what she has learned about the Lost Ground, the Great Uprising and the emergence of Alter users. Cougar helps her escape, while Zigmarl's interest in Kazuma continues to grow. Kazuma wakes after the Maxfel fight and returns with Kimishima to find the farm destroyed, bringing the conflict with HOLY directly into the home he had been protecting.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
012 Kunihiko Kimishima Aired Sep 19, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
HOLY turns Kazuma into the public face of the crackdown while Kimishima works to get Kanami and the other civilians out. Kimishima keeps moving even after being badly wounded because getting Kazuma's people to safety matters more to him than surviving the job. Kazuma only realizes how badly he is hurt after the escape is over, and Kimishima dies before he can make it home.
Lore Kimishima's Death Turns HOLY Into a Face Kazuma Can Punch
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
013 The Lost Ground Aired Sep 26, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma answers Kimishima's death by tearing into HOLY until he reaches Ryuho. Ryuho is still carrying the childhood image of the Alter that killed his mother, while Kazuma is carrying fresh grief and looking for something he can hit. Their escalating clash opens contact with the Other Side and triggers the Second Great Uprising, swallowing both men and changing the Lost Ground again.
Lore · 2 Debut: Kazuma vs. Ryuho (Second Great Uprising)
+1
Their Biggest Fight Removes the Identities They Were Fighting With Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
The Mainland Threat 12 eps 11 canon 1 good filler 📷 12
014 Kyouji Mujo Aired Oct 3, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Eight months after the Second Great Uprising, neither Kazuma nor Ryuho has returned to the life he had before it. Mujo arrives from the Mainland with captured and refined Alter users at his disposal, while the Lost Ground lives under harsher control. Kanami is trapped in forced labor, Ryuho survives without his memories, and Cougar reveals that Kazuma is alive in an underground fighting circuit.
Lore Ryuho Protects Native Alters Before He Remembers Why He Hated Them
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
015 Rogue Aired Oct 10, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Mimori and Tachibana find Kazuma fighting underground and discover that surviving did not mean recovering. He keeps everyone at a distance, especially when they mention Kanami. Ryuho, still without his memories, has begun protecting the Native settlement around him simply because he cannot tolerate the way its people are being treated.
Lore Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
016 So Kigetsuki Aired Oct 17, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Scheris reaches Ryuho, but he refuses to return to HOLY while his memories are still incomplete. Unkei and So Kigetsuki try to force the issue by rewriting Ryuho's memories and surrounding him with the Tokonatsu Sisters. Kanami recognizes that something is wrong, and Ryuho's renewed contact with the Other Side finally brings his memories back. Elsewhere, Kazuma is confronted by Ayase.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
017 Ayase Terada Aired Oct 24, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Ayase and Biff attack Kazuma with powers strengthened by Mujo's refinement program. Ayase eventually explains why she accepted the deal: HOLY promised treatment for her sick younger brother. When that hope collapses, so does her reason to keep fighting. Mujo then appears and makes clear that the suffering around them is part of his larger attempt to reach and exploit the Other Side.
Lore · 2 Mujo Turns Refinement Into Extraction
+1
Noble Tempest Alter Encyclopedia
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
018 Straight Cougar Aired Oct 31, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kanami moves toward Kazuma after sensing the aftermath of his clash with Mujo, while Ryuho and the others continue converging on the same part of the Lost Ground. Cougar reaches Kazuma first. Rather than simply bring him home, he fights him hard enough to force Kazuma to stop hiding inside the underground circuit and remember what he still has left to protect.
Lore · 4 Debut: Kazuma vs. Straight Cougar
+3
Cougar Works for HOLY Without Ever Belonging to Its Logic HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Radical Good Speed Alter Encyclopedia Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
019 The Three Tokonatsu Sisters Aired Nov 7, 2001 good-filler 📷 285 ►
So Kigetsuki and the Tokonatsu Sisters attack the village as Mujo's side closes in on Ryuho and Kanami. Ryuho, Scheris and the villagers are overwhelmed until Kazuma and Cougar arrive. Kazuma destroys the combined Tokonatsu Alter, reunites with Kanami, and gives Mujo another reason to target the girl whose psychic ability is becoming impossible to ignore.
Lore The Tokonatsu Sisters
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
020 Kanami Yuta Aired Nov 14, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kanami remembers how Kazuma first became part of her life while the present-day group tries to understand what Mujo wants from the Other Side. She asks Kazuma not to fight Ryuho again, knowing by now that neither man is likely to accept that request. Before the rivalry can restart, Biff attacks and succeeds in kidnapping Kanami for Mujo.
Lore Kanami's Psychic Alter
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
021 HOLY EYE Aired Nov 21, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Ryuho both move to rescue Kanami, but Cougar stops them long enough to keep them from charging in blind. Mujo escalates from intimidation to direct force, using the Mainland's resources and the threat against Ryuho's family to provoke them. Kazuma and Ryuho destroy his satellite attack, and the resulting power opens the Other Side wide enough for Mujo to seize what he has been trying to reach.
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
022 Martin Zigmarl Aired Nov 28, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Ryuho split up inside the transformed HOLY complex. Ryuho faces Zigmarl, who finally reveals Alter Alias and deliberately pushes his former subordinate toward a greater level of power. Zigmarl wounds Ryuho with the claim that Ryuho caused his mother's death, then admits after losing that he used the lie to force Ryuho past his limit. The refinement that empowered Zigmarl has also aged him beyond recovery.
Lore · 3 Zigmarl Believes Control Can Still Protect the Lost Ground
+2
Zigmarl Lies to Ryuho Because He Thinks Pain Is the Only Lever Left HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Alter Alias Alter Encyclopedia
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
023 Scheris Adjani Aired Dec 5, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Cougar is defeated by Mujo and stripped of his Alter power while the others fight through the fortress. Ryuho faces the being from the Other Side connected to his mother's death and is mortally wounded. Scheris reaches him too late to save him normally and uses Eternal Devote at its full cost, restoring Ryuho by giving up her own life.
Lore · 2 Debut: Straight Cougar's Last Run
+1
Eternal Devote Alter Encyclopedia
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
024 Fist Aired Dec 12, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Ryuho reach the center of Mujo's fortress and split into separate final battles. Ryuho uses Zetsuei's armor form against the Alter being from the Other Side, while Kazuma keeps drawing deeper on Alter power against Mujo. Cougar spends what remains of his strength rescuing Kanami and the others, and Kazuma finally destroys Mujo with Proud Fist.
Lore · 2 Debut: Kazuma & Ryuho vs. Mujo and the Other Side
+1
Mujo Gives Them an Enemy Neither Man Can Misread Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
025 Native Aired Dec 19, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
With Mujo gone, the Mainland responds by trying to impose control on the Lost Ground directly. Kazuma and Ryuho turn their power against the incoming refined Alter forces rather than each other, while the people around them begin choosing what kind of life comes after HOLY and Mujo. Three months later, the immediate invasion has receded and the rivalry between Kazuma and Ryuho is the one unfinished piece left.
Lore Defeating Mujo Does Not Defeat the Mainland
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
The Final Clash 1 eps 1 canon 📷 1
026 Dream Aired Dec 26, 2001 canon 📷 285 ►
Kazuma and Ryuho finally fight with no arrest order, hostage or larger enemy left between them. They escalate through every Alter form they have, carry the battle into the sky and keep going after the powers themselves fall away, ending in a bare-knuckle fight in the dirt. The series refuses a spoken verdict and closes instead on a raised fist, then shows that years later both men are still out there protecting the Lost Ground in their own way.
Lore · 2 Debut: Kazuma (Proud Fist) vs. Ryuho (Ultimate Zetsuei)
+1
Episode 26 Is the First Time the Rivalry Belongs Only to Them Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
View all 285 screencaps from this episode →
ⓘ Legend
canon Episode adapts events from the source manga.
mixed Adapts source material but adds anime-original scenes.
good-filler Anime-original episode generally well-received by fans.
filler Anime-original episode not based on the source manga.
📷 Number of user-uploaded screencaps available for this episode.
KA

Kazuma

Hot-Blooded Protagonist

The undisputed king of the wasteland and the ultimate anti-hero. Kazuma doesn't care about politics or the massive walled city controlling the region; he just wants to get paid and protect his patch of dirt. His Alter power encases his right arm in metallic armor, allowing him to launch devastating, propulsion-powered punches. Yelling "Shell Bullet!" at the top of your lungs was practically a rite of passage for any anime fan in 2001. He is raw, unrefined, and completely unbreakable.
+18 LORE
Defeating Mujo Does Not Defeat the Mainland HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Mujo Gives Them an Enemy Neither Man Can Misread Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma Hates the Cage Before He Cares Who Built It Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Native Alters & Mercenary Life Lost Ground & Alter World Kazuma vs. Radish & Slum Brawlers s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma vs. Ryuho (First Wasteland Clash) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma vs. Unkei (The Scriptwriter) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma vs. Straight Cougar s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma vs. Ryuho (Second Great Uprising) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma & Ryuho vs. Mujo and the Other Side s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma (Proud Fist) vs. Ryuho (Ultimate Zetsuei) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma: Three Evolutionary Tiers Alter Evolutions & Dimensions Kazuma: Shell Bullet Alter Mechanics The Great Alter Hunt Turns Containment Into a Roundup HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Kimishima's Death Turns HOLY Into a Face Kazuma Can Punch Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Their Biggest Fight Removes the Identities They Were Fighting With Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Episode 26 Is the First Time the Rivalry Belongs Only to Them Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
RY

Ryuho

The Elite Rival

The absolute polar opposite to Kazuma. Ryuho is the cold, calculating elite enforcer for HOLY, the corporate police force of the walled city. Dressed in a pristine white uniform, he fights using Zetsuei, a fluid, ribbon-like Alter that moves with terrifying grace and precision. The escalating, deeply personal rivalry between Ryuho's rigid sense of justice and Kazuma's absolute chaotic freedom is the roaring engine that drives the entire series forward.
+14 LORE
HOLD Is the Government Arm; HOLY Is Its Alter Unit HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Ryuho Sees Native Alters Through the Worst Day of His Life Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Their Biggest Fight Removes the Identities They Were Fighting With Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Ryuho Protects Native Alters Before He Remembers Why He Hated Them Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Ryuho: Three Evolutionary Tiers Alter Evolutions & Dimensions Ryuho: Zetsuei Alter Mechanics Defeating Mujo Does Not Defeat the Mainland HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Zigmarl Lies to Ryuho Because He Thinks Pain Is the Only Lever Left HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Mujo Gives Them an Enemy Neither Man Can Misread Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Episode 26 Is the First Time the Rivalry Belongs Only to Them Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma vs. Ryuho (First Wasteland Clash) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma vs. Ryuho (Second Great Uprising) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma & Ryuho vs. Mujo and the Other Side s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma (Proud Fist) vs. Ryuho (Ultimate Zetsuei) s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger
SC

Straight Cougar

The Speed Freak / Mentor

"Radical Good Speed!" Straight Cougar is quite possibly the coolest character in the entire show. He talks fast, reads books incredibly fast, and uses his Alter to turn his vehicles (and his own legs) into impossibly high-speed weapons. Though he works for the oppressive HOLY organization, his personal code and completely eccentric, free-spirited nature make him a bizarre mentor figure to both Kazuma and Ryuho. He brings an infectious, undeniable swagger to the wasteland.
+5 LORE
Radical Good Speed Alter Encyclopedia Cougar Works for HOLY Without Ever Belonging to Its Logic HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Straight Cougar's Last Run s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma vs. Straight Cougar s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger
KY

Kanami Yuta

The Anchor

The sweet, innocent girl who lives with Kazuma and acts as his only tether to his own humanity. Kanami spends her days tending a barren farm and having mysterious dreams about a "kindhearted hero" (who is totally not Kazuma). In a series packed to the brim with screaming, hyper-violent men punching each other through mountains, Kanami provides the desperately needed emotional grounding that makes the audience actually care about the fate of the Lost Ground.
+3 LORE
Kanami's Psychic Alter Alter Encyclopedia Episode 26 Is the First Time the Rivalry Belongs Only to Them Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight
KK

Kunihiko Kimishima

Best Bro / Fixer

Kazuma's fast-talking manager and the absolute definition of loyalty. Kimishima doesn't have an Alter; he's just a regular guy surviving in the wasteland with a revolver, a beaten-up van, and a ton of street smarts. He finds the jobs, negotiates the pay, and constantly bails Kazuma out of trouble. His profound, unwavering friendship with Kazuma provides one of the most gut-wrenching and pivotal emotional turning points in the entire franchise.
LORE
MK

Mimori Kiryu

Idealistic Scientist

The classic "girl on the inside" who slowly realizes her perfect corporate utopia is built entirely on the oppression of the wasteland. Mimori starts as a naive, highly privileged scientist working for HOLY and Ryuho's childhood friend. However, her unwavering moral compass eventually forces her to abandon her comfortable life, stepping out into the brutal Lost Ground to uncover the dark, twisted truths behind the Alter mutations.
LORE
AT

Asuka Tachibana

Humbled Elite

Asuka has one of the absolute best redemption arcs in the entire series. He starts off as an incredibly arrogant, stuck-up HOLY elite who fights with "Eternity Eight", a set of floating green orbs he commands with a literal conductor's baton. After getting decisively humbled by Kazuma and losing his corporate backing, Asuka is forced to learn how to survive in the slums as a regular person, shedding his massive ego to become a genuinely reliable ally.
+2 LORE
Eternity Eight Alter Encyclopedia Scheris and Asuka Show Two Ways Loyalty to HOLY Can Break HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland
SA

Scheris Adjani

Tragic Heroine

The hyper-energetic, fiercely loyal HOLY member whose bright personality masks a deeply tragic fate. Scheris is hopelessly in love with Ryuho, and her Alter ability allows her to heal and physically amplify others, at a severe cost to her own life force. Her journey culminates in one of the most heartbreaking, emotionally devastating sacrifices of the early 2000s anime era, permanently altering Ryuho's trajectory.
+2 LORE
Eternal Devote Alter Encyclopedia Scheris and Asuka Show Two Ways Loyalty to HOLY Can Break HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland
MZ

Martin Zigmarl

HOLY Commander

The imposing, stoic commander of HOLY. For the first half of the series, Zigmarl just seems like your standard, cold-hearted corporate bureaucrat calling the shots from a high-rise. However, he hides the fact that he is actually one of the oldest, most powerful native Alter users in existence. When he finally steps onto the battlefield, the sheer, terrifying scale of his Alter Almighty completely resets the power ceiling of the show.
+6 LORE
Alter Alias Alter Encyclopedia Zigmarl Believes Control Can Still Protect the Lost Ground HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland HOLY: Alter Users Policing Alter Users HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland The Great Alter Hunt Turns Containment Into a Roundup HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Zigmarl Lies to Ryuho Because He Thinks Pain Is the Only Lever Left HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland HOLD Is the Government Arm; HOLY Is Its Alter Unit HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland
KM

Kyoji Mujo

SPOILER!

Megalomaniac

The absolute definition of an unhinged, early-2000s anime villain. Mujo is a manipulative, power-hungry mastermind who completely hijacks the systemic oppression of the Lost Ground for his own god complex. With his slicked-back hair, massive ego, and an obsession with absorbing the raw energy of the mysterious "Other Side," he is the ultimate antagonist who desperately, profoundly needs to be punched in the face by Kazuma's Shell Bullet.
+4 LORE
Kyoji Mujo Arrives When the Mainland Stops Trusting HOLY HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Mujo Turns Refinement Into Extraction HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland Mujo Gives Them an Enemy Neither Man Can Misread Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight Kazuma & Ryuho vs. Mujo and the Other Side s-CRY-ed Master Combat Ledger
UR

Urizane

Comedic Relief / Watermelon Enthusiast

Let's be entirely honest: an Alter power completely based around watermelons is exactly the kind of absurd, highly specific early 2000s anime logic we live for. Urizane is a laid-back, perpetually snacking HOLY member whose Alter allows him to manipulate watermelons into shields, bombs, or whatever else the plot demands. He is fantastic comedic relief, proving that not everyone with a mutation needs to be an angst-ridden weapon of mass destruction.
LORE
AT

Ayase Terada

Tragic Encounter

A stark, painful reminder of how brutally the Lost Ground exploits its own people. Ayase is a gentle native Alter user who manipulates water, but she is desperately trying to scrape together enough money to leave the wasteland and secure a better life for her younger brother. Her desperate, doomed alliance with HOLY and her inevitable clash with Kazuma brings a heavy, grounded emotional weight to the middle of the series.
+2 LORE
Noble Tempest Alter Encyclopedia Mujo Turns Refinement Into Extraction HOLD, HOLY & the Mainland
BI

Biff

The Meathead Miniboss

"I AM BIFF!" In the grand tradition of giant, hulking anime henchmen who scream their own name while flexing, Biff is an absolute legend. He is one of the early native Alter users Kazuma has to punch his way through, and his entire personality is basically just being incredibly large and wanting to smash things. He is the quintessential, disposable Saturday morning cartoon roadblock, and we love him for it.
EL

Elian

Child Weapon / Observer

The creepy, omnipresent child trope executed to perfection. Elian isn't just one kid; he's a series of clones who possess a terrifyingly absolute Alter that can manipulate electronics, broadcast signals, and reshape the environment. Serving under Mujo, Elian watches the chaos of the Lost Ground through monitors while eating lollipops, representing the cold, dehumanizing extreme of weaponized Alter experimentation.
LORE
SK

Sou Kigetsuki

HOLY Elite / Puppet Master

A highly arrogant HOLY inner-circle member who fights using the "Tokonatsu Sisters", three female puppet Alters that he controls with terrifying precision. Kigetsuki represents the old guard of the corporate elites: wealthy, disconnected, and viewing the wasteland residents as little more than toys to be played with and discarded. Watching his smug superiority slowly crack when faced with the raw, untamed power of the Lost Ground is incredibly satisfying.
LORE
← All lore

Kazuma & Ryuho: Why They Have to Fight

Before They Understand Each Other

Ryuho Sees Native Alters Through the Worst Day of His Life

Crystal · His Mother's Death · Control Before Trust

Ryuho does not join HOLY as a neutral observer deciding which political system sounds best. His childhood is shattered by an Alter user he cannot control or understand. By the time he meets Kazuma, uncontrolled Alter power already means danger to him.
Why it matters
Kazuma looks like proof that Ryuho is right. He is powerful, unregistered, openly contemptuous of authority and perfectly willing to punch through anyone sent to contain him. Ryuho judges Kazuma before he knows anything about the life Kazuma is actually protecting.
Ryuho

Kazuma Hates the Cage Before He Cares Who Built It

Native Alter · Mercenary · Freedom as Survival

Kazuma is not leading an organized revolution when HOLY first comes after him. He works, gets paid, feeds Kanami and refuses to be processed into somebody else's system. HOLD and HOLY become his enemy because they keep entering his world and telling people like him what they are allowed to be.
Why it matters
Ryuho sees lawlessness. Kazuma sees a cage. Their first fights are personal because each man mistakes the other for the thing he already hates.
Kazuma

Kimishima Changes the Meaning of the Fight

Kimishima's Death Turns HOLY Into a Face Kazuma Can Punch

SPOILER!

Grief · Revenge · Ryuho Becomes the Target

Kimishima dies helping Kazuma survive HOLY's crackdown. Kazuma does not process that loss by separating the people responsible from the organization, or the organization from Ryuho. He attacks.
What changed
Before Kimishima dies, Kazuma fights because nobody gets to own him. Afterward, he fights because somebody he loves is gone. Ryuho becomes the human face of a system Kazuma wants to hurt back, whether Ryuho personally caused Kimishima's death or not.
Kunihiko Kimishima Kazuma

The Second Great Uprising Breaks Both Men

Their Biggest Fight Removes the Identities They Were Fighting With

SPOILER!

Ryuho Loses His Memory · Kazuma Walks Away From Everyone

The Episode 13 clash does not settle the rivalry. It blows both men out of the lives that defined them. Ryuho wakes without his memories and begins protecting a Native settlement without HOLY telling him who deserves protection. Kazuma survives too, but retreats into underground fights and refuses to return to Kanami.
Why it matters
For eight months, each man lives outside the identity he defended in the first half. Ryuho learns he can choose to protect people without the uniform. Kazuma learns that absolute separation is not freedom when it leaves him too afraid to go home.
Kazuma Ryuho

Ryuho Protects Native Alters Before He Remembers Why He Hated Them

SPOILER!

Amnesia Removes HOLY, Not His Instinct to Protect

Without his memories, Ryuho finds people being abused in a Native settlement and acts against the men controlling them. Nobody has to persuade him that the villagers count as people. The decision comes before the restored memories and before any reconciliation with Kazuma.
Why it matters
The amnesia arc quietly answers one of the series' biggest questions about Ryuho. HOLY gave his anger a structure, but it did not create the part of him that wants to protect people.
Ryuho

Kazuma's Underground Exile Is Fear Wearing His Usual Face

SPOILER!

Kimishima Is Gone · Kanami Is Still Alive · Kazuma Stays Away

Kazuma looks like Kazuma after the time skip. He still fights. He still mouths off. He still refuses orders. But he has stopped going home. Kimishima's death has taught him the ugliest possible lesson: people close to him can die because of the fights he chooses.
Why it matters
His distance from Kanami is not proof that he stopped caring. It is the opposite. Kazuma tries to protect her by removing himself from her life, and Cougar eventually has to push him hard enough to admit that disappearing is not the same thing as protecting somebody.
Kazuma Kanami Yuta Straight Cougar

They Can Fight Together Without Becoming the Same Person

Mujo Gives Them an Enemy Neither Man Can Misread

SPOILER!

The Lost Ground Is Being Used · Kanami Is Taken · The Mainland Wants More

By the final Mujo campaign, Kazuma and Ryuho no longer need to agree about authority, discipline or what a good life looks like. They only need to recognize the same immediate truth: Mujo is using the Lost Ground, its Alter users and the Other Side as material for his own power.
What changed
Their alliance works because neither man has to surrender the thing that made him the other's rival. They finally have enough information to point those differences at the same enemy.
Kazuma Ryuho Kyoji Mujo

The Fight at the End Has No Excuse Left

Episode 26 Is the First Time the Rivalry Belongs Only to Them

SPOILER!

No HOLY Order · No Mujo · No Hostage · No Greater Cause

For most of the series, Kazuma and Ryuho can explain a fight with something outside themselves. Arrest. Revenge. HOLY. Kanami. The Lost Ground. Mujo. By Episode 26 those excuses are gone.
Why it matters
Kanami understands why asking them not to fight will not solve anything. They are not trying to decide which government should rule the Lost Ground. They are finally answering the stupid, sincere, completely personal question that has been sitting underneath everything else: when nothing is left between them, which one can make the other stay down?
Kazuma Ryuho Kanami Yuta