Himiko-den

KYOU

Kyou is the obligatory cute mascot in Himiko-den, and arguably one of the more cute. His vocabulary in the anime consists almost entirely of "kyou" in it's various forms, though he also appears to be fond of using "BAH!" He can be tooth-achingly cute at times. Whenever Kyou gets major amounts of screen time, you can be sure he's going to do *something* cute.

However, in the video game, things are quite different. Oh, Kyou is there, for sure. But he actually talks, in full sentences! He turns out to be one of the major characters in the early game (but since I haven't gone past the "early game," I can't comment about later on).

In the anime, Kyou is the last survivor of his kind, thanks to landing on the pendant in episode 1. He's becomes Himiko's guardian or companion, since she is the holder of the pendant and is the key to all of the events that occur in 3rd century Yamataikoku. Not to worry though... without giving away too much, suffice it to say that he isn't the last of his kind for the whole time. ^_^

SHIKARA~THE BAD GUY!

Shikara is a general in Kunekoku's army, a position granted to him by his father, the emperor. However, his goals are set much higher than that - his research into Yamataikoku has revealed some interesting possibilities, which he fully exploits for his own purposes. And those purposes are much more grandiose than simply succeeding his father to the throne.

He is your typical anime villain - normal appearances, great evil plans he hipes from everyone, and a maniacal laugh that just won't stop. He almost puts Katsuhiko Jinnai (from El Hazard) to shame with his laugh - almost... Jinnai still wins out, though. ^_^;;

One of his most memorable quotes (well, for me and the group of friends I've managed to convert over to Himiko-den-ism) comes in the very first episode, amongst much maniacal laughter. "Kore wa yoi!" which translates to "This is good!" - right before things go terribly wrong. The irony is quite humorous.