Iji/Characters

The characters from Daniel Remar's indie game Iji.

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Humans

Iji Kataiser

File:Iji.jpg

• Action Girl
• Anti-Hero: Type I at first, Type IV on a killer run.
• Apologetic Attacker: Until she kills enough enemies, she apologies after each kill.
• Artistic Age: She's supposed to be 20, but looks more like a teenager in the cutscenes.
• Badass: In the backstory a single 'Annihilator' mini-boss went berserk on a Tasen warship and killed nearly everyone, Tasen and Kamoto alike. Iji however can simply ignore them, or at the top of her combat prowess destroy them in a matter of seconds.
• Badass Pacifist: Except when she's not.
• The Berserker: Iji can easily become this if she kills enough enemies.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Despite starting out reluctant to kill clearly hostile aliens she can end up with a body count in the hundreds.
• Big Sister Instinct: She ends up protective of Dan. Asha, for endangering him is the only person she never shows even a shred of regret for killing him and this reaction is completely unchanged by her kill count.
• Break the Cutie: So much.
  • Corrupt the Cutie: After getting a few kills too many.
• Determinator: And how.
• Everyone Calls Her Anomaly: Except Ansaksie on a pacifist run. She never actually told them her name, though.
• The Hero
• Heroic BSOD: She goes through a complete mental breakdown if Dan dies, including talking to him as if he's still there.
• Hollywood Cyborg
• Hypocrite: On a killer path. She argues the alien leaders are immoral for killing everyone, while she's been doing just that.
• Implacable Woman: If you max out her health stat.
• It Gets Easier: Kill a couple of aliens at the start of the game. Listen to Iji's reactions. Kill a hundred more aliens. Compare and contrast.
• Kick Chick: Because she can't really punch while holding her gun, kicking is Iji's main close-combat method.
• Last of Their Kind: While the number isn't easily discernible, there aren't that many humans left alive after the Alpha Strike.
• Missing Mom: Word of God says that Ron had two wives, both of which left him. Neither get mentioned in the game.
• Morph Weapon: The Nanogun.
• One Woman Army: Actually an in-game rank.
• Plucky Girl
• Reluctant Warrior: At first.
• Road Runner PC: Though there are still some enemies faster than her, she can still outrun most of them.
• Sanity Slippage
• Small Girl, Big Gun: For humans, Iji's quite tall at 6'3". However, since her gun was designed for Tasen, who are 7 feet tall at the shortest (and the Elites who would get to use her gun are closer to 9'), the gun is ridiculously oversized for her.
• Swiss Army Weapon: The Nanogun, again.
• Technical Pacifist: This is generally what you'll be if you're on a pacifist run.
  • To clarify: There are plenty of ways to kill enemies without getting them on your counter, including arranging friendly fire accidents (e.g. blocking missiles with your face while standing next to an enemy, so that you'll survive the explosion but he won't), letting another enemy do the dirty work, setting a mine, and (in 1.6) reflecting their shots back at them. Also, machine enemies don't count, nor do Assassins (who aren't killed, but driven away).
• Theme Naming: All the Kataisers have three-letter first names.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: On a killer run, she intends to drive the invading aliens back off the Earth before they can destroy what little is left...by blowing everyone in her way straight to hell.
• Wild Hair
• The Woobie
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds if you do a killer run.

Dan Kataiser

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: He's a manipulative bossy jerk and some of his early dialogue veers almost into Kick the Dog territory, but anyone who didn't cry at his potential death is a lying bastard.
• Author Avatar: He shares a name with the game's creator, although it's not certain if he was entirely based on him.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: When using the Scrambler, Dan will take several opportunities to do this, including humming the boss theme song and saying that he got the best Scrambler quotes.
• Dead Little Brother
• Exposition Fairy: Dan's Sector 1 conversations are essentially solely for this purpose.
• Jerkass: Despite being helpful in some ways, he's not very popular due to some of the things he says.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: During the second half of the game, he reveals himself to be this, especially if you manage to save his life.
• Last of Their Kind: See the above entry on Iji.
• Mission Control
• Mummies At the Dinner Table: If Dan dies, Iji is so in denial she'll pretend he's still there.
• Non-Action Guy
• Plotline Death: Although you can save him through creative trapmine use.
• Theme Naming
• Voice with an Internet Connection: It's the loudspeakers, but the idea is the same.

Mia Kataiser

• Dead Little Sister
• Mummies At the Dinner Table: Her ribbons aren't actually there. Iji's just hallucinating.
• Posthumous Character
• Theme Naming

Ron Kataiser

• All There in the Script: His name is only mentioned once off-hand in an out-of-the-way logbook. His backstory isn't even in the game at all.
• Disappeared Dad: He doesn't have one, but he serves this role to his children after he dies.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Only his coworkers mention him, his children barely mention him.
• Posthumous Character
• The Professor
• Theme Naming

The Tasen

Krotera

File:Krotera.jpg

• Complete Monster: He's certainly the least sympathetic Tasen in the game. Unfortunately, he's also the one in charge.
• General Ripper
• King Mook: Though he has some unique attacks, the Elites found in other sectors fight in mostly the same way.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: While ordinary Tasen Elites wear grey armour with yellow trim, Krotera's is yellow on red.
• The Neidermeyer
• Skippable Boss: As long as you kill no one in the first three sectors, you can bypass the battle with him.
• Unexplained Accent: Krotera seems to speak in a slight German accent, despite being, well, an alien. Of course, this suits him quite well.
• Wake Up Call Boss

Vateilika

• Action Girl
• Big Damn Heroes
• Heel Face Turn: As long as you follow the truce, she becomes an ally to Iji.
• Last of Their Kind
• Punch Clock Villain
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here
• Stop Poking Me: If she's on your side by Sector 7, she'll make some comments on the backstory if you attempt to crack her.
• The Dog Bites Back: If you get her on your side, she'll come in and kill Krotera right when he's trash-talking her.

Yukabacera

• Almighty Janitor: He uses the same sprite as a regular Tasen mook, but he's certainly the strongest Tasen in the game.
  • And stronger then any non-boss Komato, too.
    • He's only weaker than Annihilators when it comes to strictly non-Boss enemies, having 50hp to their 80hp, though Annihilators are all Mini Boss types. Compared to all bosses, he has double the HP of Krotera, and about five times the HP of Asha. Proxima has four times his HP and Iosa eight... Tor about twenty times or so, depending on difficulty and whether or not you fully power up his suit before the fight.
• Badass Bookworm
• Bonus Boss: He can be fought if you apply some careful tactics in Sector 6 to get up to his bunker.
• Boss in Mook Clothing
• Fun Personified
• Mr. Exposition: Not in the game, but there's some secret pages on Remar's website allegedly written by him explaining much of the backstory.
• Playful Hacker

The Diary Writer

• Child Soldier
• Discount Lesbians
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
• Last of Their Kind: Along with Vateilika, the diary writer and her girlfriend are the only Tasen to survive the game, assuming you've made the truce.
  • As of version 1.6, if you make the truce and go pacifist till the end of Sector 9, the Tasen open their final outpost and you get to fight Iosa before she can barge in and raze said outpost. So, in this case, about a dozen Tasen survive, and it seems their race might still have a chance.
• No Name Given: Neither the diary writer nor her girlfriend have names. "PAIE" is just a callsign (now confirmed by Word of God: here).
• Straight Gay: Many players thought she was supposed to be a guy from reading her diaries, since it's all just text logs with no voice for comparison.
• Sympathetic POV

Hel Sarie

• Action Girl
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Until her death, Sarie was the leader of all Tasen, and certainly the most badass.
• Deader Than Dead: She was completely disintegrated, along with her ship, by a Phantom Hammer. Ouch.
• A Mother to Her Men
• One Woman Army
• Posthumous Character

The Komato

Asha

• Arch Enemy
• Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: He doesn't quite fit the Kung Fu part, though like all Assassins he carries a sword, but certainly the "arrogant" part.
• Beam Spam: During the second battle, he frequently shoots his Plasma Cannon in a circle.
• Break the Haughty: He breaks down and kills himself out of shame if Iji manages to get around his second fight.
• Beyond the Impossible: In the second fight he can dodge anything, even a nuke. He just chooses not to.
  • His method of rapid firing his lasers at the pace of his dual-wielding fellow assassins is to alternately teleport prep'd guns into his only hand.
• Complete Monster: The game goes at great lengths to assure you that if you like this guy, you're missing the point.
• Degraded Boss: In the first fight with him, he fights in the same way other assassins do later on. He has a unique style for the rematch.
• Doppelganger Spin: Afterimages of him start to accumulate after a while during the second fight.
• Dual Wield: The only Assassin who doesn't do this, due to having only one arm.
• Evil Laugh: "A-HA-ha-ha-HA!"
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Fake Ultimate Villain, actually.
• Fragile Speedster: He is the quickest teleporter among the assassins, capable of dodging any attack, but he's not that much more durable.
• Gender Blender Name: "Asha" is a girl's name in most parts of the world, and he's one of the most manly characters in the game. The creator didn't know that it was a real name when he came up with it.
• Handicapped Badass: Despite telefragging his own arm off, he's still as competent in battle as other assassins.
• Laser Blade
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Like Krotera, he's based on an ordinary enemy found later in the game, but differs slightly. In this case, he wears purple instead of black, and apparently isn't wearing a shirt.
• Pride: Asha puts the "ass" in assassin. TWICE!
• Skippable Boss: Through some Dungeon Bypass.
• Smug Snake
• Story-Breaker Power: Asha's dodging ability would make him literally invincible in an area he'd mapped out if he weren't a pathological idiot.
• Ted Baxter
• Tele Frag: He lost his arm when he accidentally teleported partway into a wall.
• Teleport Spam: His preferred method of locomotion.
• Too Clever by Half
• Took a Level In Badass: The second fight with him, and he was already pretty badass to begin with.
• Villainous Breakdown: Activate a single checkpoint before going into the second fight with Asha. Die to him. Activate a second checkpoint. Die to him again. Then challenge him one last time. His reaction is PRICELESS.
  • For those of you who don't want to go through sector X in a very specific and difficult way just to get this reaction, he says that he is going to "rip you apart and throw the pieces into a black hole. TEN TIMES".
• Villains Never Lie: Averted, Dan's not a traitor. It's just a trap. Iji sees through this anyway.
• Walking Shirtless Scene
• Weaksauce Weakness: In the second fight, he can only be damaged by your weakest guns, because he thinks they're not worth his time dodging.
  • Too Dumb to Live.
• Your Head Asplode: Inverted; his head is the only part of him that doesn't explode messily when he dies.
• Zero Effort Boss: His first encounter is...underwhelming if you have a Nuke.

Iosa Sakera

File:Iosa.jpg

• Anticlimax Boss: Invinciblity or otherwise, the second phase of the battle goes by quite quickly. And the first phase is just easy; she insists on patrolling back and forth below platforms conveniently located for you to jump out of reach of her guns.
• Boom! Headshot!: How she dies, assuming Ansaksie isn't with you.
• Badass
• Bare-Fisted Monk: After her exoskeleton is destroyed, she fights entirely using her claws.
• The Berserker
• Complete Monster: We're talking about someone who kills all the last survivors of an entire species without any remorse. And laughs about it when questioned.
• Dark Action Girl
• The Dragon
• Evil Counterpart: Of Iji.
• Freudian Excuse: Her world got whacked with an Alpha Strike, with her on it. She survived, and now she won't rest until every last trace of the Tasen are wiped from existence.
• Humongous Mecha: She fights in her Annihilator exoskeleton for the first part of the battle.
• Implacable Woman
• Mask Power: Every alien in the game wears some sort of mask, but Iosa gets bonus points for wearing what looks like a sock over her face.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Iosa is often called "the Invincible", and for good reason.
• Nigh Invulnerable
• Not So Different: Both Iji and Iosa lost their homeworlds to Tasen Alpha Strikes. Iji attempts to call her out on it at the beginning of their fight. Depending on how the player has been playing Iji, Iosa can throw that right back in her face.
• Odd Name Out: She's the only alien in the game with a last name, at least one ever mentioned.
• One Woman Army: Her kill count is over one thousand; so high, the number wrapped back to zero.
• Puzzle Boss: She can be defeated through superior firepower, but it's easier just to use the laser traps in the room.
• Unholy Matrimony: In one of the logbooks, Asha states that she and Tor are lovers.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Since she's immune to projectiles, the only way to keep her under control is to kick her several times.

Ansaksie

• Action Girl
• Actual Pacifist: As much as a warrior can get, anyway.
• Distaff Counterpart: Of Asha. Word of God says she was made female to distinguish the two. Their outlooks are exact opposites, though.
• Enemy Mine: If you're a pacifist, you can get her on your side against Iosa.
• Ensemble Darkhorse
• Heel Face Turn
• Infinity+1 Sword: The Massacre weapon, which she is in possession of. If you manage to score 0 kills, she'll give it to Iji right before the final boss fight.
• Laser Blade
• Minored in Asskicking: See Actual Pacifist. Her total kill count is 42 according to Word of God.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Her advice to the rest of the assassins when Asha goes off his nut.
• Reluctant Warrior
• Teleport Spam

Tor

• Anti-Villain: Type II. If he doesn't try to destroy Earth and wipe out the Tasen, the High Council will be forced to execute him and destroy Earth anyway.
• Bait and Switch Boss: It's the same guy, but when you first run into him, he's just a regular Komato, so the player might expect a simple shootout. Then he summons his mech.
• Beam Spam: Know as "Death Hail" in the official guide.
• BFG: Tor's own gun isn't that big. His exoskeleton's, on the other hand...
• Big Bad
• Crazy Awesome: The battle with him is just about the most epic one in the game.
• Disintegrator Ray: His Phantom Hammer.
• Evil Sounds Deep: To the point of incomprehensibility.
• Four-Star Badass: Being ranked General and being the opponent for the climactic battle of the game is a sure-fire qualification for the title.
• Final Boss
• General Ripper: Subverted. It's just an act he puts on.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's really a good guy inside.
• Humongous Mecha
• Macross Missile Massacre
• Marathon Boss
• One-Hit Kill: The Phantom Hammer doesn't just kill you, it wipes out all your stats.
• Punch Clock Villain
• Slave to PR: The only reason he's stuck doing things he really doesn't want to do.
• This Cannot Be!: Defeat him on maximum charge on Ultimortal, and you'll get this gem:

Tor: Grraagh! Impossible... it, it's impossible!!! How could a mere human... so weak and insignificant... against a fully powered General? So much fighting skill and combat spirit... in such a frail body... Have mercy... please, I beg of you to have mercy on me!

• True Final Boss: On a New Game+, you can "maximum charge" his exoskeleton, making him even tougher.
• Unholy Matrimony: See the above entry on Iosa.
• Wave Motion Gun: He can use the Phantom Hammer as a handheld ray. Okay, with his mech, but still.

Kiron

• Take Up My Sword
• The Voice: We never see Kiron, we just hear him over Tor's intercom.
• You Are in Command Now