Main Characters
Makina Hoshimura
Makina is a main character and a contracted "living corpse". Two years before the start of the story, Makina and her entire family was killed by a group of Shikabane called the Seven Stars. She is tasked with killing 108 corpses to gain entrance to heaven. She has formidable physical skills and her weapon of choice are two Ingram MAC-11 machine guns. Her contracted monk was Keisei Tagami. Later in the story, it is revealed that her family discovered the process of making a Shikabane Hime, and also that her ancestors were the ones who practiced the human sacrifice that created Hokuto. That was why the Seven Stars made her into a Shikabane so that Hokuto could have a reason to be fighting against the Kougon Sect; because Makina was her enemy and part of the Kougon Sect. It was also told that Keisei stayed with her family before becoming a monk of the Kougon Sect and she might have actually loved Keisei since they were little. It was also the death of Keisei that makes her develop her second regret, which gave birth to her powerful curse. When Keisei was dying in her arms, he asked her to smile for him so that he coul After Keisei's death, Ouri became her new contracted monk.
Ouri Kagami
Ouri is a normal high school boy who was raised at Keisei Tagami's child-care system in the temple. He treats Keisei as his brother even though they are not actually blood related. Ouri is able to appear where the Shikabanes are because of a mysterious cat who began to talk to him. After the second time talking to the cat, Ouri knew that when he saw the cat he had to follow it, leading him to the corpses. He has also been nicknamed by the children at the temple "Hanagami". It was revealed that he was born of a mother who died in a hit-and-run accident and became a Shikabane a few days before she was to give birth to Ouri. He lived the first three years of his life just trying to get the attention of his mother, but was rejected every time he approached her because she couldn't recognize her own son. Keisei took him into his child-care program in the temple and took care of him from that day forward after he was ordered by the Kougon Sect to kill Ouri's mother. Later on after Keisei's death he became Makina's new contracted monk, training in Mount Goryo for six months to become a contract monk. By the end of the series, he could create a powerful Zadan technique, which is impressing because of the little amount of training he managed to squeeze in. In the anime, it is strongly implied that he is in love with Makina, though he never confessed his feelings to her because of being pressured on the fact of the differences between Shikabane Hime and humans.
Keisei Tagami
Keisei Tagami was a Buddhist priest under the anti-corpse organization known as the Kōugon Sect. He found Ouri Kagami as a three-year-old child and raised him at his temple orphanage after he was sent to kill Ouri's mother, who had become a Shikabane. Keisei was an orphan himself, raised by Makina Hoshimura's father after his parents died in a car accident. When the Hoshimura family was brutally murdered, he agreed to become Makina's contracted monk; so he could help her fulfill her wish of destroying the Seven Stars that killed her and her family. He was something of a pervert, often offering (or forcing upon) Ouri sexual posters or skin mags. He died near the end of the first season, after Ouri was controlled by Ena to stab Keisei. Keisei didn't die that minute, but Akasha came to take his eye to make a new catalyst of Shikabane blood. When Makina was being attacked by one of the Seven Stars, he broke a piece of poison holy leaf in his mouth and spit it out at the Shikabane, which allowed Makina to get out free. But the poison in the leaf also got into his body, being that using this weapon would turn out to be a double-edged sword, and he died after asking Makina to smile for him, so he can go knowing that he was able to keep his end of the bargain to the very end.