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Kagerou Project

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Written by
  
Jin (Shizen no Teki-P)

Published by
  
Demographic
  
Male

Illustrated by
  
Sidu

English publisher
  
Imprint
  
KCG Bunko

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Genres
  
Action fiction, supernatural, Tragedy

ia children record pv english subs


The Kagerou Project (カゲロウプロジェクト, Kagerō Purojekuto, lit. "Heat Haze Project"), also known as "Kagerou Daze" (カゲロウデイズ, Kagerō Deizu, lit. "Heat Haze Daze"), is a Japanese mixed-media project. It started as a Vocaloid song series created by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P) (じん(自然の敵P)). The story revolves around the Mekakushi Dan, a group of teenagers with unusual eye-related powers.

Contents

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The series became popular on the video sharing website Niconico after the release of the song "Kagerou Daze", which also gave the series its name. The song has amassed over 3 million views and is the most popular song of the project. Seven light novels have been released, written by Jin and illustrated by Sidu (しづ, Shizu). A manga adaptation with illustrations by Mahiro Satou (佐藤まひろ, Satō Mahiro), began serialization in Monthly Comic Gene on June 15, 2012. A 12-episode anime adaptation titled Mekakucity Actors (メカクシティアクターズ, Mekakushiti Akutāzu, lit. "Blindfold-city Actors")—"Mekakucity" being a portmanteau of "mekakushi" ("blindfold" in Japanese) and "city"—aired between April 12 and June 28, 2014. The series was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and produced by Shaft.

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Plot

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Shintarō Kisaragi is an 18-year-old hiki-NEET who has not left his room in two years, engrossing himself with his computer and the internet. However, on August 14, due to the messing about of the cyber girl Ene, who lives inside his computer, Shintarō spills soda on his computer keyboard and is forced to go outside to buy a new one, due to the fact that during the Obon festival none of the stores will deliver until August 17. Shintarō goes to the department store, where a group of criminals break in and hold the people inside hostage for ransom. Here he comes in contact with a group of teenagers calling themselves the "Mekakushi Dan" (メカクシ団, lit. "Blindfold Gang"), who stop the robbery with their mysterious eye powers and force Shintarō to join into their group.

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Before this occurs, Shintarō's younger sister, Momo Kisaragi, is a popular idol who has the ability to attract people's attention. This is due to the "Drawing Eyes" ability, which she cannot control and causes people to look at her wherever she goes. One day, while fleeing from a horde of fans, she meets the Mekakushi Dan leader, Tsubomi Kido, who invites Momo to join, which she does. While meeting the first four members of the Mekakushi Dan, Marry trips and gets Momo's phone wet, they all go to the department store to buy a new phone for Momo. Kido uses her ability to keep people from staring at Momo, but while in the store, they find out Shintarō is there at the same time. The terrorists break in and take all the shoppers hostage, but with Kido's eye power, she, Momo, Marry, Seto, and Kano are invisible and thus do not get caught. They work together to stop the heist, though Shintarō passes out, and they bring him to their hideout and introduce him and Ene as members once the former awakens. They all go to the amusement park and have fun afterwards.

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The prologue is told in the second novel, -a headphone actor-. Takane Enomoto and Haruka Kokonose, students of Kenjirō Tateyama, plan a class booth for their school's cultural festival. Haruka gets an idea to host a shooting booth; however this idea could not be fulfilled due to Kenjirō spending all their booth funds on a rare specimen. Takane, being a highly skilled gamer, decides that instead of a shooting booth with a large amount of equipment, they should make a video game of a first-person shooter. Kenjirō would be in charge of programming, Haruka was in charge of illustration and Takane was responsible for playing as the opponent. Their plan captured a great amount of attention, good and bad.

The series had about 3 endings:

Bad Ending: Also known as 'Route XX'. In this route, Shintaro becomes mentally unstable in the years after Ayano's death due to his loss of her and regret of not recognising her more. Two years later, Shintaro kills Ene and himself as a result, is sent into the Heat Haze Daze. Although he is reunited with Ayano in the Daze he was unable to accept her death, so was unable to receive the Snake of Favouring Eyes from her, leading to the whole main cast's demise and the time being reversed once again by Marry,

Good Ending: Also known as 'Route 1'. In this route, Shintaro accepts Ayano's death and meets all of the Mekakushi Dan. He is killed after Black Konoha (the possessed version of Konoha) aims a gun at his own head (reasons unknown), and Shintaro then knocks Konoha aside and is fatally shot. Shintaro is then sent into the Heat Haze Daze and summarily reunited with Ayano who then gave him her power, as the requirement to receive a new life and a Snake is that a pair of people must have died on August 14th/15th, and one of the pair must stay in the Heat Haze Daze permanently. Ayano chooses to stay and give the new life to Shintaro, along with the Snake. Shintaro then exits the Heat Haze Daze, and the Snake of Clearing Eyes is defeated (through unknown means), allowing the cast to move on with their life.

True Ending: 'Anime only'.

Happened after Routes 1 and XX. Instead of Shintaro being killed by Black Konoha, Shintaro is reminded of his power given to him personally by Marry at the very first route after seeing a family picture of Ayano with Kido, Kano and Seto that was on a shelf at the Mekakushi Dan's hideout. This shocked him into remembering all the routes that he dreamt about were reality via his dormant Snake speaking to him. Whilst this happens, Ene regains her original body. He then commits suicide to purposefully enter the Daze to retrieve Ayano and awaken Haruka to help the Mekakushi Dan to fight against Black Konoha. Ayano and Shintaro return from the Daze, and Ayano transfers Shintaro's memories of all the routes into Marry, allowing Marry the ability to make the Snakes swallow the time line. Kenjiro declines the Snake of Clearing Eyes' services (as his wish to be with his wife Ayaka was granted with his death) and instead Konoha forces upon the Snake his last wish - for Hiyori, the pair of Hibiya in the Heat Haze Daze to be alive. As such, Hiyori receives the Snake of Clearing Eyes power, and a new life. The Snake of Clearing Eyes' consciousness then ceases to exist. Haruka regains his original body and is healed of his illness, and all the members of the Mekakushi Dan continue on their lives, vowing to make a new future.

Mekakushi Dan

Kido (キド, Kido) / Tsubomi Kido (木戸 つぼみ, Kido Tsubomi)
Voiced by: Yūko KaidaKido is member No. 1 of the Mekakushi Dan and its current leader. She is often mistaken as a male due to her ambiguous appearance. The other members of the Dan call her "Danchō" (lit. gang leader). Like Kano and Seto, she is addressed by her last name, even by her closest friends. Many state that her song is "Mekakushi Chord" (メカクシコード, lit. Blindfold Chord).She was born as the second daughter of a wealthy family, but due to being the illegitimate child between her father and his mistress, she always felt out of place, even at home. Because she was always treated cautiously by those around her, she harbored a strong desire to "disappear". One day, her father's business went bankrupt, driving him to set their house on fire. After being burned to death in the blaze, Kido came into contact with the Heat Haze along with her sister Rin (Voiced by: Yuki Kaida) and was possessed by the snake with the "Concealing Eyes" ability, thus acquiring the power to hide her presence, as well as the presence of anyone else within a two meter radius. Becoming friends with Seto and Kano in the same orphanage, she was later adopted by the Tateyama family. Encouraged by Ayano that having red eyes was the sign of a hero, they started the Mekakushi Dan. In an alternative timeline of the manga version, Kido by accident found out about the Snake Of Clearing Eyes secret which led to her murder, which greatly anger Kano.
Seto (セト, Seto) / Kōsuke Seto (瀬戸 幸助, Seto Kōsuke)
Voiced by: Sōichirō Hoshi, Sayori Ishizuka (young)Seto is member No. 2 of the Mekakushi Dan. He is often portrayed as the "nice guy" of the group, and gets along very well with Marry. Like Kano and Kido, he is addressed by his last name, even by his closest friends. His song is "Shōnen Brave" (少年ブレイブ, "Brave Boy").As a young boy, his small body and timid nature resulted in him being often bullied, and he had trouble speaking with people. He considered an abandoned dog to be his only friend, and wished that he could "understand how people felt without using words". One stormy day, he witnessed some kids trying to throw his dog into a river. Despite his efforts, the dog was thrown in, and Seto threw himself into the river in order to save it. As he drowned, he came into contact with the Heat Haze and was possessed by the snake with the "Stealing Eyes" ability, acquiring the ability to read others' minds upon eye contact. However, he generally dislikes using his eye ability as he feels that it makes communication redundant, which also combined by the people commenting that he is nothing which greatly traumatizing him, and rarely uses it. He eventually was adopted by the Tateyama family along with Kido and Kano. Together they created the Mekakushi Dan after being encouraged by Ayano.
Kano (カノ, Kano) / Shūya Kano (鹿野 修哉, Kano Shūya)
Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana, Yuki Kaida (young)Kano is member No. 3 of the Mekakushi Dan. He is depicted as a deceitful young man, to the point where no one can tell if he's lying or telling the truth. His song is "Yobanashi Deceive" (夜咄ディセイブ, "Night Tales Deceive").When Kano was younger, he did not attend preschool or kindergarten and instead lived alone with his mother in an apartment. His emotionally unstable mother raised her hand against him from time to time, and the neighbors spread rumors that he was being abused by her. However because he believed that he was wrong for upsetting his mother, he desired strongly to "hide the bruises/wounds on his body" from those around him because they were the reason the neighbors disliked his mother. One day, his apartment was broken into by thieves. Kano's mother was stabbed and killed as she tried to protect him. He was stabbed to death as well when he tried to fight against the thieves, coming into contact with the Heat Haze. He was then possessed by the snake with the "Deceiving Eyes" ability, acquiring the power to deceive how people around him perceive him and anything in immediate contact with him. He was eventually brought to an orphanage and was later adopted by the Tateyama family, where he met Kido, Seto, and Ayano. They created a gang and Kano gave it its name, the Mekakushi Dan—"Mekakushi" being a pun on Kido's eye ability. Unlike Seto, Kano uses his eye ability frequently, shifting outward emotions on a whim while never showing what he is truly feeling on the inside. It is presumed that he is somehow emotionally unstable like his mother, but only after Ayano death but he's show some of this sign since his childhood. In an alternative timeline of the manga version, his relationship with Ayano is more strained due to him blaming her for their mother death, it's also revealed that he is in love with Kido as her death greatly anger him to the point he want to take revenge on her killer, which is none other than the Snake Of Clearing Eyes.
Marry (マリー, Marī) / Marry Kozakura (小桜 茉莉, Kozakura Marī)
Voiced by: Kana HanazawaMarry is member No. 4 of the Mekakushi Dan, and the first non-founding member. She is 1/4 Medusa and has white hair that wiggles when she is happy or frightened and naturally occurring red eyes. Her appearance is that of a fourteen-year-old girl, but due to her gorgon blood, her actual age is 140 years. Marry is extremely shy around strangers, and will often hide behind Seto, Kido, or Momo. Her songs are "Kūsō Forest" (空想フォレスト, "Fantasy Forest") and "Marry no Kakū Sekai" (マリーの架空世界, "Marry's Fictional World").When Marry was younger, she lived in a small house in the woods with her mother, Shion, who was half Medusa. While growing up, she was constantly warned by her mother that should they make eye contact with others, the person would be turned to stone. One day, when she was playing outside against her mother's warnings, she was found and tortured by a group of boys. Shion successfully turned Marry's attackers to stone, but the two were both beaten to death, and were brought into the Heat Haze by Azami, Shion's full Medusa mother (hence Marry's grandmother). Upon entering it, Azami planted the snake with the "Combining Eyes" ability, the core of the Medusa, into Shion, who willingly gave it up to Marry so that she could have a second chance at life. As a result, along with the "Eye Contact" ability she had since birth, which allowed Marry to temporarily paralyze anyone she made eye contact with, Marry also acquired the ability to unify all of the "snakes".After coming back to life, she lived in isolation for over a hundred years, greatly traumatized by her mother death she came into the believe that she is useless. By chance, Seto visited the forest and found her, who befriends her and make her realize that she is not truly useless at all. He has since managed to bring her to the outside world and invited her to join Mekakushi Dan. After coming to the Mekakushi Dan's hideout and joining the group, she started a side job making fake flowers in her room, which generates a negligible income. She is said to be a fujoshi, or a girl who loves boy's love. In Route XX, her Combining Eyes ability is stolen from her by the snake of 'Clearing Eyes', and, through means yet unrevealed, she reverses time in order to save everyone. In an alternative timeline of the manga version, she is also adopted to the Tateyama family but after a tragedy struck the family, Marry became completely guilt ridden due to her arrival cause this as she is more aware of her own lineage in this version of timeline.
Momo (モモ, Momo) / Momo Kisaragi (如月 桃, Kisaragi Momo)
Voiced by: Nanami KashiyamaMomo is member No. 5 of the Mekakushi Dan. She is the younger sister of Shintarō and a popular idol, which greatly disrupts her normal life and causes a lot of stress for her. Unlike her brother, she does badly at school, and is too quite a clumsy yet cheerful girl. Momo's tastes are also shown to be rather strange. Her songs are "Kisaragi Attention" (如月アテンション) and "Otsukimi Recital" (オツキミリサイタル, "Moon Viewing Recital").When Momo was younger, she was constantly overshadowed by her brother Shintarō causing her to yearn for attention. After a drowning accident at a beach, she was swallowed up by the Heat Haze with her father who had tried to save her and given the snake of "Drawing Eyes", which is capable of catching people's attention regardless of their preferences. After an incident where she attempts and fails to be normal, Kido recruits her to the Mekakushi Dan.
Ene (エネ, Ene) / Takane Enomoto (榎本 貴音, Enomoto Takane)
Voiced by: Kana AsumiEne is member No. 6 of Mekakushi Dan. She is a mischievous cyber girl who lives in Shintarō's computer, but is also able to travel to other electronic devices. Once a human named Takane Enomoto (榎本 貴音), her personality as Ene is a cheerful prankster, a sharp contrast to Takane's pessimistic outlook at life. Her songs are "Jinzō Enemy" (人造エネミー, "Artificial Enemy"), "Headphone Actor" (ヘッドフォンアクター), "Ene no Dennō Kikō" (エネの電脳紀行, "Ene's Cyber Journey") and "Yūkei Yesterday" (夕景イエスタデイ, "Yesterday Evening").As a human, she suffered from an illness which caused her to lose consciousness at random times. Because of this, she was placed in a separate class at school with Haruka Kokonose, who she harbored feelings for. As a human, Takane was ranked second in the country on a game called 'Dead Bullet -1989-' under the name of "Senkou no Maihime" (lit. Dancing Princess of the Spotlight)' and often stayed up late at night playing. This caused her often to have a bad-tempered personality. She died after being poisoned by Kenjirō. Upon entering the Heat Haze, she is given the snake of "Opening Eyes," giving her immortality. After becoming Ene, she was sent to Shintarō's computer in an email from an unknown sender. Shintarō refers to her as a 'virus' as she constantly plays pranks on him by deleting his files and threatening to upload his embarrassing poems on to the internet. Ene joins the Mekakushi Dan after helping to stop a terrorist attack at a local department store with Shintarō.
Shintarō (シンタロー, Shintarō) / Shintarō Kisaragi (如月 伸太郎, Kisaragi Shintarō)
Voiced by: Takuma TerashimaShintarō is member No. 7 of Mekakushi Dan. He is the main protagonist of the story and has an IQ of 168. While he was in school, his intelligence caused him to have an apathetic personality. His songs are "Lost Time Memory" (ロスタイムメモリー) and "Tōmei Answer" (透明アンサー, "Transparent Answer").After a while, he became interested in the girl who sat next to him in class, Ayano Tateyama. Despite Ayano always being cheerful and friendly to him, Shintarō would treat Ayano with coldness. After Ayano's suicide, he becomes a hikikomori addicted to the internet. A year after, he was sent a mysterious virus named Ene, and as he was unable to control her actions, his lifestyle was at a loss. After stopping a terrorist attack with Ene, he became involved with Mekakushi Dan. He possesses the "Retaining Eyes", which allow him to remember all of the past (including the routes). His ability is shown in episode 8 of the anime adaptation. In an alternative timeline of the manga version, Shintaro never met Ayano at all in the second timeline, resulting in him not depressive as the other media but he is also more aware of the event that completely happened, though several hint showing that he retain some of his memory from the first timeline.Ayano's death results in two possible routes for the Mekakushi Dan, as shown in Lost Time Memory. In Route 1, also known as the Good End Route, Shintarō (often portrayed in a red jersey) goes out and meets the Mekakushi Dan instead of staying at home and mourning. In Route XX, also known as the Bad End, Shintarō (often portrayed in full black), still mourning over Ayano's death at 18 years old, becomes fed up with Ene and kills her through unknown means, causing him to have a mental breakdown. The Red Shintarō dies while saving Konoha from shooting himself, while the Black Shintarō commits suicide by slitting his throat with a pair of red scissors.
Hibiya (ヒビヤ, Hibiya) / Hibiya Amamiya (雨宮 響也, Amamiya Hibiya)
Voiced by: Misuzu TogashiHibiya is member No. 8 of Mekakushi Dan. He is mentioned to be mature for his age, and is shown to have an immense, unrequited crush for Hiyori. He joins Mekakushi Dan after being spotted escaping the hospital he was at after an accident. His songs are "Kagerou Daze" (カゲロウデイズ, "Heat Haze Daze") and "Otsukimi Recital" (オツキミリサイタル, "Moon-viewing Recital").He is the youngest member of the group at 12-years-old and has the "Eye Focusing" ability, meaning he can see distant objects from an aerial view. He is originally from a village in the countryside and came with Hiyori Asahina to the city for the summer. He stayed at Hiyori's sister's house for the visit and met Konoha, who was living there at the time. Hibiya sees Hiyori die in a traffic accident and somehow becomes stuck in a time loop trying to save her from dying each time ending with him sacrificing himself to try and save Hiyori. He comes in contact with the Heat Haze and is given the snake of 'Focusing Eyes'.
Konoha (コノハ, Konoha) / Haruka Kokonose (九ノ瀬 遥, Kokonose Haruka)
Voiced by: Mamoru MiyanoKonoha is member No. 9 of Mekakushi Dan. Shown to be a rather absent-minded individual, he has a large appetite, similar to his former human self as Haruka. His songs are "Konoha no Sekai Jijō" (コノハの世界事情, "Konoha's World Situation"), "Yūkei Yesterday" (夕景イエスタデイ, "Yesterday Evening"), "Outer Science" (アウターサイエンス) and "Summertime Record" (サマータイムレコード).As a human, he suffered from an illness which caused him to have "attacks" and collapse, making it easy for him to die, hence making him wish for a body that would not be as vulnerable, and hence being placed in a separate class with Takane Enomoto. With the interference of Kenjirō, he suffers a stroke and dies, entering the Heat Haze with Takane, and therefore receiving the "Awakening Eyes" ability, which allows him to live in his ideal body at the cost of his memory. As a result, he uses his eye ability to take the form of his game character. After this, the amnesiac him stays at Ayaka's house, where he meets Hibiya and Hiyori and attempts to save them from the Heat Haze.An alternate version of Konoha also appears in Outer Science, speculated to be due to the trauma from "opening his eyes" and the corruption by the snakes. He is called Black Konoha (also dubbed as Kuroha by fans, kuro () meaning 'black') and kills everyone in Route XX. In Route 1, for unknown reasons, he attempts to shoot himself in the head, only to be saved by Shintarō. In the anime, it is revealed to be the snake of 'Clearing Eyes', Kenjirō's eye ability. After possesses Konoha, he overwhelms Kido, Kano, and Seto.In the final episode Shintaro able to bring back Haruka back as he despairingly watch everyone keep dying due to Kuroha and finally able to take his longing revenge on the Snake of Clearing Eyes and grant his final wish, to gain his original body back and revive Hiyori, finally ending the Snake of Clearing Eyes live once and for all. It's should be noted that Haruka had a different outfit and condition in both Good Ending and True Ending, in Good Ending he wore a green sweater and apparently paraplegic, but in True Ending he wore an identical outfit as Kuroha and Konoha, but with beige pants instead, and is fully recovered finally gaining the freedom he always longing for.
Ayano (アヤノ, Ayano) / Ayano Tateyama (楯山 文乃, Tateyama Ayano)
Voiced by: Mai NakaharaAyano is member No. 0 of the Mekakushi Dan and was the daughter of Kenjirō and Ayaka Tateyama. Shown to be a happy-go-lucky girl with rather poor grades, she was the deskmate of Shintarō, and it is suggested that her poor grades stemmed from her family matters. Her songs are "Tōmei Answer" (透明アンサー, "Transparent Answer") and "Ayano no Kōfuku Riron" (アヤノの幸福理論, "Ayano's Theory of Happiness").After her parents adopted three young children with red eyes, Kido, Seto, and Kano, she decided to fulfill her role as "big sister" by creating the Mekakushi Dan to encourage them. After the death of her mother in a landslide and the discovery that her father was experimenting on her friends in an attempt to bring her back to life, Ayano grew increasingly concerned of the safety of her siblings. She committed suicide by jumping off the roof of her school in an attempt order to try and save her family and friends from the plot of the snake that gives Kenjirō the 'Clearing Eyes.' She gets possessed by a snake and obtains the 'Favoring Eyes,' which allows her to project her thoughts and emotions unto others. In an alternative timeline of the manga version, a paradox causing Ayano became the one who died with her mother instead of her father, which resulting in her gaining her power and all of Azami memory within her power, this incident cause Kano to became hateful toward her and Kenjiro commit suicide due to unable to forgetting about Ayaka, because of this Ayano lost most of her cheerful personality and became rather quiet and somehow stoic, as she became so serious in order to save her own siblings from their fate but still retain her caring personality. It also should be noted that Ayano and Shintaro never met at all in this timeline, which cause a paradox as their friendship never seen at all and they only met when they both are 18 years old.The Ayano that Black Shintarō meets is revealed to be Kano, who does so to spite Shintarō, whom he believes caused Ayano's death. In Route 1, after Red Shintarō meets her in the Heat Haze, she passes her eye ability to him.

Other characters

Kenjirō (ケンジロウ, Kenjirō) / Kenjirō Tateyama (楯山 研次朗, Tateyama Kenjirō)
Voiced by: Keiji FujiwaraKenjirō is the father of Ayano and husband of Ayaka. He was also Haruka and Takane's homeroom teacher and is Momo's tutor. His song is "Dead and Seek" (デッドアンドシーク).He possesses the ability of 'Making Eyes Clear' and seems to know about Medusae. When he was in university, he fell in love with Ayaka, who turned him down, not interested in such a pathetic man. This caused him to become much more hard working and taking studying more seriously. After that, he was able to marry Ayaka. Together they had Ayano and adopted Kido, Kano and Seto. Kenjirō was interested in the theory of Medusae and researched it with Ayaka, only to be caught in a landslide with her and die. He came in contact with the Heat Haze and was possessed by the snake of 'Clearing Eyes'. He became much more engrossed in research after Ayaka's death, eventually experimenting on and killing his two students (Takane and Haruka), this was done while possessed by the snake of 'Clearing Eyes'. His fate is that he dies and reunites with Ayaka in the Heat Haze; in Route XX, the snake of 'Clearing Eyes' (while it is possessing Konoha) kills him.
Hiyori (ヒヨリ, Hiyori) / Hiyori Asahina (朝比奈 日和, Asahina Hiyori)
Voiced by: Kotori KoiwaiHiyori is a stubborn young girl from the countryside who yearns for the city. She is very popular at her school and has her own fan club. She drags Hibiya to the city with her in order to get Momo's autograph and stays at her sister's, Ayaka, house. She falls in love with Konoha who was staying there at the time. She becomes involved in a traffic accident and gets stuck in a time loop trying to save Hibiya, but while Hibiya successfully escapes the Heat Haze, she passes away. Despite her apparent pessimistic personality and constant abuse she does at Hibiya, she truly cares about him and seemingly thinks of him as her only true friend since she never saw her distant older sister and as well because her popularity that makes it harder for her to be friends with others. Her song is "Kagerou Daze" (カゲロウデイズ, "Heat Haze Daze").
Shion (シオン, Shion) / Shion Kozakura (小桜 紫苑, Kozakura Shion)
Voiced by: Akemi OkamuraShion is a 1/2 medusa and Marry's mother. When Shion was younger, she lived with her parents Azami and Tsukihiko. She loves Marry very much, and in order to protect her she refrains from letting Marry play outside. One day, Marry bypasses her mother's orders and plays outside anyways, however some boys come to attack her. She sacrifices herself in order to save Marry, and uses her eye power to turn the boys to stone; but the strain on her body was too much and she passes away with Marry.She gets consumed by the Heat Haze and is given the 'Combining Eyes' ability, however she passes the power on to Marry and sends her to the outside world. Her song is "Gunjō Rain"群青レイン ("Ultramarine Rain").
Azami (アザミ, Azami) / Azami ()
Voiced by: Satomi AraiAzami is a full medusa and Shion's mother. Snakes grow from her hair, each with a unique power. She once thought humans were 'dull creatures that die easily' but fell in love with a human named Tsukihiko and started a family. After realizing how short human lives were compared to her immortality, she goes away to use the power of the snakes to create a Never Ending World (The Heat Haze) where she could live with her family forever. It is currently unclear if she waited for her family to arrive in the Heat Haze, before realising that her husband would have died by then, or that when she returned, the villagers attacking her house made her revert to her original ideology, causing her to return to the Never-Ending World alone.Many years later, her daughter and granddaughter, Shion and Marry were killed on August 15. Knowing this, she was unable to bear her grief and ordered the Heat Haze to "bring in every person who died on August 15", giving the ability of 'Combining Eyes' to Shion to allow her to return to life (who gave it to Marry). This causes her to lose control of the Heat Haze, thus drawing in every person who had died on August 15, the day Marry died, it is presumed that she died due to her power completely taken over by him and eventually suffocating to her death. Her body is later used by the Snake of The Clearing Eyes so that he might able to use her power to find a perfect vessel for him which is Konoha, In the end she finally able to peacefully die with Shion by her side ,finally freed from the torture she's suffering for very many years. Her song is "Shinigami Record" (シニガミレコード, "Death-God Record").
Ayaka (アヤカ) / Ayaka Tateyama (楯山 絢香, Tateyama Ayaka)
Voiced by: Mako HyōdōAyaka is Ayano's mother, Kenjirō's wife and Hiyori's sister. She became interested in the myth about Medusae and fell in love with Kenjirō at university. She gave birth to Ayano and adopted Kido, Kano and Seto from the orphanages after hearing about their strange abilities. She died in a landslide with Kenjirō while researching, passing on her trademark red clips to Ayano.
Tsukihiko (ツキヒコ, Tsukihiko)
Voiced by: Takehito KoyasuA soldier who fell in love with Azami. Tsukihiko is an albino man, and has long been considered a 'monster' by the other villagers. He tells Azami that he is also a monster, and that they should spend their life together. Together, they had Shion and live peacefully until villagers attacked their home, mistakenly thinking he had been held captive. His song is "Shinigami Record" (シニガミレコード, "Death-God Record").
Rin Kido (木戸 凛, Kido Rin)
Voiced by: Yuki KaidaTsubomi's older sister who died when their family home was burned down.
Black Konoha (黒コノハ, Kuro Konoha) / Snake of Clearing Eyes (目が冴える蛇, Me ga Saeru Hebi)
Voiced by: Mamoru MiyanoAzami's snake who tricked her into creating the Heat Haze. It is the true antagonist of the series. It took control of Kenjirō's body and survived under his wish of reuniting with his wife, going to extremes by doing so. Its true goal, however, is living forever. In every timeline, it transfers itself to Konoha's body and possesses it, this causes Konoha's appearance to change as well. It then kills all the members of the Mekakushi Dan besides Marry, and forces her to reset the timeline. In the true timeline, it is defeated when Kenjirō's wish is granted and it has to comply to Konoha's wish, which was bringing Hiyori back life, so it becomes her surrogate life. It is eventually revealed that he was in fact powered by the souls that trapped in the haze and as more timeline is created, so as the haze, as the haze was in fact created by people who died on August 15 and anybody who died on that day can't move into the afterlife at all, until someone with a gorgon blood who can use the Combining Eyes destroy all of this timeline, which in turn destroy the haze and freeing all of the dead souls that trapped inside, so the Snake of Clearing Eyes is permanently weakened (which is why he tried to commit suicide in Konoha body in the first timeline so he, might be able to go the daze again and take Azami body so he might change the timeline by taking Konoha body and left his soul behind so that Konoha would be more weaker and unable to resist his possession as Konoha somehow able to resist his possession for a while, but this plan eventually foiled by Shintaro), which is why he use Marry power to forcefully resetting timeline so he might became stronger and stronger before, eventually killing her by exhausting her power to the breaking point.Its songs are "Outer Science" (アウターサイエンス) and "Dead and Seek" (デッドアンドシーク).

CD / DVDs

The series began as a series of soundtracks that were released alongside the novels. The soundtracks were produced by Jin and released by IA Project. The first soundtrack is titled Mekakucity Days (メカクシティデイズ, Mekakushiti Deizu) and was released on May 30, 2012. It was followed by a single, "Children Record" (チルドレンレコード, Chirudoren Rekōdo), on August 15, 2012. A second soundtrack titled Mekakucity Records (メカクシティレコーズ, Mekakushiti Rekōzu) was released on May 29, 2013.

Light novels

The Kagerou Daze light novels are written by Jin with illustrations from Kagerou Project music video maker Sidu. The first volume was released on May 30, 2012 by Enterbrain on their KCG Bunko imprint, and six volumes have been released as of March 30, 2015. Yen Press has been releasing the novels in English in North America since May 26, 2015.

There is an anthology series called Mekakushi Dan: Watchers (メカクシ団:ウォッチャーズ, Mekakushi Dan: Uotchāzu) that is made up of short stories from a Pixiv contest.

There is a novel anthology series named Kagerou Daze Novel Anthology (カゲロウデイズノベルアンソロジー, Kagerō Deizu Noberu Ansorojī) made from other Pixiv competitions.

Manga

The Kagerou Daze manga is illustrated by Mahiro Satou. It began serialization in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Gene on June 15, 2012. The first tankōbon volume was released on November 27, 2012; seven volumes have been released as of June 27, 2015. Yen Press will release the manga in English in North America, with the first volume released on April 21, 2015.

There is also an ongoing anthology series called Kagerou Daze Official Anthology Comic (カゲロウデイズ公式アンソロジーコミック, Kagerō Deizu Kōshiki Ansorojī Komikku) and each volume goes with a certain theme. It is written and illustrated by various people including Kagerou Daze light novel artist and music video creator Sidu, the Kagerou Daze manga artist Mahiro Satou, and Kagerou Project music video creator Wannyanpu (わんにゃんぷー, Wannyanpū).

Anime

A Kagerou Project anime titled Mekakucity Actors (メカクシティアクターズ), directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and produced by Shaft, began airing on April 12, 2014. The anime has been licensed for streaming by Aniplex of America. The opening theme is "Daze" sung by Maria from Garnidelia and the ending theme is "Days" by Lia. For episode six, the opening theme is "Headphone Actor" (ヘッドフォンアクター) and the ending theme is "Yūkei Yesterday" (夕景イエスタデイ); both songs are sung by LiSA. For episode eight, the ending theme is "Lost Time Memory" (ロスタイムメモリー) sung by Kōta Matsuyama from Byee the Round. For episode nine, the opening theme is "Ayano no Kōfuku Riron" (アヤノの幸福理論) sung by Aki Okui. All songs are composed by Jin.

A Kagerou Project short anime film titled Kagerou Daze -in a day's- (カゲロウデイズ-in a day's-) was directed by Sidu and produced by Studio Jumonji. It was produced with MX4D presentation in mind and premiered on November 4, 2016. The opening theme is "Red" by Gouache, a band Jin is a part of.

A Kagerou Project anime titled Mekakucity Reload (メカクシティリロード) was announced at the Seek at Mekakucity event on August 15, 2016.

References

Kagerou Project Wikipedia