Jin Jin Summary Yo
Since I've yet to see many good collections of explanations for Jin's Kagerou Project songs, I tried doing it myself.
(Note: I only kept this up to date until Summer Time Record, though I believe I did make some small additions/corrections following the Mekakucity Actors anime.)
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#1: MANMADE ENEMY: A STORY OF AVERTING EYES
Ene is a girl who lives in the cyber world, and Shintaro Kisaragi is a shut-in who likes to escape reality. Ene shows up on his computer one day.
He feels real life is a waste of time ("Is there any point to a place that would only deny you?"), and eventually gets tired of Ene (dismissing her as a "toy only for talking to") and somehow kills her for good.
Beyond the song: Ene arrived in an email and pesters Shintaro endlessly, messing around with his computer and mocking his shut-in nature. Shintaro can delete her, but she comes back whenever he goes online.
#2: BLINDFOLD CODE: A STORY OF CONCEALING EYES
There's a gang called the Blindfold Gang (Mekakushi Dan) which is more or less led by the green-haired, iPod-hoodied Tsubomi Kido (usually just Kido). The song makes allusions to some members; "blonde heels" is likely Momo, and Shintaro is the shut-in NEET.
The song is sort of about the gang's encounter with terrorists at the department store. (See the summary of the first novel, -in a daze-, for more details; it's not worth summing up here.)
The members have special powers that turn their eyes red when used. But these powers are introduced in a scattered way, and some are spoilery, so I won't list them all here, but in a separate section later.
#3: HEAT-HAZE DAZE: A STORY OF DAZED EYES
Hibiya Amamiya is friends with a girl named Hiyori Asahina. They're talking on August 15th, but Hiyori gets run over by a truck while chasing a cat across the street.
Hibiya is stunned and can barely believe it, but he feels like the heat-haze (AKA the cat) is laughing at him, saying "it's not a lie." Hibiya goes dizzy.
He wakes up on the 14th and tries to prevent Hiyori's death, but she's stabbed by a falling pole instead. Hibiya repeats the cycle for decades until deciding there's only one answer; he jumps out in front of the truck himself, laughing at the haze.
However, Hiyori wakes up on the 14th, seemingly lamenting her failure, and thus possibly now in her own cycle of attempting to save Hibiya.
Though that's how the song ends, from other media, it seems that it's always Hibiya who eventually escapes the loop - the titular Heat-Haze Daze - while Hiyori does not.
In the profiles from Children Record, Heat-Haze Daze is considered one of Azami's songs. But that could just be because she created the Daze, not that she necessarily appeared.
[Just a reminder: While the full PV is by Wannyanpuu, it was an unofficial interpretation from before she joined the team. Hibiya and Hiyori's appearances became official, but in particular the idea of the heat-haze looking like a human boy is probably not canon; the anime seems to confirm that the cat represents the haze.]
#4: HEADPHONE ACTOR: A STORY OF DOUBTING EYES
Actor lives a presumably ordinary life until one day she hears on the news that the world is going to end.
She panics and throws on her headphones to calm herself down, and hears a voice that's supposedly her own. It tells her to run toward the hill if she wants to live, so she does.
Once there, she finds the sky is a projection, and scientists applaud her. Her town had been some kind of experiment, and the scientists are done with it, so they blow it up. And then the voice from her headphones tells her "sorry."
Beyond the song: The culture festival shows us that Actor is simply an avatar for Takane in the Headphone Actor game, meaning the song is probably more of a metaphor - Takane desperately runs to see Haruka as her world "comes to an end."
#4.3: ENE'S ELECTRONIC BRAIN LOG: A STORY OF OPENING EYES
After "escaping the end of the world," Ene becomes a cybergirl after an experiment that separates her mind from her body.
Given later info, it's likely this is just how she interpreted being poisoned and dying, then receiving the power of Opening Eyes that made her immortal.
She seems to get fed up with the real world over time and eventually sees a "blue compass" point her to Shintaro, leading into Manmade Enemy.
#4.6: INVISIBLE ANSWER: A STORY OF TURNING AWAY EYES
Shintaro Kisaragi does great in school and "has all the answers," but becomes interested in Ayano Tateyama, the girl next to him. She doesn't care so much about that, always getting low scores.
Before he can manage to reconcile knowing all the answers with her unique "answer," though, Ayano commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the school.
On the roof, Shintaro finds paper cranes made out of Ayano's tests, one of them appearing to be one of Shintaro's perfect-100 tests that had been ripped up then taped back together.
Ayano's death is basically why Shintaro became a shut-in; this is expanded upon more in Lost Time Memory.
#5: IMAGINATION FOREST: A STORY OF LOCKING EYES
Mary Kozakura is the daughter of Shion, a half-Medusa (technically Gorgon, but Jin doesn't know and/or care, so we'll stick with the former) who can turn people to stone with her eyes.
Mary's told by her parents not to look at anyone to avoid any accidents. She's hardly ever let outside for fear of being bullied.
One day when she's five, some boys (maybe older?) come and attack her. Shion comes out and turns one to stone, but dies from the strain. Then something very important happens, but we'll cover that later.
Mary lives alone in the forest for many years, until she's 140. Kousuke Seto, a member of the Blindfold Gang, comes to her house.
She receives him clumsily and says she'll turn him to stone, but he misunderstands it for her just being anxious about looking at others and invites her to join the gang.
Mary realizes Seto doesn't turn to stone - this is because the extent of her power is just freezing people temporarily, not full-on petrification. Anyway, Mary receives a hood from Seto and is accepted into the gang.
Another thing to note is that this song has an alternate version called Fantasy Forest with a slightly updated PV. The difference is apparently that while Imagination was Mary's first time meeting Seto, Fantasy is a later loop.
#6: KONOHA'S WORLD AFFAIRS: A STORY OF WAKING EYES
Konoha (Haruka Kokonose) has endlessly recurring "dreams" of - if nothing else - Hibiya and Hiyori's deaths in the Heat-Haze Daze.
He keeps trying to save them, but it never works; he's invisible to them and his voice doesn't reach them, so he can only watch.
At the end he claims that even if he could change history, "those eyes..." ...would undo it, presumably. (This may refer to the snake of serene eyes, who wants to try again and again until its plan succeeds.)
#7: KISARAGI ATTENTION: A STORY OF CAPTIVATING EYES
Even since youth, Momo Kisaragi has caught people's eye. Naturally, she was one day scouted to be an idol. She eventually accepted after declining several offers, both for her sick mother's sake and figuring it might be fun to perform on stage.
However, she finds that the attention is too much. She doesn't feel like she's worthy of it, nor can she physically handle it, so she says she wants to give up.
She winds up in the Blindfold Gang after fleeing from crowds and finding Kido in an alley, then has all sorts of silly antics with them. (Such as stopping terrorist plots!)
She learns to better control her attention-grabbing power. The members of the gang encourage her, reminding her that being an idol was her dream and she's not alone, so she decides to follow through.
Also, her eyes turn red during her concert, making it more clear than in earlier songs that red eyes signifies the use of a power.
[Note: The album Blindfold City Actors was released after Kisaragi Attention. I've given the album-only songs decimal numbers inbetween the proper whole-numbered songs.]
#7.3: DEAD AND SEEK: A STORY OF SERENE EYES
It revolves around the experience of Kenjirou Tateyama (Ayano's father, who is a school teacher), acquiring his power and beginning research into the "fantasy world" - the neverending Heat-Haze Daze.
Kenjirou has the power of Serene Eyes, and he associates his eyes with being a "monster": "The color of my serene eyes... don't they look like a monster's?" (Wow, that was redundant.)
Kenjirou was researching the Medusa legend with his wife Ayaka until her death, but the snake of serene eyes has its own plans regarding creating a new Medusa in this world.
#7.6: SHINIGAMI RECORD: A STORY OF FIXATED EYES
A "boy soldier," Tsukihiko, falls in love with a "monster," Azami (the original Medusa). They have a kid, but Azami can't stand knowing her husband will grow old when she's immortal.
So she CALLS UPON THE POWER OF SNAKES (or rather, uses the power of her hair-snakes, as each one has its own eye power) to create a "neverending" world, the Heat-Haze Daze.
Though she intended to go into the Heat-Haze Daze with her family, she ends up going there alone - we later find out this is because humans attacked their home.
#8: CHILDREN RECORD: A STORY SHOWN TO THE EYES
As it's written to be the "opening" to the entire series, it unites the characters as boys and girls who "face forward" (and according to the description, "rise up") despite the "unbearable/dizzying heat."
That expression primarily refers to Heat-Haze Daze, but they all seem to face their own troubles, implied to originate from their parents.
In particular, there's mention of a "cruelly irrational "system"" related to people who "loathe the world" - as Shion is shown in this part, this may refer to Azami and her neverending world.
This is why all the Blindfold Gang members feel the urge to "take it back" and so on; they want their own world, not their parents'. This is supported by a commentary Jin made on the song which talks about going past the curfew siren into "extra innings."
Much of the rest of the song is about how the members find unity (and the courage to "face forward") with their passwords and so on, even if they originated in "cheap words."
[Note: After Children Record was posted, the single Children Record was released, containing another album-only song.]
#8.5: ULTRAMARINE RAIN: A STORY WITHOUT PAIN FROM THE SIGHT
Not a lot to analyze here; just an adorable song about how much Shion loves Mary, seemingly shortly before she dies.
She knows Mary wants to go outside and it pains her that she can't let her out, but she tells herself that it's for the best, and that Mary will be able to go out and fully enjoy the world when she's old enough.
Shion also recalls how as a child, she waited decades with her father (Tsukihiko) for her mother (Azami), but she never came. It seems that after her father died and left her alone, Shion despised the world until she found her husband and had Mary.
#9: NIGHT TALES DECEIVE: A STORY OF DECEIVING EYES
Kano tells someone in the gang his plight of being a "born" liar. About a decade ago, a "monster" spoke to him and told him to keep lying, and so he did.
He mentions a "girl who seems to hate night [who] could vanish any moment" (Kido) and a "youth who hates lies [who] could cry in a second" (Seto).
These people similarly had their wishes granted by a monster, and Kano believes people like them need others to live - hence the gang.
He feels like he's "beyond saving," but the other members (probably Kido specifically) seem to think that either doesn't matter as a member of the gang, or he can be saved.
We see many "faces" of Kano, including imitations of Kido and Seto - this shows how he's able to falsify his own appearance.
#10: LOST TIME MEMORY: A STORY RETAINED IN THE EYES
Shintaro reflects on Ayano and her death. At the start, he remembers walking with her and pretty much blowing her off, but she asks him/he asks himself how he really feels.
The PV shows us two timelines Shintaro goes down. There's "Route 1" where Shintaro wears his red jersey, and "Route XX" where he wears black.
The Route 1 Shintaro goes out and gets along with the gang, whereas the Route XX one is much more pessimistic and stuck in the past/his room; he's "chosen to be alone."
(There could be some overlap, though, especially with stuff in the lyrics, so when I say "XXintaro" and "Sh1ntaro," it might actually be the other or both.)
XXintaro goes on regretting that Ayano's gone and wishing she could come back, secluding himself as a result. He knows his wish is impossible, so he wallows in the past instead.
Ene actually seems to be worried for him ("So you can't even see tomorrow, then?"), but XXintaro dismisses her, thinking she's just faking concern.
XXintaro gets fed up with Ene, strangles (?) her, and she disappears, and he seems to regret it. This seems to be the end of Manmade Enemy we're seeing, with Ene being killed.
Ultimately, XXintaro wishes to be "taken with [Ayano]," considering suicide. He sits on his bed holding scissors, and stabs himself in the gut.
"Meanwhile," while out with the gang, Konoha "goes dark" and seems about to shoot himself. Sh1ntaro tries to stop him... but it's hard to tell how well that goes.
While XXintaro mopes with Azami, Sh1ntaro walks past her and meets Ayano, who has red eyes after her suicide. Sh1ntaro demonstrates his eye power to her - he remembers the tragedy that occurred on Route XX - and gets her scarf.
#11: AYANO'S HAPPINESS THEORY: A STORY IN REMINISCENT EYES
Ayano's family takes in the orphaned Kido, Seto, and Kano, with Ayano acting as their big sister. She recognizes the tragedy they've gone through and how they consider themselves monsters for their red eyes.
We see pictures of their pasts; Kano appears to have been beaten by his mother, Seto protects his dog (probably from the kids who want to throw it in the river), and Kido... well, make of it what you will.
After some thought, Ayano has an idea: play off the "red is the color of a hero" thing and pretend to be secret agents in hoodie uniforms. They love it and enjoy living as a family.
Later, Ayano's mother Ayaka dies in a landslide, and they all mourn. Her father Kenjirou (who received the snake of serene eyes after the landslide) gets deeply involved in research afterward, and Ayano soon discovers what's going on.
Ayano begs "the madder red" to not ruin any more futures - she comes to know a fair bit about Azami, the Heat-Haze Daze, and the snake of serene eyes from reading Kenjirou's notes.
Ayano goes to the roof of the school to talk with the snake of serene eyes in her father's body. Hearing its goal, she resolves to jump to her death to acquire one of the powers and ruin the snake's plan of uniting all the snakes.
She obtains the power of Considerate Eyes from the Heat-Haze Daze, but only discovers its uses... later.
[Note: Blindfold City Records, the final album, was released after Ayano's Happiness Theory, so its songs were originally numbered #11.X. But then they started getting videos.
I gave the BCR songs that got videos their proper whole numbers, and pushed the album-only songs to the end. BCR was touted as the "end of the songs," after all.]
#12: MOON-VIEWING RECITAL: A STORY THAT BRIGHTENS EYES
Hibiya's recently escaped from the Heat-Haze Daze and met the others, and he's really sad about losing Hiyori. So Momo goes around town trying to cheer him up, likely inspired by how the gang did the same for her.
She has a hard time of it, particularly because he keeps being reminded of Hiyori. When he sees girls on swings and has flashbacks to Heat-Haze Daze, he starts crying.
Momo gets serious, using her eye power to draw a crowd, transform into her idol getup, and motivate Hibiya enough that he shouts at the moon (though apparently exhausting herself in the process).
In particular, she tells him that if he wishes for it, he'll see Hiyori again. And Momo wouldn't lie, would she?
In the anime, all this actually takes place inside a building when Momo, Kido, and Hibiya are taken captive by agents of the serene snake. She uses her power to bring the other members there, and simply tries to cheer Hibiya up while she's at it - and she does such a good job, Hibiya even imagines that she's performing on stage. Professional deceiver right here.
#13: SUNSET YESTERDAY: A STORY OF UNPLEASANT EYES
A love song sung by Takane about Haruka. (In the second novel, Takane is often described as having "unpleasant eyes" - also translatable as "poor eye contact" or the like.)
It's pretty standard; Takane has this funny feeling for Haruka and he's clueless about it, but she refuses to accept it and gets pissed at him instead. Well, sort of standard.
At the end, there's the scene at the end of the Sunset Yesterday part of the novel where she runs toward the hospital on the hill, wanting to say she loves him. No reference to him being in the hospital after having an attack or her being poisoned, of course...
The PV associates Haruka with Konoha, but Takane with Actor rather than Ene. This is probably because those are their avatars - Ene is not an avatar she willfully made (though she resembles Takane No. 2 from the game), but the form her mind takes once cyberfied.
#14: OUTER SCIENCE: A STORY OF ELOQUENT EYES
The true singer of this song is the snake of serene eyes, who has moved from Kenjirou (now dead) into Konoha and transforms him into the so-called "Kuroha" (not an official name at all). So... yeah.
It's the "bad end" of the series, and what happens in the Mary's Fictional World comic from the BCR booklet: Konoha goes dark when the snake possesses him, kills everyone, and tells Mary to use her ability of unifying eyes (her "fate," he says) to turn back time.
Jin's commentary on the song discusses how the snake views the real world as boring and insignificant, as if the people who live there are just characters in a story. (Which is true, but...)
It seems to feel that it's doing them a favor by turning them into monsters via the Haze - since it's making them something "greater" than they were before, perhaps. It also personally enjoys it, like, a lot.
The snake also regards how ridiculous it is that the same thing would happen over and over again, all thanks to Mary's vague hope that this ending might be avoided next time - while the snake seems to think pretty much the opposite, that its plan will succeed eventually.
#14.3: BOY'S BRAVERY: A STORY OF STEALING EYES
Seto talks about how he was bullied and always scared, but realized that a stray dog didn't tease him, and they became friends. After getting his powers, everyone hated him for his red eyes and he couldn't stand hearing their thoughts.
At the end, he finds Mary, who's long been dreaming about the wide world outside. He knows how it feels to be scared like her, and hears her cries for help, so he shows his newfound bravery and saves her.
#14.6: MARY'S FICTIONAL WORLD: A STORY OF SHUTTING EYES
Mary talks to someone whose "eyes are firmly shut," apparently crying in front of a sunset, and her "eagerly wishing heart is dyed red." She says they'll "repeat it again" so they can gaze at the sky together.
The Mary's Fictional World comic in the booklet shows that Mary has "recurring nightmares" (probably actually memories) about Outer Science happening, and her having to absorb all the snakes to reset the timeline.
Essentially, the song is like an epilogue to Outer Science - all her friends just died, but she desperately wishes to go back to when things were good, and so she does.
#14.999~: SUMMER TIME RECORD: A STORY OF STUNNED EYES
The gang has escaped the nightmare of the Heat-Haze Daze. In days of fine weather, everyone is alive and happy again, Haruka and Takane included. Haruka seems to have forgotten events, however, and takes some time to remember.
They look back at all that happened, remembering and retelling their stories, the adventures they had at their secret base. Eventually, it all comes back to Haruka.
Their "adult-imitating plans" concluded, they "breathe in, trying not to cry" and say their goodbyes, hoping to meet again someday.
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BRIEF NOVEL SUMMARIES
#1: HEAT-HAZE DAZE -IN A DAZE- [zkmn's summary]
In the first chapter, Heat-Haze Daze, there's a brief part about Hibiya and Hiyori's time loop. Not much new there.
The second chapter, Manmade Enemy, focuses on Shintaro and Ene. Ene plays a prank on Shintaro, causing him to spill soda on his keyboard. This forces him to go outside (!!!) to buy a new one. While shopping, terrorists occupy the mall and Shintaro ends up a hostage. He eventually manages to get free and upload Ene into the mall computers, but is grazed by a bullet and collapses.
The third chapter goes over roughly the same time period, but from the perspective of Momo and the rest of the Blindfold Gang. The first part of Kisaragi Attention plays out: Momo trying to avoid drawing attention after school, yelling at her manager that she wants to quit, and ending up in an alley with Kido. Kido leads her back to base and there are some antics before she joins the gang.
Mary is clumsy and breaks some tea cups, so the gang goes to the mall to buy new ones. The terrorists arrive and Kano ends up tied up (actually just pretending to be) with Shintaro, though the others are elsewhere. They smash some TVs to get everyone's attention, allowing Shintaro to get free and upload Ene. To avoid too much chaos, Momo uses her power to get everyone's attention (or technically, Kido stops hiding her), then Mary uses hers to freeze everyone.
Everyone eventually gets out of the mall safely. In a park on the way back to base, they see an ambulance, and Konoha worrying over a collapsed Hibiya. Ene freaks out about Konoha and wants to know what he's doing there. To be continued...
#2: HEAT-HAZE DAZE II -A HEADPHONE ACTOR- [zkmn's summary]
Between the Sunset Yesterday chapters that make up most of the novel, there are Headphone Actor chapters that basically just go over the Headphone Actor song. Of note: while running, she hears falling metal and a scream. So yeah, that's probably Hiyori. When she reaches the top of the hill and sees the sky is fake, she regrets not being able to "tell him," apologizes to "Takane," and watches the program burn up.
The story is set two years before most everything else. Takane reluctantly goes to school and her situation is explained (has a sickness with random attacks, so she's in separate classes with Haruka). She finds Haruka in his boxers because he fell into the fountain trying to pet a cat. Really. They and their teacher Kenjirou Tateyama talk about what to do for their booth at the school festival, and eventually decide on making a shooting game because Takane is secretly pro at an online zombie shooter.
The game, Headphone Actor, is soon complete, with a dark room set up for the computers. It involves shooting stuffed animals called "actors" in a gory manner and fighting a blue-haired Takane with headphones as a boss, which Tateyama dubs Takane No. 2. The goal of the booth is to beat Takane's score, so some guys show up talking big and she wrecks them. By the glow of the screen, they recognize her as LightningDancerEne from the zombie shooter.
Kano and Kido show up and Kido plays, using her power to cheat and hide things on Takane's screen, but loses. Afterward, tons of LightningDancerEne fanboys show up and Takane is become Ene, destroyer of scores. Toward the end, Shintaro shows up and calls her weak, so Takane says if he can win, he'll call him Master. Shintaro gets a perfect score like a jerk, but turns down her offer. (Ayano, who came with him, apologizes for his behavior.)
After the festival, Haruka is inspired to play the zombie shooter and takes Takane's suggestion of Konoha for his online name. His attacks get worse, however, and he's brought to a hospital recently built on top of a hill. Back at school, after a conversation with Ayano (who also foreshadows Shintaro needing someone "more selfish than him"), Takane realizes she wants to tell Haruka she loves him when he wakes up, but then has an attack herself.
In the fourth Headphone Actor chapter, Takane sees her body disappearing on a table, Konoha (that is, Haruka's online avatar) in a tank, and Tateyama talking ominously about "the next Heat-Haze Daze." Ene opens her eyes, logs in, and begins her cyber journey.
The Reminiscence Forest chapter continues from the previous novel... but skips over the part where they see what's up with Konoha. Shintaro has officially joined as member 7 now that he knows the gang's "secret." Seto shows up carrying an exhausted Mary, and they go to an amusement park. Shintaro starts to get suspicious about the gang's powers and what it's all for. Regardless, they have antics together. At the end, Ene suggests that Shintaro check out an alien-shooting attraction, and Shintaro wonders how she knew he was good at shooting games.
#3: HEAT-HAZE DAZE III -THE CHILDREN REASON-
I'm way too lazy to summarize the rest of the novels now. Just go look elsewhere for translations/summaries.
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ABILITIES OF THE BLINDFOLD GANG
No. 0: Ayano has the power of Considerate Eyes. She can use this to convey her thoughts, but doesn't realize how it can be used for good until Shintaro helps her - upon which she uses it to basically tell Mary how to reach the best conclusion.
No. 1: Kido's is Concealing Eyes, letting her make herself or things around her unperceptible.
No. 2: Seto's is Stealing Eyes, allowing him to read information from glances, effectively reading people's minds.
No. 3: Kano's is Deceiving Eyes, making people see things that aren't there and falsifying his own appearance.
No. 4: Mary's is Locking Eyes, a lesser version of the stone powers of a Medusa (so only a temporary freeze).
No. 5: Momo's is Captivating Eyes: she can instantly grab people's attention.
No. 6: Ene's is Opening Eyes, which allow her to transfer consciousness. It is paired with the Waking Eyes, which allow creation of a body.
No. 7: Shintaro's is Retaining Eyes, which gives him very good memory - even across timelines. (Throughout the anime, Shintaro's power attempts to get him to remember past timelines, taking Ayano's form.)
No. 8: Hibiya's is Focusing Eyes, allowing him to see distant things with a bird's-eye view.
No. 9: Konoha's is Waking Eyes, which allow him to change his body however he wants. It is paired with the Opening Eyes, which allow transfer of consciousness.
Others
Kenjirou: Serene Eyes. The snake of serene eyes differs from the other snakes in that it has its own motives and a personality separate from the person it dwells within. It lives to fulfill wishes, and preserves itself by keeping Kenjirou's wish to be with Ayaka from being granted.
Azami: She used to have all of them, but the core "queen" snake is the Unifying Eyes. She relinquished this power to Mary (along with Locking Eyes) when Shion and Mary died.
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CHARACTER BIOS
The Heat-Haze Daze: Not a character, but it's helpful to put all the information around it in one place. It was created by Azami as a neverending world in which her family could live, after the snake of serene eyes suggested it in a dream. However, she decided to go into it alone. When Mary and Shion died together on August 15th, she took them into the Daze, gave Mary the snake of unifying eyes to save her, and sent her back to the outside world, but she could not save Shion. Because Azami relinquished control of the Daze to Mary, her "order" remained in effect, causing the pattern to persist: whenever two people died together on the evening of August 15th, they would be pulled into the Daze, and only one would escape after being possessed by one of the snakes.
There are some cases that warrant further explanation. Ayano died alone, got a power, and was always able to leave the Daze, but until Shintaro was able to meet her, she refused to out of fear that it would allow the serene snake's plan of unifying the snakes to succeed. Shintaro was given his by Mary in order to remember how to end the loop. Ene is technically the survivor between Takane and Haruka, but Konoha (a new body, separate from Haruka who remained in the Daze) was also able to make it out, probably because the serene snake was helping.
Ayano Tateyama: When she was young, her family took in the orphaned Kido, Seto, and Kano, and she acted as a big sister to them. She pretended to be hoodied "secret agents" with them to help them be happy in spite of their red eyes. She didn't do particularly well in school, but made paper cranes out of her lousy tests. Also, she knew Shintaro at school. After her mother died and her father got deep into research, she had Kano pretend to be her at school while she figured out what was going on. After talking with the snake of serene eyes, she jumped off the roof of the school to foil its plan. The Heat-Haze Daze intervened and gave her the snake of considerate eyes. Blindfold Gang "member 0." She remained in the Daze, unaware of the outside and adamant about her plan even though she could leave, until Shintaro found her and they figured out how gathering all the snakes could turn out for the best.
Kenjirou Tateyama: A homeroom teacher at the school everyone who went to school went to, and Ayano's father. He's a scientist who researched with his wife, but they got caught in a landslide. The Heat-Haze Daze intervened and he was possessed by the snake of serene eyes, which was apparently responsible for initially suggesting the Heat-Haze Daze to Azami. After losing his wife, he got much more involved in his research - as it turns out, this is because the snake of serene eyes started working within him to get all the snakes into this world, which included killing Takane and Haruka. The snake claims to do all this in order to grant Kenjirou's wish: to be with Ayaka again.
Ayaka Tateyama: Ayano's mother. She was interested in the Medusa legend, so she did research on it after college. She married Kenjirou, who was in her class, and had Ayano. She took in Kido, Kano, and Seto because of their special nature. She worked with Kenjirou to figure out the kids' powers, but "went missing" when the two of them got in a landslide.
Tsubomi Kido: A girl dressed in an iPod hoodie, de facto leader of the Blindfold Gang. The second daughter of a wealthy family, she was always ignored and wanted to disappear. One day, her father's company went bankrupt, so he set fire to the house in despair, killing his whole family. The Heat-Haze Daze then took Kido and her big sister, and Kido was possessed by the snake of concealing eyes. Blindfold Gang member 1.
Kousuke Seto: He was small and sickly, with no parents, and his only friend was a stray dog. Because of this, he wished he could understand others' feelings without words. One day, some children threw the dog into a river, so Seto jumped after it and died. The Heat-Haze Daze intervened and he was possessed by the snake of stealing eyes, letting him (unfortunately) know other's thoughts. He one day found Mary in the forest and invited her to join the gang. Blindfold Gang member 2.
Shuuya Kano: He lived with his mom in an apartment, and was often beaten, but blamed himself for angering her. One day, burglars came and stabbed them both. The Heat-Haze Daze intervened and he was possessed by the snake of deceiving eyes, basically becoming a pathological liar who could falsify his appearance. Blindfold Gang member 3.
Mary Kozakura: A quarter-Medusa, daughter of Shion. When Shion sacrificed herself for her, they were both swallowed by the Heat-Haze Daze, and she ended up with the snake of unifying eyes, the core of the Medusa, which allowed her to control all the snakes (in addition to her natural power of Locking Eyes). Mary lives in isolation for over a hundred years (under the impression she has deadly stone powers) until Seto comes along and invites her to join the Blindfold Gang. Very clumsy, as you may expect. Though totally unaware of it, since she possesses the queen snake, the other members are drawn to her, which is all part of the serene snake's plan of making another Medusa and Heat-Haze Daze in this world. Blindfold Gang member 4.
Shion Kozakura: A half-Medusa, daughter of Azami. As a child, she waited with Tsukihiko for Azami, who had vanished into the Heat-Haze Daze. She married a human and gave birth to Mary, and she wanted to stay in the forest until Mary was an adult for her safety. She met an abrupt death trying to use her Medusa powers to save Mary from being attacked. At that moment, she and Mary were swallowed up by the Heat-Haze Daze. Azami decided to save Mary, so Shion remains trapped in the Daze.
Azami: A full Medusa, with hair-snakes possessing individual eye powers. Though she once despised humans, she fell in love with Tsukihiko; in so doing, it created the snake of considerate eyes, giving her a compassionate heart. But with this heart, she feared for Tsukihiko's shorter lifespan, and she used the powers of all her snakes to create the Heat-Haze Daze, a neverending world. She planned to live there with her family, but when humans attacked their house, she changed her mind and went in alone. When Mary was attacked, she couldn't bear it; she took Mary into the Heat-Haze Daze and gave her the snake of unifying eyes, though Shion could not be saved. Since Azami relinquished control, she was unable to stop the Heat-Haze Daze from drawing in the lives of all who died on August 15th, the day Mary died.
Tsukihiko: Azami's husband. Was called a monster because of his extremely pale skin, and thus found sympathy with Azami. They had Shion and lived happily, but when the house was attacked, Azami decided to go into the Heat-Haze Daze, feeling that her being with humans only brought sadness.
Momo Kisaragi: Shintaro's sister, who always wanted to be noticed more. She drowned on a visit to the beach with her father (and her father seemingly died trying to save her). The Heat-Haze Daze intervened and she was possessed by the snake of captivating eyes, changing her personality, body, and everything to be more captivating. She later became an idol as a result of her attention-getting, partly to help out her mother. After fleeing from crowds one day, she encountered Kido in an alley and was brought back to the Blindhold Gang base to be recruited. Blindfold Gang member 5.
Takane Enomoto (Ene): Two years ago (-a headphone actor-), she was a human with some kind of sleep-related illness, so she was in separate classes with Haruka. She was pro at a online zombie shooter under the name LightningDancerEne. She fell in love with Haruka, but was too late to tell him her feelings; she was mysteriously poisoned (by Kenjirou) and died. The Heat-Haze Daze then intervened to make her the immortal Ene, possessed by the snake of opening eyes. Since she lost the need for sleep, she became a lot more energetic; her Ene form apparently represents what her mind is like. Ene essentially becomes a virus on Shintaro's computer/other devices and pesters him, though calls him "Master" due to having lost to him in the aforementioned shooter back when she was human. Blindfold Gang member 6.
Actor: See Ene... sort of. Escapes the end of the world (or really, the end of an experiment) thanks to the instruction of her own voice. She's basically just Takane's online avatar, as opposed to Ene who is "actually" her.
Shintaro Kisaragi: Supposedly a genius. Two years ago, he became interested in Ayano, the girl in his class, but she committed suicide. After this, he became much more reclusive and dropped out of school. Then Ene arrived on his computer and starting berating him, saying he'll always be alone if he stays a shut-in. In one timeline ("Route XX"), at 18, he got fed up and killed Ene, then stabbed himself with scissors. After getting wrapped up in the terrorist plot, becomes Blindfold Gang member 7. His power was given to him by Mary directly rather than coming from the Daze - the Retaining Eyes were only born when Mary became an incomplete Medusa and wanted to remember their past days.
Hibiya Amamiya: A young boy who had a crush on Hiyori and took summer classes to get close to her. They stayed at Kenjirou's house (Ayaka is Hiyori's big sister, so Kenjirou is her brother-in-law) along with Kenjirou's, ahem, "foster son" Konoha. Hiyori quickly fell for Konoha, making Hibiya jealous. While going shopping with Hiyori, she got in a traffic accident, and the Heat-Haze Daze intervened. Hibiya was possessed by the snake of focusing eyes, allowing him to see faraway things with a bird's-eye view. Blindfold Gang member 8.
Hiyori Asahina: Ayaka's little sister, who's popular at school and doesn't think of Hibiya as much more than a good listener. She gets caught in the Heat-Haze Daze with Hibiya after getting in a traffic accident while shopping. She doesn't make it out.
Haruka Kokonose (Konoha): Two years ago (-a headphone actor-), he was a human with a rather serious illness, in separate classes with Takane for the same reason. He got into the zombie shooter Takane liked using the name Konoha. He died from a spasm, then the Heat-Haze Daze intervened and gave him the snake of waking eyes, allowing him to change his body to his ideal - thus, to Konoha. He lost his memories due to the trauma of this. Blindfold Gang member 9.