Kagerou Project

Warning: Spoilers on this page remain unmarked.

The Kagerou Project (Heat-Haze Project) is a series of songs by Shizen no Teki-P, who is also known as Jin. The series has five novels and a manga adaption that connect all the songs together. A crossfade of the album, Mekakucity Days ("Mekakucity" being a portmanteau of "mekakushi"/"blindfold" and "city"), can be heard here.

As stated by Jin in Spoon.2Di Magazine, the series's name was originally meant to be Mekakucity Project, Kagerou Project being a temporary name, but that name became too popular, making him unable to change it.

On August 15th, the DVD single, "Children Record", was released. The cover of the DVD includes the eyes of the known Kagerou Project characters along with new ones. As the day for its release came by, the cover revealed more details. It shows the eyes of the mysterious character from the "Children Record" PV. The center of the cover depicts an Ouroboros.

In the Children Record booklet that came along with the release, Jin announced that an anime adaption is in the works for Kagerou Project, which is directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and animated by SHAFT. The anime is titled 'Mekakucity Actors' and it began it's air on April 12, 2014.


 * Affiliations

Shintaro Kisaragi
A hikikomori (recluse/shut-in) young man with an IQ of 168, and the older brother of Momo. In middle school and high school, Shintaro performed at the top of his class in National Mock Examinations, but due to the suicide of a close friend (Ayano), he dropped out of his first year of high school. Subsequently, a mysterious software entered into his computer named “Ene,” and, being unable to control her actions, his lifestyle was thoroughly disrupted. Due to one of Ene’s pranks, Shintaro spills soda on his keyboard and breaks down (in the anime, he spills soda on his keyboard due to Ene annoying him), and both he and Ene go to the department store for shopping, where they happen upon a group of terrorists. They end up stopping them together with the Mekakushi Dan. After this, Shintaro and Ene come to join the Mekakushi Dan. He is in the Heat Haze, although his eye ability is unknown. He is voiced by Takuma Terashima in the anime.

Takane "Ene" Enomoto
A naive cyber girl who lives in Shintaro’s computer. Ene can possibly invade anything that uses electricity and gives her all in doing things that Shintaro hates. Was once a human named Takane Enomoto, but lost her body in a certain experiment. She now possesses the power of immortality from her “opening eyes” ability, thus entering the Heat Haze. As a human, she 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. Because of this, her personality became bad-tempered in most points. Takane then had a disease which caused her to lose consciousness for no reason at random times. She also had feelings for Haruka, but was unable to tell him. Ene and Takane are voiced by Kana Asumi in the albums and anime.

Tsubomi Kido
A girl that plays the role of the leader and an original member of Mekakushi Dan. Kido entered the Heat Haze after dying in a house fire, caused by her father, along with her sister (voiced by Yuki Kaida). She’s essentially good-natured, but struggles to keep the individual members, like Kano and Seto, in line. Using her “eye concealing” ability, she can erase the perception towards objects within a certain distance of herself or her surroundings. Kido is almost always seen listening to music through her earphones. She is voiced by Yuko Kaida in the anime.

Shuuya Kano
A young man with cat-like eyes who is an original member of Mekakushi Dan. Kano entered the Heat-Haze after being stabbed in the stomach and died along with his mother when their house was invaded. Has an unfocused, aloof personality, and always has a smile on his face. Because he teases Marry, Momo, and Kido a lot, Kano’s often considered to be a flirt and uncaring, but when it counts, he’s worth relying on. He possesses the power to “deceive one’s eyes,” to be able to manipulate what people around him see and show them something different. Kano used his ability to look like Ayano to deceive Shintaro and later Ene to look like Haruka. He is voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana in the anime. As a child, he is voiced by Yuki Kaida.

Kousuke Seto
A young man who is an original member of Mekakushi Dan and is from the same orphanage as Kido and Kano. Seto entered the Heat-Haze after drowning in the river in order to save his only friend, a dog that was thrown in there by bullies. He works as a florist at the shopping center as well as various other fields of work such as traffic control and newspaper delivery. Seto then heard Marry's thoughts and found her in the woods by chance, then later invited Marry into the Mekakushi Dan. With his “eye-stealing” ability, Seto can read information from any target. However, he dislikes it because, “It’s a power where you steal with glances, without needing communication,” so he rarely uses it. He has a pet hamster named “Hanao.” Seto also has a habit of wandering around where he shouldn&apos;t be. He is voiced by Soichiro Hoshi in the anime. As a child, he is voiced by Sayori Ishizuka.

Marry Kozakura
A 1/4-Medusa, 3/4-human girl. Marry entered the Heat-Haze after being attacked by villagers and dying along with her mother, Shion. She told Marry “We’re medusae, so if we make eye contact with a human they’ll be turned to stone.” While growing up, Marry always stuck to her words and hid herself away from the world in the forest. Even after Shion died, she continued to live alone. By chance, a boy named Seto heard her thoughts using his eye ability. He came to the forest, and eventually found her. He has since brought her to the outside world. After coming to the Mekakushi Dan’s hideout, and joining the group, Marry leads a sideline life making fake flowers in her room which generates a very small income. When she went into town to buy ingredients, the first people she met were neighborhood children. They bullied her, and she was traumatized by the incident; so Marry rarely goes outside anymore. Her ability is to “make eye contact”, which allows her to temporarily stop the movement of whoever meets her gaze; another ability given to her by Shion was the the "Combining-Eyes" ability which allows her to unite those who died on the 15th of August. She is voiced by Kana Hanazawa in the Mekakucity Records album and anime.

Momo Kisaragi
A very popular idol in her first year of high school. Ever since a childhood marine accident at the beach with her father, Momo has the “eye-captivating” power that can draw people's attention regardless of their preferences in tastes or interests. Because of her power, Momo was often alienated from people and had no friends, but since her meeting with the Mekakushi Dan, she regains her original, bright character. Momo has a peculiar sense in taste and fashion, and as such, it is common for her views to clash with other peoples&apos; opinions. She is voiced by Nanami Kashiyama in the anime.

Hibiya Amamiya
A boy that visits the city to take summer courses with Hiyori. Hibiya is known to be very mature for his age, yet has a cheeky personality. His quarrels with Momo are endless. His family owns a dojo, according to the anime. On August 15th, Hibiya becames involved in a certain incident with Hiyori and is forced to relive that day for many decades, but is the only one saved by Konoha, and obtains the “eye focusing” ability under these circumstances. He also had a crush on Hiyori. He is voiced by Misuzu Togashi in the anime.

Haruka "Konoha" Kokonose
Konoha was born as a human named Haruka Kokonose, but had a disease that cause him to die. However, Kenjirou, his teacher, turn him into a cyber-being (in the anime, his cyber body was given by Azami because Haruka wanted a stronger body). As a human, he and Takane were both students in Kenjirou's class. Haruka was as a naïve, clumsy boy who once fell into a fountain and took off all his outer clothing in front of Takane. After the experimental city where he and Takane lived was bombed, Kenjirou revived him into Haruka's video game character, Konoha. After being turn into a cyber-being he had an amnesia, he is currently living at Hiyori’s sister’s house as a foster child. Not knowing about the normal world, he’s rather my-pace (air-headed, lost). In his spare time, he plays baseball with the neighborhood children. He is known to possess a strong curiosity for the unknown. There appears to be another side to him called 'Dark Konoha'/'Kuroha' by fans. The anime revealed that 'Dark Konoha' is actually the 'Snake of Clearing Eyes', Kenjirou's snake (although, he was later called 'Black Konoha'). Konoha, Haruka, and the snake are voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the anime.

Hiyori Asahina
A girl that visits the city to take summer courses with Hibiya. For this reason, Hiyori came to stay at her sister’s house, and fell in love with Konoha in one day, who happened to be staying there as well. On August 15th, Hiyori becomes involved in a certain incident with Hibiya. And was stuck in the Heat-Haze that Azami had created, making her and Hibiya relive that day for decades. Her favorite animal is a cat. Hiyori also had a crush on Konoha. She is voiced by Kotori Koiwai in the anime.

Shion Kozakura
A half-human, half-Medusa woman who was Marry’s mother. Shion lived in the forest with Marry, but was attacked by humans. In that situation, she used her power to turn them into stone in order to protect Marry. However, the strain on her body was too great for her to bear, resulting in her death. Has the ability to turn others into stone. Azami later gives Shion the 'Combining-Eyes' ability after her and Marry die from being attacked, but then gave the ability to Marry so she could live on and unite those who died on the 15th of August. She is voiced by Akemi Okamura in the anime.

Ayano Tateyama
A cheerful girl who was Shintaro's classmate and the original founder of Mekakushi Dan. In the summer of her first year of high school, Ayano made contact with Shintaro, who had a tendency to keep a distance, but who soon relented to her advances and genuinely enjoyed her company. From then on the two became close friends. Shintaro caught her crying one day, but was at a loss at what to do and leaves. The next day it was revealed that she had committed suicide by jumping off the top floor of her school for some unknown reason. It was later revealed that Ayano thought that by gaining a red-eye ability she could help save her friends (Haruka and Takane) and stop the Snake of "Clearing Eyes" for harming her father (Kenjirou) and  her adapted siblings (Kido, Seto, and Kano). However, she didn't know that to gain an eye ability, a person needed to die in pairs, so she was unable to join the Heat-Haze. She is voiced by Mai Nakahara in the anime.

Kenjirou Tateyama
A high school teacher, Momo’s homeroom teacher, and also Ayano&apos;s father. Provides both stern and kind guidance to Momo, who can’t come to school often due to idol activites. Even though he has lost his family in the past, Kenjirou still continues to do his best in educating students. Possesses the power of “making eyes clear.” also experimented on Haruka and Takane. He is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in the anime.

Azami
Presumed to be Shion&apos;s mother and Marry&apos;s grandmother. Azami is Medusa and her hair grows as snakes. Each of the snakes possesses a unique ability. Because she herself has an immortal body, she thinks of humans as, “dull creatures that die easily.” However, at one time, she fell in love with a young solder, Tsukihiko, who was the first human to not fear her, and created a family with him. Humans’ life spans are short, so fearing that she had be alone again, Azami used the powers of the snakes to create a never-ending world. She is voiced by Satomi Arai in the anime.

Manga
A manga for Kagerou Project is being published monthly in Comic Geneillustrated by Mahiro Sato (佐藤まひろ ).

Novel
A series of novels have been released. Each of the novels are written by Jin with illustrations by Shidu.