Appendix

Character Name Meanings

(Note: the kanji for zodiac figures
differs from the typical animal names.)

BOAR (亥)

Toshiko INŌ 伊能淑子

Inōnoshishi 異能肉 (肉)

Inō (いのう・異能) means superpower.

Shishi (しし・肉) means meat or flesh [of wild game such as boar].

Inoshishi (いのしし・猪) means wild boar.

Her name means “boar with superpowers” with an added suggestion that she dwells on matters of the flesh.

DOG (戌)

Michio TSUKUI 津久井道雄

Dokku 怒突 (怒)

Do (ど・怒) represents anger.

Doku (毒) means poison.

Tsuku (つく・突く) means to prick or to stab (or perhaps, to bite with a sharp fang); to strike; to attack at a weakness or by surprise.

Doggu (どっぐ) is how the English word “dog” is transliterated into Japanese.

His name means “mad dog that makes cunning use of his sharp fangs.”

CHICKEN (酉)

Ryōka NIWA 丹羽遼香

Niwatori 庭取 (庭)

Niwa (にわ・庭) represents a partitioned space, most usually a garden or courtyard, but also a field or area of action: 家庭 for a household or 戦いの庭 for a battlefield.

Tori (とり・取り) means taking/claiming.

Tori (とり・鳥) means bird.

Niwatori (にわとり・鶏) means chicken.

The reference to gardens also ties into her favored weapon, a spading fork she calls Cockscomb.

Her name means, “chicken who claims the field.”

In Japanese, the character 酉 is gender-neutral.

MONKEY (申)

Misaki YŪKI 柚木美咲

Sharyū 砂粒 (砂)

Sha (しゃ・砂) is a variant reading for sand.

Ryū (りゅう・粒) represents grains of a substance.

The combination sounds quite similar to saru (さる・猿), the word for monkey.

SHEEP (未)

Sumihiko TSUJIIE 辻家純彦

Hitsujii 必爺(必)

Hitsu (ひつ・必) means certainty.

Jii (じい・爺) means old man.

Hitsuji (ひつじ・羊) means sheep.

HORSE (午)

Yoshimi SŌMA 早間好美

Uuma 迂々真(々)

U (う・迂) represents a roundabout way or detour, as well as carelessness and ignorance.

The second character (々) is a shorthand representation for a repeated character, and is sometimes referred to as noma (のま), which is a homonym with a word for pasture-kept horse.

Ma (ま・真) represents truth, genuineness, and sincerity.

Uma (馬) means horse.

His name means “horse that is careless and naïve but earnest.”

SNAKE (巳)

Takeyasu TSUMITA 積田剛保

Tatsumi Brother, the Younger 断罪兄弟・弟 (断罪弟)

Tatsu (たつ・断つ) means to sever.

Tsumi (つみ・罪) means crime, wrongdoing; or punishment.

When combined they can be read as danzai (だんざい・断罪), which means judgment or conviction of a crime; or beheading.

Tatsu (たつ・辰) is also the word for the Dragon in the zodiac, while mi (み・巳) is the word for Snake in the zodiac; the two combined can be read as Dragon and Snake.

Tatsumi is also their family name Tsumita written in reverse.

Otōto (おとうと・弟) means younger brother.

DRAGON (辰)

Nagayuki TSUMITA 積田長幸

Tatsumi Brother, the Elder 断罪兄弟・兄 (断罪兄)

Same as above, but ani (あに・兄) means elder brother.

RABBIT (卯)

name unknown

Usagi 憂城 (憂)

Usa (うさ・憂さ) means gloom, melancholy, or lingering sadness.

Ki (き・城) means a walled-in fortress or keep. (When used in a compound the ki sound can become voiced: gi.)

Usagi (うさぎ・兔) means rabbit.

His name means “lonesome rabbit.”

TIGER (寅)

Kanae AIRA 姶良香奈江

Tora 妬良 (良)

To (と・妬) represents envy or jealousy.

Ra (ら・良) represents good (in quality or nature), skilled, or kind.

Tora (とら・虎) means tiger.

OX (丑)

Eiji KASHII 樫井栄児

Ushii 失井 (失)

Ushinau (うしなう・失う) means to lose something (tangible or intangible) or someone; to fail.

I (い・井) means a well or waterhole.

Ushi (うし・牛) means cow, ox, or bull.

RAT (子)

Tsugiyoshi SUMINO 墨野継義

Nezumi 寝住 (住)

Ne (ね・寝) means sleep.

Sumi (すみ・住み) means to reside or dwell in. (When used in a compound the su sound can become voiced: zu.)

Nezumi (ねずみ・鼠) means rat.

His name means “a rat that occupies the state of sleep.”

NISIOISIN

Born in 1981. In 2002, his novel The Beheading Cycle won the 23rd Mephisto Prize and became his debut publication. His numerous works include the Zaregoto series (starting with The Beheading Cycle), the Monogatari series, the Densetsu series, the Bōkyaku Tantei series, and Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. He has also written many manga, including Medaka Box (first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and later collected into a 22-volume set) and Ōgiri, a collection of one-shot manga stories.

HIKARU NAKAMURA

Born in 1984. She made her debut in 2001 with the manga Kairi no Sue in Monthly Gangan Wing magazine. Her other works include Arakawa Under the Bridge, published in Young Gangan; and the winner of the 2009 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, Saint Young Men, published in Monthly Morning Two. She previously collaborated with NISIOISIN on his Ōgiri one-shot, “The One Wish He Wanted More Than Anything, and the Ninety-Nine He Didn’t.”