# List of Heavenly Delusion characters
**Heavenly Delusion** (天国大魔境, *Tengoku Daimakyō*) is a manga by Masakazu Ishiguro, serialized in Kodansha's *Monthly Afternoon* since January 2018, whose cast is split between two storylines: children raised inside a walled facility, and travelers, Maru and [Kiruko](https://www.edgepedia.org/kiruko), crossing a ruined outside world in search of a place called Heaven.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) Ishiguro, previously known for *And Yet the Town Moves* (*Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru*), launched the series in January 2018, and it topped the manga-for-male-readers list in the 2019 edition of Takarajimasha's *Kono Manga ga Sugoi!* guidebook.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) This article lists the characters by storyline, with native Japanese names as confirmed by the chapter index of the serialized manga.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Series | Heavenly Delusion (天国大魔境), by Masakazu Ishiguro, serialized in *Monthly Afternoon* since January 2018[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) |
| Protagonists | Maru (マル) and Kiruko (キルコ), travelers seeking Heaven across what was once Tokyo[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) • [2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) |
| Maru's ability | The Maru-Touch kills man-eaters through physical contact after a short moment of concentration[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) |
| Kiruko's identity | Kiruko's body is Kiriko Takehaya's (竹早桐子); her brother Haruki's (竹早春希) brain was transplanted into it after a man-eater attack[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) |
| Facility cast | Tokio (トキオ) and other children raised by robots under the Director, Shino Kaminaka (上仲詩乃)[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) • [3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) |
| Monster threat | The Hiruko (ヒルコ), also called man-eaters (人食い), named in chapters 4–5 (2018)[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) |
| Anime cast | Gen Sato as Maru and Sayaka Senbongi as Kiruko in the April 2023 anime, streamed exclusively on Disney+ worldwide[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) |
## Main protagonists: Maru and Kiruko
**Maru** (マル) is a young man raised by foster parents who travels the outside world seeking Heaven, where he intends to meet someone who shares his face and inject them with a strange compound.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) His ability, nicknamed the Maru-Touch by Kiruko, kills man-eaters he touches, though it requires a short moment of concentration to work.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion)
**Kiruko** (キルコ) is a Tokyo trip guard, a mercenary who protects people traveling between settlements, hired to escort Maru from Nakano to Heaven.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) She wields an advanced firearm that shoots beams of extreme heat, which she has nicknamed the Kiru-Beam.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) Her own quest is to find two people from her past: a man named Robin and a figure she knows as the Doctor.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion)
Her body belonged to Kiriko Takehaya (竹早桐子); when her brother Haruki Takehaya (竹早春希) was nearly eaten by a man-eater, the mysterious Doctor saved his life by transplanting his brain into Kiriko's body, and he took the name Kiruko.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) Both names appear as chapter titles in the manga's early run, "Kiruko" (キルコ) in chapter 3 (2018) and "Kiriko Takehaya" (竹早桐子) in chapter 8.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
## Heaven: the Takahara Academy facility characters
The second storyline follows children raised inside a walled nursery-style facility by robots, a setting the anime's synopsis describes as "a slice of heaven" contrasted with the hell-scape outside.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) The facility is run by Shino Kaminaka (上仲詩乃), an old woman usually called the Director, who is in charge of the Nursery.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) • [3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) Anime-Planet's character listing describes her as elderly and wheelchair-using.[4](https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/heavenly-delusion/characters)
**Tokio** (トキオ) is the main character of the orphanage storyline, a girl who questions the Outside; the manga's very first chapter, published 2018-01-25, is titled after her.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) • [3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) The other named facility children include Kuku (クク), Mimihime, Kona, Shiro, Anzu, Taka, Totori (トトリ), and Tarao (タラオ); Mina (ミーナ) also appears among the facility cast.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) • [2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) The children were raised without a concept of gender, many are intersex, and on death they transform into Hiruko monsters, which connects the facility's upbringing directly to the monsters threatening the outside world.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion) Chapters set at Takahara Academy (高原学園) ran in 2021.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
## Supporting and settlement characters
The journey chapters introduce secondary figures who anchor the settlements and survivor communities Maru and Kiruko pass through. Anime-Planet lists Manaka Mikura (三倉まなか), a gunslinger; Teruhiko Sawatari (猿渡照彦); and Yuko Aoshima (青島裕子) among the manga's secondary characters.[4](https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/heavenly-delusion/characters) • [2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) Mikura later received a three-chapter character arc, "Manaka Mikura" (三倉まなか), running from July to September 2024.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) Robin Inazaki (稲崎露敏), whom Kiruko searches for, also appears in the chapter index as a named character.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
Anime-Planet lists Kiruko, Maru, and Scar as the manga's main characters.[4](https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/heavenly-delusion/characters)
## Antagonists and threats
The central monster threat is the Hiruko (ヒルコ), the man-eating creatures of the outside world. The chapters titled "Hiruko" (ヒルコ, chapters 4–5, 2018) establish the name of the monster type, and chapter 57 is titled "Man-Eaters" (人食い).[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
## Insight: dual-narrative structure and how the casts connect
The series alternates chapters between its two casts. The chapter index shows outside-world chapters centered on Maru, Kiruko, and Robin Inazaki alternating with facility chapters centered on Tokio, Kuku, Mina (ミーナ), Tarao (タラオ), Totori (トトリ), and Mimihime.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) Character-named chapters, such as "Tokio," "Kiruko," "Kiriko Takehaya," and the 2021 Takahara Academy (高原学園) arc, appear throughout the run.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
The Hiruko transformation that awaits the facility children on death is the same monster type Maru kills on the road.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion)
## Voice cast and adaptation
The television anime adaptation was announced with an April 2023 debut and exclusive worldwide streaming on Disney+.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) The main Japanese cast maps onto the manga characters as follows:[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493)
- Gen Sato as Maru
- Sayaka Senbongi as Kiruko
- Hibiku Yamamura as Tokio
- Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Kona
- Misato Fukuen as Mimihime
- Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shiro
- Tomoyo Kurosawa as Kuku
- Misato Matsuoka as Anzu
- Yūki Shin as Taka
The anime aired in Japan on [Tokyo MX](https://www.edgepedia.org/tokyo-mx), Hokkaido TV, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, TV Aichi, MBS, and BS11.[1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493) For Kiruko, international dub voices include [Anjali Kunapaneni](https://www.edgepedia.org/anjali-kunapaneni) (English), Aline Guioli (Portuguese, Brazil), María García (Spanish), and Audrey D'Hulstère (French).[5](https://myanimelist.net/anime/53393/Tengoku_Daimakyou/characters)
## Publication timeline since 2023
The manga remained in serialization through May 2025, with chapter 73, "Inori Village 2" (いのり村②), dated 2025-05-23 against chapter 1's date of 2018-01-25.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) Chapters published after November 2023 trace a sequence of character-focused arcs:[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
- "Ame-no-Nuboko" (あめのぬぼこ), chapter 59, 2023-11-25
- "Manga Road" (まんが道), chapters 60–61, December 2023 to January 2024
- "Toru Funayama" (船山 通), chapters 62–64, March to May 2024
- "Manaka Mikura" (三倉まなか), chapters 65–67, July to September 2024
- "Monster" (バケモノ), chapter 68, 2024-11-25
- "Izukunoe Island II" (いずくのえ島Ⅱ), chapters 69–71, December 2024 to March 2025
- "Inori Village" (いのり村), chapters 72–73, April to May 2025
Volume 10 closed with chapter 61 on 2024-01-25, so the arcs from "Toru Funayama" onward fall in the series' seventh publishing year, the series having launched in January 2018.[2](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34) • [1](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493)
## References
1. [Heavenly Delusion Anime Reveals Main Cast, April Debut, Exclusive Streaming on Disney+ Worldwide, Anime News Network (February 3, 2023)](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-02-03/heavenly-delusion-anime-reveals-main-cast-april-debut-exclusive-streaming-on-disney-worldwide/.194493)
2. [Heavenly Delusion (manga) chapter titles, Anime News Network encyclopedia](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=21845&page=34)
3. [Characters in Heavenly Delusion, TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/HeavenlyDelusion)
4. [Characters appearing in Heavenly Delusion Manga, Anime-Planet](https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/heavenly-delusion/characters)
5. [Tengoku Daimakyou (TV 2023) Characters & Staff, MyAnimeList](https://myanimelist.net/anime/53393/Tengoku_Daimakyou/characters)
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