Chika Akatsuki (赤月 知佳 Akatsuki Chika) is the one of the main characters in Zombie Loan. After surviving an accident with Shito six months prior to the start of the series, he turns into a zombie. He and Shito are the only ones to switch hands to fight off undead zombie corpses in order to get money to get their lives back. Starting off as seen as cold and distant, he fights with his katana by switching hands with Shito. He is determined to get his life back as he gets his loan by saving people. He is known to be Shito’s partner.
Appearance[]
Chika can be easily recognized by his silvery white hair and amber eyes. Like most of the characters in Zombie Loan, he wears a cross. Chika wears the cross around his neck and has a piercing in his left ear. He is usually seen wearing his school uniform, a white buttoned shirt with a pair of brown pants.
Chika's usual oufit.
However, his outfit changes throughout the series. Most of his casual outfits consist of a short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans. He is slightly taller than Shito, who is already one of the tallest in the group. Like all the other zombies, Chika has the dark ring around his neck. Also because of his contract with Bekko, he has handcuffs around his right wrist, as does Shito.
In the manga, Chika receives a scar along his chest because it started rotting. For the most part, Chika covers the scar with his shirt, but it is seen when he was about to take a shower. Although he is very thin, Chika is surprisingly strong and well-built.
When Chika was younger and still friends with Shiba, he was shown wearing a uniform consisting of the usual white buttoned shirt, but with a purple coat over. His face was more rounded in his youth, however his hair is still mildly spiky but slightly shorter. He is also known to be extremely attractive, and is seen with a smile when he’s with friends and a smirk when he’s ready to fight, often showing his competitive side whenever there’s a situation. He also seem to cute when he’s sleeping.
Personality[]
Chika is carefree, fearless, and very greedy for money. Even though he is known to be easygoing, his want for money causes him to become determined. This can be shown when Chika fights zombies. Chika can be very caring, especially towards his sister, Momoka. He was also a good friend to Shiba, even when Chika found out that Shiba was a murderer and zombie. When Shiba is shot by Michiru and is about to fall off the roof of a building, Chika offers his hand saying, "Go somewhere with me." His attitude is rather lively and extroverted, but he is also short-tempered. He is often seen beating Michiru for her various failures. He claims to dislike Shito but appears to be fonder of Shito than Shito is of him.
Chika can also be quite rash, usually to Michiru. In episode 3, Michiru is overwhelmed by Chika and Shito's "kindness" by saving her and providing her with a home to which Chika replies that they are only helping her for their own benefit and she'll have to repay them for it. He can also be competitive whether when it comes to money, fighting, or even love. Zen is constantly arguing or fighting with Chika and Chika gets jealous when he found out that Michiru had a crush on Sotetsu. He again gets angry with Michiru when she shows sympathy to Zen partly because he was part of the opposing loan office, but mostly because of his feelings towards her. Despite being rebellious, cold, and feisty, he does have a heart at times. He also shows a genuine care for those zombies that he defeats as well as performing memorials with amount of sympathy. Throughout the series, he maintains a fiery streak while having a heroic side. But in the episode, “Longing for freedom,” Chika ponders about what happens after zombies die as he crosses his arms and starts to shake in fear, meaning that he’s scared for his life.
Backstory[]
Chika is linked with Shito by a spiritual chain, which cannot be seen by normal people. This chain allows them to switch their right hands with each other; due to the terms of their contract, their real right hands, which they both lost in the accident, were switched when they were revived by the Zombie-Loan. With Shito's right hand, which is actually Chika's original right hand, Chika has the ability to generate a katana possessing Shinigami abilities. With the katana, Chika is able to guide the souls of those zombies they defeat to Heaven. Though often seen with a short temper, Chika has a genuine care for those he defeats and often performs their memorial with great sympathy. Though they have free will and emotions, both Chika and Shito are still considered zombies, so his ultimate goal is to regain his life once again.
Surprisingly, Chika has a very cheery family, though he does not live with them since he lives in the special dorms with the others. His father turns out to be a doting cross-dresser who annoys Chika constantly by fussing over him. His sister tends to pay more attention to her cellphone and is basically indifferent to what is going on around her, though Chika adores her and wants her affection. However, he is worried that when he gets home, he will be treated like an outcast due to the circumstances surrounding his hand; he is worried that it will rot off suddenly, and his family will detest and fear him. Much about his mother remains a mystery to him, although in the manga it is revealed that during his childhood years, while his father and little sister were abroad, she left him alone in the house for work and never returned, leaving him lonely and hungry. It is assumed that his mother has been absent to him and his sister as well as leaving her husband. In volume 7 of the manga, he loses control of his sanity due to this sad past and behaves completely like an ordinary zombie, craving for human and zombie flesh. With the help of Michiru and the others, he returns back to normal in time for the conflict in which they meet Carmella and Chitose of the ARRC.
Powers[]
The power that Chika is most known for is his katana, which he summons when he switches hands with Shito. He is very agile and his endurance is high. Even after getting severly injured during fights, Chika continues fighting and only allows himself to get treated by Yuuta once the battle is over. Chika can also fight without his sword as well, which is shown when he punches a supporter of Butterfly who was attacking Michuru. During chapter 56, Chika easily dodges a quick strike recovers fast enough to escape from a round of shooting. He is also quick-thinking, such as when he protects a woman with a wooden table just in time.
Chika and Shito are both having equal strength. Chika's willpower causes his strength to increase during battles. His will is mostly because of his desire to win. When Chika and Shito are tiny, pixelated characters in a game, he fights zombie after zombie in order to regain his true body after letting Shiba see his pitiful form. Another motivation is his purpose in life. He'll do anything to get money for his loan in order to live again. It is known that Chika is a skilled martial artist as he skilled in fighting and known to be hand-to-hand combatant. As he hits a zombie rat with his brown suitcase and shown to jump in mid air.
Relationships[]
Shito[]
Despite the fact that Shito and Chika seem to greatly dislike each other, they have a strong bond and understand each other. When not arguing, they are shown to work well together as a team. When Shito felt as though he were the cause of Chika's scar, Chika reassures him that he doesn't mind. Shito usually calls Chika by his last name, Akatsuki, to show that they are not very close friends, but as time goes by, Shito will call him Chika once in a while. Despite their fights, they do seem to care for each other as partners. They bicker, disagree and even threatened to kill each other if one of them gets in the way. It is unknown on why they dislike and fight with each other, although it is assumed that Chika will get annoyed by Shito as well as Shito getting annoyed with him as well. But they respect each other and they remained partners during their zombie missions. In the series, they always walk with each other throughout the hallways due to their switching hands.
Michiru[]
Chika treats Michiru very poorly in the beginning of the series, however it seems that he is starting to have romantic feelings for her later on. It's more visible in the manga than it is in the anime. It is revealed that he and Michiru are not in a relationship due to the fact that he treats her or she doesn’t show any romantic feelings to him in the anime.
- He often asks to sleep in her room, saying that he feels lonely.
- In chapter 49, Chika comes to Michiru and gives her 500 yen as her gopher payment and holds her hand, blushing, saying that he owes her one. Michiru is oblivious to Chika's feelings for her.
- Chika gets jealous when he found out that Michiru had a crush on Sotetsu.
Trivia[]
- His last name, Akatsuki, has 'Aka' which means red and 'Tsuki' means moon. His full name means "Red moon".
- He almost shows a resemblance of Hatsuharu Sohma from Fruits Basket.
- His Seiyū is Kenichi Suzumura.
- His birthday is March 23.
- He appears to be 16 or 17 years old. It is also possible that he can be the same age as Shito, or maybe he is a taller than him or their height.
- Zombie loan fans shipped Chika and Shito as a couple as many Yaoi fans shipped them romantically.
- He is known to snore loudly while he sleeps. As it's seen in episode six, when Chika sleeps in Shito's room, he was seen leaving a bag of chips open and a can of soda on the bed. His stomach is showing. Shito thought about shooting him at first, but when he sees Chika's gentle sleeping face, he knew in his heart that he couldn't kill him, so he grabs Chika's arm and swings at his face, waking him up.
- He is known to send the good souls into Heaven while Shito send the bad ones into hell.
- He is often eating food throughout the series. In episode two, he is seen eating an onigiri snack. It is seem that he has a huge appetite and a biggest eater.
- His personality is more of a bad boy type on the show. His cute appearance and his feisty and competitive attitude are often seen like every other male anime protagonist. He is shown to be very fiery while showing a gentle side. He also known to be extremely brave, making him one of the most heroic characters in Zombie Loan.