You Are Number Six/Anime and Manga

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Tower of God: Twentyfith Baam,[1] of course. He was named after his birthday and grew up trapped in a cave, and that all what's really known about him.
  • Four Murasame from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, who dislikes her name, both because of the implications and because...well, she has a number instead of a name. Gundam spinoff games like Gihren's Greed introduced her "big brother" Proto-Zero, AKA Zero Murasame.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Androids 13-20 in Dragonball Z, the first three only appearing in one of the non-canon movies.
    • Android 8 (Hatchi) in the original Dragonball. After the android reveals himself to really be a Gentle Giant, Goku gives him the nickname Hat-chan (Eighter in the English dub).
  • Every main character in Gundam Wing has a numerical name, each in a different language.
    • Quite a few of the minor characters have number names as well.
  • Since the main setting of Maison Ikkoku is an apartment building, the main characters' names are Japanese puns based on numbers. Even the ones that don't actually live at Maison Ikkoku. The ones who do live there reside in the room of their "number". Including Kyoko, who lives in the manager's office (room "zero").
  • The Numbers Cyborgs from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, whose names are one to twelve in Italian.
  • The numbers are alien, but the concept still holds. Ren in DearS gives her "confirmation number" as her name, "Ren", standing for "Zero" in the DearS language since she's defective.
  • Change 123: Hibiki, Fujiko and Mikiri (HiFuMi is a Japanese way of counting 1,2,3) and Zero are split personalities of Motoko, with Zero being the most dangerous and the one appearing least often.
  • Puni Puni Poemi: The Aasu sisters are numbered one to seven. The oldest is seven and the youngest is one.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima: Fate's real name is Tertium, Latin for "the third".
    • The first and second were apparently more along the lines of golems than the artificial human that the current Fate is. Therefore, he apparently finds it humiliating to be referred to with his true name, as one of a series.
      • Seems he's that same Fate resurrected twice by Dynamis. Who made three more for the Averruncus series.
  • All of the pilots in Neon Genesis Evangelion are referred to as "The ___ Child" ("children" in the original "did not check the grammar" Japanese), in the order that they were selected for training. They only occasionally use the terms among themselves (mostly when referring to someone not there). Asuka calls Shinji "third child" for about two episodes, until she switches to "baka-Shinji". She sometimes refers to Rei as just "first" in annoyance. Also, one of the many possible readings of Rei is "zero".
    • Another instance of this involves Rei's status as the second and then third cloned version of herself.
  • Gundam 00 has Allelujah Haptism, Test Subject E-57.
    • When Tieria and Regene first meet, the latter calls them both "Base Sequence Pattern 0988" to his face. This is what finally clues Tieria in that Regene is his Innovade clone.
  • The Holy Empire of Britannia from Code Geass is fond of assigning numbers not just to individuals but to entire countries. Each newly conquered territory is designated "Area X", and all its people are referred to as "X's" and heavily discriminated against.
    • This incidentally is a reference to the policies of Imperial Japan aimed to destroy the national character of its colonies.
    • When one thinks about it, Lelouch's decision to take the codename Zero really comes across as a way to mock Britannia's tendency to do this.
      • Actually, it's deeper than that. What is the Britannian homeland called? Area Zero.
    • A very literal example is when Suzaku, requesting to Nunnally that he be able to interrogate Kallen, refers to the latter by her prisoner number. Nunnally, who was just having a friendly and nostalgic conversation with her, is visibly disturbed. (That Suzaku, who is fighting on behalf of the people of a nation referred to as Numbers, would resort to this, is yet another sign that he is descending further down the slope.)
  • In One Piece, all of the male Officer Agents and Frontier Agents of Baroque Works have numbered codenames, in descending numerical order of power, starting with their leader, Mr. Zero. (Their female partners have Day Of The Week Names instead.)
    • What's odd about this, though, is that Mr. 6 and his partner are never actually seen (and just as well, too; from what we've seen of the lower agents, especially Mr. 7, he probably looks ridiculous.)
      • Hardly any of the agents below number 9 show up, with the exception of the "Unluckies", Mr. 13 and Miss Friday, whose codenames were presumably given to fit their theme.
    • At Enies Lobby, Sanji makes fun of Zoro being identified as 'Luffy's henchman.' Zoro calls him "Unnamed Pirate A" in kind, then switching to Pirate B.
  • Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has Professor Takano Hifumi and his adopted daughter/apprentice, Takano Miyo. (That's 1-2-3 and 3-4). Furthermore, Rena, queen of the merchandise despite not being the main heroine, isn't actually named "Rena"; her real name is "Reina" (0-7), referencing the creators of the original game, 07th Expansion.
  • In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga:
    • The two guardians of the Philosopher's Stone are Nos. 66 and 48. Originally they were real people; they were just stripped of their names when they were turned into living armor, seeing as they were criminals who were, according to paperwork, sentenced to death. In the first anime, 66 reveals during his fight with Al that he'd appeared previously in the series; the last time we saw him, he was serial murderer "Barry the Chopper." In the manga/second anime, Lust always calls Barry No. 66 and it is in part this shabby treatment that prompts his (not really) Heel Face Turn. In contrast, the heroes all call him Barry.
    • Also, the manga Hohenheim was originally just #23, beginning his life as a nameless slave. He later uses this as part of a Badass Boast threat to the 'son' who named him.

"Tell him slave twenty-three is coming to see him."

  • There's also a guy just referred to as Number 23 in Wolf's Rain...at least by Jagara.
  • While it's written as "Sicks", the Complete Monster villain of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro uses the numeral 6 has his symbol. To punny extremes, sometimes.
  • In Darker than Black, all Contractors have a "Messier number" assigned to them. The protagonist, Hei, is BK-201, and is always referred to this way by the police who are hunting him. There's also the naming of the British agents, which always is based around months, but sometimes also includes dates- e.g. there's a November 11 and an August 7- and this might hearken to James Bond, as this could be read as making them agents 111 and 87. However, November 11 is sometimes called by his (possibly real) name, Jack Simon.
  • Sayaka Suzuki, more known as Rokugou, "number six", in Pani Poni Dash!. The nickname was originally given to her because she was the sixth girl in the school named Suzuki.
  • Played with in Rave Master. Elie is revealed to have been reading her tattoo upside-down. It's not a name; it's the serial number 3173.
    • Later books reveal not only her real name, but the secret of the tattoo - both readings are right. ELIE/3173 are the map co-ordinates of her birthplace
  • Kekkaishi: Hiura was originally just referred to as Number 3. The Ougi siblings are all named by birth order (Ichirou, Jirou, Saburou, all the way to Shichirou).
  • In Afro Samurai, the Empty Seven are all "Brother (Number)". Only one of them is actually given a name...one that roughly translates to "Sixth Brother".
  • In Bleach:
    • Ichigo's name is written with the kanji for 'one-protect'. However, true to the author's love of puns, one of his name's alternative interpretations is "Ichi" (One) + "Go" (Five) and Ichigo himself puns his name with the number 15 as a result. His one sister takes this even further by calling him "Ichi-nii-san" ("elder brother Ichigo" which just so happens to also sound like "one-two-three").
    • Kenpachi is not a name, it's a title meaning "Eight Swords", a title reserved for the strongest shinigami in a generation who is usually the 11th division captain. Kenpachi Zaraki was nameless until he decided to give himself a name (Zaraki was the district he came from and he decided to apply the Kenpachi title to himself). Eventually he gained official recognition by killing the 11th division Kenpachi and replacing him.
  • Along the same lines, the main character of Ah! My Goddess frequently uses "K-1". That is, Kei-ichi.
  • Inverted in Keroro Gunsou, with some given names being read as numbers deliberately. Natsumi translates into 723, which never really appears in-show except on her bedroom door. Kururu translates into 966, which appears on some of his inventions as a serial number. Saburo can be read as 326, which turned backwards is 623, which can be read as Mutsumi, Saburo's secret DJ identity.
  • The heroine of Spirited Away is named Chihiro, meaning "thousand" in Japanese. Yubaba takes away her name and gives her a new one, Sen, also meaning "thousand."
    • Chihiro can actually mean "a thousand fathoms", showing she has depth, but when she is reduced to Sen, or "thousand" it shows she has been likened to nothing but a number in Yubaba's service. Of course, she also grows less shallow as a person during this period of service.
    • Replacing her worker's names with numbers seems to be common practice for Yubaba, since "Haku" means "Hundred" in Japanese. Whenever there's a number-kanji in one of her victim's names, or something phonetically close, she'd probably use it.
  • Nana from Elfen Lied is not actually named Nana (and might not even have a name), but is the experiment number seven. It was because of her Stockholm Syndrome on Kurama that she took it as a name and had everybody call her that.
  • Princess Mononoke's given name is "San" (3).
  • In the second half of the Manga series Battle Angel Alita the titular main character Alita is forcefully recruited by a secret organisation called G.I.B. which uses her as agent. To nail down the fact that she is just a tool for them she is only called A1. Later it's revealed that they used her as basis for 12 android copies all called AR followed by the number on their foreheads. In the sequel, Last Order, only AR-6, Ar-11 and Ar-12 are left and they now call themselves Sechs, Elf and Zwölf which are the German spellings of their numbers.
  • The Diary Holders of Mirai Nikki are each given a number based on the order they received their Diaries, and will often refer to each other by their numbers (especially before learning each other's real names).
  • In Psyren, all of the children from the Grigori Project. Amagi Miroku is Number Six, and his elder twin sister Nemesis Q is Number 7. Grana is Number 1, and Junas appears to be number 5.
  • This trope is all over Katekyo Hitman Reborn in the characters' names using this list:
    • 27: Tsunayoshi Sawada ('tsu'=2, 'na(na)'=7)
    • 59: Hayato Gokudera ('go'=5, 'k(y)u'=9)
    • 80: Takeshi Yamamoto ('ya'=8, 'ma'=0)
    • 69: Mukuro Rokudo ('roku'=6, 'mu'=9)
    • 96: Chrome Dokuro (reverse of Mukuro)
    • 18: Kyoya Hibari ('hi'=1, 'ba'=8)
    • 101: Irie Shouichi ('I' or 'ichi'=1)
    • 100: Byakuran ('B/Hyaku'=100)
      • This is also how they list their Shipping, so don't be surprised if a Yaoi Fangirl has a sort of random four digit (or sometimes five or six or more digit) number in their fanfic summaries.
  • Used to a One-Liner effect in the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: "Ichi(1), Juu(10), Hyaku(100), Sen(1,000), Manjoume Sanda!" ('Man'=10,000)
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh Ze Xal, the "Numbers" cards each have a number from 1-99 in their names, and are referred to by their numbers in short form by fans.
  • Tetsuo in Akira is referred to as "Number 41" by the colonel and other scientists testing him.
  • Subverted in Cyborg 009. They refer to each other by their number.
  • In S-Cry-ed, Native Alters imprisoned by HOLY are given designations that presumably all consist of two letters and four numbers, such as Kazuma's "NP3228". Kazuma is rightly pissed at this, to the point that he actively threatens to kill Mimori just to get them to remember his name (and to get Ryuhou to give his).
  • Saiyuki, like the above Katekyo Hitman Reborn example, has numbers for all four main characters, two of whom actually have numerical kanji in their names:
    • Genjyo Sanzo = 3
    • Sha Gojyo = 5
    • Son Goku = 9
    • Cho Hakkai = 8
      • And also like the other example, the numbers are frequently used for Shipping abbreviations.
      • Only Gojyo's 'go' is 5. Goku's go is not. This confuses some people.
  • The tailed beasts from Naruto should count. No matter the term given, the number of their tails always precedes their name or their name is made up from a combination of a number and the tails they have in Japanese (Ichi, Ni, San, Yon, Go, Roku, Shichi, Hachi, Kyuu - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) - One-tailed Shukaku (Ichibi), Two-Tailed Monster Cat (Nibi), Three-Tailed Giant Turtle (Sanbi), Four-Tailed Monkey (Yonbi), Five-Tailed Dolphin Horse (Gobi), Six-Tailed Slug (Rokubi), Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle (Shichibi), Killer Bee's Eight-Tailed Giant Ox (Hachibi), and Naruto's Nine-Tailed Demon Fox (Kyuubi). There was also the Zero-Tailed Leech from the non-canon second Shipuuden Movie (which had absolutely no significance to the main plot whatsoever and was just an extension of the original manga-based anime, mind you).
    • Also the very-much-canon Juubi (Ten-Tailed). All we know is that the Sage of the Six Paths was its host, and the other nine Tailed Beasts were created out of it - and not even all of it; the Moon was created to contain the rest of the Juubi. Lastly, we know it's so powerful, the Sage could barely seal it, let alone defeat or control it. Oh, and we know that Madara plans to unleash it and become its host.
    • Later, it has been revealed that the numeric designations (One-tails, Two-tails, etc) are only code names used by shinobi to keep track of them. When they were created by the Sage of the Six Paths, he gave them each proper names. The Four-tailed Monkey is named Son Goku, and the Nine-tailed Demon Fox is named Kurama .
  • The Seleção of Eden of the East, while having names, are most commonly referred to by the other Selecao by the numbers they were assigned, which are also prominently displayed in Roman numerals on their phones. These range from I to XII, with the main character, Akira Takizawa, being Number IX.
  • Sekirei has 108 (fe)male "warriors", each with an assigned number in order of "birth".
    • Which also usually indicates power, at least in terms of numbers 1-9, which are known as the "single digits".
  • Cells at Work!; Most of the main cast has designations that consist of letters and numbers, along with a label indicating what sort of cell he or she is. The male lead is referred to as Neutrophil or U-1146, while the female lead is Erythrocyte AE3803.
  • Played With in Mahoromatic, where 370 is quickly renamed "Minawa Andou" in the episode after her first appearance. She's still called 370 by the people who come after her from the group she left, though.
  • From A Certain Scientific Railgun, the Misaka "sisters" - clones of the main character Mikoto Misaka - had serial numbers instead of names. Considering there were slightly over 20,000 of them, this was more out of necessity than malice.
  • In Darling in the Franxx the Parasytes (artificially created kids and teenagers that pilot the titular Franxx mechas) are given number designations instead of actual names to remark their disposability. Hiro, the male lead of the series, gave his squad mates actual names based in their codes in an attempt to counteract the constant deshumanization they face.
  1. ↑ Baam means Night in Korean
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