Zaha Sanko

Sanko is cheerful, friendly and remarkably enthusiastic about everyday pleasures considering that strangers routinely attempt to murder him. He loves eating, especially the meatball-and-spaghetti sandwiches he calls MeBaSpa, and enjoys watching television and sculpting figures from clay.

He is also lonely. Being recognized means becoming a target, so genuine friendship carries unusual importance for him. This helps explain how quickly he warms to Shimada Death after discovering that the feared God of Death has no interest in taking his bones.

Sanko is nevertheless comfortable with extreme violence when attacked. He can move from casual conversation to stripping an assailant down to a skeleton without treating the transition as unusual.

As a creature native to Darkness, Sanko possesses tremendous physical strength and can see in environments without light. He also recovers from severe injuries, although regeneration consumes time and energy rather than making damage meaningless.

His Skin of Darkness forms protective clothing capable of resisting attacks. With Flesh of Darkness and a Bone of Darkness supplied by Avakian, Sanko forms his signature axe. A successful strike can remove the flesh from a victim and leave behind a clean skeleton, allowing Sanko to collect bones for trade.

Sanko is also unusually multilingual, having learned more than two hundred languages during his travels.

Sanko begins the story floating wounded in space before being recovered by the Kahiya. Once its captain realizes who he has captured, Sanko becomes the target of yet another attempt to claim his supposedly wish-granting bones.

After escaping with Avakian, Sanko travels through a black hole into Darkness, acquires a Dark Core from Misetani Box and completes the ship Moja. His travels eventually bring Shimada and Hajime Damemaru into the crew.

The growing conflict with the Photosfere and Lighthead Order turns Sanko and his companions into the group known as the Hateful Four. Their journey gradually suggests that the mystery surrounding Sanko is connected to forces and history far older than the simple rumor about his bones implies.

Avakian is Sanko's longtime guardian and closest companion. Avakian has protected him since childhood and frequently acts as the responsible counterweight to Sanko's impulsiveness.

Shimada Death becomes Sanko's friend largely because he is one of the first powerful people Sanko meets who genuinely does not want his bones.

Hajime Damemaru joins Sanko after initially crossing paths with him as another fugitive pursued by the Photosfere.

Moja is Sanko's sentient ship and travelling companion. Sanko treats the skull-headed vessel affectionately rather than merely as transportation.

Misetani Box is a merchant in Darkness from whom Sanko buys equipment and supplies, despite her willingness to take advantage of him.