Average to a fault, Ken is the definition of the word ippan-jin (ordinary person.) As with any of us, Ken was born with the potential for individuality, but social forces hammered this out of him long ago. In its place is a form of personal expression that mirrors the trends trumpeted by publications such as Popeye and Mono Magazine. This can be seen in Ken's great passion, figure collecting. But does he collect because he enjoys it? Or, does he collect because everyone else does? In any case, Ken finds happiness within his fantasies of female teenage gravure idols and action figures. Ken's life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a strange, green alien figure that he believes will perfectly match up with his vintage Major Matt Mason collection...

Office rival and bad guy, Yamada is stationed at the desk beside Ken's. While producing the same amount of work as Ken, Yamada gives the illusion that he does so much more for the company. Always on time, always last to leave, always dressed to perfection, Yamada masks himself in such blinding surface material that no one bothers to scrutinize his actual performance. His hostility toward Ken stems from the realization that inside he is exactly the same kind of slacker.

Idol sensation Mayuka is this year's girl. Born pretty, her talent is meager. A target for men to project the qualities they yearn in a woman, Mayuka is the face of an industry that takes advantage of the continually widening communication gap between the sexes. Not a bad girl at heart, but like the men who stare at her photos day in and day out, she is just as much caught in the machine as they. Mayuka's real name is Shinko, which her agency dropped the moment it signed her, as it wasn't current sounding enough. Like others in her occupation, Mayuka has just enough ambition and ability to do the job, but not enough to see her last past the age of twenty-three.

More social dropout than vagabond, The Homeless Man found himself cast further and further from society's center with the collapse of the 1980s bubble economy. After seeing his lucrative business of customized solid gold golf tees fold and then a succession of purgatorial stints as a cabby, The Homeless Man called it quits. Taking up a spot on the Tamagawa river in Tokyo's Setagaya ward, he now enjoys the easygoing life of finding and reselling magazines, engaging in calligraphy, and passing the time toasting Ozeki one cups with "Suru", a stuffed tiger left behind in his cab on his final night as a cabby. More content than ever, all was well until having a Close Encounters of the Annoying Kind...