Who He is: John is a Korean-American youth who is brought to Cheju Island by some scheming on Miho’s part. The story begins when the little sister of one of Miho’s students becomes possessed by something called an “Obsession Spirit”. Miho goes to Pan for help, but it’s out of his area of expertise. He suggests that she find an exorcist, so she tracks down the best in the business, who happens to be the young priest-in-training John. Poor John was heading to Korea to meet his birth parents (he was adopted by an American family), when Miho has his plane switched in order to land him in Cheju. After he meets Miho, however, John decides to stay in Cheju for a while and help her out.

Appearance: John looks like a typical American teenager. Baggy, trendy clothes, sneakers, and what appears to be bleached hair. His eyes have been colored green and his hair light brown (possibly dark blonde). He is occasionally seen in his priest robes, which I find adorable. Over all, John is easily the cutest character in the series.

Skills: John is a very powerful fighter as well. Physically, I don’t think he’s that tough, but he uses his spiritual powers to enhance his strength and speed. John is a devout Christian, and recites prayers and passages from the Bible to draw upon the powers of God. He has many powerful attacks and techniques, including flying, energy blasts, and calling upon huge amounts of water (one attack in particular blew me away, in which another character busted a water tank above John and he recited the passage where God parted the water for Moses, and the water parted and returned to the attacker, thus making John the victor).

Personality: John is a ray of sunshine in the midst of a dark and bloody story. He’s cheerful, bubbly, and lots of fun. He almost always wears a smile, and has a positive outlook on every situation. A character like him was desperately needed in this series. For John’s evaluation, I need to discuss three major points to his character. The first is that He’s a faithful Christian. Yes, we’ve all seen Christian characters in anime/manga who used “Christian powers”, but for the most part, those characters didn’t seem all that Christian to me. They use the power without giving much thought to Christianity, God, or anything else for that matter. John is different. Throughout the series, John continues to demonstrate that he has a true relationship with God. He prays, he thanks God for blessings, makes promises not to sin, and portrays real Christian behavior. As a Christian myself, I found this very refreshing. Perhaps it is because of his faith (which, by the way, was severely tested at one point in the series) that John has such a kind, compassionate, understanding spirit. When faced with an opponent who uses black magic, and obviously has anti-Christian sentiments, John does not view them as an enemy. He simply smiles and stays friendly, only fighting when the other person instigates it.

The second point I want to make is that He’s not perfect. While he is a very religious person, John makes mistakes, just like everyone else. He is also easily tempted. At one point, Miho flirts a little with him (as part of the plan to get him to help the possessed little girl), and gives him the idea that she may sleep with him, and he actually says “At least I’m not a fully ordained priest yet!” John also makes several bad moves. For one, he picked a fight with the Japanese spiritual warriors and got beaten nearly to death. For another, he continued to try and protect the skulls that appear in the second half of the story, ignoring what everyone else tried to tell him about them (that they were very dangerous). Though he had good intentions (and in the end, his efforts were valid), they were stupid moves to make, because they only caused himself and others to be injured. Though it’s unfair to say so, it was probably his fault that Kyoichi lost her ear (Kojima was angry at her for letting John take the skull, which is why he shot her). But even though John has made these mistakes, he always strives to do the right thing.

The third point I want to go over here is that He has a tragic past. While trying to exorcise the Obsession Spirit from the little girl, the spirit told John some disturbing facts. From John’s reaction, at least a good portion of it was true. From that, we can assume that the rest of it was true as well. So, according to it, John’s birth mother was a whore and his father wanted nothing to do with him. The American family who adopted him only did so for the purpose of taking an organ from his body to give to their natural child (leaving his body in a poor state, in which he has to take pills everyday just to keep his body alive), and then gave him to the church. With those sort of issues, one wonders how John can stay so cheerful. Perhaps he simply pushes them to the back of his mind, and concentrates on the good things.

Despite all these horrible things, John is still a delightful character. He manages to be hilariously funny in an extremely serious setting, and he makes even other characters smile. Even Pan begins to warm up to him toward the end, and that’s saying something. John is the sort of guy you’d love to have as a best friend or a boyfriend. Friendly, outgoing, and fun.