Age: 19 Orihara is a young assistant who worked with Ashirogi Muto on "Run, Daihatsu Tanto!". He is a very energetic and cheerful character that tends to get loud due to his excitement, may it be about work or something else. When Takagi and Moritaka decide to quit the series, he offers to keep working for them without payment, because he still wants to learn from them. He works as an assistant again, when they start publishing "Perfect Crime Party".
Age: 18 (debut) Shiratori Shun is an assistant for Ashirogi Muto's Perfect Crime Party and the mangaka of Rabuta & Peace. Shiratori comes from a wealthy family and has a sister. He applied to be Eiji Nizuma's assistant, but the editors had already filled that position, so he was instead hired as Ashirogi Muto's assistant. He was rejected from art school and didn't think he would make a good mangaka, but when he saw an advertisement to be an assistant he took the chance, not wanting to mooch off his parents anymore. Shiratori is a happy boy with simple emotions who easily blushes. He speaks what he feels. He loves art and feels that it should be seen and enjoyed by thousands of people. That is why he draws manga as opposed to his grandfather, who purchased art and kept it in his house where people rarely saw it. (Source: Bakuman Wikia)
A young Taiwanese girl who is the main protagonist of Angel Heart. In reality, she is the daughter of Li Jiang Qiang, the leader of the crime syndicate Zheng Dao Hui. However at the age of two, she and her mother were involved in a car accident when their car plunged off a cliff into a river. Her mother was killed in the accident but Xiang Ying was never found, despite the best efforts of her father and his organization to locate her. In a cruel twist of fate, Xiang Ying was found and taken in by the Zhuque Corps (a section of Zheng Dao Hui which specializes in assassinations) and trained to be an assassin. Because of the accident, she has no memory of her childhood, and as a result does not know her true parentage. This is also why her entry in the Zhuque was never known by her father until it was too late. While in training for the Zhuque Corps, she was referred to as Number 27 but after her training was complete, she was referred to as Glass Heart. After attempting to commit suicide, the heart of Kaori Makimura was transplanted into her, and with it, the overpowering desire to live and to be reunited with Ryo Saeba. As a result, she busts out of the lab she was kept in and travels to Japan where she finally meets Ryo. Ryo, in turn adopts Xiang Ying as their (Ryo and Kaori's) daughter. Xiang Ying was only 15 years old at the start of the series, despite looking like she was in her early twenties. By volume 20 of the manga she is already 19 years old, though appearance-wise she has not changed. Xiang Ying has had very little contact with the outside world, except through her handlers. As a result, any potential situation which she perceives as a threat assessment would meet a harsh response, as evidenced when she nearly kills a man merely trying to pick her up. Not surprisingly, the people around her, Ryo, Saeko, Umibozu, Chin, and even Xin Hong realize they have an upward task in trying to teach her how to function in the outside world. There are several coincidences between Xiang Ying and Kaori. One, is that the Japanese character for Kaori is pronounced as "Xiang" in Chinese, hence her name "Xiang Ying". Also, her major histocompatibility complex is very similar to Kaori's as their human leukocyte antigen encodings are virtually identical. Because of this, Xiang Ying does not need to worry about her body rejecting Kaori's heart as her immune system has been fooled into thinking her heart is the same. With Kaori's heart, she remembers all of Kaori's memories, her residence, favorite coffee, quotes, and emotions. Along with these memories she inherits is also the ability to hammer Ryo with Hammerspace weapons if Ryo gets out of line (much like Kaori did), much to Ryo's annoyance. She has also gained the penchant for wanton destruction that Kaori has always exhibited when the latter is infuriated, this is in contrast to her previous tendency to execute her previous missions with stealth and finesse. Source: wikipedia
F�ng-Yù is a fellow mercenary who has a history with Ryo dating back to their battle field days, presumably in Central America. She was seriously wounded and lost her left eye while she was fighting together with Ryo. Because her fiancé would never marry her due to her injuries, she demanded to be left behind while the others pulled out of the fight. Instead, Ryo got her off the battle field, promising her that he would take her fiancé's place if she didn't give up the will to live. Ever since, Ryo has been haunted by her presence fearing that she might actually force him to fulfill his promise. She occasionally returns to Japan from time to time, staying at Ryo and Xiang-Ying's apartment whether invited or not. She is currently in command of the elite mercenary unit, the "black panther". She has also adopted approximately 20 child orphans around the globe and claims them to be their (Ryo and Fong's) children, much to Ryo’s annoyance. When Xiang-Ying jokingly noted that if they were regarded to be "Pa-Pa's" children then they would be her siblings, F�ng-Yù was overjoyed and insisted Xiang-Ying call her "Ma-Ma". As Xiang-Ying reserved "Ma-Ma" for Kaori, she never used the term for F�ng-Yù, instead using "F�ng-san". Since Kaori's death, F�ng-Yù has been worried over Ryo's state of mind. She had him promise her that he would send her an email each year on her birthday (Christmas Day) so that she would know that he was all right. Starting from volume 15 of the manga, he would always forget, causing some comical situations. (Source: Wikipedia)
Xin Hong is a childhood friend of Xiang Ying and was referred to as Number 36 during training for the Zhuque Corps. He has developed feelings of affection for Xiang Ying, and as a result, the trainers had Xiang Ying and Xin Hong face off in a fight to the death in the final exam. Xiang Ying managed to get the drop on Xin Hong and reluctantly killed her only friend, or so she thought. Somehow, he survived, and was transferred to the Qinglong Corps, another branch of Zheng Dao Hui. In fact, throughout this time, Xin Hong has kept his desire to reunite himself with Xiang Ying as his motivating factor to live. After the Qinglong were killed off by the Xuanwe, he was allowed by Li Jiang Qiang to live a normal life in order to watch over Xiang Ying. Incidentally, Xin Hong was also the assassin who sniped Li Qian De through his hotel room window. However, Li Jiang Qiang did not hold him responsible for his brother's death, knowing full well that he was trained to follow orders, and that most soldiers and assassins that work under him do not know who their leaders are.
An editor at Shueisha's Weekly Sh�nen Jump.