Kanan

Cho Kanan (猪 花喃) was a member of the Kakita Clan and was, in life, Cho Gonou's twin sister whom he loved very dearly. Her death sparks the beginning of Gonou's journey into becoming Cho Hakkai.

Personality
Despite popular belief, Kanan wasn't demure, but was rather considered the more masculine of the Kanan and Gonou pair. Gonou was often left cleaning up after her. She had terrible cooking skills and was very bad at home making. Most of these responsibilities were left to Gonou. While being tough on the outside, she was much softer on the inside; whereas Gonou at the time was not a very kind-hearted person, choosing to shower only her with affection.

When she was kidnapped and raped, it appears that her strong spirit was broken. Rather than continue living, pregnant with the child of her rapist, she chose to suicide after saying one last farewell to Gonou, who had come in hopes of rescuing her. Presumably she had held on to life for as long as she did in order to tell Gonou goodbye.

Appearance
Kanan was a very pretty girl. Like Gonou, she had very beautiful green eyes. She had long brunette hair that was normally worn in a thick braid, laid over one shoulder. Her fringe also seems to fall over her face in a very similar fashion to Gonou's. There are some inconsistencies with the shade of her hair. In Gensoumaden Saiyuki her hair is as dark at Gonou's, but in the manga and other following images of her from future anime it is much fairer.

In most images of her, she is seen in a long dress with long sleeves. The sleeves have lacing around the wrists as well. Another important note is that Kanan is often drawn wearing a cross. This supports the idea that—besides Gonou being raised in a church that conformed to some kind of Catholicism—Kanan was also Christian.

Backstory
Gonou and Kanan lived together until they were three, when their parents divorced. Kanan was in custody of their father and Gonou remained with their mother. When Gonou was five his mother went missing and he was then sent to the orphanage. Little is known about how Kanan was raised or what happened their father. When Gonou was accepted into a research college on a scholarship around the age of 15, he was reunited with Kanan.

Gonou and Kanan moved in together around the time they were 18 or 19. Gonou was working as a nursery school teacher to support the two of them. They became lovers, completely ignoring the fact that they were siblings. Even though it was only for a short time, they lived a rather modest, but happy life together.

One day while Gonou was working and away from home, a group of demons called the Black Crow Clan came to the village where they lived in. The Crow Clan were under the orders of the centipede demon, Hyakugan Maoh who was know for his love of devouring beautiful women. He threatened to kill every member of the clan if they did not do his bidding. The clan came to gather females from the village as tribute for the Maoh.

The villagers willingly handed Kanan over to the youkai to save their own daughters, rationalizing it by saying she was an orphan with no family or friends. When Gonou arrived home that evening, he found the house in ruins. The villagers shamefully admitted to what they had done and Gonou lost it. He killed 300 of the villagers and moved on, setting out after Kanan, determined to bring her back. He had promised to always look after her.

He tracked her down until he found the Black Crow Clan. He wiping the clan out and learned that they had handed her over to Hyakugan Mouh. He went to HykaugAn Maoh's castle and killed everyone there including Hyakugen Maoh himself. Down, in the dungeon, he found Kanan who was astonished to see him again.

Gonou was overjoyed and went to her, reaching out to take her hands through the bars. As he drew closer to her, telling her that he loved her and that he'd come to protect her, she admitted to him that it was too late. While he remained stunned by her words, she took his knife and stepped back out of his reach. She explained that she had been raped and now carried the centipede demon's child. She told him that was why... and then killed herself in front of Gonou.

Gonou, still shell-shocked from watching the scene before him and unable to go to her even now, her body being to just out of reach, he was then attacked by Chin Yisou, Hyakugen Maoh's son and heir. He wounded Gonou severely and then taunted him as he lay dying on the floor of the dungeon. He asked about all the blood that he had spilled, and then asked if Gonou had ever heard the old legend of how a man that bathes in the blood of a thousands demons shall become a demon themselves. Chin Yisou decided to test this legend and slit his wrist, allowing his blood to spill onto Gonou. Unfortunately, that last bit of blood was indeed all Gonou's body needed and before Chin Yisou's very eyes, Gonou became that which he hated.

Gonou killed the Chin Yisou and fled the castle, wondering around wounded and dying. Somewhere along the way he had manged to find three demon limiters in the form of ear cuffs. Gonou finally collapsed on a small road and was found by a Hanyou named Sha Gojyo who nursed him back to health. He was eventually taken before the Three Aspects by Genjo Sanzo and Son Goku and was given a change of name and effectively a new life since it is against the teachings of Buddha to take a life. He became Cho Hakkai.

Trivia

 * Note that in the anime she is only mentioned as Gonou's lover, but in the manga it goes in deeper to reveal that she is also his twin sister as well.


 * Kanan and Gonou make a "photo-bombing" appearance in another one of Minekura-sensei's work, Stigma.


 * There is a novel based upon Hakkai's life that goes into his relationship with Kanan.


 * Kanan was voiced by Neya Michiko (根谷 美智子) in the Japanese version. In Gensoumaden Saiyuki, she was temporarily voiced by Allison Keith, but later voiced by Sasha Paysinger for the rest of the series and the movie, Requiem.


 * In Reload episodes 5 & 7 she was voiced by Julie Ann Taylor who also voiced young Gojyo, his Mother (ep 13), Rinlan, and Wong (also ep 13).