Dr. Cliff Miyashiro is an empathetic anthropologist seeking closure after his daughter's sudden death. He takes her place on an excavation team studying a recently unthawed prehistoric Neanderthal and an ancient virus. His intense dedication to his career creates a divide between him and his family back in California.

Skip is an East Asian comedian struggling to maintain steady work in a rapidly changing economy. He accepts employment at an amusement park designed to give terminally ill children one final day of joy. He obscures the grim reality of his job from his parents while learning how to comfort grieving families.

Jun is a young Japanese man who immigrated to the United States during his childhood. He becomes one of the first adult victims of the newly emerged Arctic plague, falling into a deep, sustained coma. Within a shared comatose dreamscape, he sheds his typical shyness to advocate for the safety of others.

David is a dedicated head scientist researching organ transplants to assist plague victims. Following his son's severe illness, he fully buries himself in his work, carrying immense grief and regret. His strict scientific worldview shifts when one of his bioengineered subjects demonstrates unexpected cognitive abilities.

Dennis Yamato is an indecisive floor supervisor at a hotel specifically constructed for extended funerary viewings. He maintains an aloof, lackadaisical approach to his heavy work and frequently clashes with his ambitious coworker. He actively avoids his brother's requests for familial support, preferring to distance himself from old resentments.

The unnamed Robo-Dog Repairman operates a struggling business fixing robotic pets in a society facing severe parts shortages. He stubbornly clings to a specific robotic dog containing voice recordings of his late wife. His refusal to accept his changing economic reality creates ongoing friction with his teenage son.

Aubrey is a dedicated forensic researcher who monitors how the Arctic plague affects decomposing bodies. She completely immerses herself in her laboratory work, leading to emotional distance from her husband. Her professional boundaries blur when she forms a close friendship with a terminal patient who volunteers his body for her research.

Bryan Yamato is a brilliant scientist and Dennis's brother. He possesses a tear in the space-time continuum within his head, which he studies alongside his team for potential applications in extraterrestrial colonization. He debates the ethics of leaving Earth while privately fantasizing about alternate realities where his deceased loved ones survived.

Miki Miyashiro is an established artist and the widow of Dr. Cliff Miyashiro. She joins a space voyage as the designated crew artist, suspecting she was chosen primarily because of her late husband's legacy. She processes the immense scope of interstellar travel and her grief by painting ship murals and writing letters to the family she left behind.

Dan Paul is a lawyer who recently awoke from a lengthy, plague-induced coma to find his previous life destroyed. Previously an introvert, he actively attempts to break out of his isolation and establish connections in a drastically altered society. He organizes neighborhood events as a first step toward collective healing.

Akira is an unemployed, unhoused man in his thirties who seeks refuge in virtual reality. Having missed out on typical life milestones due to global disruptions, he struggles to establish a physical foothold. He takes menial jobs, like printing pamphlets, while forming deep emotional attachments to avatars online.

The unnamed Sculptor works in the alternative funerary industry, specializing in creating elaborate ice monuments from human remains. He is meticulous and highly reflective, spending years researching folklore to impress his client. His professional boundaries blur as he digitally collaborates on her final arrangements.

Rina is a newly married, pregnant woman returning to her childhood home in Niigata City. She struggles with her cultural identity, feeling torn between her life in America and the traditional expectations of her Japanese family. Her visit forces her to confront her strained relationship with her mother regarding communal funerary practices.

The World Builder is a member of an ancient extraterrestrial species responsible for seeding and guiding planetary civilizations. She bonds her existence to Earth, reincarnating across various historical eras to influence human progress. She carries immense guilt over her early mistakes and deeply misses the family she left behind.

Clara is Dr. Cliff Miyashiro's adoptive daughter and a fiercely dedicated researcher. Her intense focus on combating the climate crisis frequently pulls her away from her family. Her detailed journals and field notes provide crucial context for the team studying the Siberian permafrost.

Yumi is Clara's daughter, raised primarily by her grandparents due to her mother's demanding fieldwork and her father's passing. She eventually joins her grandmother aboard a colony ship, entering cryogenic sleep to endure the long interstellar journey toward a new home.

Dorrie is a devoted mother trying to save her son through experimental medical trials. She forms a close bond with an amusement park attendant while grappling with her ex-husband's research-focused absence. Later in life, she utilizes her artistic talents aboard a colony ship.

Fitch is a young boy suffering from a terminal virus, sustained temporarily by multiple organ transplants arranged by his father. Despite his severe illness and isolation protocols, he retains a sense of childhood wonder, bonding with his caretakers over comic books.

Snortorious is a pig genetically engineered to grow human organs. He unexpectedly gains sentience, rapidly acquiring language and telepathic abilities. Possessing childlike curiosity and quick cognitive growth, he forms a deep surrogate bond with his lead researcher.

Val is a young widow working as a floor manager at a funerary hotel. She is highly effective at selling services to grieving families and frequently frustrated by her coworker's lack of ambition. She carries heavy guilt over her physical absence during her own husband's final days.

Theresa is a brilliant scientist working alongside her husband to study his spatial anomaly. She corrects his complex mathematics and provides essential care as his physical condition worsens. She is highly capable but remains hesitant about leaving Earth, preferring to focus on local survival strategies.

Laird is a terminal plague patient who volunteers to donate his body to a forensic facility. He initially visits the lab to make a documentary seeking to understand the virus that killed his mother. He spends his final year forming a deep emotional connection with the lead researcher.

Yoshiko operates a street vendor stall in the physical world while maintaining an active presence in virtual reality as a Pegasus avatar. She is the single mother of a bedridden daughter suffering from plague-induced psychosis, carrying a heavy burden of isolation and physical exhaustion.

Mabel is a young woman suffering from terminal cancer caused by an earlier plague infection. She meticulously plans her alternative funerary rites, requesting her tattoos be preserved and her body incorporated into an ice ship. She maintains clear emotional boundaries while collaborating on her final project.

Seiji is an older man who runs a printing press and belongs to the Sun Wave Society, a group viewing the plague as a societal reset. He employs drifting workers to distribute his pamphlets and tries to offer guidance to his troubled staff members.

Ms. Takahashi owns a café that caters to people seeking refuge in digital spaces. She is sympathetic to her displaced customers, wearing a distinctive purple crystal necklace and carrying her own quiet grief over the sudden loss of her mother.

Maksim is a staff biologist stationed at the Siberian archaeological dig. He helps brief new team members on the quarantine protocols and the unprecedented nature of the reanimated ancient viruses they study.

Yulia is a botanist at the Siberian excavation site. She acts as a guide around the dig, showing colleagues the specific crater locations and pointing out unusually advanced cave carvings found near the prehistoric remains.

Dave is a scientist studying ancient pathogens at the Siberian crater. He specializes in analyzing reanimated viruses to understand their behavior before they can infect the broader public through melting permafrost.

Annie is a prehistoric Neanderthal child whose unusually preserved remains are discovered in the melting permafrost. Her unique genetic profile and the ancient virus she carries become the focal point of intense scientific study.

Patrice is a graduate assistant working in a bioengineering laboratory. She is instrumental in monitoring the genetically modified subjects and helps conceal a sentient specimen from university administrators.

Ammie is Patrice's sister, recruited to help a sentient research subject develop speech and language skills. She advocates for treating the subject with honesty and compassion, pushing for him to understand his true origins.

Mr. Leung is a janitor at the funerary hotel. He quietly assists with providing under-the-table cremations for local families who cannot afford the steep, commodified prices of the post-plague death industry.

Tatsu is an EMT whose frontline experience with the plague starkly contrasts with his wife's postmortem research. The demands of their respective jobs and their differing worldviews create a growing rift in their marriage.

Orli is Laird's sister, struggling to comprehend his decision to donate his body to a forensic farm. She acts as an intermediary, delivering her brother's final requests and letters to the lead researcher.

Tamami is Rina's sister who remained in Japan. She acts as the chronicler for the community, maintaining the history of the families who mix their ashes in a communal urn.

Nuri is the World Builder's daughter. She shares a deep emotional bond with her mother and carries a crystal pendant designed to help them navigate toward one another across the universe.

Colonel Franklin Barret is the commander of the USS Yamato colonization mission. After millennia of travel and numerous challenges, he oversees the crew's settlement and attempts to reestablish contact with humanity's homeworld.

Aki is a teenager mourning the loss of his mother to the early waves of the plague. He plays the shamisen and frequently clashes with his father, frustrated by his parent's refusal to adapt to their changing economic reality.

Ayano is the late wife of the Robo-Dog Repairman. Before succumbing to the virus, she recorded voice messages and songs onto a robotic pet, leaving behind a digital legacy that her family uses to cope with her absence.

Kigawa is a neighbor whose broken robo-dog cannot be repaired due to the severe scarcity of usable mechanical parts in the post-plague economy.

Danny is a terminally ill boy who serves as a park attendant's first charge. His day at the amusement park is a mix of merriment and mourning as his parents prepare to say a painless goodbye.