Kaiji/Characters

This is the character page for Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Kaiji.

Itou Kaiji
The main character. Kaiji is a young punk with economy problems who spends his days playing poker and puncturing cars. He gets tricked to board Espoir, a cruise ship, where he is forced to gamble to pay off his debts. Kaiji is moody, but has a strong sense of justice and is willing to go to extreme lengths to reach his goals.


 * Action Survivor
 * Adorkable
 * Awesome By Analysis
 * Badass Normal: Sort of. Kaiji grows from a shrimp into a pretty competent gambler who acknowledges his weaknesses.
 * Brilliant but Lazy
 * Butt Monkey
 * Character Development
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: Often gets him into trouble.
 * Cry Cute
 * Berserker Tears
 * Manly Tears
 * Tears of Fear
 * Determinator: Even after.
 * Eighties Hair: A mullet.
 * Fan Nickname: "Cryji".
 * The Gambler
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Nakama: With most if not all his allies.
 * NEET: By season 3 he's just leeching off of Sakazaki.
 * Rousing Speech: He has moments like these.
 * Screw the Money, I Have Rules
 * Trapped by Gambling Debts
 * Tsundere: Type A.

Yuuji Endou
A loan shark with ties to Teiai. After Kaiji sabotages his car, they have a talk which leads to him giving Kaiji an invitation to Espoir, a gambling cruise.


 * Badass in a Nice Suit
 * Cool Shades
 * Evil Debt Collector
 * Gender Bender: "He's" a woman in the Live Action Adaptation.
 * Jerkass
 * Loan Shark
 * Read the Fine Print
 * Smoking Is Cool
 * Yakuza
 * Read the Fine Print
 * Smoking Is Cool
 * Yakuza

Takeshi Furuhata
An old co-worker of Kaiji's, who made the latter co-sign a loan contract, leaving him with a debt. When they meet again on Espoir, they decide to team up to get out of the ship with as much money as possible.


 * Easily Forgiven - Like mentioned above, Kaiji lets him off the hook pretty quickly.

Mamoru Andou
A chubby bespectacled man who joins Kaiji and Furuhata.


 * Scary Shiny Glasses: When he
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: When he
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: When he

Funai
A con man who has been on Espoir before. Very good at scamming newcomers.


 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
 * Expy: Shares a lot of traits with Urabe from Akagi.
 * Jerkass
 * Obvious Trap - He offers Kaiji to help him early on, and then stabs the guy in the back. In the manga, he's acting somewhat less shady, but the fact that the chapter's name is "Scam" is a tip-off.
 * Smug Snake

Kitami
One of Kaiji's opponents in Restricted Rock Paper Scissor. He bought all the paper cards to counter Kaiji's strategy of buying rock cards.


 * Jerkass
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gets an awesome one from Kaiji.
 * Worthy Opponent: He calls Kaiji this, because they originally thought up the same strategy.

Yukio Tonegawa
The host of Espoir and an important member of the Teiai organization.


 * Badass in a Nice Suit
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: The epitome of this, right down to his Read the Fine Print moment after the Brave Men Road.
 * The Dragon: To Hyoudou.
 * I Know You Know I Know
 * Large Ham: Oh yes. Tonegawa can be just as hammy as the Narrator, and he doesn't even raise his voice that often. Doesn't hurt that his voice actor is a singer, too.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The master.
 * Villain Has a Point: His speeches on society are disturbingly thought-provoking.
 * Villain Has a Point: His speeches on society are disturbingly thought-provoking.

Mitsuzi Ishida
A weak-willed old man on Espoir. Gets tricked by another contestant and sent to the "loser room".


 * Cool Old Guy
 * Cowardly Lion
 * Pose of Supplication
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Tears of Fear
 * Pose of Supplication
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Tears of Fear
 * Tears of Fear

Sahara
Works at a store with Kaiji. When Endou invites the former to a second gamble, he decides to join as well, since he isn't going anywhere in his life.


 * In a Single Bound-
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * The Prankster
 * - A very cruel example of this occurs in episode 15.
 * - A very cruel example of this occurs in episode 15.
 * - A very cruel example of this occurs in episode 15.

The Chairman
(real name: Kazutaka Hyoudou)

The Big Bad of the series, and the leader of Teiai Corporation.


 * Beard of Evil
 * Bad Boss: He's quite cruel to his subordinates, as seen in season 2.
 * Big Bad
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Expy: Of Washizu from Akagi, also by Fukumoto. They have quite similar looks and personalities, and they share a voice actor.
 * There's also an Expy of Hyoudou in Gambling Emperor Legend Zero; his name is Zaizen.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Foe Yay: With Kaiji. He drools at the sight of him in pain and even lovingly strokes his picture when he appears on one of his TV screens in season 2.
 * No Yay
 * Giggling Villain
 * Loves the Sound of Screaming
 * Nightmare Fetishist
 * Start of Darkness: He was supposedly once a very forgiving money-lender, but started to only see the dark side of people after years of empty apologies from his clients.
 * Villain with Good Publicity

The 45'ers
Kaiji's co-workers in the chinchiro arc. They form a union of sorts to take down Otsuki after they realize that.


 * Cry Cute - Especially Miyoshi.
 * Determinator
 * Nakama
 * The Power of Friendship
 * The Power of Friendship

Hiromitsu Ishida
The son of Mitsuzi Ishida. He was sent to the underground labour camp because of his debts, but partially his dad is to blame as well.


 * Gender Bender - "He's" a woman in the second Live Action Adaptation, much like Endou.
 * Jerkass - Comes off as this (or at least a Jerkass Woobie) at first.

Taro Otsuki
The foreman of the labouring group that Kaiji is in. Otsuki's dirty delight is to ruin the workers economically and psychologically by tricking them into buying snacks on payday and then gambling the rest of their money away in Hell Cee-lo, a game that he invented. His two henchmen are named Numakuwa and Isawa.


 * Bad Boss
 * The Bully
 * Eyes Always Shut
 * Fat Bastard
 * Jerkass - By episode 5 you'll hate him so very hard.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Smug Snake - For a man who for all intents and purposes works as a slave, he sure is condescending.
 * Too Dumb to Live -
 * Villainous Breakdown
 * Villainous Breakdown

Yoshihiro Kurosaki
's replacement in the second part. He is in charge of the forced laboring camp, and is in line to take over Hyoudou's position as the Chairman.


 * Affably Evil - If you compare him to Tonegawa, sure.

Kotaro Sakazaki
A former construction worker (now a security guard) whose daughter (see below) and wife left him because of his economical problems. Since then, he has been looking for a young gambler willing to help him beat a pimped-out pachinko machine called the Man-Eating Bog.


 * Badass Longcoat: He wears one in a flashback.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Determinator
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold

Mikoko Sakazaki
Sakazaki's beloved daughter. She is seen in a photo in series 2 and appears in person at the start of series 3, where she's having a picnic with Kaiji.


 * Abhorrent Admirer: Mikoko looks just like her father and is head-over-heels for Kaiji. This is Played for Laughs.
 * No Sense of Personal Space: She licks Kaiji's face.
 * Third Person Person
 * The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Subverted to hell and back.

Ichijou
The young host of an illegal casino famous for its pachinko machine the Man-Eating Bog, which promises a really big payout, but is in fact impossible to win at. Without tricks, that is. He also works under Teiai.


 * Bishonen
 * Break the Haughty
 * Cry Cute
 * Evil Is Stylish: Cares a lot about his looks, especially his nails.
 * Evil Redhead: Anime only.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: He's Kazehaya. No, really.
 * The Rival
 * Smug Snake
 * Villainous Breakdown: Loses his coolness near the end of part 2, and makes some pretty crazy facial expressions.
 * Who's Laughing Now?: He's waiting long and hard to invoke this trope against his old friends, who bullied him for not having a flashy job.
 * Who's Laughing Now?: He's waiting long and hard to invoke this trope against his old friends, who bullied him for not having a flashy job.

Takashi Muraoka
A shady man who owns a casino. He's the boss of, and they ask Kaiji to take him down in a rigged game call Minefield Mahjong in series 3.


 * Bad Boss: The reason why want to get rid of him.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Mahjong: Invented a two-player variant.
 * Not So Harmless: He might seem silly enough, but he's by no means incompetent. Which Kaiji eventually learns the hard way.
 * Slasher Smile

Kazuya
A mysterious young man who Muraoka seems to respect


 * Author Tract: In-universe example. Kazuya's book is one long story about betrayal and how you can't trust anyone.
 * Celebrity Resemblance: His looks were based on S. Korean actor Bae Yong Joon, who Fukumoto's wife is a fan of.
 * Cool Shades: Wears shades at night and inside.
 * Evil Redhead: Sort of. His hair is somewhere between red and brown.
 * Foe Yay: At times he seems almost obsessed with Kaiji.
 * Giggling Villain
 * Kavorka Man: He frequently has at least three women hanging on him, in spite of, er, inheriting his father's looks. The money probably helps.
 * Lonely Rich Kid - Kazuya bemoans the fact that people only like him for his family's money.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: Takes Kaiji first to a graveyard (complete with acting out a strangulation) and then to a torture/ BDSM club. Nice.
 * Self Fanservice: While this has happened to many Fukumoto characters in fanart, Kazuya is one of the worst (best?) examples.