Kaiji (manga) - Characters

Characters

Kaiji Itō (伊藤 開司, Itō Kaiji?)

• Voiced by: Masato Hagiwara

The main character of the story. Kaiji is in poverty - he lives by himself in a slum and is constantly in debt. He bides his time by playing cheap gambling games with neighbors, though he always loses. In spite of this, when his life is in danger, he displays a remarkable hidden capacity for gambling, which allows him to endure the hardships he faces in the manga. He is shouldered with a 3,850,000 yen debt at the beginning of the story by a co-worker who convinced him into cosigning a loan, leaving Kaiji with the full weight of the debt compounded over a year.

Masato Hagiwara, the voice of Akagi Shigeru reprises his role as lead in the second anime adaption of a Nobuyuki Fukumoto work, opposite Masane Tsukayama who again plays an elderly, refined villain.

Kazutaka Hyōdō (兵藤 和尊, Hyōdō Kazutaka?)

• Voiced by: Masane Tsukayama

Wealthy socialite and president of the powerful financial consulting firm "Teiai" (帝愛?, "Love Emperor"), not to mention owner and sponsor of underground gambling tournaments like those on board Espoir. He is believed to be seventy years old and worth several hundred billion yen. Driven mad by wealth, conventional hobbies fail to entertain him, so he funds gambling tournaments to watch the destitute of society struggle against overwhelming terror and despair.

He meets Kaiji in the final segment of the first series of manga, where Kaiji is selected by lottery to compete in the "Castle of Despair". Hyōdō's talents for winning in anything have earned him the title of "king" by some, though others merely call him "very lucky". His first full manga appearance was in volume 8 - prior to that, all readers saw of Hyōdō was his finger tapping.

In many ways, Hyōdō is quite similar to Washizu Iwao, who was also voiced by Masane Tsukayama.

Yūji Endō (遠藤 勇次, Endō Yūji?)

• Voiced by: Naoya Uchida

A dirty loan shark with ties to the yakuza. He lends out large sums of money to the desperate, but charges an absurd (and illegal) interest rate. He tracks down Kaiji after a client of his, Furuhata, disappeared without repaying a loan, which Kaiji cosigned in an act of weakness. Recognizing Kaiji could never repay the loan, Endō offers him the opportunity to board the gambling ship Espoir, where he would be able repay his debt and make some money as well.

After Kaiji defeats Tonegawa his organization suffers because they now lack any connection to the upper management of Teiai. After Kaiji goes to Endō for another high risk gamble Endō drugs Kaiji and sends him to an underground labor camp. When Kaiji is released he goes to Endō for a loan to get enough money to beat the Bog. Endō helps Kaiji borrow 500,000 Yen to beat the Bog and helps Kaiji weaken it. During the battle with the Bog Endō loans Kaiji another 100,000 Yen at a very high rate of interest. After Kaiji's victory he drugs Kaiji, takes the extra money owed him, and leaves.