Before he met Ban, Ginji was known as The Lightning Emperor, the leader of the VOLTS street gang inside the Limitless Fortress. The Four Kings were his lieutenants and close friends. In their own ways, they were all devastated when he left to form the Get Backers alongside Ban, and Shido, Kazuki, and MakubeX all resent Ban to various degrees because of it, even once they realize Ginji is happier and healthier with Ban to lean on. After Ginji left, Kazuki, Shido, and Kurusu followed suit, leaving MakubeX to take over as the leader of VOLTS himself.
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Kazuki Fuuchouin
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Matt Hislope (English), Gonzalo Fumero (Latin American Spanish)
Well-read, formerly one of the Four Kings of the VOLTS and really, really girly-looking—qualifies for She's a Man in Japan, Viewer Gender Confusion, Dude Looks Like a Lady, and Unsettling Gender-Reveal. Oddly charismatic and naïve when it comes to his personal relationships. Fights with koto strings. Nicknamed "Kazuki of the Strings" and "The Terrifying Prince". Has a tragic past, even when compared to his teammates.
- The Artifact: Yup, him too. Again, the one chance the anime was given to go into Kazuki's past and motivations, much of the actual story was omitted. For him at least, an effort was made to pluck an aspect of his past from the manga (Toshiki) and transplant it into the anime's final arc, but it was mostly a distraction to the actual story going on, and Kazuki's actual participation was minimal at best.
- Badass Bookworm: Well-informed, at least. He frequently acts as the group's escort because he seems to know the most about the layout of the Infinity Fortress and many other things in general.
- Berserk Button: Making fun of his femininity. He's almost killed someone at least twice because of this. He also has a very low tolerance for men who abuse women.
- Character Development: Back at the beginning of the series (and further than that in his childhood flashbacks), Kazuki has always taken much pride in his family and one of his main motivations is seeking out the Ura-Fuuchouin to avenge his family (though it's more downplayed than most instances, in that he spent most of his time (off-screen) looking for clues rather than actively hunting the Ura down). Forward to the finale of the series, after multipe facedown with the Ura-Fuuchouin in the Beltline, Kazuki has learned the dark sides of his family, which prospered on the sacrifices of the Ura-Fuuchouin, and accepted the revolt that ensued from that as retribution for the sins of the Fuuchouin. He eventually takes upon himself the duty to release the Ura-Fuuchouin of the black string curse, starting with his enemies Maiya and Yuuri, and redeems his brother Yohan.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His family was massacred and his village was burned to the ground when he was in his very early teens.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Fanon mostly. But let's be honest, we REALLY can't fully blame fangirls for seeing it that way.
- Gender-Blender Name: Manga-only, brain-breaking spoiler: The Kazuki Fuuchouin from "normal" Shinjuku is very much a girl.
- Master of Threads: Kazuki Fuuchouin is the last in a long line of fighters who can manipulate strings for offensive purposes.
- Light Is Not Good: Controls an angel called Orpheus with the power of strings.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Kazuki of the String and Prince of Terror.
- Razor Floss: His threads can be used to cut people.
- She's a Man in Japan:
- Tokyopop's translation screwed up his very first appearance, having characters referring to him as female (not that Shido calling him a bitch wasn't funny, of course). Quickly corrected for later volumes. Lucky thing too, since there's a scene later on where Kazuki is both naked and explaining the reasoning behind his femininity.
- Lampshaded by the anime localization team in the
DVD Commentary: the first one to figure out Kazuki was male was the script adapter.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Ginji and Ban believe they see a lady bathing in a hot spring in the distance. Ban, being the pervert that he is, gets down, and coerces Ginji to lurk alongside him to spy on the "woman". Ban manages to drag Ginji along until they're swimming right up against Kazuki's ass, and then they're attacked by a sequence of strings and needles. Immediately enough,
they realize that they've just been trying to spy on Kazuki.
- Tranquil Fury: When serious, his calm, icy demeanor is downright terrifying. There is a reason he managed to pry his way to the top of the game, making even the strongest and most valiant warriors bow down at his feet.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Happens all the freaking time.
- Played with in the canon, since his childhood friend Juubei thought he was a girl when they first met.
- Ren: (enters room, sees Kazuki's bandaged, flat chest) What?! Y-y-you're a boy???Kazuki: And I see you're a girl.Ren: (throws his clothes at him) SHUT UP!
Shido Fuyuki
Voiced by: Takanori Hoshino (Japanese), Omar Gallaga (English), Ángel Balam (Latin American Spanish)
Another of the VOLTS' Four Kings, Shido hates Ban and loves Madoka. Used to be a bloodthirsty loner, but love and Ginji made him change, so now he works as a retriever. Being from an (fictional) aboriginal tribe, Shido gets to use all their cool abilities, such as talking to animals. Nicknamed "Beastmaster".
There is a ancient feud between his animal-whisperer tribe and the insect-controlling Kiryuudo—they managed to kill off a vast majority of Shido's tribe. After the slaughter, he goes to the Limitless Fortress and eventually meets up with Ginji.
- Animalistic Abilities: Shido has the ability to take on the characteristics of about 100 different types of animals, such as a bat's echolocation abilities, or a wolf's strength and claws.
- The Artifact: He becomes this in the anime's final arc, as there really isn't anything for him to do, especially since he was probably the character most often used in filler episodes. Unlike Himiko, though, he was at least associated with the characters driving the arc.
- Speaks Fluent Animal, The Beastmaster, and Friend to All Living Things: Animals love this guy. Notably, insects do NOT (this becomes a major plot point later in the manga).
- Four Is Death: Twice. Not only is he a member of the Four Kings, but a member of the Shiki clans—when he and the other three get together, it literally does mean death for the Kiryuudo.
- Gag Penis: Implied, particularly by Ban.
- In the manga, it's practically a running joke by Ban that Shido uses his 'Horse Form' to convince Hevn to give him jobs (it's not true, of course), and that said 'Horse Form' is the only reason Madoka keeps him around (truth is debatable).
- Ineffectual Loner: His back story is basically this, with Amon, Emishi and Ginji all making breakthroughs to him, but Madoka really sealed the deal. It's weird, as he averts it at the same time—with his animals, he's never literally alone.
- Relationship Upgrade: The very beginning of the Eternal Bond arc. Madoka finally says "I love you," and Shido reciprocates. Not that we didn't see it coming a mile off, of course.
Makube X
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), John Minnich (English), Johnny Torres (Latin American Spanish)
The third and youngest of the Four Kings. Another incredibly intelligent and well-read character, MakubeX ends up as the de facto ruler of the Limitless Fortress, and spends his free time trying to figure out what the hell is going on there.
- Brought Down to Normal: At the end of the manga, as a result of Ginji restoring the world, Makube X becomes a normal boy and goes shopping with Sakura. Though his computer skills likely remain.
- Combat Pragmatist: The fights he sets up involve a lot of this, including Juubei attempting to get Kazuki In the Back and mind controlling a bunch of kids to fight the heroes.
- Let X Be the Unknown: Makubex was abandoned as a baby and found in a bag that had "Makube" written on it. Assuming "Makube" was his surname, the X represents his given name (if he ever had one in the first place).
- Likes Older Women: Strong undertones of this between him and his lovely supporter Sakura. He's 14, she's 23.
- Non-Action Guy: Double Subverted, he seemed to fight Ginji in the final battle of the IL arc but he turned out to be a VR.
- Tagalong Kid: Inverted. He's got three (later four) sidekicks, all in their 20's, who would follow him to the depths of hell and back again.
- Tomato in the Mirror: A major point of the IL arc is him coming to terms with the fact that he's essentially a hologram who can never leave the Infinite Fortress.
Masaki Kurusu
Voiced by: Hideyuki Hori (Japanese), Robert Kraft (English), Carlos Vitale (Latin American Spanish)
The last of the Four Kings, and by far the most mysterious, who spends most of his time sitting around and making cryptic remarks as he spies on people. Also knows things. He's the only member of the Four Kings to have come from Babylon City. Fights with light. Prior to his introduction, the other three Kings would only refer to him as "him" or "that guy" or "the other one".- Anti-Villain: Anime only, where he was actually forced to serve Brain Trust out of fear for the lower level inhabitants.
- Because Destiny Says So: He turned sides to the Voodoo King in the manga
- Exotic Eye Designs: He has the same cross design in his left eye as Der Kaiser, Paul and Kazuki
- Hidden Agenda Villain: For a long time, we didn't know what his goal was, until he reveals that he's an agent of Brain Trust and the Voodoo King
- Mysterious Watcher: Mercilessly parodied by Rando Ayamine himself in one of the first page character sketches. Masaki is shown Super-Deformed, hugging his knees with tears streaming down his face while he talks about all the cool stuff he did in the anime even though he hasn't done anything but spy on people in the manga. And he wants Kagami to go drinking with him.
