History Characters / Kaiji

!!Ichijou

* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Though not necessarily on the side of "law", Endou takes on this role for the 6th series. Many chapters are entirely dedicated to his struggles to find clues about Kaiji's whereabaouts. He usually gets close to the truth with sheer tenacity and quick wits, but the trope is fully in effect since his successes don't tend to stick.

* TheCorrupter: Much of his conversations with Kaiji involve trying to "teach" him malefic, cynical wisdom and pointing out how they're NotSoDifferent.

* ArcVillain: Hyoudou is his boss and technically the [[GreaterScopeVillain overall villain]] of the series, but even when he physically appears during the Castle of Despair arc, he's relatively uninvolved in proceedings until kaiji drags him into his final gamble, whereas Tonegawa is the most consistent opponent overseeing the various games that Kaiji participates in, being TheFace of the Teiai group until Hyoudou reveals himself just before [[spoiler: the card match against Tonegawa. Said match also serves as the ClimaxBoss fight for kaiji and where he's able to finally exact pnusihement agaisnt his tormentor according to his own rules, with the last gamble against Hyoudou being more of a PostClimaxConfrontation as he also desires to use the golden opportunity he's been provided with to strike a personal blow against the head of the twisted corporation, aware he'll never likely get another chance and unwilling to allow Hyoudou to be a KarmaHoudini after being made aware of how monstrous a man he is]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The ''master''. Whenever any of the participants of his games start getting uppity, he will throw it right back in their faces that they pretty much brought their predicaments on themselves because they were too lazy to get anywhere in life and squandered it by gambling, falling into debt and now trying to find an easy way out just to return to those lifestyles. [[spoiler: Fittingly, Kaiji gets to turn this on him during the E-card game, firstly by taunting him for his 'cowardice' in hesitating to play his cards during the final round, which is the only 'true' round he's played on an equal and fair playing field, scared of making the wrong move whereas Kaiji himself has bet on much risker odds against Tonegawa's advantages, pointing out that it's proof that Hyoudou was right to state he's more suited to receiving orders than he is giving them. The second comes when he reveals the trick behind the bloodstained slave card, pointing out that a psychological battle of wits like they've been having is something that results in the player projecting their own perceptions onto their opponent, in effect acting as a mirror to their true character. When Tonegawa thinks he's seen through Kaiji's trick and calls him a snake in the grass, Kaiji just retorts that it's proof that Toneawa himself is a serpent, and sincerely thanks him for being one, pointing out that he couldn't have pulled of his deception if Tonegawa wasn't exactly such a shrewd schemer]].

%%* [[spoiler:TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]

* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: His leap of faith. In spite of reaching the end of the bridge, as he opens a window at the end of it, [[KaizoTrap the sudden change in air pressure blows him back and he falls to his death]].]]

%%* TrueCompanions

* ArcVillain: The gambling match against him is the focus on the first section of Part 3, and [[spoiler: Kaiji's victory against him is how he's able to earn his time above ground to take on the Bog in the latter half]].

* FauxAffablyEvil: He gives off a friendly facade and even offers to help his impoverished workers so that the they are more eager to trust him.

* VillainousBreakdown

* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: At the beginning of series 3 his friendship with Kaiji has completely eroded due to him becoming a penniless freeloader at his new house. Atleast he still respects what Kaiji did for him by offering 3 million yen to cut all ties with him forever instead of just kicking him out in the street. Kaiji giving his cut of Kaiji’s 1.2 billion yen helped Sakazuki forgive Kaiji for being a parasite and say Kaiji is welcome at his home again.]]

%%* JerkAss

* FreudianExcuse: If the way he treats the Mother Sophie machine and tells you that if it doesn't love you, you're going into DOWN-DOWN hell doesn't tip you off, a lot of his behaviour comes from several traumatic events he's experienced - Kaiji outright says the fucked up gambles he aranges is because he geninuely hasn't received any real love or affection from anyone.

* NotSoDifferent: Believes Kaiji, Mario, and Chang are fed up with society and want to leave it for a simpler life like he did. This is part of why he rents out a camper to Kaiji and keep it a secret from Teiai.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The ''master''. Whenever any of the participants of his games start getting uppity, he will throw it right back in their faces that they pretty much brought their predicaments on themselves because they were too lazy to get anywhere in life and squandered it by gambling, falling into debt and now trying to find an easy way out just to return to those lifestyles.

* ArcVillain: Hyoudou is his boss and technically the [[GreaterScopeVillain overall villain]] of the series, but even when he physically appears during the Castle of Despair arc, he's relatively uninvolved in proceedings until kaiji drags him into his final gamble, whereas Tonegawa is the most consistent opponent overseeing the various games that Kaiji participates in, being TheFace of the Teiai group until Hyoudou reveals himself just before the card match against Tonegawa. Said match also serves as the ClimaxBoss fight for kaiji and where he's able to finally exact pnusihement agaisnt his tormentor according to his own rules, with the last gamble against Hyoudou being more of a PostClimaxConfrontation as he also desires to use the golden opportunity he's been provided with to strike a personal blow against the head of the twisted corporation, aware he'll never likely get another chance and unwilling to allow Hyoudou to be a karmaHoudini after being made aware of how monstrous a man he is.

* GoodVictimsBadVictims: His most sickening trait. He constantly twists the narrative and re-frames events to put the responsibility of the misfortunes the gamblers tormented in the games he oversees squarely on their shoulders, using the pretext that every game they've participated in, no matter how high the stakes, always had the opportunity for them to back out, and thus it was their own stubborn refusal to back away that lead to the misfortunes they suffered, and thus not something he can be held accountable for. Whilst he's not [[VillainHasAPoint entirely wrong]], that is not looking at the gambler's living situations outside the games, which have them trapped in a cycle of debt that bleeds them dry with no escape, and which the absurd prize money for the games is their only realistic option to break free from their entrapment. Additionally, kaiji becomes incensed when he further tries this after the [[spoiler: cteel beam crossing, as despite him claiming that Kaiji gets [[AllFotNothing nothing for his efforts]] despite successfully crossing because he yelled at Tonegawa that they'd all forfeit mid-way across if he cut the power, Kaiji just furiously retorts that [[ShutUpHannibal he didn't cut the power immediately despite having the ability to do so]], which lead to further needless deaths and the rest of his fellow gamblers pressing on under the impression the power was still live, leading to Kaiji being the SoleSurvivor. Desiring to avenge them and pay Tonegawa back for continuing to brush off their deaths as being entirely their own fault is why Kaiji participates in the E-card match with him]]. His tendency to do this also slanders the gambler's characters, overlooking any nobler traits they demonstrated when at their breaking points in favour of highlighting the flaws that brought them down in the end, which cements kanji's fury against him, as he understood they could have been better men in different circumstances whereas Tonegawa just believes they were always destined for a misfortuneate end by the kind of life they were born into.

* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler:Argues that if they use their stars to save Kaiji, he and Furuhata won't be able to make enough money to pay off the debt they have, and end up with them leaving the ship with a debt of at least 3 million yen each.]]

%%* FauxAffablyEvil

%%* HateSink

* SanitySlippage: It was stated that he used to not be as insane, so he's had one prior to the beginning of the story leading to him being the man we know now. [[spoiler: He's even willing to go so far as to build an underground "kingdom", then deliberately trigger nuclear war to hold onto his power, leaving the entirety of the lower classes to die in the initial bombings.]]
%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity:

* FairPlayVillain: Subverted. Unlike the other opponents Kaiji's faced until now, Kazuya's only gambling to see how humans are at their core, so Kaiji reasons that he wouldn't cheat because that would make the gamble pointless. [[spoiler: But, like always, he built several massively powerful cheating mechanisms into Mother Sophie.]]

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Before falling, that is.]]

* NightmareFetishist: Watching the worst of human nature is his favorite past time.

%%* TheDragon

%%* BadBoss

* FreudianExcuse: If the way he treats the Mother Sophie machine and tells you that if it doesn't love you, your going into DOWN-DOWN hell doesn't tip you off, a lot of his behaviour comes from several traumatic events he's experienced - Kaiji outright says the fucked up gambles he aranges is because he geninuely hasn't received any real love or affection from anyone.

* LonelyRichKid: Kazuya bemoans the fact that people only like him for his family's money.

%%* BadassInANiceSuit

%%* BeardOfEvil

%%* EvilOldFolks

%%* NightmareFetishist

%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity

* TheConfidant: He keeps all information about Kaiji and the camper he rented from him secret from any teiai employees asking.
* EverybodyHasStandards: He may keep Kaiji’s rental a secret from Teiai but he’s quick to note that if cops come asking about him, he will tell them.

* NotSoDifferent: Believes Kaiji, Mario, and Chang are fed up with society like he is and want to leave it for a simpler life, like he once did. This is part of why he rents a camper to Kaiji and keep it a secret from Teiai.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: At the beginning of series 3 his friendship with Kaiji has completely eroded due to him becoming a penniless freeloader at his new house. Atleast he still respects what Kaiji did for him by offering 3 million yen to cut all ties with him forever instead of just kicking him out in the street.]]

* FatalFlaw: His tendency to twist everything to fit his HumansAreBastards worldview. It leaves him unwilling to believe Kaiji when Kaiji [[spoiler:tells him to just fold because his three will beat his two and lead to Kazuya losing his life if he bet his red statue. This unwillingness to believe Kaiji truthfully didn’t want to kill him and leads Kazuya to call Kaiji’s raise. He then loses the match and realizes Kaiji was telling the truth.]]

* IOweYouMyLife: [[spoiler:Mario and Chang gladly allow Kaiji to use their lives to continue the One Poker game when Kaiji loses all his lives.]]

* OhCrap: Mario has one when he realizes he blanked out and wasn’t keeping track of the time during one round of the SalvationGame.

* GreedEyedMonster: Kazuya envies his older brother for having good looks and being favored by his parents over him.
* IJustWannaHaveFriends: Kaiji deduces Kazuya’s behavior is a result of wanting to have friends who would stick by his side and like him for him. [[spoiler:Kazuya’s reaction to Kaiji explaining this proves Kaiji is correct.]]

%%* UngratefulBastard

%%* {{Adorkable}}

* AuthorTract: In-universe example. Kazuya's book is one long story about betrayal and how you can't trust anyone.

* EvilRedhead: Sort of. His hair is somewhere between red and brown. And as Kaiji notes it's obviously dyed.