History Characters / Kaiji

[[folder:Main characters]]
!!Kaiji Itou

* {{Determinator}}: Even after [[spoiler:losing over 60 million to the Bog, he continues going]].
* EightiesHair: A mullet.

* GeniusBruiser: Kaiji is shown to be a capable fighter on top of his gambling skill. To be fair, the people he is shown to beat up are nothing more than average but it is quite a feat to disable multiple people in a single punch as shown in the Mahjong arc.

* NominalHero: He's got morals and standards like anybody else, but in the end he constantly finds himself stuck in ridiculously high-staked gambles solely because he needs the money.
* RousingSpeech: He frequently has to give those to his companions so that they as a collective can keep moving forward despite their dire straits.

* SufferingBuildsCharacter: He starts off as a nobody who barely does anything with the life he's been given except indulge in petty gambling which has ended up locking him in severe debt. But put him in a situation where his life is ''literally'' on the line, and he turns dangerous.

A debt collector who shows up at Kaiji's place one day to collect a defaulted loan that he's co-signed as guarantor. After disclosing the astronomical debt accumulated, he offers Kaiji one last hope: The Espoir, which promises enough prize money that can clear his debts with profit to spare.

A former acquaintance of Kaiji who begged him to co-sign a loan as guarantor. After defaulting on his many loans and disappearing, Kaiji is sought out by the debt collectors, kickstarting the plot. Furuhata soon appears on the Espoir, and is recruited by Kaiji to try and turn their luck around.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Unlike Andou, who was planning to betray Kaiji from the start, Furuhata seemed like he genuinely wanted to buy Kaiji's freedom. Unfortunately once Andou gets into his head by telling him about the debt they will still be in if they help Kaiji, Furuhata betrays Kaiji for a 10 million Yen profit.]]
* SmallRoleBigImpact: His making Kaiji co-sign a loan starts the series after all.

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 and is voiced by Creator/DaisukeNamikawa.

* {{NEET}}: By season 3 he's just leeching off of Sakazaki.

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:

The CEO of Teiai corporation who delights in seeing the suffering of those around him.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: As far as the public knows, he's a respectable businessman.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Masahiro Komoto

* {{Bishonen}}: Well, in-universe.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/HideoIshikawa (Japanese), Gabriel Regojo (English)

* CharacterDevelopment

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold

%%* JerkAss

%%* JerkAss

%%* FatBastard

%%* CoolOldGuy
%%* CowardlyLion

%%* ShrinkingViolet

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold

%%* ThePrankster

* BrutalHonesty: A trait Tonegawa hates is that Kurosaki can call out Hyoudou on his behavior (up to a point) and actually gain favor with him, whereas anyone else would be severely punished.

%%* {{Determinator}}

%%* BadBoss

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold

%%* ThirdPersonPerson

%%* EvilLaugh

%%* [[spoiler:OverlordJr]]
%%* [[spoiler:[[MafiaPrincess Yakuza Prince]]]]

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Hiroshi Yanaka (Japanese), Creator/ScottGibbs (English)

* CryCute: Especially Miyoshi.

* CryCute: The series has him break out in tears over the many stressful situations he's been put under, so much that some fans nickname him "Cryji". TearsOfFear and ManlyTears are among the most common variants that he breaks into, though some high-stakes victories also have him shed TearsOfJoy.

* AdvertisedExtra: She has only a handful of scenes as one of Kaiji's convenience store coworkers,
but for being the first woman shown in a series with a scarcity of female characters she shows up in Kaiji pachinko machines along with Mikoko.

* GeniusBruiser: Kaiji is shown to be a capable fighter on top of his gambling skill. To be fair the people he is shown to beat up are just average people but it is quite a feat to disable someone in a single punch as shown in the mahjong arc.

* Ms.Fanservice: In the Pachinko machines she can be shown off either in a maid costume or her swimwear, showing off some impressive chest.

* VillainousBreakdown:

[[quoteright:250:https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kaiji/images/c/ca/29010.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110414120536]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kaiji/images/e/e7/Slot_season2_kaiji.png/revision/latest?cb=20180626102441]]

[[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kaiji/images/e/e7/Slot_season2_kaiji.png/revision/latest?cb=20180626102441]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:The rules of his game, which he set up to help him cheat out more money, amplify his losses, allowing Kaiji to ruin him in one fell swoop.]]
* HumiliationConga: Kaiji starts a huge one ever since he discovers his cheat. [[spoiler:Being blatantly disrespectful around him (throwing his drink on him and rudely opening his earning envelope in his presence) to provoke his anger, in the confrontation game Kaiji exposes his loaded dice, then proves that he did try to use the dice to win the last game (this really angers the crowd), gives him a HopeSpot trap by continuing the game with conditions that [[ExactWords allow loaded dice and sharing with each other]], uses dice made from a T-bone steak that Otsuki ate that is all ones (this means that [[OhCrap he pays quintuple]]), then when trying to retreat Kaiji reminds Otsuki to [[OhCrap finish his turn as a dealer]] (he goes twice and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard for more irony this rule is used to help him cheat]]), Yoshihiro Kurosaki intervenes to [[ThisIsGonnaSuck support Kaiji's decision]], and in the end and in one night he lost 18 Million Perica and is utterly destroyed by Kaiji and the 45'ers.]]

* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:When Yoshihiro interrupts their second game, he tells him to leave in a rude way. Never mind the fact that Yoshihiro is the only one there who wears fancy clothes instead of the standard labouring uniform, and that he's accompanied by several black suits.]]

* HumiliationConga: Kaiji starts a huge one ever since he discovers his cheat. [[spoiler:Being blatantly disrespectful around him to provoke his anger, in the confrontation game Kaiji exposes his loaded dice, then proves that he did try to use the dice to win the last game (this really angers the crowd), gives him a HopeSpot trap by continuing the game with conditions that [[ExactWords allow loaded dice and sharing with each other]], uses dice made from a T-bone steak that Otsuki ate that is all ones (this means that [[OhCrap he pays quintuple]]), then when trying to retreat Kaiji reminds Otsuki to [[OhCrap finish his turn as a dealer]] (he goes twice and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard for more irony this rule is used to help him cheat]]), Yoshihiro Kurosaki intervenes to [[ThisIsGonnaSuck support Kaiji's decision]], and in the end and in one night he lost 18 Million Perica and is utterly destroyed by Kaiji and the 45'ers.]]

* KarmicJackpot: Because Kaiji [[spoiler:saved Mario’s and Chang’s lives when he didn’t have to, the two gladly put up their lives to allow Kaiji to continue his match with Kazuya. This allowed Kaiji to turn the tides of the game and let him win 2.4 billion yen.]]

* TrueCompanions: [[spoiler: Mario and Chang.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: When Kaiji accuses him of being afraid of losing to someone like Kaiji, he idly dismisses the claim, saying that if an amateur golfer played a professional often enough, he would eventually win. Because of this, he says that there would be no shame in losing to Kaiji. Kaiji inwardly reflects on how this doesn't match up with how Hyoudou had [[spoiler: [[YouHaveFailedMe forced Tonegawa to kneel on a red hot plate for losing to Kaiji in E-Card,]] even though he had done well for the majority of the game.]]

* SanitySlippage: It was stated that he used to be far more sane, 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.]]

* 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 punishement against 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: steel 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 Kaiji'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 misfortunate end by the kind of life they were born into.

* 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 Tonegawa 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]].

* MistakenForGay: He sleeps in the same bed with Endou... While Jazz music is playing... and a aroma scenter is going off... all isolated in a RV van far away from prying eyes, and then tries to talk about feelings with him. {SPOILER: It's all actually to hype himself up so that he can confess that he's just as scared as Kazutaka as Endou is despite everything. However, he isn't able to go through with it}

* 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]].

* 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. At least 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.]]

* LongerThanLifeSentence: [[spoiler: Is sentenced to work 1050 years underground after Kaiji beats the Bog and he costs Teiai 700 million Yen.]]

[[folder:Parts 3 and 4]]

* ArcVillain: He's the BigBad of Part 3, but even the Majong match against him only takes up part of the night that Kaiji spends gambling, and the remaining time is spent with him facing off with [[spoiler: Kazuya throughout parts 4 and 5]], who Muraoka makes it clear from his first appearance he's vastly inferior to.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Muraoka hangs a poster in his bathroom that reads "See what can be seen – that is the essence of gambling! – [[ItsAllAboutMe Muraoka]]." The poster not only inspires Kaiji to [[spoiler: construct a fake haku tile to fool him at the climax of their 17 Steps game, it gives him the paper and double-sided tape to do so.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: Has an enormous one after [[spoiler: Kaiji beats him in 17 Steps and he loses his casino to Kazuya]] that's implied to last for hours after the match.

* AuthorTract: In-universe example. Kazuya's book is one long story about betrayal and how you can't trust anyone. [[spoiler: it's also a mostly true story, which makes it worse.]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Kazuya believes no one is good and that when push comes to shove, people will always reveal their selfish wicked natures. Selfless acts which cannot be explained away or twisted [[spoiler: like Kaiji giving up 70 million of his own money to save Mario and Chang]] leave him dumbfounded and pisses him off as he tries to understand why.

* FairPlayVillain: 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, though he isn’t above abusing loopholes within those rules. [[spoiler: It’s eventually revealed that he put some cheat mechanisms in Mother Sophie, but they’re only there to help in the absolute worst case scenario (and even then he feels some subconscious guilt while using them).]]

!!MitsuYama
FatalFlaw: GREED. [[spoiler: Rather than giving him and his friends 299,216.99 USD worth of yen each, he chooses to let them die when he's offered more, despite his reasons to need money are compartively less dire. Mario and Chang both came from poor backgrounds, are implied to suffer racism. Meanwhile, he stands to lose a kidney, but is implied to be somewhat well off besides that, seeming to have a position as a manager in a resturant. He ]]
EntitledBastard:[[spoiler: Despite him literally abandoning them to painful deaths, he thinks a mere one million yen, (worth less than than 10,000$ in their time, worth less than 9000 now) is enough to appease them and is insulted when they reject the offer. When he then finds out that he's the poorest among the trio, he envies them and tries to get them sent to teiai.]]
KarmaHoudini: His [[spoiler: betrayal]] goes unpunished
KarmaHoudiniLisenceExpiry: Not confirmed, but his reappearance in the story suggests its appraoching

* TrueCompanions: [[spoiler:With Kaiji.]]

!!Itou Kaiji