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Jun. 17th, 2033
KAIJI ITOU
THE UNDERWORLD’S EVERYMAN
STATS
name. Kaiji Itouage. 23
height. 5’10”
build. Tall, broad-shouldered, lean muscle
hair. Black
eyes. Brown
notable characteristics.
- 1 linear scar on his left cheek
- 1 circumferential scar around the base of his left ear
- 4 circumferential scars around the bases of each long finger of his left hand
- the number "21" is branded into the skin of his left shoulder
sexuality. Bisexual
marital status. Single
occupation. Part-time convenience store employee, full-time unofficial underground gambling legend
current location. Tokyo, Japan
mother. Hatsue Itou (alive, on good terms)
sibling. 1 older sister
BACKGROUND
Kaiji is initially deadbeat with all the right original intentions: graduate high school, move to the city, get a Big Boy Job (TM) and fit in to society just like everyone else. Intentions can only get you so far, however. Unemployed and listless, he instead finds himself self-anesthetizing with cheap beer, petty gambles, and vandalizing illegally-parked luxury vehicles to take the sting out of his aimless life. He often rebuffs superficial interactions with his transient cohorts at the part time gigs he manages to keep, finding there’s often no point: he always ends up the outcast, the pariah, the loner. In his opinion, it’s better that way anyway; at least he doesn’t have to deal with the social gymnastics of it all.After co-signing on a loan for an acquaintance at an old job, Kaiji is left in debt to the tune of several million yen. Thereafter, he is thrust into the crosshairs of a seedy underworld yakuza monolith: Teiai Group. Teiai is a pretty creative bunch, though: why just threaten violence when debtors can't pay? Why not... enlist them in lethal and objectively traumatizing death games for the slim chance of winning freedom?
Kaiji is forced to repeatedly test his mettle and break through his drain-circling ennui to tap into a sense of dogged self-preservation and raw genius that he himself wasn't entirely aware he had. Sharp-witted, calculating, and scrappy, Kaiji finds himself at odds with Teiai again and again, in part due to his particular susceptibility to the siren call of a high-stakes, heart-racing gamble for his life. Justice is worth any price to Kaiji. This also includes but is not limited to, y'know. A limb or two. (His scars are not coincidental.)
Despite his vices, Kaiji is driven by innate survivors' instinct and his unquenchable thirst for justice - not only for himself, but for those close to him. He is fiercely loyal - often to a fault - and though this has led him to invest trust in some people much less deserving than others, he never comes out the other side any less tender-hearted (despite what he may want you to think).