Kaiji Itou

== Summary ==
Rendered jobless and helpless right after he graduated from high school thanks to Japan's Lost Decade, Kaiji Itou was left to wallow in his depression as the days idly passed him by. However, a loan shark arrived with the news tht he was 3 million yen in debt thanks to a loan he had cosigned for a friend. With no job, no money, no future, and no hope, Kaiji was talked into an insane gamble on the cruise ship Espoir, a gamble in which he could pay back all his debt and win millions of yen... or which could send him to an underground labor camp, where he would be worked to death.
On this ship, Kaiji he found himself in possession of an exceptional skill in gambling, and an even more extraordinary will. Persevering through every hardship, Kaiji survived only to find himself in one life-or-death gamble after another, changing his fate forever...
== Powers and Statistics ==
Tier: , higher with prep
Name: Kaiji Itou
Origin: Kaiji
Age: Early 20's
Gender: Male
Classification: Human
Powers and Abilities: Genius Gambler, Social Influencing (Kaiji can expertly manipulate others in gambles, guiding their decisions to ones he desires, and he is also quite charismatic, gathering others to his side and getting them to support him in his planning and scheming)
Attack Potency: Human level, higher with prep (He was able to tilt a large building by filling a room on one side with water-filled bags, but the tilt was slight and only occurred because the building was on soft earth).
Speed: Average Human
Lifting Strength: Average Human
Striking Strength: Human level
Durability: Human level
Stamina: Above Average physically, but much higher mentally. One of Kaiji's greatest assets is his sheer willpower, which drives him to persevere and never stop thinking, never stop trying, even when's backed up against the wall and has only failed, again and again. Thanks to this, he's endured and stayed conscious even after having a drill tortuously, painfully move near his own eardrum, after he cut off his own ear, and having four of his fingers cut off. He also survived in the underground labor camp, despite the awful, inhospitable conditions, while having his minimal meals sabotaged and being constantly tested by the temptation of blowing his money for more food.
Range: Standard Melee Range.
Standard Equipment: Nothing notable.
Intelligence: Genius gambler. Kaiji is a naive and trusting man, one who always finds it in himself to see the best in humanity, and though this has resulted in no lack of misfortune and pain for him, it belies the sharp cunning that makes him such a good gambler. Creative, perceptive, resourceful, and unbelievably determined, Kaiji always finds a way to turn a gamble to his favor, even when - especially when - he's backed up against the wall. Gambles come to him easily and he can quickly determine how a game is flowing, allowing him to rely on his instincts and fundamental understanding of the art to pull him through. However, though Kaiji's instincts are a great help, he relies primarily on simple, secure logic. In every game, rather than truly leave the results up to chance, Kaiji leverages all his knowledge and skill to turn things in his own favor. A big part of this logic falls in his ability to read others, one of his greatest assets. Over the course of his gamble, Kaiji witnesses how an opponent approaches the game, and through this, comes to understand their personality, skills, and playstyle, things that he can use against them to win. Against Tonegawa, Kaiji set up a trap he could only ever establish in that exact situation, defeating him by exploiting his own powers of observation, and against Ohtsuki, Kaiji carefully watched to determine the exact moment he'd let his guard down and use his rigged die. Then, in Muraoka's game of 17 Steps, Kaiji schemed his way through each and every round, manipulating Muraoka to tilt a game of chance towards his favor and even noticing small tells he could use in his advantage. Knowing Muraoka's dishonest, cheating nature, Kaiji survived and was able to escape falling for his bluffs and traps, no matter how well-hidden his hand and how much he cheated. Ultimately, it was because of Muraoka's deliberate and suspicious nature that Kaiji ultimately won. And in his next gamble against Kazuya, Kaiji, knowing his opponent to someone who would only bet on what was definite, prevailed in their match of One Poker, using the things Kazuya couldn't know against him. But, most of all, Kaiji excels at planning. He came up with a rigged lottery box to defeat Hyoudou, and plotted out Ohtsuki's downfall, creating a set of special die out of the bones of his own steaks. Another such victory happened with Muraoka, in which Kaiji improvised a fake Haku tile in order to mislead the cheating president into believing his hand's wait was something it wasn't, succeeding on an unbelievably risky single tile wait. AHe even devised a scheme to defeat the Bog, a rigged pachinko machine, using his creativity and analytical nature to determine how it worked, and how to foil each of its cheats. For this, he resorted to an absurd, but brilliant plan, replacing the tools used for the Bog's maintenance with slightly larger ones day by day, arranging for the Bog's flippers to be replaced by a pair that would falter and warp, becoming useless, and even tilting the entire building it was within to offset the Bog's own tilt, which had made victory nearly impossible. And now that he's on the run from Teiai, Kaiji continues to scheme and improvise his way to victory, managing to deflect Endou's attempts to track him down through various methods and worming away from every close call. Even when Kaiji's gambling addiction, naivete, and own schemes backfire on him, he perseveres, securing victory at the last moment, when all seems hopeless, when anyone else would've given up - or, at the least, just barely scraping by and surviving, against all odds. But, for each victory, Kaiji finds himself in another pinch, as he comes full circle and falls victim to his own kindness once more. Or his gambling addiction.
Weaknesses: Kaiji is naive and trusting, and has often been manipulated and taken advantage of thanks to this. He can get cocky and bite off more than he can chew as well, and his gambling addiction means that he's likely to blow any money he does manage to win in other gambles. The true extent of his skill and creativity only really shows itself in dire situations; it's hard for him to play at his best otherwise.
==Notable Matchups==
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
Category:Characters
Category:Kaiji
Category:Anime Characters
Category:Geniuses
Category:Good Characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Humans
Category:Male Characters
Category:Manga Characters
Category:Primary Protagonists
Category:Protagonists
Category:Social Influencers