Katsuhiro Kitano

Shoko Kitano (Daughter)

Chiasa Kitano (Daughter)

**Katsuhiro Kitano** is the Tandeki Group's founder and boss. He is the main human antagonist of the *Wonderland* series. His goal is to start the apocalypse to free the Woman in Red.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Kitano has short dark black hair and a tired-looking face. He also wears black-framed glasses. Kitano wears a long white lab coat around Rampo Biotech.

### Personality

Kitano is portrayed as a cold man who will stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. To him, killing justifies the means to do so. The therapist is not above using blackmail with hackers to get them to work for the Tandeki Group. Kitano will give them the choice of prison or working for the group in exchange for solving their motives of hacking into Rampo Biotech's database in the first place. He doesn't patronize the members of the inner circle because he sees them as smart people. In his earlier days, his bosses at Tokyo Medical University and Chou Mori Institution described his care of patients as robotic. Kitano has great skills, but lacked the ability to emotionally reach out to his patients. He doesn't seem to trust technology too well. Because of his dealings with Vozrozhdeniye, he keeps all of his notes on the Tadpole Project on paper. He also has a tendency not to carry his cell phone with him all the time. Because of this, Etsuko Asato lectures him about it.

## Back Story

Kitano was born with a heart condition that kept him in the hospital from ages two to fifteen. On his tenth birthday, his mother, Minako, came to his room and told him it was his birthday. When he asked where his present was, she told him to look outside. His gift was sitting on a bench outside in the snow on the ground floor. She told him that the only way he would get it is if he gets up and goes to get it. Young Kitano was reluctant, but climbed out of bed. Despite the pain and suffering, he made it to the bench outside. His birthday present was a book about Japanese mythology. Minako came outside with his coat in her hand. She tells him, "I knew you could do it."

When he was eleven, a nurse accidentally gave him the wrong medicine which made his condition worse. While the doctors worked to save his life, the young boy found himself in the Land of the Dead. While wandering around, he came across a giant pit. Kitano looked down and saw a monster in a with the face of a bull frog dressed in a dark red kimono with claws for nails chained up and really angry. On a whimp, Kitano decided to try and free her. The creature laughed at him, thinking that he was crazy. When she asked him what he would get out of freeing her from the pit, he simply shrugged. After that exchange, Kitano awoke in his hospital bed.

His mother worked in a factory in Tokyo. The fate of Kitano's wife is unknown.

Kitano spent his twenties and half of his thirties working as a doctor at Tokyo Medical University. Despite his gifts, he lost interest overtime. As he saw it, medicine will continue to grow and change, just not with him. He quit in 1982.

In 1985, Kitano started working at Chou Mori at the age of thirty-eight. His colleagues thought that he was crazy to be working him. But it didn't faze him at all. In 1986, Kitano met Hisayo and Toshiko Isobe while he waited for their father to come home. After showing the younger girl a magic trick, he asks them if they had heard of the Land of the Dead. He hints they might be useful for the future before their father kicks him out when he gets home.

In January of 1987, he is assigned to take Hya-chan's case pro bono at her husband, Makoto's, request because her depression had sent her on a downward spiral. During that time, he tried to "kill" her God by showing her newspaper clipping about human tragedies and asking why didn't her God rush in and stop it from happening. Her response would be the same in that God allowed it to happen. The only way Kitano would get her to stop would be to bring up her son again. After a while, he became agitated that he could kill her God. As a result, the Woman in Red appeared before him again and said that he was ready to free her. One night while working on notes on patients, she appears to Kitano again. She says that his heart called out to her. Kitano asks what happens after she destroys the world. He decides to create a "witness" to see the aftermath of the destruction and convinces the Woman in Red to let him do so. She only calls him weird.

Kitano started to create the alpha drug, Amaterasu, in the Tadpole Project. However, the formula wouldn't turn out right. It would turn into a weak liquid or coagulate into a chunky solid. Two years later, he recruited Etsuko Asato for help. Once to corrected the Amaterasu, the project began. They used the ward, Guillotine Hill, to conduct their experiments on their test subjects. He and Etsuko were careful to select patients that had no families or anyone asking questions about them.

In 1997, a man named Jinnai Yodogiri donated a huge amount of money to Chou Mori. Kitano found it suspicious that a talent agent would be giving money to a dying mental institution. Turns out, Yodogiri had a hidden agenda. He knew about the Tadpole Project and wanted to supply him with test subjects, money, and supplies. In fact, Yodogiri was the one who introduced Vozrozhdeniye to Tandeki and helped to form a partnership, much to Kitano's displeasure.

In 2004, Kitano headed out to Edinburgh, Scotland to try and recruit Kyoko Nakahara for the Tandeki Group.

## Storyline History

### Distorted Wonderland

Though not mentioned by name in "Doctor", Kintano is seen talking to an unnamed Junko at the time and his interns about how dolls are left around the city. It is implied that he had Noriko's guardian, Yuki, killed because she didn't want to awaken the girl's memories for the game again.

### Wonderland Carnival

Kitano is seen at the season finale talking to Junko as they look out the building of Rampo Biotech about beginning the second round of the game and how Izaya will never join the inner circle. He expresses pity for Ringo's death, but Junko doesn't care.

### Happy Wonderland

Kitano is first introduced by name in this season. He is seen talking to Izaya about his personal motives for his projects and a little personal stories about himself. He even showed the information broker Chirin's old patient file. Earlier, he told Junko to leave the body of a member of the Blue Squares after she captured Z.

On Christmas Eve, Kitano and Junko discuss further plans to advance their game and the group's projects, Angel, Tadpole, and Heaven. He is counting down to when his protegee, Yuka Ogawa, and Chirin will meet again. Kitano reassures Junko that everything will go smoothly before leaving to play Santa Claus around his apartment complex. Kitano later talks to Yayoi about setting up for Project Tadpole's rebirth over the phone.

### Deep Blue Wonderland

Kitano is at his desk filling out paperwork when Etsuko knocks on his door and tells him everything is set. He invites her to stay so that they can talk about Chirin and the other tadpoles as their project is resurrected.

Kitano and Etsuko talk. They go over the basics of the awakening. Her side is ready and his side is ready. Then, Etsuko raises questions about Izaya. Kitano admits that he doesn't know how much the information broker remembers and he didn't measure how much Mnemosyne he gave him. He thinks that it would be boring to keep Izaya on too tight a leash and wants to see what he will do in this round. However, Kitano did keep him distracted long enough for Yuka to break the truth to Mikado. When he admits that he gave the boy another dose of Mnemosyne, Etsuko gets worried. He shows her the five milliter bottle Yuka used on the former patient and his partner says that they can't use any more on him for the next five days. However, that still leaves Izaya as a loose end. Kitano expects the information broker to start asking questions about Project Tadpole and make Mikado get his memories back about his time in Chou Mori. When Etsuko asks if he is counting on Izaya to do as such, the doctor simply says, "I would be lying if I said I wasn't." He turns off the classical music and says they should watch how round two unfolds.

Kitano later calls his interns in for a branch meeting.

Kitano makes contact with Mikado during the former patient's awakening and congratulates him on it. The psychiatrist tells Mikado that he can now see inner demons and that he should work on his powers to keep his body from rotting from the inside out and dying. Kitano tells Satoshi Aida the same thing on his awakening. Later, Izaya asks the doctor about Satoshi. Kitano gives him the basics and refuses to tell him anymore about Project Tadpole. He doesn't feel anything for Satoshi's death because there are plenty more tadpoles all over Japan.

Kitano and Etsuko later begin the first new experiment of Project Tadpole. The former makes the interns choose between red pills and blue pills. When the majority pick blue, he leads them across the hall to the heartseed plant and feeds the flowers the pills. Etsuko later informs him that Nebula is spying on them. He tells her to trace the source and wait until he's done with his notes. On the day before Valentine's Day, Kitano reflects on the situation and wonders who is going to be the fourth player in their game.

Kitano calls Mikado to check on his progress. He admits to having the Blue Squares killed and Aoba's memory of his senpai erased. Kitano told him that he shouldn't cry for them; the Blue Squares were filthy animals to be slaughtered. He adds that Mikado that Aoba's fate was none of his concern anymore and he needed to be more worried about himself and his brother and sister tadpoles. When Mikado started asking questions, Kitano hung up.

In "Kana", Aya calls Kitano about Kana Kawamata and Sadako Yamaguchi. The psychiatrist suspects that Kana might be a scribe and sees Sadako as a possible blood knight. He tells Aya to observe Kana and engage Sadako for the time being. In "Mikado", Kitano and Aya talk about Sadako and learn that Michiko had put up warded dolls around the city to keep them finding the remaining six gates. They receive good news seconds later. When alone, Kitano makes a report about the situation and the tadpoles. He decides that he needs to reign in Mikado, hinting that he will do this by taking away everything precious from him to break him.

Kitano calls in another meeting with the inner circle to discuss the progress of the game and what to do with the different gangs, Nebula, Russia, England, Shizuo Heiwajima, and Celty Sturluson. After the meeting, he deleted the messages to and from Yadogiri. Later, Kitano reveals the reasons why the tadpoles were created. The Russians want them to become a super soldier while the English want to make them a god in the "new world". Kitano said that his beloved pets will be neither and says they will be witnesses to the aftermath of the Woman in Red's destruction.

### Wonderland Chaos

Both Etsuko and Aya come to Kitano with proposal ideas to enhance the game. He accepts Etsuko's and tells Aya to wait on her for now. Later, Kitano gets a phone call from Embassy of the Russian Federation telling him that his colleague, Kenji Yoemon, had died in Moscow. After a brief exchange, the therapist hangs up and says that the Dis Program should come to them right now.

Kitano and Etsuko go on to start the second experiment in the Tadpole Project, causing the tadpoles to lose impulse control for three days. He leaves them a recorded message saying such. Kitano and Etsuko then see Celty as a potential problem as she can neutralize the tadpoles' powers. Izaya offers to get them a sample and the project leaders reluctantly agree. But, Kitano sends to Roc to keep an eye on the information broker.

Kitano is studying the Heartseed as the red glow inside of starts to fade when he notices a second bud fall off. He checks the name and notices that Azusa Kibuishi is dead. He crosses through her name. Later, Kitano asks Izaya which circle of Hell would belong in. The information broker says the eighth circle, the fraud circle. When Izaya asks him the same questions, Kitano places himself in the ninth circle, the betrayal circle. He then tells the information broker about Azusa's death and hands him her old patient file. The next day, Kitano gathers up the interns and asks who has a chemistry background. In "Anna", he allows the interns to start making drugs to further the tadpoles' evolution. He gives Yuka the job of giving said drugs to the Heartseed plant. Later, Kitano calls up Mikado and checks on his progress.

Kitano tests out two strands of Celty's hair on a tadpole blood sample with Etsuko to see what effect the dullahan has on their pets. He and Etsuko resolve to use the new readings to their advantage. They then get a text that the fourth gate is found. On the day it is to be opened, Kitano notices that the tadpoles have a weakness in their hearts. He wants to fix it as soon as possible. Kitano later has Mikado kidnapped and holds him hostage for ten hours to distant the tadpoles from the gate opening. He talks to him during that time about his first meeting the Woman in Red, what he wants to do with the tadpoles, and other different topics. When the gate is opened, Kitano lets Mikado go. However, he has to pull the boy away when he suffers from a sensory overload.

In "Megumi", Kitano gets a message on his tablet. He comments that things will be getting better. In "Mikado", he talks on his recording about the tadpoles evolving and that he couldn't wait to see what Mikado will do next. In "Exposed", Kitano calls his inner circle and Izaya in for a meeting about the leak in the Tadpole Project. He briefs everyone and makes the decision to go public with a watered-down version of the truth. He gets his daughter, Shoko, to help him with his appearance. Kitano's video gains several views all over the internet. In "Riku", he pulls aside Anna Konoe and Yuka to talk about finding the source the tadpoles' weakness in their hearts.

In the season finale, Kitano lectures Osamu about his rudeness towards Izaya and reminds him that they will dispose of him when the time is right. He reminds him that everything is going well and that they can't ruin things and cause them to start the game over. Osamu begrudgingly agrees, but says he won't promise anything when it comes to Mari. Kitano says that Mari is an adult and that she can make decisions about her own love life. He then gets a text says that the fifth gate has been found.

### Caged Wonderland

Kitano calls his inner circle into his office and lets them know they are about to enter a new stage in their game. But first, he asks them if they are staying or leaving, reminding them that once they make their decision they cannot turn back. After the inner circle says they are staying, Kitano says that the fifth gate is about to open. It is revealed that back in 2004 he tried to recruit Junko's mother, Kyoko, for Tandeki.

In "Rokuyo", he and Etsuko sit in for the last round of the intern augmentation experiments. In "Aftermath", Satoru Joshuyo finds him stabbed in the abdomen while looking for his sister. The young man makes him take him to his sister in exchange for getting him to Etsuko to help with his injuries. Earlier, Izaya and Kitano have another conversation when Izaya suspects that something is wrong when Shizuo has gone missing. Kitano says that he didn't do anything and tells him to talk to Etsuko. He also warns the information broker about trusting the Russians. Kitano and Etsuko later talk about Izaya suspecting something wrong with Shizuo and that he could be spying on them. Kitano doesn't think it is the Russians, but someone else. Later, Kitano walks out of Rampo Biotech before being confronted by an unseen person and is stabbed. Etsuko treats his wounds while lecturing him about carrying around his phone and being stabbed. They talk about what to do with Satoru. Kitano suggests that he might be the answer to a little problem of theirs. It is revealed that he blackmailed Kimiko Miyashiro into working for the Tandeki Group with the choice of pressing charges or getting her daughters into the top elementary school in Ikebukuro. In "Hisayo", he sees the message from Yoemon on his computer, "Are you lost in the world like me?" and smirked. In the season finale, Kitano questions Izaya on who he's not working for and shares with him a theory on who Izaya's employer is. The therapist sees that he has deeply shaken the information broker.

### The Month of No Gods

Kitano calls up Mikage Sharaku on Izaya's phone to see who he was talking. Later, he muses on the status of the game, being a parent, and what to do with Izaya. Later, he notices that the Heartseed plant has turned light green. Kitano wonders what will happen in the Tadpole Project now.

### Devil's Wonderland

Kitano realizes that they need to find the final gate to advance the game. The problem is that no one knows where it is. He resolves that finding the last gate should be the group's main focus for the time being while they work on their projects. Then he notices that the Heartseed plant has turned light green and looks up which drug to effect. He finds that it is the Nio drug and wonders what will come next.

Kitano calls a meeting with the Tandeki about the final gate. He puts all put the Angel, Tadpole, and Heaven projects on suspension until they find the gate. Also, Izaya suspects that the old therapist was the one who bombed his apartment but he shows no reaction to the news.

Later, one of Kitano's patients, Doi-san, is murdered by Haru Noda. He is shocked to see one of his first tadpoles again. Haru is annoyed when he calls him "Adam" and vows to kill all of his patients out of revenge. When the receptionist tries to call the police after the tadpole leaves, Kitano tells that it will do no good. He warns Etsuko that Haru is back. At Rampo Biotech, she asks what they are going to do about. Kitano says that they can't really do anything at the moment but he knows that Haru will lead back to the other tadpoles, including "Eve". In "Angels", Kitano calls and checks in on Junko. She says that she is running out of meat. He promises her that he will get her more. The therapist resolves to call "him" again.

Kitano records another entry on tap about Hya-chan. He talks to Aya about her coming back into the game again. Later, he has a therapy session with a grieving mother. He seems to be trying to get her to want to take revenge. Hours later, someone knocks on his door. In the season finale, Kitano talks with Mikage on the phone. He tells her to look out the window and that Izaya is in jail.

### Black Swan Wonderland

Kitano is in his office in most of the premiere. He makes recordings of the latest experiment. Earlier, he sent the interns out on their experiment with their tadpole of choice. He gave them a method to subdue the tadpole for thirty seconds based off of Celty's DNA. Izaya stops by his office to complain about being in jail for six hours. The therapist doesn't clearly care and shuts him down. Afterwards, he sends Izaya but not before telling him that he needs to thank Mari for bailing him out. Later, Etsuko comes by Kitano's office and they talk. He shows her information about a previous incarnation of the Apocalypse game. He reveals that Mam is looking for the archangels to gain an advantage in the game. Kitano isn't too worried because Tandeki is busy with their part and Mam doesn't know where Gabriel is. Later, he is checking his email and gets a message from Yoemon-sensei's widow. She sends him files that her late husband had meant for him. Kitano reads the file about the old Apocalypse game when he revealed that his deceased colleague just gave him the location to Gabriel. He laughs and congratulates Yoemon-sensei.

Kitano tells Daichi and Osamu that they have an important task to complete and a special guest was coming. Later, he calls Aya about the "butterfly". Yokubo comes along and gives up her locket. Osamu and Daichi give it to Kitano. He puts it on the mini altar. He asks if the Woman in Red can hear it. Throughout the season, Kitano gets the rest of the charms from the sins and put them on the altar. During the Halloween special, he is not happy with Roc raping Emily Akimoto, leading to her death. As a result, the therapist has his intern cursed by Aya and docking his pay.

However, there's another problem on the way. Vozrozhdeniye seems to be catching up with Tandeki. Kitano gets a video of their answer to the tadpoles. He calls his inner circle for a meeting. Later, Kitano and Etsuko notice that the heartseed is pulsing. A new evolution is coming. Meanwhile, he, Yuka, and Rumi try to fix the problem of the weakness of tadpoles' hearts.

### Edge of Wonderland

Kitano laments about how parents would do anything for their children. He is not a fan of Reverend Kichizo Murata.

## Relationships

### Tandeki Members

*Main Article: Tandeki Group*

Kitano lets the members of Tandeki have free reign with their projects. He lets them do as they pleased and treats them as smart individuals. He even funded the education for Junko and Daichi. He hasn't told them his life story because they have not asked him. Etsuko came to him first. After a few interviews, he gave her the formula to Amaterasu. She cracked it within ten days.

### Izaya Orihara

*Main Article: Izaya Orihara*

Despite being friendly with Izaya and opening up about his motive for his "game", Kitano does not trust the information broker and plans to kill him once he has outlived his usefulness. In *Devil's Wonderland*, Izaya suspects that he bombed his apartment.

### Chirin

*Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine*

Chirin was a former patient of Kitano's. It appears that He has some sort of an attachment to him and is plotting something bigger for the youth. In fact, he calls the boy "his proudest work". Initially, he didn't have much faith in the boy. Kitano saw him as one of Yodogiri's "strays" that he brought in under the pretense of "mental treatment". Mikado wasn't even supposed to be a patient in the Tadpole Project. He ended up being a last minute replacement when one of the supposed test subjects died in their sleep. Kitano reluctantly enrolled Chirin into the project, thinking that he was going to die. He even had a story about how he died in accident prepared for his parents. The therapist was shocked to learn that Mikado had survived the alpha drug, Amaterasu. From then on, he had a huge interest in the boy. Kitano even still keep Chirin's patient file. On top of that, he is "giving" his former patient to his protege as a "present" for passing her entrance exams and Christmas. Now, he wants Chirin back to restart Project Tadpole. Kitano can't wait to see how Chirin will develop during this project.

### Hyacinth Girl

Hyacinth Girl was Kitano's patient back in early 1987. Her strong Catholic faith became his drive to "kill her god". He would show her news article about horrible tragedies happening to people around the world. But, Hya-chan wouldn't give up her faith despite him scaring her. When he couldn't break her faith, Kitano began his mission to free the Woman in Red.

### Yuka Ogawa

*Main Article: Yuka Ogawa*

Kitano and Yuka seem to have a close relationship. He dragged her into Project Tadpole and introduced her to Chirin. From there, he groomed her into his little protegee. In fact, Kitano's "giving" Chirin to her as a "present" for passing her entrance exams and Christmas. Despite being close, she still is nervous around him.

### Woman in Red

*Main Article: Woman in Red*

When he was a child, Kitano saw this monster at the bottom of a gaint pit chained up and angry in the Land of the Dead. He took quite an interest in the creature and decided to set it free. The Woman in Red thought he was crazy, but he pursued it anyway. Now, Kitano is still on his mission.

### Hisayo Isobe

*Main Article: Hisayo Isobe*

Kitano met Hisayo and her sister, Toshiko, one day while their father is out. He entertains the girls while they wait. He asks if they had heard of the Land of the Dead and then brushes it off as nothing. He says that they will be useful for the future before girls' father kicks him out.

### Kenji Yoemon

*Main Article: Kenji Yoemon*

Yoemon was a colleague of Kitano's before his death. The Embassy of the Russian Federation contacted Kitano about his death after they called the professor's wife.

### Shoko and Chiasa Kitano

*Main Article: Shoko*

Shoko and Chiasa are Kitano's daughters.

## Branch

This is everyone who works for Kitano under his branch in Tandeki.

Project: Tadpole

#### Branch

* Etsuko Asato (Partner)
* Yuki (Deceased)
* Yuka Ogawa (Intern and protegee)
* Yayoi Shiga (Intern)
* Rumi (Intern)
* Roc Segawa (Intern)

#### Known Patients/Test Subjects

* Mikado Ryuugamine/Chirin
* Satoshi Aida (Deceased)
* Emily Akimoto
* Tetsu Aso
* Akiko Koike
* Nami Shono
* Kohaku Kimio
* Midori Amano
* Azusa Kibuishi (Deceased)
* Madoka Kurosawa
* Anzu Oshima
* Sota Iseya
* Megumi Fukao
* Riku Ishii
* Naomi Aizawa
* Naoki Minami
* Yukio Miwa
* Itori Inaba
* Satomi Inaba (Deceased)
* Saori Usui
* Erina Kate
* Hifumi Ushimaru
* Yamato Kato
* Norio Ono
* Shuichi Azuma
* Tomoya Tokiwa
* Sur
* Reo Tachibana
* Honoka Noda
* Haru Noda

## Trivia

* Kitano is inspired by the actor "Beat" Takeshi Kitano. Hence the same last name and he shares the same birthday with said actor. Mostly like the inspiration comes from his character in the movie version of *Battle Royale* named Kitano.
* Kitano plays Santa Claus around his apartment complex every year on Christmas.
* Kitano is the oldest of the Inner Circle.
* His name isn't mentioned until "Michiko" from *Happy Wonderland*. Kitano's face isn't put to the name until "Hisayo" of the same season.
* Kitano is mentioned twice in *Tea Leaves and Silver Rings*: Ivan saying that he is amazed that he freed the Woman in Red and Kitano refusing to sell Chirin or any of the Tadpoles.
* Kitano affectionately calls the tadpoles his "pets". He only calls them by their real names after they die.