Cutthroat

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## Cutthroat

### Aliases

• 日本語 *Satsujinki* (殺人鬼)
 • English The Killer

## Biographical Information

### Cause of Death

Being impaled with an energy sword at the hands of Swindler

## Debuts

### Manga Debut

*Akudama Drive Comicalize* Volume 1, Chapter 1

## Other Adaptations

### Stage Actor

Reo Honda

**The Cutthroat** (殺人鬼 *Satsujinki*) is one of the main characters in *Akudama Drive*.

The Cutthroat is the top-ranking criminal in the city with nine hundred and ninety nine murders accounted to his name at the time of his arrest, and has an estimated 967 years of prison sentence.

## Background

The story starts on the day the Cutthroat is meant to be executed. Having been caught for unknown reasons, he is only seen wearing a mask and a straitjacket up until the Akudama come to interrupt his execution. He frees himself from the straitjacket and receives the case containing the bomb-collars, delivered by the Courier, which he appears to have been expecting. The Black Cat had, in fact, already contacted him while he was imprisoned. As it turns out, the Cutthroat had been caught by a Kansai Police detective who had been obsessively pursuing him and gave his own life to trap and capture him.

## Personality

The Cutthroat is a sadistic murderer who enjoys the sight of blood spurting out of his kills. In contrast, his usual behavior is innocent, like a child's. He becomes unable to control his murderous impulses under certain conditions. He gets overly excited when he sees red.

The Cutthroat acts very child-like and friendly in idle situations, often singing children's rhymes or frolicking around carefreely. However, as shown in Episode 1 when he is first released from his shackles, he immediately beheads the chief police in a cool and calm manner. He then admires how the blood is beautiful, claiming it is like a blooming flower. The Cutthroat is often seen admiring the beauty of his surroundings, although the color red appears to be the only "beautiful thing" he cannot keep himself from touching.

He can also be extremely serious when something of interest to him is being threatened, namely when the Swindler is about to be hurt, and would go to any lengths to prevent it from happening. As he is later revealed to have been waiting to kill her, it appears that he can keep his calm and lie easily in order to achieve his goals.

When he finally chases the Swindler, the Cutthroat, however, cannot contain himself and his childish behavior becomes extreme. He uses childish language and appears not to realize the gruesomeness of his supposed gift to the object of his affection. Still, when she hides from him, he attempts to lie by falsely apologizing, but he is overly excited about killing her and stumbles over his words, revealing his true intentions.

## Appearance

The Cutthroat is a tall, pale man with white neck-length hair and purple eyes. He dons a completely white attire composed of a long dress shirt underneath a knee-length overcoat and trousers that reach just over his boots, revealing black tights.

The Cutthroat's left hand is covered up with bandages, and he has a mole below his left eye. After he loses his legs and the Doctor reattaches them, he appears to have visible stitch marks.

## History

### Past

Not much is known about the Cutthroat's past other than him being a wanted Akudama who earned an estimated sentence of 967 years, making him the most wanted Akudama in Kansai. Before the events of *Akudama Drive*, the Cutthroat was caught. He was imprisoned and held in a straitjacket, and meant to be executed at the underground station.

### The Execution Rescue

The same day the Cutthroat's execution was to be held, some Akudama, more specifically the Doctor, Hacker, Brawler and Courier, were requested by an anonymous mastermind to rescue him in exchange for a ¥100,000,000 reward. Right as the execution began, the Akudama arrived on the scene, along with a tank robot that was attempting to stop them. At some point during or after the fight, the Cutthroat freed himself, allowing him, once the tank had been defeated, to reveal himself and kill the Inspector and police officers holding him captive, claiming that "if they caught him", then they "really should have killed him". Having killed them, the Cutthroat surpassed him own record and reached 1,000 kills.

### Shinkansen Raid

As the execution had been successfully interrupted and everyone was finally safe, especially the Cutthroat, the Courier revealed himself to have a different mission: to deliver him a strange case. The former gladly opened it, claiming it was "just as he had been told", and suddenly installed bomb necklaces around all the present Akudama's necks. A Black Cat that had been rescued by one of them, the Swindler, began to talk, standing on her head. It revealed itself to be a robot controlled by an anonymous mastermind who planned to force the Akudama to participate in a raid at the Shinkansen, a sacred place in Kansai, in order to test them and see everyone's potential during this first phase of their plan. The mastermind proceeded, as they had completed the first part of their mission, to pay the Akudama a total of ¥100,000,000 each, sent to their seal e-payment, claiming that if the group successfully raided Shinkansen they would get a total of ¥1,000,000,000.

With the help of the Brawler and Hacker, they successfully boarded a flying bus to initiate their plan. Inside the bus, the Cutthroat admired the red city lights, revealing a strong liking of anything red, before pressing all the red emergency buttons, causing the bus to gain max speed and crash on Seven-Star Hotel *Geisha and Dancing Girls*. The group survived the crash, and landed inside the hotel, at which point the Cutthroat politely asked the Swindler if she was alright and formally introduced himself to her. As he did, he pondered on his liking for the color pink, seeing as it contained red, but suddenly interrupted himself and stared at her in awe.

Considering the hotel a proper hideout, the Black Cat revealed the details of its plan to the Akudama. The mastermind intended to "steal" cargo from the Kyushu Plant, currently at the Kansai station to be transported to Kanto. As they discussed the plan, however, Executioners arrived at their room and began to fight them. The Cutthroat tried to aim for the Execution Division Apprentice's red eyes, but the Execution Division Master intervened and threw him out the window, only cueing him to complain about losing his "precious knife". Having survived the fall, he later met up with everyone else at the Abandoned Factory, where the Black Cat explained the details the details of the second phase of their plan, grouping him with the Swindler and Hacker for the next day.

Initiating phase two, the Cutthroat and the others headed to their positions after successfully infiltrating the place and hacking the security system to reach the top floor of the station, only to find a barrier blocking their way, stopping them from going any further. The Cutthroat, disappointed that he could not reach the red button, threw a knife at the barrier, managing to cut through it but not going very far. At the Swindler's request, he continued to throw his knives in order to have them push each other all the way through, but he eventually ran out of them. In a panic, the Swindler stole one of Hacker's drones to push the knives one last time, managing to break the barrier and press the button. Having joined the rest of their group and successfully gotten inside the cargo train, they once again encountered the two Executioners, trying to stop them one last time. The Courier, Brawler, Doctor and, eventually, the Cutthroat and Hoodlum, fought back in order to proceed with their mission. Having successfully fought them off, they finally reached the Vault car, at which point the Black Cat disintegrated, leaving behind him a key. They used it to open the Vault, in which they found two children, a brother and a sister, as such completing the second phase.

### Expo Park Escape

Forced by their bomb necklaces to continue with the mission and leaving the Hacker, who had managed to hack his in order to remove it, behind, the Akudama stopped and rested at the Abandoned Ward 3, waiting for the rain to stop. While the others avoided the precipitation, the Cutthroat laid inside a bathtub outside, singing in the rain. When the Swindler got in a fight with the Doctor and claimed she was bullying the children, the Cutthroat turned to admire her. Later, outside Kansai, the Akudama arrived at the North Side of the Fortification wall where they encountered the Master once again. The Master tried to fight the Akudama on his own, during which the Swindler tried to protect the children while the Cutthroat protected her. In order to do so, the Cutthroat eventually used the Brother as a shield in order to keep the Master from stabbing both him and her, and without hesitating, stabbed through the boy's torso to get to his opponent. The Swindler, believing the child to be dead, screamed in shock and disgust, but his sister insisted it was fine - the Brother was then revealed to be immortal. Then, upon arriving at the location, the Swindler confronted the Cutthroat about what he had done to the Brother, but seeing that he did not care so long as he protected his "angel", the Swindler slapped him in disappointment, to which he did not react.

When they arrived at the Expo Park, the Akudama found a rocket ship, which the children explained they were planning to board to escape the Earth. As they were preparing to leave, however, the Doctor revealed herself as a traitor. She threw a scalpel towards the Swindler, but the Cutthroat intercepted it, and supposing that she "did this because she wanted him to kill her", attempted to attack her. The Doctor, however, allowed Executioners to ambush the Akudama, forcing him to fight them off.

### Red Halo

Having escaped from the Expo Park, the Cutthroat, seeing as the Swindler had escaped through the rocket ship and landed back in Kansai, decided to search for her around the city. Later revealed to have been following a large, red halo, the Cutthroat was able to track her down to her destination, the Execution Department HQ, where he massacred Executioners whilst waiting for her arrival. She eventually arrived along with the Courier and Sister, finding the Cutthroat standing atop a pile of bodies. Claiming to have "decorated the place just for her", he asked if he could kill her. The Courier shot in his direction and touched one of the bodies, at which point he whined that he had taken forever to stack this "cake" for the Swindler, and attacked him. The Swindler pushed the Cutthroat away to protect him, and he grabbed her, revealing that he had been waiting to see her "red angel halo" to grow and to kill her. He explained that he had seen many red halos before, and liked to kill people with those, but hers was "magnificent", and was "tiny at first, but it grew bigger and bigger". When he revealed that he had been wanting to kill her all along, the Swindler ran away from him, which he took as a game of hide and seek. She tried to hide in the bathroom but was easily found, as the Cutthroat had revealed that he could track her red halo from very far away. The Swindler managed to push him away and run from him again, and eventually hid inside a safe, at which point the Cutthroat, after banging at the door furiously, falsely apologized. The Swindler pretended to trust him, and opened the door, only to ambush him and kill him when he tried to strangle her, using an energy sword left behind by one of the Executioners he had killed.

### Legacy

Having simply killed him, the Swindler left the Cutthroat behind in the safe, having laid his body on his back, removed the weapon from his torso and put his severed limbs back on top of him. She looked upset, but as she immediately ran into the Courier and Sister, immediately went back to her mission, never thinking about the Cutthroat again.

## Relationships

### Swindler

The Cutthroat takes an immediate liking to the Swindler, which is initially assumed to be because of the pink streaks in her hair, as following his claim that pink "is a mixture of white and red, which isn't that bad", he looks at her and becomes amazed. With time, however, the Cutthroat is revealed to regard the Swindler as his "angel" and be amazed by her actions as well, for example commenting that she is "truly beautiful" as he watches her defend the Brother and Sister from the Doctor's "bullying". When the Swindler winds up with blood on her cheek, he licks it off without warning, gleefully claiming that leaving it on too long would make her skin "less pretty".

He is extremely protective of her, and would visibly do anything for her sake. Early on, he takes her order to use his knives to break the invisible barrier keeping them from accessing the Shinkansen, but he takes it much further when he cuts off his own legs in order to continue to protect her. He even uses Brother as a shield for her and himself at the risk of the little boy's life, which he claims to have done because he needs to stay alive to protect her.

The Cutthroat's feelings are one-sided, however, as the Swindler never reciprocates his sweet names, and even pushes him away whenever he tries to touch her, unnerved by his extreme affection. Upon his use of Brother as a shield, the Swindler, shocked, slaps him, calling him despicable, as she finds that his reasoning isn't enough justification. Much like her constant rejections, this doesn't seem to bother the Cutthroat, as he continues to protect her.

Upon the Swindler's disappearance following the Execution Division's attack in Episode 7, in Episode 8, the Cutthroat is seen searching for her in spite of his injured leg. Talking to himself, he promises the Swindler, his "angel", that he'll find her again soon.

In Episode 9, the Cutthroat reveals to the Swindler that his affection towards her was due to his vision of a "red halo" above her, that grew as time went on and gave her the literal appearance of an angel in his eyes. In relation to his liking of the color red, the Cutthroat wished to kill the Swindler more and more the bigger her halo grew. He had in fact already mentioned that he was hoping to kill her before he died inside the Shinkansen in Episode 4, which she did not take seriously, replying with "that's not funny!"

### Doctor

The Cutthroat doesn't seem to care about anyone else than the Swindler, up until Episode 7, in which the Doctor betrays the Akudama. This does not seem to bother him, but when the Doctor launches a scalpel towards the Swindler in an attempt to kill her, the Cutthroat jumps to the latter's rescue and, visibly hateful, claims that he takes it the Doctor did that because she wanted him to kill her, which he immediately attempts.

The Cutthroat rarely addresses anyone directly but, in this scene, addresses her by "Doctor" and in the second person.

### Execution Division Apprentice

The Cutthroat takes immediate notice of the Apprentice's eyes, which are red. During their first fight, he aims for her eyes, claiming that he "wants them". Despite stating inside the Shinkansen that he would rather look at the Swindler than fight the Executioners, he looks around for her in Episode 6 when the Master shows up on his own, asking "where's the red-eyed one?" As the Master announces he will fight them by his own, the Cutthroat looks disappointed.

## Abilities

Befitting of his name, the Cutthroat enjoys killing and displays no remorse doing so. He is skilled with sharp objects and appears to show great value to his knives.

With his impressive abilities, unstable reasoning and at times being unable to control his will to kill, the Cutthroat is a fearsome and unstoppable killer.

**Superhuman speed and reflexes:** Despite his childish, overbearing behavior, the Cutthroat appears to have very sharp senses and reflexes; he can move and act extremely fast, seen for example when he clasps the bomb necklaces around the other Akudama's necks before they can react.

**Superhuman endurance and stamina:** The Cutthroat showcases an extreme amount of stamina and endurance when he manages to limp his way around the city, kill many, and run after the Swindler despite his grave injuries and bleeding. Similarly, he displays an ability to move and act extremely fast, seen for example when he clasps the bomb necklaces around the other Akudama's necks before they can react.

**Knife proficiency:** The Cutthroat is very skilled with sharp objects and appears to show great value to his knives. He displays amazing aim and great control of his strength when he throws multiple knives in the exact same spot so as to make them pass through an invisible barrier. He is shown to carry multiple blades and appears to have a great ability to conceal and lay hold of his weapons. When fighting the Master aboard the Shinkansen, he tricks his opponent with sleight of hand.

**Pain resistance:** The Cutthroat appears to have a very high tolerance of pain. As such, he is seen practicing self-harm for the sake of seeing his red blood with no mind, and going to extreme lengths to protect his beloved Swindler no matter how mutilated his body is. He never shows any signs of pain even after having his limbs cut off and getting impaled by energy swords.

**"Red Halo":** The Cutthroat is revealed to have an unexplained, peculiar view of the world and others. It is revealed that he perceives the Swindler to have an angel-like "red halo" over her head, being the source of his infatuation, that grows over time for unexplained reasons. Shown from his point of view, the Swindler and the scenery around her are black and white, with only the red halo standing out. When he perceived the halo to have grown immensely, the Cutthroat was able to track down the Swindler thanks to his view of it.

## Gallery

Promotional artwork of the Courier and Cutthroat by character designer Rui KomatsuzakiSketch illustration of the Cutthroat by manga artist Rokurou OgakiBust-up illustration of the Cutthroat by manga artist Rokurou OgakiDrafts of different facial expressions for the Cutthroat by character designer Cindy YamauchiChapter cover by manga artist Rokurou OgakiThe Cutthroat putting the bomb necklace on the Courier's neck in Episode 1The Cutthroat in Episode 2The Cutthroat and Swindler in Episode 3The Cutthroat in Episode 6
## Trivia

* The Cutthroat's favorite food are marshmallows.
	+ He compares them to brains.
* The Cutthroat has the same age, height, and three sizes as the Courier.

* In Funimation's sub of Episode 1, the man in charge of the Cutthroat's execution uses "they" to refer to him. In the original japanese, he refers to him as *Satsujinki* - however, this translation choice may be due to the Cutthroat's identity being a well-kept secret. Indeed, the Cutthroat's face stayed hidden up until he killed him, and upon him revealing himself, the Brawler asks: "so that's Cutthroat?" implying that he was not meant to know what he looked like. Similarly, despite having been caught, the Cutthroat is only ever referred to as "the deadliest cutthroat in history" or simply "Cutthroat", making his true identity unknown.
	+ When the Cutthroat introduces himself in Episode 2, he uses 僕 *boku*, which is a typically masculine pronoun. From that point on, when the Swindler refers to him as *Satsujinki-san*, Funimation's sub uses "Mr. Cutthroat".
* In Episode 5, he is shown singing a popular nursery rhyme named あめふり 日本語 *Amefuri*.
	+ As is the case for other characters like the Brawler and the Swindler, part of the Cutthroat's past that was absent from the anime was revealed in the manga adaptation. In it, the Cutthroat is represented singing *Amefuri* under the rain as a child.
* Renta! hosted a popularity poll in December 2020, in which Cutthroat ranked 1st with 4574 votes to his name.
* His japanese name, 殺人鬼 *Satsujinki*, literally translates to "murderer".
	+ While Funimation's subtitles use the translation "Cutthroat" to refer to him, officially licensed merch has shown to use the term "Killer" instead.

## References

1. ↑ This character's gender was confirmed in the official manga adaptation. (Courier) (Brawler) (Hacker) (Cutthroat)
2. ↑ Kazutaka Kodaka's answer to "When did Brother contact Cutthroat?" during the December 2020 QnA (日本語)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Cutthroat's character profile (日本語)
4. ↑ Sketch of the Cutthroat posted by Rokurou Ogaki on Twitter (2021/05/06)
5. ↑ Illustration of the Cutthroat posted by Rokurou Ogaki on his Twitter (2021/05/06)
6. ↑ Drafts of the Cutthroat posted by Cindy Yamauchi on Twitter (2021/12/23)
7. ↑ Rokurou Ogaki on Twitter: "*Akudama Drive Comicalize Chapter 37 "THE SHINING (2)"*" (日本語)
8. ↑ Renta! popularity poll - December 2020
9. ↑ Product page for AMNIBUS official merch featuring the name "Killer" (2021/03/08)