The Warden

## Manga

The Warden of the prison Riki-Oh starts the series within, he is the first main villain of the franchise and the most self contained of them, having minimal relation to the rest of the plot. His real name is unknown, as he is so feared that he is exclusively referred to by his title. Nearly all of his wrath is directed towards the prisoners, as in his own words they are lower than bugs. He gouges out a prisoner's eye because he thinks that he tripped his son on the red carpet when he didn't, suggesting that if he can't see the wrinkle his eyes are useless. The Warden throws another prisoner into the meat grinder for dropping a chicken on the floor, telling him his body will be used as reimbursement.

He is willing to align with the prisoners if they can be used such as the four emperors, but will dispose of them the moment they stop being useful. His cruelty is not limited to the criminals alone, though, as he claims he killed Sugiyama for allowing the rebellion to happen. Despite this, his gun shot was not actually aiming for Sugiyama, so it is possible that he would spare him if he had the choice. The only person he shows any signs of true kindness towards is his son, Manabu, whom he spoils rotten.

The Warden uses his prison as a business, forcing prisoners to work in the poppy fields and perform various other manual labor. He insists that every single prisoner is a valuable resource to make him money and heavily berates Sugiyama for allowing any of them to die while he was on vacation in Hawaii. This is heavily hypocritical of the Warden given the fact that he kills prisoners for whatever reason he feels like. The Warden has several opportunities to kill Riki-Oh, but keeps him alive simply because he wants to figure out who sent him. He figures he is a spy or cop who wants to expose his poppy fields, and tortures him to try to find out. No matter how hard he tries, the Warden cannot break Riki-Oh, and by the end of the prison arc it's Riki-Oh who's torturing the Warden for information.

The Warden trained under the same master as Riki-Oh, Master Chou Zenki. The Warden apparently had some kind of physical condition that meant he would not live to see the age of 20, and gave up on his dream of becoming a doctor. The Warden was apparently a good man at the time, coming up with a new dream to become a lawyer to protect the weak. While Zenki would not normally train people with evil in their hearts, the Warden only became evil after he realized the raw power he had at his disposal. After gaining enough physical strength to overcome his condition, he spent the rest of his years attaining authority and influence. The Warden is constantly looking for more power, whether it be raw physical power or positions of power to give him authority over others.

The Warden spends most of his time in his smaller form. Even in this form, the Warden showcases great agility that enables him to dodge attacks and stand on the ceiling. He is able to gouge people's eyes out with just his cane, showing great physical strength. He also has access to a gun with super compressed gas bullets that can cause whoever he shoots to swell up and explode, meaning one shot anywhere on someone's body will kill them.

In order to truly utilize his strength, though, the Warden must transform into a gigantic beast of a man to unleash his true power. Aside from greatly enhancing his strength, his body is like rubber in this form, enabling it to deflect all attacks unless they are properly infused with ki. The Warden is able to retract his body parts into his body in order to avoid attacks, demonstarting this ability with his head. The Warden claims to constantly keep his vulnerable private parts withdrawn into his body at all times so that they cannot be struck.

The Warden claims during his fight with Riki-Oh that his true form is his giant form, and that he reduces his body into the smallest form possible for his other form with the use of Naike Kenpo. However, in his flashback where he is seen asking for Zenki to train him, he is shown in his smaller form, and he would presumably have to learn how to transform into his other form from Zenki.

The Warden goes undamaged for most of his fight against Riki-Oh until he figures out how to bypass his rubber barrier with ki, at which point he takes massive damage as he loses several vital body organs. He somehow survives this attack and is able to continue fighting, only being defeated after being thrown into the meat grinder that he previously used to kill some other prisoners. Before he dies, Riki-Oh pulls him out of the meat grinder and demands to know more about the whereabouts of his brother, Nachi. The Warden gives him very vague information that directs him towards the cape, telling him to ask Zenki for more details. The Warden assumes that Riki-Oh will be killed there and dies happily. Ironically, the person who would know more about the whereabouts of Nachi would be Sugiyama since he directly interacted with him, but the Warden has already killed him as one final act against Riki-Oh.

## Riki-Oh: The Wall of Hell

The Warden's role is exceedingly simplified within the 45 minute Ova. The largest difference is that the Warden cannot fight whatsoever beyond using a standard pistol (without his super compressed gas bullets), being casually killed by Riki-Oh at the end without transforming into his giant form. Unsurprisingly since he doesn't fight, he is not a disciple of Master Chou Zenki here.

This version of the Warden can easily come across as a more moral character than Riki-Oh, as he does not kill prisoners at the meat grinder. Manabu also does not exist in the Ova, meaning the Warden does not gouge out the eyes of the prisoner who supposedly wrinkled the red carpet to make him trip. While he still does kill Sugiyama by shooting him, it is undeniably an accident in this version, and he says no snarky comment after doing so, instead being horrified.

While the Warden is still using the prison as a business, the only person he tries to kill is Riki-Oh and that is largely done in self defense. The Warden keeps the most realistic elements of his character for the Ova in the hopes of being more believable. It is easily arguable that Sugiyama is more corrupt than the Warden within the Ova, especially when all of the comedic elements of Sugiyama's character have been removed.

The Warden claims here that he is involved with a group of people that will "control the world soon", implying that this version of the Warden may have some kind of ties to Mukai. He doesn't actually tell Riki-Oh anything about the cape despite this, even though this ova is not self contained since a sequel, Riki-Oh: Child of Destruction, was made, which goes over an abridged version of the cape arc. It is possible that the makers of the ova were unaware if they were going to be able to make a sequel at the time.

## Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

In the live action movie, the Warden manages to keep almost entirely to his character from the manga. The biggest difference is simply that the Warden's regular form is not a midget, presumably due to difficulty in finding someone short enough for the role. The Warden takes a long time to arrive in The Story of Ricky, so long that the Administrator and all of his guards waiting to greet him fall asleep. Shortly after the Warden arrives, he seems to suffer from some kind of illness he has, and demands "the medicine" from the Administrator, swallowing it down with a pitcher full of water. Largely all events from the manga proceed identically until the point when he transforms during his final fight with Riki-Oh, albeit with his son Manabu being much more prominent.

While he still does transform, he does not have nearly as much dialogue while in this form, and does not use his rubber body techniques. Master Chou Zenki is in the film, but the Warden did not train under him and was presumably able to attain the transformation utilizing his own power. The earlier medicine scene may be some kind of attempt to explain the transformation. The Warden does not tell Riki-Oh about the cape and is shredded almost completely by the meat grinder in this version, at which point Riki-Oh picks up his head and showcases it to everyone to prove that he's killed the Warden.

The Warden's son Manabu has significantly more screen time in this version, largely following the Warden around wherever he goes, providing much comic relief to the film. In addition, the Warden calls for the two surviving members of the four emperors (gang of four in the dub), Yomi and Shiragami (Rogan and Brandon in the dub) to come kill Riki-Oh at the end of the film. Yomi is defeated by Riki-Oh which prompts Shiragami to flee, at which point the Warden shoots and kills him with the same compressed gas bullets used to kill Sugiyama (Dan in the dub).

The Warden laughs in Riki-Oh's faceThe Warden's carThe Warden stabs out a prisoner's eyes for not seeing a wrinkle in the carpetThe Warden shocks Riki-Oh with 100,000 voltsThe Warden's torture chamberA diet so that prisoners cannot live or dieThe Warden's idea of reimbursementThe Warden expects the prisoners to be cannibalsThe Warden showcases how fast he can move in his untransformed bodyThe Warden begins transformingThe Warden finishes his tranformationThe Warden reveals his teacherThe Warden's backstoryThe Warden showcases his rubber bodyThe Warden takes a massive blow from Riki-OhThe Warden takes a massive blow from Riki-Oh (color)The Warden gets up despite the massive damage he has takenThe Warden is put through the meat grinderThe Warden's last words, believing Riki-Oh will die at the capeRiki-Oh remembers killing the Warden, Kitamakura, and NarumiThe Warden's son clings to his leg as the prisoner insists he didn't make him tripThe Warden stabs his cane into the prisoner's eye"If your eyes can't see clearly, one will be enough."The Warden uses his stun gun in the live action film"Not enough to eat? Well, I'll give you some more then. Enough now?"The Warden in his transformed stateThe Warden is put through the meat grinderThe Warden is held down in the meat grinderRiki-Oh showcases the Warden's decapitated headThe Warden gets out of his car in the ovaThe Warden smoking in the ovaThe Warden dies in the ova