While the popular manga "Kaiji" is appealing for its breathtaking gambling, with large sums of money and ruin at stake, the high percentage of scumbags that appear in the work is notable. Given that the main plot of the story is about a man with multiple debts trying his hand at gambling, it's only natural that there would be some scumbags, but there are still quite a few scumbag characters that appear. Although the term "scumbag" is used broadly, there are many different types, ranging from deceitful scumbags to lazy scumbags. In this article, we'd like to introduce some of the hopeless scumbags that appear in Kaiji, calling it a ranking of the scumbag characters that appear in Kaiji.
10th Place: Endo Yuji, the Unscrupulous Loan Shark Who Deceives People to the End
Earlier in the story, Endo Yuji proposes gambling to Kaiji to pay off his debts. On the surface, he passionately talks about gambling as if it were an opportunity, but that's not the case. He also cooperates with Kaiji in the Pachinko Swamp, but ultimately steals most of Kaiji's winnings. He's a selfish, self-interested loser with no compassion or emotion.
9th Place: The Eccentric Scumbag: Mitsuji Ishida
He appears in the limited-edition rock-paper-scissors game on the Espoir, nicknamed Uncle Ishida. At first glance, he appears honest and behaves kindly, and doesn't seem like scum, but the fact that he's on the Espoir means he's heavily in debt and is undoubtedly a scum who has thrown his life away up until now. The troublesome thing about this type of scum is that it's hard to get angry. Because he doesn't betray people, he can be considered a troublesome scum.
8th Place: Otsuki, the Deceiver and Profit-grubbing Scum
Otsuki is the squad leader of the underground forced labor facility, appearing in the Underground Chinchiro arc. He oversees the "Underground Chinchiro" gambling game held within the facility, where he has been extorting money from veteran runners by cheating. Within the ranks of Kaisi, this kind of thing is something that is commonplace, but what makes Otsuki a scumbag is how unsightly he is when his cheating is discovered. Even after his cheating has been discovered, the way he tries to think of ways to minimize his own fault as much as possible and tries to invalidate the game with forced logic shows he is a scumbag with no integrity whatsoever.
7th Place: The Convenience Store Manager, the Everyday Low-Level Scumbag
After surviving the Espoir incident, Kaiji works part-time as the manager of the convenience store. Although he only appears in a few scenes, he displays his true despicable despicableness. First of all, when the sales proceeds are stolen, he is the first to suspect Kaiji even though there is no evidence, and he changes his attitude depending on the person, making him a scumbag of the smallest scale. Kaiji describes him as "an ordinary, low-class person who exists in the world."
6th Place: Takeshi Furuhat, the Scumbag Who Betrays Others Under the Pressure of the Atmosphere
Furuhat teams up with Kaiji to fight alongside him in the limited-time rock-paper-scissors game on the Espoir, but betrays Kaiji after the game ends. What's so bad about Furuhat is that he takes advantage of the fact that Ando is the mastermind behind the betrayal and claims he's not guilty. Even though he did betray Kaiji, this ugly behavior is what makes him a scumbag. He's the kind of person who always thinks first of all about the logic that ensures he's not at fault.
5th Place: Kotaro Sakazaki, the Scumbag Who Will Do Anything If Necessary
Uncle Sakazaki, nicknamed "Ojisan Sakazaki," challenges Kaiji to the pachinko quagmire. Like Furuhat, this Sakazaki guy is a scumbag who covers up his own faults with excuses. In order to raise funds for gambling, he steals tens of millions of yen from the safe of the security company where he works, and in the end, he blames the president for hoarding it. He is also a selfish, ungrateful scumbag who treats Kaiji badly for his own convenience after he has made a major contribution to Kaiji's victory in the swamp.
4th Place: Cowardly, Timid, and Stupid Scumbag: Tomohiro Miyoshi
In the Underground Chinchiro arc, he and Kaiji formed the 45th Team and fought alongside them. While they were a tight-knit group underground, they later betrayed Kaiji, who had lost most of the bounty from the swamp, because they hid the money and mistakenly believed it was wrong for them not to give them a share. To top it off, they refuse to listen to Kaiji's argument that he has no money. This makes him the type of scum that betrays others. Miyoshi also has many scumbag qualities as a person. He is the type of person who will use all his might to beat others when he is in an advantageous position. During the underground chinchiro game, when Otsuki was found cheating, he yelled abuse at him, which he normally doesn't, and even threw cans at him. This shows a glimpse of his weak-willed, cowardly personality, making him an easy target for scumbags.
3rd Place: Muraoka, the Greedy, Deceived Scum
He's the president of a corrupt financial institution who challenges Kaiji in a gambling game called "17 Steps." Muraoka's scum is twofold: cunning and unsightly. First, he hosts gambling events, where he uses cheating to rip off large sums of money from his opponents. He also displays an extraordinary cowardice and obsession with money, as he tries to cheat whenever he gets the chance in his games with Kaiji. Ultimately, Kaiji takes advantage of this and he loses, but then he makes an unseemly plea to have his loss annulled.
2nd Place: Scumbag Except When Awakened: Kaiji Ito
Kaiji, the protagonist of this work, displays unparalleled ideas and competitive spirit when gambling. He also creates strategies to secure victory, giving the impression of being competent at first glance, but he's actually a total scumbag. His initial motivation for gambling was multiple debts, and he spends his days lazily without a decent job. He's a typical loser, spending his entire salary in the underground within a few days. Thanks to the protagonist, he seems a little better, but he's still a loser.
1st Place: King of Scum, Mamoru Ando
Ando is a comrade who fought alongside Kaiji and his friends in the limited-edition rock-paper-scissors game aboard the Espoir, but he betrays Kaiji at the end of the game. It's no exaggeration to say that he truly represents the King of Scum. The way he betrayed his comrades and prioritized his own interests likely left a lasting impression on readers.
Summary
Kaiji features countless scumbags. Some people look at these people and think they're trash, while others may think they have similar traits. Kaiji is full of the dirty side of human beings, such as self-preservation and selfishness. However, this is the very essence of human nature, and perhaps it is precisely because it depicts this that it is so appealing.
