伊藤カイジ | Itou Kaiji (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
underdogged) wrote2018-09-21 01:13 pm
underdogged) wrote2018-09-21 01:13 pm
ooc ¥ ryslig app
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Rachel
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
crescendoll
Other Characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Kaiji Itou
Age: 22~23
Canon: Kaiji
Canon Point: Beginning of Kazuya-hen
Character Information: Kaiji’s character page on the wiki’s kind of sparse and he’s the main character anyway so the wiki page for the manga in general is probably way more useful.
Personality:
Let’s get this out of the way: it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Kaiji’s a wreck. You might not think it if you knew him in passing; to most people, he’s as surly as they come. The face he presents to the world is purposefully irritable, disinterested and hostile and he goes out of his way to avoid relationships of any kind, be it personal or even work-related. To him, most interactions are forced, meaningless and often disingenuous and he’d rather be difficult than try and engage with anyone. But beneath that grim exterior, Kaiji’s incredibly sensitive, feeling things more profoundly than most people. Even within the context of an extraordinarily emotional series, Kaiji is the most emotive of all. Feelings of any kind- anger, happiness, confusion- can bring him to tears, sometimes only in the smallest of amounts. As an example, his frustration and sense of helplessness at his shitty conbini job is all it takes to sets him off. The world is uncaring and unfair and he always seems to be the butt of its cruelest jokes. No one is safe from his scorn but, understandably, he has a special kind of contempt reserved for the rich that comes with a healthy dose of jealousy and hypocrisy. He hates their materialism and how easy their lives are but he wants it for himself too. It isn’t unusual for him to spend hours moping, crying first over his life- and then out of anger at the fact that he’s crying at all- but he’s almost as likely to just lash out physically. In between vandalising cars, kicking over tables and generally attacking people, Kaiji’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty.
Naturally, this comes with also being a very impulsive person- and gambling is only one, admittedly large, part of that. At his worst, Kaiji has almost no self control whatsoever; he gives in to the temptation of wasting his entire paycheck when he’s Underground on beer and snacks, he throws his winnings from the Bog away on pachinko, and, more seriously, he just can’t resist Kazuya’s offer at the end of season 3. After his match with Muraoka, he’s 4 billion yen up but that addictive personality of his, that gambler’s itch that tells him not to stop when he’s on a roll, refuses to let him quit while he’s ahead. It doesn’t even have to be sensible; while his attempts to fool Hyodo- ultimately leading to his fingers being cut off- are based in logic, towards the end of the second half of the Kazuya-hen, he falls prey to the idea that luck has made him untouchable. This is, of course, total bullshit and almost always screws him over.
Maybe that’s why it’s such a shock when, at the beginning of season 3, the Kaiji we’re faced with is so apathetic. The truth is that, as strong and passionate as he is, he’s still a deeply traumatised individual. Being thrown back into a “normal” life after spending months, perhaps even a year, fighting to survive is disorientating, sure, but the downtime allows everything he’s been through to finally sink in. All the people he’s lost, the hurt, the suffering and degradation- and, at the end of it, basically nothing. He’s back to square one with no money, no ambitions and a friend whose patience is starting to wear thin. On top of that, he’s still nursing one hell of a gambling addiction. The mundanity of real life throws into relief not only his depression and emotional scars but just how thrilling living on the borderline can be- only this time he doesn’t even have desperation to fuel him. With the danger, debt and yakuza stripped away, he’s reminded that, not only does he have no real direction or goals, but society is a slow, painful grind designed to hold you down and wear you down.
No wonder he’s so eager to dive right back into potential self-destruction.
The thing about Kaiji, though, is that he has no delusions of grandeur. More than simply being aware of his flaws, they’ve been carved into him over and over again through a mix of frustration, self-hatred and the constant reminding of both his opponents and an unforgiving world. Trash. But it isn’t as simple as wallowing in self-loathing. The word has almost become a badge of honour for him, particularly since his E-Card match with Tonegawa. After all, the Slave, the lowest of the low, has nothing and can sacrifice everything to topple a virtual god in the Emperor. There’s power in that. As he says to Endou towards the end of the second season, the only way to be happy in life is to live with hope, even if it means throwing everything away and ending up in hell because of it.
Moreover, it’s something to bond over when everyone else has abandoned him; he might be at the bottom of the barrel but he isn’t alone there and, while he might normally shrink away from relationships, he’s also found that some of the closest bonds can be formed there. The strangest part is that his negative experiences with these same people have had little impact on this. His very first taste of the world of underground gambling came with a devastating betrayal that left him even more suspicious of people than ever and, once again, his faith in his friends is shattered when Miyoshi and Maeda trick him- but he can’t give it up. For all he swears off of trusting people and tries to be cold, ultimately Kaiji puts a great deal of value in the kinship of mutual suffering. They might all be pathetic outcasts but these are his people. They understand each other- and he wants to protect them, if he can. God knows, he doesn’t always want to; he’s furious at his soft-heartedness in saving Ishida and, later, Mario and Chang at his own expense but it’s reflexive. He genuinely can’t help it. More than that, though, he’s just a naturally compassionate person. During Brave Men Road, Kaiji realises that he just doesn’t have it in him to push his opponents off of their beams, which would hurt or maybe even cripple them for life, and swears that he’ll never lose sight of this humanity.
It’s no surprise then that, when he has a goal in sight, he has a rallying personality that, coupled with his lack of ego and self-sacrificing nature, makes him a capable leader. Even the most jaded of men- namely, his goddamn debt-collector- can be won over by his resolve, passion and genuinely brilliant plans. And holy shit are they brilliant. Kaiji isn’t just resourceful. He doesn’t just think outside the box- he tilts the building the box is in. He has the most success in gambling when he stops viewing it as gambling and starts thinking of it as a puzzle or a game to be bested, often coming up with outrageous solutions to seemingly impossible obstacles. Invariably, it involves some kind of sacrifice on his part- for example, cutting off his own ear or letting Ichijou torture him- but that only speaks to his determination. Furthermore, he excels at turning the bad hands he’s been dealt into his greatest weapons, from turning Tonegawa’s trick with the ear drill back on him to using Miyoshi and Maeda’s traitorous false signals to his advantage. What Kaiji lacks in academic prowess, he has in quick wits and an excellent eye for the human mind, how it works and how to use it to his advantage. The thrill of coming up with a plan and pulling it off is every bit as intoxicating as drawing a winning tile in mahjong- it’s just a shame he can’t seem to apply it to other areas of his life.
Still, while he’s an unlikeable, antisocial NEET in the real world, under pressure he transforms into someone else completely. He’ll resist his disgustingly wealthy, sadistic tormentors, outsmart them and go down fighting for anyone he considers a comrade- even that stupid piece of shit Andou. Sure, the shine might wear off in the cold light of day- Suezaki eventually gets to see his uglier, dispassionate side and Endou rightfully calls him too naive about loyalty- but dire straits bring about his finest moments. He's capable of far more than anyone- most of all Kaiji himself- could ever imagine. No matter the physical and emotional trauma he's put through, no matter how great the cost, no matter how hopeless, he'll find a way to make it through.
After all, he's the "Ultimate Survivor".
5-10 Key Character Traits:
- Emotional
- Resentful
- Loyal
- Hostile
- Survivor
- Directionless
- Resourceful
- Leader
- Addictive personality
- Unpredictable
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Either
Opt-Outs: Pooka, slime, simulacrum, lich, arachne, manticore
Roleplay Sample: tdm thread!
Name: Rachel
Contact:
Other Characters: n/a
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Kaiji Itou
Age: 22~23
Canon: Kaiji
Canon Point: Beginning of Kazuya-hen
Character Information: Kaiji’s character page on the wiki’s kind of sparse and he’s the main character anyway so the wiki page for the manga in general is probably way more useful.
Personality:
Let’s get this out of the way: it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Kaiji’s a wreck. You might not think it if you knew him in passing; to most people, he’s as surly as they come. The face he presents to the world is purposefully irritable, disinterested and hostile and he goes out of his way to avoid relationships of any kind, be it personal or even work-related. To him, most interactions are forced, meaningless and often disingenuous and he’d rather be difficult than try and engage with anyone. But beneath that grim exterior, Kaiji’s incredibly sensitive, feeling things more profoundly than most people. Even within the context of an extraordinarily emotional series, Kaiji is the most emotive of all. Feelings of any kind- anger, happiness, confusion- can bring him to tears, sometimes only in the smallest of amounts. As an example, his frustration and sense of helplessness at his shitty conbini job is all it takes to sets him off. The world is uncaring and unfair and he always seems to be the butt of its cruelest jokes. No one is safe from his scorn but, understandably, he has a special kind of contempt reserved for the rich that comes with a healthy dose of jealousy and hypocrisy. He hates their materialism and how easy their lives are but he wants it for himself too. It isn’t unusual for him to spend hours moping, crying first over his life- and then out of anger at the fact that he’s crying at all- but he’s almost as likely to just lash out physically. In between vandalising cars, kicking over tables and generally attacking people, Kaiji’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty.
Naturally, this comes with also being a very impulsive person- and gambling is only one, admittedly large, part of that. At his worst, Kaiji has almost no self control whatsoever; he gives in to the temptation of wasting his entire paycheck when he’s Underground on beer and snacks, he throws his winnings from the Bog away on pachinko, and, more seriously, he just can’t resist Kazuya’s offer at the end of season 3. After his match with Muraoka, he’s 4 billion yen up but that addictive personality of his, that gambler’s itch that tells him not to stop when he’s on a roll, refuses to let him quit while he’s ahead. It doesn’t even have to be sensible; while his attempts to fool Hyodo- ultimately leading to his fingers being cut off- are based in logic, towards the end of the second half of the Kazuya-hen, he falls prey to the idea that luck has made him untouchable. This is, of course, total bullshit and almost always screws him over.
Maybe that’s why it’s such a shock when, at the beginning of season 3, the Kaiji we’re faced with is so apathetic. The truth is that, as strong and passionate as he is, he’s still a deeply traumatised individual. Being thrown back into a “normal” life after spending months, perhaps even a year, fighting to survive is disorientating, sure, but the downtime allows everything he’s been through to finally sink in. All the people he’s lost, the hurt, the suffering and degradation- and, at the end of it, basically nothing. He’s back to square one with no money, no ambitions and a friend whose patience is starting to wear thin. On top of that, he’s still nursing one hell of a gambling addiction. The mundanity of real life throws into relief not only his depression and emotional scars but just how thrilling living on the borderline can be- only this time he doesn’t even have desperation to fuel him. With the danger, debt and yakuza stripped away, he’s reminded that, not only does he have no real direction or goals, but society is a slow, painful grind designed to hold you down and wear you down.
No wonder he’s so eager to dive right back into potential self-destruction.
The thing about Kaiji, though, is that he has no delusions of grandeur. More than simply being aware of his flaws, they’ve been carved into him over and over again through a mix of frustration, self-hatred and the constant reminding of both his opponents and an unforgiving world. Trash. But it isn’t as simple as wallowing in self-loathing. The word has almost become a badge of honour for him, particularly since his E-Card match with Tonegawa. After all, the Slave, the lowest of the low, has nothing and can sacrifice everything to topple a virtual god in the Emperor. There’s power in that. As he says to Endou towards the end of the second season, the only way to be happy in life is to live with hope, even if it means throwing everything away and ending up in hell because of it.
Moreover, it’s something to bond over when everyone else has abandoned him; he might be at the bottom of the barrel but he isn’t alone there and, while he might normally shrink away from relationships, he’s also found that some of the closest bonds can be formed there. The strangest part is that his negative experiences with these same people have had little impact on this. His very first taste of the world of underground gambling came with a devastating betrayal that left him even more suspicious of people than ever and, once again, his faith in his friends is shattered when Miyoshi and Maeda trick him- but he can’t give it up. For all he swears off of trusting people and tries to be cold, ultimately Kaiji puts a great deal of value in the kinship of mutual suffering. They might all be pathetic outcasts but these are his people. They understand each other- and he wants to protect them, if he can. God knows, he doesn’t always want to; he’s furious at his soft-heartedness in saving Ishida and, later, Mario and Chang at his own expense but it’s reflexive. He genuinely can’t help it. More than that, though, he’s just a naturally compassionate person. During Brave Men Road, Kaiji realises that he just doesn’t have it in him to push his opponents off of their beams, which would hurt or maybe even cripple them for life, and swears that he’ll never lose sight of this humanity.
It’s no surprise then that, when he has a goal in sight, he has a rallying personality that, coupled with his lack of ego and self-sacrificing nature, makes him a capable leader. Even the most jaded of men- namely, his goddamn debt-collector- can be won over by his resolve, passion and genuinely brilliant plans. And holy shit are they brilliant. Kaiji isn’t just resourceful. He doesn’t just think outside the box- he tilts the building the box is in. He has the most success in gambling when he stops viewing it as gambling and starts thinking of it as a puzzle or a game to be bested, often coming up with outrageous solutions to seemingly impossible obstacles. Invariably, it involves some kind of sacrifice on his part- for example, cutting off his own ear or letting Ichijou torture him- but that only speaks to his determination. Furthermore, he excels at turning the bad hands he’s been dealt into his greatest weapons, from turning Tonegawa’s trick with the ear drill back on him to using Miyoshi and Maeda’s traitorous false signals to his advantage. What Kaiji lacks in academic prowess, he has in quick wits and an excellent eye for the human mind, how it works and how to use it to his advantage. The thrill of coming up with a plan and pulling it off is every bit as intoxicating as drawing a winning tile in mahjong- it’s just a shame he can’t seem to apply it to other areas of his life.
Still, while he’s an unlikeable, antisocial NEET in the real world, under pressure he transforms into someone else completely. He’ll resist his disgustingly wealthy, sadistic tormentors, outsmart them and go down fighting for anyone he considers a comrade- even that stupid piece of shit Andou. Sure, the shine might wear off in the cold light of day- Suezaki eventually gets to see his uglier, dispassionate side and Endou rightfully calls him too naive about loyalty- but dire straits bring about his finest moments. He's capable of far more than anyone- most of all Kaiji himself- could ever imagine. No matter the physical and emotional trauma he's put through, no matter how great the cost, no matter how hopeless, he'll find a way to make it through.
After all, he's the "Ultimate Survivor".
5-10 Key Character Traits:
- Emotional
- Resentful
- Loyal
- Hostile
- Survivor
- Directionless
- Resourceful
- Leader
- Addictive personality
- Unpredictable
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Either
Opt-Outs: Pooka, slime, simulacrum, lich, arachne, manticore
Roleplay Sample: tdm thread!