Ginji Amano

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Ginji Amano (天野銀次 Amano Ginji) is a fictional character in the manga / anime series Get Backers. In the original Japanese version, he's voiced by Shotaro Morikubo, while his childhood voice was done by Ryoko Shiraishi. He is the "G" in the Get Backers. (First appearances - manga: Act 1 part 1, anime: episode 1). He is 21 years old in the anime (18 in the manga)

[edit] Person

He's the current partner of Ban Mido and was once the fearsome "Lightning Emperor" and the leader of a gang called "The Volts" in the Infinity Fortress. He received the title "Raitei" (literally, "Lightning Emperor") because of his ability to control electricity. This control grants him several unique abilities such as amazing regenerative power as well as the ability to become a human magnet and battery. Despite Ginji's dark past, his demeanor is one of an unassuming, energetic, and friendly boy with a strong sense of justice. He makes friends easily, often without trying - and is trusting and open to an almost naive extent. But when exposed to remnants of his past, he has a tendency to revert to his darker "Lightning Emperor" persona. For comical purposes, he also turns into a droopy chibi, most likely designed after a tare panda. He's frequently beaten up by Ban (comically) for doing stupid things.

Little of his past is known. We do know that his childhood guardian is Takeru Teshimine, then ruler of the Infinity Fortress. Before his departure, Ginji founded "VOLTS", a gang led by The Lightning Emperor, and "The Four Kings of the Volts" to protect the Infinity Fortress from the monsters of the Beltline.

[edit] Raitei

("Raitei", 雷帝, variously translated as "Lightning Lord", "Lightning Emperor" or "Thunder Emperor"). Although sharing the same body as that of Ginji, Raitei is the polar opposite of the happy-go-lucky Ginji. He first came into being when Ginji was a young boy, as the Beltline Monsters invaded the lower levels of the Infinity Fortress. Ginji and a friend of his was escaping from the hunters, when an arrow was shot into Ginji's companion. It took less than the time it takes to blink, but the whole invasion force was annihilated in an instant. From that point on, whenever Ginji is confronted with a difficult situation, emotionally or physically, Raitei appears to make everything that troubles Ginji disappear. However, this ultimately causes more pain for the peaceful Ginji as death is the last thing he ever wants.

The source of Raitei's power is actually the limitless energy currents flowing through the Infinity Fortress and as such, he draws as much power from them as he needs. Sometimes though, this can put the Infinity Fortress in a sticky situation if Raitei calls for more power in a single instant than the tower is capable of producing. For this reason, he is dangerous to the "Brain Trust" in Babylon City who possess the "Archive" (the sum total of human knowledge past, present and future) as he could potentially erase the "Archive" if he blacked out the Infinity Fortress. (This fact was later used by Der Kaiser in the Voodoo Child arc.) During the era of the Volts, only one man was known to have handed the Raitei defeat: Ban Mido. Also, another reason why Ginji/Raitei is so dangerous inside the Infinity Fortress is because his existence is "random" in the Babylon City Archives. This means his existence was not foretold, assumedly unlike Kazuki and Shido, and his entire being inside the Infinity Fortress changes all the prophecies made by the Brain Trust.

In the manga storyline, Ginji reverted to Raitei many times. But, in the Kiryuudo arc, he once lost much of his powers after one such rampage. Fortunately, Shido Fuyuki managed to revive his powers later with the use of his Shikizoku power.

There appears to be a hidden danger whenever Ginji turns into Raitei: If he rampages long enough as Raitei, there is a chance that he might not be able to revert back to Ginji Amano. It's because of this that Ban warns him not to turn into Raitei under any circumstance.

When transformed into Raitei, Ginji glows with a brilliant light and has bolts of electricity (even orbs of plasma at times) flowing around him. His features will also harden and he's merciless towards almost anyone. However, it has been shown that anything that acts like a black hole can defeat Raitei by draining his powers away (as demonstrated by Yukihiko Miroku [although at a later point in the beltline, Raitei blew away the black holes with no problem] and the fight during the Queen's Challenge).

Also, Raitei was able to defeat the Voodoo King, an antagonist in the "Get Back the Lost Time" arc. With this final victory, Raitei disappeared into a pile of dust, from which Amano Ginji was to emerge. Seemingly, Ginji's other self has disappeared forever...

It's been revealed that Raitei was actually created by Ginji's mother, a professor with links to Bablyon City and the Infinity Fortress as a whole.

[edit] Trivia

• The White Rabbit doll Ginji is seen holding when he is first found by Teshimine is the exact same doll always carried by The Specialist. Interestingly, the rabbit holds a clock in its paws, and the Specialist once commented to Ban (at the beginning of the Kiryuudo Arc) that the "time" has begun to move.

• Interestingly, just as Ban bears a striking resemblance to his father Der Kaiser, Ginji (during the VOLTS era) uncannily looked like a young Masaki Kurusu - down to the exact same hairstyle, although Masaki's hair is longer and while he sports a few whiskers, Ginji doesn't. Ginji's father seems to be the Voodoo King which is Sarai Kagenumo

• Somewhat of a fitness buff, Ginji can do 1000 consecutive handstand push-ups (as seen in Vol. 19). In fact, one of his goals is to join a sports club...as soon as he and Ban can save up enough money (whenever that'll be).

• Lonfa Chien is the name of the girl whose death at the hands of Beltline raiders triggers Ginji's first transformation into Raitei. He later fights her brother Seiryuu Chien in the Cards Arc. In this fight, Lonfa manifested as a dragon-like creature with electricity (Apparently, she was summoned by the card "The Dragon from the Garden").

• At 176 cm (5'9"), Ginji is actually taller than Ban by one centimeter.

• Ginji and his childhood guardian Takeru Teshimine share the same first kanji in their surnames - "天" (meaning "heavens/sky" or "imperial").

• Ginji shares many similarities with the character Arisugawa Sorata of Clamp's X/1999. Both don't know their parents, they share a similar hairstyle and personality and both have the power to generate electricity. In the anime version, Sorata is voiced by the same seiyuu who voices Emishi.

• Ginji topped the popularity poll results appearing in volume 14 of the manga with 3825 votes. Also, despite his many appearances on the covers, the only manga cover which features him alone is the special edition of volume 37.

GetBackers
Story arcs • Episode List
Characters
GetBackers: Ginji Amano + Ban Mido
Volt Kings: Kazuki Fuuchouin* | Shido Fuyuki | MakubeX | Masaki Kurusu
Transporters: Kurodou Akabane (Dr Jackal) | Himiko Kudo
Infinity Fortress Characters: Juubei Kakei* | Haruki Emishi | Sakura Kakei* | Kyoji Kagami | Toshiki Uryuu*
Crew of the Honky Tonk: Hevn | Paul Wan | Natsumi Mizuki
Other Characters: Maria Noches | Saizou Toufuuin* | Madoka Otowa | Miroku family
*Fuuga member - italics: manga only character
Other Topics
Infinity (Limitless) Fortress - Fuuga (Elegance)