Shigeru Akagi

Shigeru Akagi
Personal Info
Name (Japanese)	赤木しげる( アカギしげる)
Name (Romaji)	Akagi Shigeru
Age	13 (Akagi debut), 20 (Washizu arc), 41 (Ten debut), 53 (at time of death)
Gender	Male
Status	Dead
Media
Voiced By	Hagiwara Masato
Debuts Manga Chapter 1 Ten Manga Chapter 16 Anime Episode 1

Akagi (赤木) is introduced as a deceptively adult looking young boy, whose spark of genius transcends age and resides in gambling, especially in the game of mahjong. Throughout the story, Akagi utilizes techniques other gamblers don't dare to, in order to sway his opponents: brazen cheating, extremely risky maneuvers, far fetched bluffs, a blatant disregard for his own life.

Appearance

Akagi has white hair and is usually recognizable by his sharp features, particularly that of his nose. The angle of his nose is approximately 32º. He is usually seen wearing a dress shirt and pants, as was typical of that period.

Personality

Akagi in all iterations is a cold, calculating individual who will risk anything and everything if he feels he will win. He cares deeply about his individuality and living life his own way, and will not cave in to others' demands or expectations at all if they go against his own will. He has astounding luck and intuition as well as a high level of intelligence, and his preferred method of victory is to play against what his opponents expect him to do to ensure they see him as unpredictable.

Akagi at different ages

The series is set up with three major time skips, showing Akagi at different points in his life. He is introduced at 13, then again at 19-20, and finally appears in one of FKMT's earlier series, Ten, from ages 44-53.

At thirteen

Akagi is a sassy little brat who wanders around at night, participates in chicken races with street gangs, and cheats the yakuza. He appears to often stay out all night, which points to lax or overworked parents. Despite being every bit as cunning and calculating as he is later in life, underneath it he is still a kid, albeit a seriously messed up one who gets off by seeing people break down.

At 19-20

By this age Akagi is chainsmoking like a nobody's business. He works on an assembly line in a toy factory, and it is implied that he switches jobs often (probably because he's constantly cheating his sempai out of money and beating them up when they protest.) At this age he seems more cynical and resigned to life. His favourite pastime is beating up street punks and yakuza in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

At 44-53

Akagi chills out a LOT, and actually has FRIENDS now. He plays golf with them in Hawaii. He's really rich and makes people bring him a tray of fugu in the middle of the night because he's hungry, eats one piece and then tells them to eat the rest.

He also gets Alzheimers and the sight in his eye starts to go, so he decides that life isn't worth living anymore (life is nothing but a game, and if he couldn't play it, there was no point in living,) and euthanizes himself.

Differences between anime, manga, and live action versions

Anime Akagi is super cool and unflappable.

Manga Akagi actually has the ability to change his expression, and sweats a lot like everyone else in FKMT's comics.

Live action Akagi has black hair.