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Ginji Matsuzaki (松崎まつざき銀次ぎんじ Matsuzaki Ginji), also known as Manslayer Ginji (人斬り銀次 Hitokiri Ginji), was the acting wakagashira (underboss) of the Washimine Group and the loyal and humble personal bodyguard of Yukio Washimine. He served under the yakuza group as an infamously skilled assassin.

Appearance[]

Ginji was a very tall man of Japanese descent with a broad build and a height of 194 centimeters (or 6'4").[1] He had short, spiked black hair with the sides of his head shaved, pale skin, and a short goatee. Additionally, he wore thin sunglasses, a large, dark green overcoat, a white shirt, tan pants, and open-toe sandals. On the skin of his back and arms, he had various yakuza tattoos, including a gashadokuro, a samurai, flowers, and flames.

Personality[]

Outwardly, Ginji was a calm and serious individual who, in tandem with his appearance, had an imposing presence. Compared to Revy, he was just as vicious, violent, and sadistic. Ginji did, however, genuinely enjoy his life as a street stall vendor after leaving his life as an assassin behind. He was also close with Yukio Washimine, whom he protected for a time and hoped that she would live a normal life despite her family's criminal background.

History[]

Ginji worked as a street stall vendor, but was formerly an assassin nicknamed "Manslayer Ginji" due to his use of a shirasaya/katana in combat. His skills in its use were exceptional, manifesting themselves in such feats as cleaving bullets in two in mid-flight. Coupled with his ability to evade gunfire from multiple foes, Ginji completely eschewed the use of firearms for himself.

Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise[]

Three years before the beginning of the arc, Yukio's father Ryūzō Washimine, whom Ginji deeply respected and fought for, passed away.[2] Ginji subsequently stopped fighting for the Washimine Group since he felt that the Washimine Group began to make money dishonorably in prostitution and drug trafficking, unlike under Ryūzō's reign. Three years later, one night at a new year's festival in Japan with Yukio, he met Rock and Revy after the latter made a scene at a festival stand. He and Revy talked with each other, and despite their language barrier, Ginji recognized that she was cut from the same vicious cloth as him.

The next day at a park, Ginji talked with Tsugio Bando, the at-the-time de facto head of the Washimine Group. Bando relayed to him that he had formed an alliance with the Russian mafia group known as Hotel Moscow, but Ginji remained silent. Reminding Ginji about the Kosa Council's harassment of their group in the past few years, Bando tried to convince him to take up his life as an assassin once more. Keeping his serious demeanor, Ginji refused on the basis that the Group engaged in a dishonorable manner of making money via prostitution and drug dealing. In response, Bando clarified that he did not engage in such fields because he wanted to but because he focused on the Washimine Group's survival first and foremost. Ginji nonetheless thanked Bando for volunteering to financially take care of Yukio after her father's death, and Bando stood up and decided that he would leave. Before Bando walked away, Ginji asked him what the Russians' interpreter looked like. When Bando told him about the average-looking Japanese guy with a fiery female bodyguard, Ginji knew that Rock and Revy were the ones whom he spoke about.[3]

Another day while in a kitchen preparing a meal with Bando, Ginji politely refused Bando's request once more. As Ginji continued asking for ingredients, Bando remarked that Hotel Moscow's methods were vicious, prompting Ginji to ask him why he sought the alliance in the first place if he expected their brutality. As Bando stated that they needed a buffer against the Kosa Council, Ginji reminded him that he should know that they could not trust outsiders. Smilingly, Bando responded that they could not ride out the storm and abandon their yakuza brothers who had worked so hard for them. Hearing Bando's comment about the Kosa Council's lack of honor, Ginji asked for another ingredient and said that the Russians also lacked honor.[4]

That same day, Ginji called Yukio to check up on her, and she assured him that she was fine and was merely at a café with the interpreter that they met the other night. Later that night, Ginji and Bando were in the living room discussing how the Kanto Peace Council would ostracize the Washimine Group if they found out that Bando sought out Hotel Moscow's help to crush the Kosa Council. Yukio arrived home and entered the living room, and the slightly surprised Ginji apologized for not noticing her presence before. When she requested that they tell her what they were discussing, Bando reminded her of the blood-relative successor rule that the Kosa Council imposed on the Washimine Group. Although Ginji was hesitant to let her in on their group's affairs, Yukio replied that she was the daughter of the previous head and wanted to help in any way that she could. To Yukio's surprise, Ginji informed her that the Japanese man whom she met earlier was the Russians' interpreter, advising her to stay away from him.[5]

After Bando's premature death in a failed attempt to kill Balalaika, Yoshida in tears relayed to Ginji the gruesome story of Bando's corpse stuffed into a suitcase and being tossed at the front steps of the Washimine Group office. As Yoshida continued crying, Ginji tried consoling him that Bando was a great man who was too smart for his own good. That night after overhearing Yoshida, Yukio sat back-to-back with Ginji and declared that she could not just abandon all the men who had fought hard for their yakuza. Ginji begged her not to get involved in the criminal world, but she looked at the night sky and commented that for the first time in her life, she viewed the night sky and the snow as beautiful things. As Ginji was surprised by her new sentiment, Yukio turned around and softly asked him if he would defend her as he once did with her father. Shocked but bowing before her, the unhesitating Ginji offered to become her protector and assassin as the wakagashira of the Washimine Group.[6]

Meanwhile, the relations between Hotel Moscow and the Washimine Group deteriorated due to Bando's murder, and Ginji agreed to help Yukio fight Hotel Moscow to avenge Bando. At a meeting of Washimine Group members, Ginji sat silently next to Yukio as Yoshida stopped the tense silence by berating the gangsters for their hesitancy to serve the young woman. Later, arriving at Yukio's school at night, Ginji stepped out of the car and informed her that they were ready to follow her orders. As Yoshida drove them, Ginji apologized to Yukio for picking her up in front of her friend Maki, but Yukio brushed it off, saying that Maki had to find out sooner or later. Beginning their retaliation campaign, Yukio ordered Ginji to attack a place where the Russians frequented.

Black Lagoon The Second Barrage e9

Ginji killing Vasili Laptev's men

Bidding her goodbye, Ginji stepped out of the car and went to a Russian-owned restaurant. There, several Washimine gangsters shot the place apart, forcing the Russians to take cover. Entering the restaurant, he saw Vasili Laptev and his men, preparing his katana. With swift speed, he dodged all of the bullets shot at him and killed them all. When the surviving Laptev tried to crawl away, Ginji flashed his katana near the Russian's man head. Turning around and pleading for his life, Laptev claimed that he was framed and knew nothing, but Ginji responded that Laptev would be of no use to him since he could not understand Laptev's Russian words, consequently beheading him with one swing of his katana.

After Chaka betrayed the Washimine Group and abducted Yukio, Ginji went to her house on foot and in the living room briefly stood off with Revy, who pointed her gun at him in turn. To calm the tension, Rock told Ginji that neither they nor Hotel Moscow were responsible for Yoshida's murder, and Ginji likewise sheathed his sword once he noticed that he did not smell gunpowder. When he tried to leave to find the abductors on his own, Ginji's interest was piqued when Rock stated that he knew that Ginji traveled on foot and that the footprints inside the house indicated that the enemy would be large numbers of gun-wielding gangsters. Even knowing that Revy was in the country on Hotel Moscow's behalf, Ginji agreed to a truce with her, so she hotwired a car so that Rock could drive them, eventually tracking down Chaka and his men at Hirano Sports Plaza.[7]

Heading inside, Ginji and Revy knocked down the men guarding the bowling alley entrance, and he became infuriated upon seeing what Chaka and his men had done to Yukio. Coordinating his movements with Revy, he used his katana skills to kill Chaka's gang with ease while Rock brought Yukio to safety after knocking out Chaka. Soon, Chaka was lured into a trap by Revy to duel with Ginji in the swimming room, and Chaka fired a round from his handgun. To Chaka's surprise, Ginji sliced the bullet apart in mid-flight and cut off Chaka's hands, pushing him into the swimming pool. Finally, Ginji used the hilt of his katana to push Chaka's head into the water, making him drown as well as bleed to death. As Ginji put away his weapon and proclaimed that Chaka deserved a worse death, the impressed Revy told the cold-gazed Ginji that she wanted to see his bullet-slicing skill once more by using her own pistol. Quickly acting, Ginji calmly moved his scabbard's hilt toward her reaching hand. Smiling deviously, Ginji advised her not to waste his favor to her for her help, adding that Revy would be unlucky if he had to demonstrate his abilities toward her. After the slaughter, Ginji reconvened with Yukio afterward and accompanied her as she thanked Rock but warned him that she did not want to see him again.[8]

The coming morning, Hotel Moscow's Vysotniki efficiently attacked the remaining Washimine Group bases and office. While Ginji and Yukio were driven, Inoue stated that he could not get in touch with the office and his men could not get in contact with the other hideouts. To Ginji's surprise, Yukio informed them that the police told her that Mr. Taguchi's men were dead and she would have to visit the police station the next day for questioning. Realizing that Balalaika's men were likely ex-military due to their swift attacks and addressing the Russian leader as "Kapitan," Yukio remarked that she made a mistake in underestimating them, and Ginji replied that they could still fight back. To counter Hotel Moscow, Yukio met with Masami Kousa to discuss an action of alliance, and Ginji sat upright and silently next to her. Masami demanded to know how Yukio intended to pay the Kosa Council back for the men that Hotel Moscow previously killed on behalf of the Washimine Group, and Yukio answered that she was coming up with a plan. After Masami continued to doubt her, she replied that she had enough credibility to bring forth her request to the Kanto Peace Council, angering Morozumi enough to slam the table. Quickly, Ginji blocked the food from hitting the unfazed Yukio, and the two left.[9]

Another day, Yukio saw the lively Japanese festival and wondered if she could check it out. Although Ginji warned her that they might not be able to show their faces, Yukio exited the car anyway, so he followed her hesitatingly. Walking past the street stalls, Yukio apologized to Ginji for suddenly changing course, and she asked him if he would reopen a stall after their fight was over. Speaking seriously about their situation, Ginji informed her that four of their offices were raided in the past three days with eight dead and twenty in the hospital, stating that the Washimine Group was dwindled down to a third of what it used to be. Thinking silently, Yukio then proclaimed that she wished the festival could go on forever, apologizing for dreaming instead of focusing on their group.[10]

In the anime only, to continue their campaign despite their dwindled numbers and their destroyed bases, Ginji and Yukio knew that they needed to quickly gain money for more power. Going to a cordoned off crime scene of a destroyed Washimine Group office, they found out the design of the electrician vans that the Vysotniki used on an almost destroyed security camera. Once copying the car's exterior design to match the appearance of the Vysotniki's vans, the two then robbed a bank and then removed their car's door symbol, switching the heat onto a Hotel Moscow van and diverting the police. In the anime only likewise, Yukio also wanted to run away to Roanapur and start anew by ordering the Washimine Group members to cease fighting until she called for them in Thailand where she would rebuild her group, and Ginji agreed to follow her. Since Yukio wanted to defend herself, Ginji found a Stechkin pistol in the house and showed it to her, pleasing her taste.[11]

Ginji and Yukio kimono

In the anime, the two stole a semi-truck and knocked Revy and Rock off their motorcycle, abducting the latter. Revy chased the truck to a stop at a seaport, and she began a duel with Ginji there.[12] In the manga, Revy and Rock, per Yukio's request, went to a shrine where Ginji and Yukio soon arrived clad in kimonos. Rock relayed to Yukio that Hotel Moscow would cease their attacks if they left the city by sundown. Yukio rejected his words, saying that a promise from Balalaika was an empty one.[13] Accordingly, Ginji began to duel with Revy while Rock and Yukio watched. Running forward, Revy shot at him several times, but Ginji evaded her gunfire and even sliced apart one bullet. Charging at her, Ginji performed a downward swing with his katana, forcing Revy to block his blade with her Cutlass pistols. In seconds, the downward force pushed Revy back, and the two reciprocated grins at one another, with Ginji commenting that they were truly both cut from the same bloody cloth.

As Rock spoke with Yukio about her fate, Ginji cut through one of Revy's pistols, dismantling it. He heard Yukio say that she was fighting to survive, causing him to suddenly remember Yukio lamenting about how she and Ginji could have opened a festival booth. Smiling, Revy mocked Ginji for thinking that he could live after the battle, saying that criminals like themselves only walked toward death. Immediately, Ginji stabbed Revy in the knee as she used her remaining pistol to shoot the shocked Ginji dead, and he fell lifelessly to the side. Immediately after Ginji's death, Yukio was heartbroken by his death as well as the deaths that she claimed to have caused as the head of the Washimine Group. Grabbing Ginji's katana, she stabbed herself in the throat and died next to Ginji, disturbing Rock.[14]

Trivia[]

  • As stated above, Ginji is 194 centimeters tall (the same height as Dutch), which is well above average for a man of Japanese nationality.
  • Although Revy calls Ginji "Jumbo" because of his height, the name "Jumbo" may also refer to Takashi Takeda (AKA "Jumbo") from the Yotsuba&! manga series with whom he shares an uncanny resemblance.
  • In the First Popularity Poll in the May/June 2008 issue of Monthly Sunday Gene-X, Ginji finished in 12th place with an unspecified number of votes.[15]
  • In a popularity contest during the 10th manga collection release, Ginji ranked 15th with 124 votes.[16]
  • In a popularity contest during the 12th manga collection release, Ginji ranked 24th with 91 votes.[17]
  • The name Ginji means "silver" (銀) (gin) and "next" (次) (ji). Ginji's surname Matsuzaki means "pine tree" (松) (matsu) and "peninsula" (崎) (zaki).
  • Ginji is rather unique in the Black Lagoon anime, as he has some very superhuman characteristics. While not the only character to use melee weapons (Shenhua, Roberta), he has the most notable superhuman abilities, i.e., splitting and dodging bullets. He is likely a reference to samurai movies.

References[]

  1. His height is indicated on the anime settei; see the "Other" section on Ginji Matsuzaki/Image Gallery.
  2. Chapter 32: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 11
  3. Episode 19: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise
  4. Chapter 25: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 4
  5. Episode 20: The Succession
  6. Chapter 27: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 6
  7. Episode 21: Two Father's Little Soldier Girls
  8. Episode 22: The Dark Tower
  9. Chapter 33: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 12
  10. Chapter 34: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 13
  11. Episode 23: Snow White's Payback
  12. Episode 24: The Gunslingers
  13. Chapter 36: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 15
  14. Chapter 37: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 16
  15. https://sundaygx.com/blacklagoon/contest/
  16. http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest/
  17. http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest_12/
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