Gamble Fish

Gamble Fish is a manga written by Aoyama Hiromi and illustrated by Yamane Kazutoshi. It began publication in 2007 and has 13 volumes published in Shonen Champion comics so far. The story follows 14-year-old Shirasagi Tomu, son of the infamous swindler Yumeichirou Shirasagi. He goes to Shishidou academy, a school attended mainly by the rich and influential, from a public High School, instead of a private one, for which he is snubbed, but not for long. He quickly reveals that he is not there to study, but to earn 10 billion yen within a single month and shows himself an expert con artist in an encounter with Shishidou Mika, the great-granddaughter of the dean. He earns two allies in his roommate and class representive Mizuhara and another ally in Kimura Natsumi, a first-year student and self-proclaimed mascot and idol of Shishidou Academy.

CHARACTERS

SHIRASAGI TOMU:The main protagonist of Gamble Fish. It is learned that he has already crushed three schools and ,apparently, plans to add Shishidou Academy to that list. In order to do so he quickly makes a name for himself by humiliating the dean's daughter, calling her his "bait". This act helps set Tomu's plans in motion as he is quickly challenged by Aota whose loss consequently sets off a chain of subsequent challenges. So far Tomu has defeated all his opponents through a variety of tricks and tactics. To the point that he was able to win against Rio, billiards world junior champion, in a game of billiards despite having played the game for only 10 days. Tomu is primarily opposed by the dorm dean Abidani and the dean's daughter Mika.

MIZUHARA: Tomu's first ally and close friend who proves invaluable through several schemes. He is the class representative and first met Tomu when he was assigned to conduct Tomu's orientation. He is short, wears glasses and has a haircut which earns him the nickname "mushroom head". Although he has shown disapproval for some of Tomu's tricks and tactics, such as cutting one of his fingers off in order to seal Yuka's "magic", he has remained a steadfast reliable friend to the point that he has directly helped Tomu execute one of his tricks. He admires one of Tomu's trait of courage.

Kimura Natsumi: A first-year who develops a crush on Tomu. She wanted to become Tomu's manager but was initially manipulated by Yuka to surprise and beat Tomu in an unofficial match. However, she apologized to Tomu and quickly became a valued partner in Tomu's winning streak. Her uncle is Tatsuhiko, a former billiards pro.

ABIDANI: The sadistic dorm dean who seeks Tomu's expulsion (or death). Abidani is drawn as a devilish character, and hence acts as such, to the point that at one point he swooped down in on one of Tomu's matches in a devilish manner. Furthermore, Abidani has been shown whipping students and enjoying gory acts, such as sawing off Tomu's finger when he bets it in order to continue playing. Abidani employees a number of people to take Tomu up on his claim that he will beat them at whatever game they choose, if they bet double what his last opponent bet. So far he has only sent Tsukiyono Yuka the magician against Tomu.

Shishodou Mika: Great-granddaughter of the dean of Shishidou Academy and a true beauty as well. Shirasagi contunally outsmarts her and uses her arrogance and rage at him to trick her into assisting his victory. Mika seeks revenge against Tomu, in order to regain her pride, and is the second force that opposes him outright. She asks her best friend Asahina Rio to challenge him which she accepts.

Aoto: Shirasagi's first opponent and a 3rd year. He is in charge of the 3rd. year's Public Moral's committee. He is also one of Mika's "Bodyguards". Tomu challenges him to a game, which he then cheats at, and is still defeated. As punishment,Abidani whips him along with Kaizuka.

Kaizuka: The dorm leader, who is also the captain of the ping-pong team due to his visual acuity or the ability to see things in a slowed down sense of time. He thinks this ability will give him an unbeatable advantage in a coin toss, but Tomu outsmarts him through mental tricks, drawing Abidani's attention. He is whipped by Abidani alongside Aoto.

Tsukiyono Yuka: A magician from a family of magicians, she is contracted by Abidani to defeat Tomu, for her unparalled sleight of hand tricks, which makes her think that she can't be beaten at any card game. She is Tomu's third challenger and bets against Tomu on a game of Black Jack. It is revealed that she wants to defeat Tomu because gamblers use similar tricks to magicians and that, due to her older brother's death, she feels magic is the only way to be close to him and is almost sacred. Tomu sacrifices a finger so that she can't shuffle the cards because the blood stain would not match up. At the end of the match Tomu's act of stopping Yuka from sacrificing her finger, as they are a magician's life, reminds her of her late brother and as such seems to have developed feelings for Tomu.

Tatsuhiko: Natsumi's uncle and a former billiards champion. He refuses to teach Tomu, because he feels gambling is wrong. He is soon bested by Gokijima, a hustler, who has no qualms teaching Tomu, for the right price. After some persuasion from Natsumi, he helps in on of Tomu's tricks by chasing Gokijima away from Tomu and Rio's match which plays a large part in Tomu's victory.

Rio: Mika's best friend, billiards junior world champion and the daughter of a former luxury hotel owner who was bankrupted by a con she believes orchestrated by Shirasagi's father. This rage prompts her to challenge Tomu to billiards, a game of skill, thinking she can't lose. With Gokijima's help, Tomu wins, although he does run into a few problems along the way. After her defeat, Abidani has her sports scholarship revoked and she moves to Taiwan to study billiards. Tomu appears to feel some remorse, as he sends her a note vowing to avenge her family and sending up a bunch of balloons shaped like billiards balls. Despite this, Mika still blames him for "taking her friend" and makes her own vow of vengeance.

Gokijima: A rather obese and disgusting hustler who is manipulated by Tomu into helping Tomu win and receiving nothing. He is lecherous, greedy and shameless,but he is good at what he does, and he does appear again after Tomu's defeat of Rio.