Takeshi Manganji
Takeshi Manganji is the main antagonist of the anime series Crush Gear Turbo and it's manga series of the same name. He is a former member of the Tobita Club and one of the teammates to Kouya's older brother, Yuhya Marino. Takeshi comes from a wealthy family that runs their own company, known as the Manganji Group.
Appearance
Takeshi is shown to have black hair and brown eyes. His hair is spiked upwards at the back and a few strands of hair protudes from his forehead (the number of hair strands ranges from four to six, and more rarely, three or seven). His usual outfit consists of a red jacket with several badges on it, and one of them has the word "GEAR" on the jacket's left sleeve. He also has a sleeveless black shirt (this is revealed near the end of the movie), dark blue slacks, gray socks and a pair of brown shoes.
Takeshi's younger self (four years ago) is seen wearing a white shirt with short red sleeves, black pants and a pair of green and white sneakers. He was occasionally seen wearing a red tuxedo, notably when he joined the Tobita Club and during his birthday party in the movie.
Personality
In terms of Gear Fighting, Takeshi is often seen to be calm and confident during battles. He often resorts to destroying his opponent's Gears by using his special attack King of the Dragon Fighters (except for Kouya, who manages to avoid and survive the attack a few times) but never gets disqualified despite it being frowned upon. He also shows several signs of passion when pitting against a truly skilled Gear Fighter such as Kouya.
Takeshi's cold attitude is shown on several occasions throughout the series. An instance of this is his refusal to extend the time for Kyousuke to return from the Black Forest before the World Cup semifinal match against Kuroudo. Takeshi is also shown to be manipulative, which is revealed when Kyousuke finds out that his actual intentions for bringing him to the Manganji Laboratory were so that Takeshi could steal Garuda Eagle's data. However, it is discovered near the end of the series that Takeshi is emotionally disturbed by Yuhya's death and has been hiding his true feelings.
Takeshi is also seen to possess a generous nature towards the Tobita Club and Kouya in several circumstances. This is shown when he offers to give money to the Tobita Club during its time of crisis. Takeshi's concern for Kouya's wellbeing is also revealed when Kouya almost falls from the roof of the Manganji building after their battle.
Trivia
- In an interview with the series producer Naotake Furusato, he described the surname "Manganji" as having an image of wealth. He jokingly added that Japanese people are suckers for names that end in "ji”.
- Takeshi shares his given name with another character from Crush Gear Nitro; however, the two characters have different backgrounds and personalities.