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Jyugo 「ジューゴ」 is the main protagonist of the anime and web manga series. He lives in Nanba Prison on larceny charges. He is a skilled escape artist, that specializes in locks.
Appearance
Jyugo's hair is black with red tips on the sides and his eye color changes depending on the angle, appearing as heterochromia; for the most part his eyes appear with the violet and green combination in the anime. When using his shackle's power, both his eyes turn red.
His nails are colored black, and has various tattoos all over his body: A number 15 tattoo on his left cheek, numerous numbers on his arms and legs (possibly former cell/ID numbers from previous prisons) along with a bar-code looking tattoo just below his shoulder and a line of stars just below that on his left arm. On his right arm, just below his shoulder, he has two solid black lines with a number under each one. Around both of his arms, just above his elbows, are lines going around his arm with spikes (unknown if these are tattoos or scars), and he has the same on his legs above his knees. He also has tattoos of the numbers; 577, 44, 31, and 623 on his back.[1]
His usual outfit is a traditional black and white striped prisoner suit as well as having black shackles that surround his neck, both of his wrists, and his ankles.
Personality
Jyugo is a confident, cheerful, and impulsive young man who tends to get bored easily. Despite his flaws, his cellmates hold him in high regard and enjoy his company, saying he's someone that's good with people and understands them.[2] In addition, out of all his friends he seems to be the most mature and has the most common sense, as he usually acts the straight man among the many eccentricities of the guards and his friends and doesn't get as amazed by their antics as his friends. Though Japanese, he doesn't show particular interest in the many festivities like the guards of his cell do (though he seems to simply not care for holidays in general).
He also shows a dark side when mentioning his desire to go through all the jails in the world to find the one responsible for placing the unlockable shackles on him that none, not even himself, are capable of breaking. It's later revealed that Jyugo has never had any greed or desire for anything, and only clung to the idea of finding the man responsible for his shackles as something to live for, so he wouldn't feel empty inside.
He claims his only skill and hobby is breaking out of prisons, though he's shown to be more intelligent than Uno, managing to solve a number of difficult puzzles in seconds, taking Uno a few minutes while it would take a normal person a few hours. While he often tries several breakouts by himself, he is far more motivated to break out when all of his friends participate. If his friends are distracted or don't feel like escaping, Jyugo loses his motivation by 40% and is so easy to capture that even Seitarou Tanabata can capture him.
Uno, his best friend, states he would not be popular with ladies because he has a lousy personality, looks like he would be bad with money, and can't get a job. In addition, Uno states he is a stick in the mud, has the worst handwriting, not good at math, can't play sports, is clueless when it comes to recreational activities, can't do anything but break out of prison, but understands his friends and people better than anyone.[2]
On a side note, he has shown interest in women, but claims to like men too, though given the scenario, the latter is likely a lie.[3] As he was just as disappointed and in shock as his prison mates to find out that Hitoshi Sugoroku was male.
Background
While his background has not been fully explored, it is shown in a flashback that as a baby he was born in a prison and he even states he feels most at home in prisons. He is also stated to have been arrested for larceny charges, but escaped the same day and has been arrested and escaped prisons the most out of his friends and is described by Hajime as the type of person who deserves to be in Nanba Prison in contrast to his friends, whom he describes as simple minded idiots. In addition, Jyugo mentions that he is a lifelong prisoner. He seems to have met each of his friends independently in different prisons, and it is him who brings them all together when they end up running into each other in Las Vegas.
In the past while in a prison, someone placed shackles on him that no one, not even himself, could remove. He only remembers that it was a prison guard with a scar on the back of his neck and has been searching every prison in the world to find him so he can get him to remove the shackles that prevent him from obtaining freedom. At some point, he was roomed with a violent cellmate whose eyes he ripped out. The main reason he keeps trying to escape prison is to purposely extend his sentence, so he can stay at Nanba Prison as long as possible, for it is the only prison he hasn't checked yet for the scarred prison guard.
Plot
Typical day with Jyugo bugging Hajime.
Jyugo complains to Hajime that he is bored, with Hajime telling him not to call him out to Building 13, Cell 13 just for that. He tells him that he just remembered that he will be released soon and thus he will be escaping, wanting Hajime to extend his sentence. The supervising officer merely tells Jyugo to give him a break with his constant escapes.
Later on, Jyugo asks Uno if he thinks that he (Jyugo) will be popular with girls when he gets released, to which Uno denies any possibility due to him likely being bad with money and the fact that he probably can't get a job. Trying to defend himself, Jyugo says he has more good qualities than bad; "I don't have much body hair and my nipples are pink!" Uno tells him that little things like that aren't going to have girls lined up for him and tells him to think more realistically. After trying to think of some realistic things girls like Jyugo boldly proclaims that he also likes men. While freaking out, Uno tells him only a small fraction of girls will react to that and not to make up crazy lies. One day the group is sitting around in their cell reading as Jyugo pops up and asks the others, "Yo, we're prisoners, right?" They begin discussing that in this situation it should be a 'break out story', but mention all the good qualities of the Nanba Prison; good food, big bathroom, air-conditioned, loads of free time, and express that they seem to enjoy their life there as it is pretty comfortable. Jyugo mentions that he may be a skilled escape artist, but even if he were to escape he doesn't have a home. Ultimately, they all decide that it's pointless to escape and wonder if that makes them freeloaders, roommates, or brothers.
Uno's shock at Jyugo completing a Rubix cube in seconds.
After being hauled back to his cell, Rock tosses Jyugo a Rubix Cube after hearing him say he doesn't have any other hobbies aside from jailbreaking. Confused, Uno helps explain it to him. While Uno tells him that it's harder than it looks and that he can barely finish two sides, Jyugo completes it in a matter of seconds, much to the astonishment of the former. Uno then gives Jyugo a few other puzzles to sort through, with Jyugo finishing them all in no time at all. On another jailbreak attempt, Jyugo is caught by Hajime and brought back to Cell 13, where Jyugo lets his cellmates know about the extraordinary thing he saw while out: a woman. The others start getting excited about the possibility of her visiting one of them and Uno declares that it has to be him, but Jyugo denies that remark, saying that it's got to be him. Jyugo and the others then book it to the visiting room to figure out who it is she's here to see. Once they arrive in the visiting room they find Hajime talking to a woman. Jyugo assumes that she is Hajime's girlfriend and is shocked to hear her calling him, big brother. He then asks Hajime why he never mentioned that he had a little sister before, and Hajime just mumbles to the Cell 13 inmates that the young woman was actually his little brother. Realizing that the beautiful girl they saw was actually Hajime's crossdressing younger brother, Hitoshi Sugoroku, the Cell 13 inmates freak out as their spring time came and went in a moment's notice.
The New Year's Tournament Arc
Building 5 Arc
Trivia
- He hates eye exams.
- He claims he has little body hair and his nipples are pink.
- Jyugo's name literally means 15, a reference to his inmate number.
- He can't write calligraphy.
- He can't swim. In fact, Nico claims he and the other inmates of Cell 13 have to hold him up in the bath to prevent him from drowning.
- He can't add numbers any higher than he can count on his fingers.
- According to Rock, in the past after a jailbreak, Jyugo is so hopeless at everything that he has fallen into a ditch at one point, was forced to buy a weird pot, got mugged by a kid in grade school, and was snagged by an old palm reader.
Jyugo's Early Concept Art
- Shō Futamata was initially going to make Jyugo's nails magenta, but this was changed to black after finalizing his design. His prison suit was also going to be gray, but felt that it would be, too plain, and instead gave him the traditional black and white striped prison suit. However, in flashbacks prior to the start of the series, he is shown wearing a gray prison suit, so this may be homage to the original idea. Jyugo was supposed to also have tan skin, like Nico, but Futamata-sensei decided to give this trait to Nico instead and scrapped the idea for Jyugo to avoid identical characters. Lastly, he was apparently going to have stitches on his face, which was scrapped.
References