There's a story often whispered in the dressing rooms of Kaiju Big Battel. It's about Jingi, Kaiju's fearless ref. And it goes something like this:
Before he was ever paid to uphold justice, Jingi was heir to one of the most powerful underworld families in Japan. A peacemaker by nature, the young Jingi sought to distance himself from his bloodletting, back-stabbing, justice-obscuring yakuza background by pursuing the hobbies of non-gangster boys. He tried martial arts, but his lack of coordination made it impossible for him to excel at graceful discipline. He dabbled in grooming bonsai kittens, but his love for felines continually made it heartbreaking for him to stuff cats in bottles. He tried sumo wrestling, but Jingi's lightning-speed metabolism never allowed him to gain more than a gram.
Years passed, yakuzas died, and Jingi fell deeply in love with a raven-haired woman from a rival underworld lineage. So Jingi decided to break the news at a family dinner one Friday night: "I am in love with the raven maiden and I want to wed her!" His relatives screamed and in unison vowed to disown him. And as the sensationalized version of the story goes, Jingi ran upstairs in a Sapporo-fueled rage, returned to the dinner table toting an arm-length machine gun, and raked his relatives with automatic weapon fire. Eleven members of the royal yakuza family were slain.
Hospitalized after the incident, Jingi was reported by local papers to have died. But tabloids report that Jingi broke out of the hospital and fled his homeland in search of anonymity in America.
Famous Kaiju scholars argue that this tale seems to be a little too blatantly inspired by William Shakespeare, Mario Puzo, and Frank Sinatra to be reliable. But there's no official word from Jingi on the story, since he declines to comment whenever contacted by hack reporters.
But if there is any truth to the story, it would explain why Jingi is so uncomfortable being spotted on the streets by Kaiju fans -- and Kaiju fans are infamous for stalking Jingi. Since his button-nosed countenance is one of Kaiju's few human faces that doesn't suffer from grotesque disfigurement, Jingi is a constant victim of tireless fan harassment. On the street, in sushi bars, and at bus stops, paparazzi-like fans chase after Jingi, waving glossy photos, cocktail napkins, and handfuls of flesh for him to autograph. While admittedly flattered by such ardent attention, Jingi shaved off his mustache so he'd stop being recognizable.
