Tetsugoro Kusabi

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Tetsugoro Kusabi is a character who has appeared in The Silver Case, Flower, Sun, and Rain, The 25th Ward: The Silver Case and Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. He is a detective, a founding member of the Heinous Crimes Unit, and the father of Toriko Kusabi. He made a name for himself in 1979 as "The Man who Arrested Kamui".

Appearance and Personality

Tetsugoro Kusabi generally talks rudely and coarsely, not giving much regard to what anybody else thinks about him; yet at the same time, he does this with a laid-back attitude that suggests that he isn't very serious about it. Despite his arrogance about his methods, he is a very accomplished detective. He has a soft side for his daughter Toriko, who he cares about deeply. He's also shown to be rather bad at handling money, as midway through the game he loses a bet over horse racing and begins asking other members of the Unit to lend him 50,000 yen that he needs, which becomes somewhat of a running joke to the point that he's still asking for the money two years later in Flower, Sun, and Rain.

Kusabi is close friends with Sumio Kodai, to the point that Tokio Morishima believes Kusabi to be gay, despite being married to a woman. While the status of their relationship is unclear, Kusabi does go to great lengths to find Sumio in Flower, Sun, and Rain and speaks with him privately at several points in The Silver Case. Kusabi also takes a liking to Akira, giving him "Big Dick" as an affectionate nickname.

Despite his rude, grizzled demeanor, Kusabi might be one of the most honest and good-hearted characters in the series. For example, when Michiru Kosaka confides in Kusabi that he is conflicted over whether their actions are the right thing to do, Kusabi responds with both understanding, but also advice to try to keep investigation simple and not get caught up in anxiety. In the climax of The Silver Case, he guides Akira towards dealing with his past through philosophical instruction on dealing with inner darkness and seizing inner light.

History

Backstory

In 1979, Kusabi, then a Regional Investigation Unit Special Agent, was involved in the event known as The Silver Case, in which Ginji Nakane, chairman of the TRO/CCO Confederation, was assassinated by Format Kamui in front of the TTV Station. Publicly, Kusabi arrested Kamui; however, as Kamui was actually killed, it is believed that Kusabi killed Kamui. Yet, Kusabi's personal version of the events maintain that Kusabi merely stood there and watched as Kamui was killed by members of the Confederation. Regardless of the truth, Kusabi was promoted to the Security Department where he remained until 1990, when he became one of the founding members of the Heinous Crimes Unit.

In February of 1991, Kusabi and Shigeo Ishikawa headed the "Running Off" case, and faced off against violent bank robbers. In November of 1992, Sawa Kobayakawa and Ishikawa were killed by the Tsubaki Syndicate. Kusabi and Kiyoshi Morikawa took revenge against the syndicate, and made Tsubaki himself take responsibility. In December of 1994, he met Sumio Kodai, a new recruit to the Unit. They became very close partners and makeup the sub-Unit 2. In December of 1996, Kusabi and Morikawa headed the "Still Town" case, during which they closed off and cleaned areas that had devolved into slums. The two completely wiped out a group of young criminals. In July of 1998, Kusabi and Sumio investigated the death of a truck driver in the "Gas Kids" Exhaust Fume Serial Murder Case.

The Silver Case

Kusabi killing Ryo Kazan

In case#0:lunatics, in 1999, while driving through Area E3 late at night, Kusabi is fired upon by a crazed Ryo Kazan with a pistol. Kusabi calls for reinforcements and is reacquainted with his old associate Daigo Natsume. The two briefly speak of their families as the Republic force begin their operation. Kusabi and the Republic security force track Kazan down to the nearby Cauliflower building. The operation culminates in a standoff on the roof of the Cauliflower building. Republic member Akira hesitates in shooting Ryo but Kusabi arrives, shoots him dead and proceeds to fire four additional shots into him. Immediately after, Rumi Toba picks up Ryo's discarded pistol and begins rambling incoherently about Kamui, before being shot to death herself. Kusabi met with Akira for the first time in this incident, who Kusabi called a "chinchilla". As he left the Cauliflower building he began to ruminate on what Rumi had said, letting his mind drift back to the Silver Case.

Staking out the Yukimura estate with Sumio Kodai

Two months on from the Cauliflower incident, Kusabi secretly meets his associate, Ryu Munakata, at the Harakiri Batting Center. Munakata warns him that Kamui is going to "make a move". This ends up being metaphorically true, as although Kamui himself remained an empty shell, Ayame Shimohira's actions reignited the idea of Kamui in the public eye of Ward 24. Kusabi helps investigate for part of this case, but is later given a paid vacation along with his wife by Shinji Kotobuki, so he is absent for the conclusion.

Arresting Sumio Kodai

Kusabi spends a while with Sumio doing a stakeout on Chairman Yukimura's house, which pays off when it explodes in case#3:parade. Kusabi investigates into the motives with Akira and discovers that Sumio headed the operation; Kusabi arrests him, but continues to regularly talk to him, seemingly informing him about the Shelter Kids Policy and the concepts of light and darkness.

In case#5:lifecut, Kusabi is informed by Munakata about Kamui's return and the appearance of TRUMP. He later speaks with Kotobuki on the roof of the precinct; they come to some agreement about how to proceed, after which Kusabi shoots and kills him. Later on, Akira and Sakura Natsume encounter him in the IEDU Building, where he tells them that he plans on "disappearing for a while". After this, Morichika Nakategawa says that should anyone locate Kusabi, they can kill him on sight, suggesting that Kusabi is on the run from the law. Kusabi heads into the Ward 24's underground, where he shoots and kills Morikawa. He then heads to the Shelter Plaza, where he kills the four members of TRUMP, in order to accelerate Kamui's tranfer to Akira's body. He meets up with Akira and explains the events surrounding the Silver Case, Kamui and Ward 24. They journey together from the underground to the TV Tower and kill Nezu.

Tetsu after the death of Nezu

Despite Nakategawa's order, Kusabi is shown peacefully chatting at a public cafe in case#!:tamura and takes on more cases after the events of The Silver Case, suggesting that he peacefully integrated back into the Heinous Crimes Unit. Around a year after the events of The Silver Case, Kusabi participated in the "Lovers" Bonnie & Clyde case alongside Kosaka and Sakura.

Flower, Sun, and Rain

Peter Bockwinkel

In 2001, Kusabi takes his daughter Toriko on vacation to Lospass Island. However, he has another purpose there, and disguises himself as a truck driver named Peter Bockwinkel (ピーター・ポックウィンクル, romanized as "Peter Bocchwinkurr" in the official translation). Kusabi, as Bockwinkel, acts as an agent sent by "The Commission" to meet with searcher Sumio Mondo - actually Sumio Kodai - and direct him to the Flower, Sun, and Rain hotel, where his services have been hired. After agreeing on "Peter"'s cut of Mondo's pay, they part ways. Curiously, as Peter, Kusabi appears to have a silver eye, which Catherine is able to jack-in to.

In the final chapter of the game, Mondo boards an airplane to leave Lospass, where he re-encounters Bockwinkel, the only other passenger on board. During the flight, Bockwinkel heckles Mondo into remembering his true identity as Sumio Kodai; after this realization, Bockwinkel is seen to be Kusabi. Due to Sumio Mondo being an unreliable narrator, it is unclear if Kusabi was actually disguised as Peter (as certain dialogue suggests - "This costume is so hot, I can hardly take it!"), or if Sumio was merely seeing Kusabi as Peter.

2000~

Following the events of Flower, Sun, and Rain, Kusabi continued to work with the Heinous Crimes Unit. He and Sumio investigated the "Hyena Shot" case, in which the imaginary hitman Genichiro Hara actually exists. The two eventually uncovered Hara's true identity. He later participated in the "Animal Hunting", "Door Lock", "Cut Doctor", and "Call" cases.

The 25th Ward

During #06 white out, in 2003, Kusabi is officially missing, and the authorities are unable to get ahold of him. However, he is actually doing independent investigations in his original position as a Regional Investigation Unit agent. He saves Akira from Mokutaro Shiroyabu underground when he shoots the latter in the ear, as Kusabi is looking into the same case that they are: that of the Joker. He gives the two a hint on how to proceed with the investigation and disappears.

Tetsu later appears at the Hachisuka Dome after the Joker's attempted suicide. He speaks in a way that makes it unclear whether he is talking to the police officer Shiroyabu or to the Joker, claiming that "Michiru killed [Shiro]" despite Michiru Kosaka not being present. Kusabi reveals Shiro's real name and the truth of his birth to him (that being that he is the son of Kamui). After this, Kusabi leaves Shiro to Hatoba to deal with.

Kusabi is not present at all for the main game of The 25th Ward. Sumio says that he is currently in the States, but no further information is given on what he is doing there.

black out

Kusabi is only mentioned in one of #07 black out's endings, No. 100, "Go and see Kusabi". In this ending, Kusabi's body is buried under the sea under Ward 26 in the future. Uehara rescues Kusabi's sleeping body, bringing an end to the war. Kusabi presumably goes along with Uehara to Ward 27 on the spacetime ship Natsume, but it cannot be said for certain.

Travis Strikes Again

Kusabi makes a brief appearance in the chapter #4: Modern Observation of Travis Strikes Back, although he is only identified as "Mysterious Man". He approaches Travis Touchdown at Fatboy Burger when Uehara has gotten up to place their order. He warns Travis that Kamui is dangerous, remarks on Travis' bloodlust, and leaves before Uehara returns.

Official profiles

A veteran agent who is partnered with Sumio, Tetsugoro may give off the impression of a dull-witted man past his prime, but when it comes to investigating crime he is able to act upon instinct and lead the case to its resolution. As a regional agent he headed the Silver Case 20 years ago, which was concluded with his arrest of the hit-man known as "Original Kamui", Uehara Kamui. His success was rewarded and he was reallocated to the Security Department, but in compliance with the wishes of his former boss Kotobuki, he was made an additional member of the Heinous Crimes Unit at its inauguration. there is also another side to him that is a regular father, scared of losing the affection of his daughter. (Official site profile)

Out of loyalty to veteran detective Kotobuki, he joined the Heinous Crimes Unit upon its establishment. He sometimes acts as Sumio's stopper, and sometimes troubles the younger agents with his explosive behavior. More afraid of being hated by his daughter than anything else in the world, Kusabi is seriously considering quitting smoking. Currently, his biggest source of worry is his eldest daughter Toriko's overseas studies. (case#1:decoyman profile)

An easy-going sloven. Actually a very important man.
Occupation: Agent
Place of Birth: Federation of Micronesia
(Profile for Peter Bockwinkel)

Trivia

Goichi Suda has described Kusabi as the kind of person he wants to be.
Kusabi says "fuck" or some variation of the word "fuck" approximately 128 times throughout the english translation of The Silver Case.
In a Reddit AMA on July 7th, 2021 on r/Games, Suda stated that Kusabi "might be" interested in men "but... he would personally deny it".