James Shiba

James Shiba was a former champion boxer famous in the underworld nicknamed “The God of Destruction”. James’ right leg was crippled and right eye lost in a fight with Fuurinji Saiga, the One Shadow of Yami. Since then he became a hermit, living under a bridge in a shack containing a boxing gym, coming out only to play Pachinko. Takeda’s reaction implies that he is one of the few Master-class Boxers in the world.

Shiba is a tall and lean and muscular man with pale hair parted on the sides and shaved halfway down the middle and a long pointed out mustache which, like Akisame, takes great pride in and is usually pointing upwards. He wears dark pants with knee guards on his knees and dark boots with a ripped sleeveless vest. He has a type of joints inside his right leg and an eye patch over his right eye due to his injuries from Saiga in the past. He’s sometimes seen smoking a cigarette.

James is comically shown to be rather dishonorable and arrogant, to the point where Akisame mentions that “even Yami would not accept him for his arrogance” (though his opinion is arguably biased due to a mustache grudge he carries against James). Such is seen in the disciple race between him and Akisame, during which he flicks a Pachinko ball at Kenichi’s head and causes him to fall over, taking advantage of this to give Takeda the lead.

The other example is his refusal to cut off his own mustache despite the bet, by exploiting the wording of the bet and shaving only a few hairs off and then escaped by jumping onto the nearby bullet train. James is also not above taking advantage of Takeda, having him fight in betting matches in order to supplement his own income and becomes quite wealthy because of it.

James also keeps various pets and names his moves after them, such as the Giant Cat Eye Frog Punch, named after a frog with cat eyes. He apparently hates being called “Sensei” as he punches Takeda as soon as he calls him “Sensei”.

During Takeda’s fight with Kenichi, James is shown to care about Takeda by forfeiting the match claiming that it is foolish to break his source of money and forgetting the bet of cutting off his mustache if he lost (comically in a seppuku style), which he blatantly and arrogantly refused after being reminded of it. Like Takeda, James’s best punch is left straight, the knowledge of which helps form a bond between the disciple and master.

James’ mustache and beard also indicate his mood: when they point downward, he is in a neutral or bad mood; when they point upward, he is excited. He also made Takeda wear restraints that exercised his boxing muscles, making his training methods similar to Akisame’s due to how hellish it is.

A young James Shiba believed that boxing was the strongest martial art, and participated frequently in underground bouts. Though he manages to make a name for himself quickly and conveniently, everything crashes around him when he loses in a fight with Fuurinji Saiga, supposedly making him die as a martial artist and laying him to waste for several years.