Anji Toni

Name: Anji Toni

Gender: Male

Origin: Formerly from Rikuzen Province (in the Tohoku region of Japan)

Affiliation: Tattooed convicts; later aligns with Toshizō Hijikata’s group

Occupation/Role: Bandit leader, former convict, infiltrator posing as a masseur

First Appearance: Chapter 118 (manga)

Likes: Wild vegetable tempura

Dislikes: Crows

Voice Actor (anime): Yū Mizushima

Live-Action Actor: Tetta Sugimoto

Anji Toni is one of the tattooed convicts whose body bears a fragment of the coded map leading to the stolen gold in Golden Kamuy.

He is a white‑haired, middle‑aged man who lost his sight due to sulfur mining but developed extraordinary hearing and an echolocation ability that lets him move almost as well as a sighted person.

Despite his age and appearance, he speaks in a casual, youthful manner and often cracks jokes, including about his own blindness.

Beneath his intimidating look, he has a surprisingly playful side and a sense of humor that lightens even tense situations.

His trademark equipment includes specially shaped ear covers that act like sound collectors and a Mauser C96 pistol he wields with deadly accuracy.

Locals fear him as the source of the eerie “tengu clogs” sound at night, not realizing it is actually the clicking of his tongue echoing through the mountains.

Anji uses echolocation by sharply clicking his tongue and listening to the echoes bouncing off surfaces around him.

He wears asymmetrical sound‑collecting covers over his ears, inspired by owl ears, allowing him to determine direction and distance with uncanny precision.

The sound of his tongue clicks resembles wooden clogs on stone, leading superstitious villagers to dub it “the tengu’s clogs.”

With this system, he can move, shoot, and fight in the dark or while blind with almost normal human precision.

Because his hearing is so highly developed, he is extremely sensitive to loud noises such as explosions or gunfire.

Sudden intense sounds can overwhelm him and temporarily compromise his ability to fight or orient himself.

He usually wears a vest and carries a Mauser C96, handling the pistol confidently despite his lack of sight.

In close quarters, his awareness of tiny sounds gives him a serious advantage, letting him sense enemies and react before they can strike.

Anji has a frank, laid‑back way of speaking and often sounds more like a cheeky younger man than an elderly one.

He is quick with dry humor and self‑deprecating jokes, like promising to “let you know if I see it” when asked about a piece of clothing, casually poking fun at his blindness.

He can be surprisingly light‑hearted even around violence, once playing the shakuhachi like background music while Tatsuuma Ushiyama prepared to harshly punish an evildoer.

However, he has a strong moral axis and is genuinely enraged by cruelty and exploitation, especially involving the mines that blinded him.

He respects Toshizō Hijikata and speaks to him in polite, deferential language, recognizing him as a commanding senior figure.

At the same time, he is capable of camaraderie and banter with others, making him feel both dangerous and oddly approachable.

Despite being a bandit, he draws a line at killing uninvolved people and states clearly that his men have not murdered anyone unrelated to their revenge.

He also shows the capacity for dreams and softer desires, talking about wanting to live near the sea once he receives a share of the gold.

The exact charges that put Anji in prison are never clearly specified.

What is known is that by 1896, he was forced to perform harsh labor on a sulfur mountain, where sulfurous gases destroyed his eyesight.

During his time as a convict, he was branded with one of the coded tattoos that collectively form the map to the hidden gold.

This tattoo later makes him a target for multiple factions chasing the treasure, including Saichi Sugimoto and various military and criminal groups.

After he escaped prison, he became the leader of a gang of blind former convicts who had also lost their sight working the sulfur mines.

He operated mainly around Lake Kussharo, repeatedly robbing people connected to the mines and those living nearby.

His acts of robbery focus on revenge against the mining company that exploited the convicts and caused their blindness.

He claims his group only killed individuals directly connected to the mining company and did not murder civilians with no involvement in the abuse.

Meeting Sugimoto and Hijikata

Anji’s group encounters Saichi Sugimoto’s party when Sugimoto and his companions are bathing in an outdoor hot spring near Lake Kussharo.

Mistaking them for agents of the sulfur mine company or hired killers sent by the company or former warden Inudo, Anji launches a sudden nighttime attack.

The ambush puts Sugimoto’s group at a serious disadvantage: they are naked, in the dark, and mostly unarmed except for Hyakunosuke Ogata.

Using sound alone, Anji and his men drive Sugimoto into a tight corner, forcing a one‑on‑one showdown between Anji and Sugimoto.

Their duel is interrupted by Toshizō Hijikata, who steps in and halts the fight.

Upon hearing Sugimoto’s voice, Anji remarks that he sounds just like a young Hijikata, noting that the two also resemble each other in appearance.

With Hijikata mediating, the misunderstanding clears, and Anji understands that Sugimoto’s group is not acting on behalf of the mining company.

Recognizing a shared enemy in the mining interests and in Inudo, Anji agrees to cooperate with Hijikata’s plan to infiltrate Abashiri Prison.

Infiltration of Abashiri Prison

Thanks to his knowledge of the area and his stealthy skills, Anji joins Hijikata’s team as a guide and collaborator for the Abashiri Prison infiltration.

He aims to take revenge on Inudo Shirosuke, the former warden connected to the sulfur mining operation that ruined his life.

During the operation, Inudo strikes Anji in the head with an iron ball, leaving him gravely injured and unconscious.

This blow puts him out of action for a time, and he disappears from the story for several chapters.

Anji eventually reappears with a noticeable scar on his forehead, showing that he survived the head injury but was left with visible damage.

Despite this, he resumes working with Hijikata’s group, still committed to the campaign against their common enemies and the hunt for the gold.

Disguised as a Masseur and the Avalanche Incident

Later, in the Noboribetsu arc, Anji returns in a new role, acting under Hijikata’s orders.

He disguises himself as a masseur at an inn favored by the Seventh Division, using this cover to spy on Tokushirō Tsurumi’s faction.

Along with his subordinates, he gathers information on the movements and plans of Tsurumi’s men.

During a confrontation with personnel under Mokutarō Kikuta and others from the Tsurumi side, a battle breaks out.

In the middle of this clash, Rikimatsu Ariko triggers an avalanche that sweeps through the area.

Anji, who has been fighting courageously, is swallowed by the rushing snow.

Just before the avalanche engulfs him, Anji voices a wistful plan for the future: once he gets his share of the gold, he wants to live near the sea.

The combination of this “death flag” line, his calm acceptance of defeat, and the solemn imagery of him disappearing into the snow leads many readers to assume he has died.

Ariko later comments that he “skinned the tattoo on the spot,” and a removed tattooed skin is shown, further reinforcing the impression that Anji perished.

However, it is revealed that the skin actually belonged to another tattooed convict, Sekiya, and that Ariko had rescued Anji from under the snow to extract information.

Thus, contrary to initial expectations, Anji survives the avalanche and continues working alongside Hijikata’s faction.

He remains a living holder of a tattoo fragment and an active player in the ongoing struggle over the gold.

Anji knows Yoshitake Shiraishi from the world of escaped convicts, sharing the background of having broken out of prison.

Their connection highlights the complex web of alliances and rivalries among the tattooed prisoners.

He treats Toshizō Hijikata with genuine respect, addressing him politely and following his leadership in major operations like the Abashiri infiltration.

Hijikata, in turn, recognizes Anji’s unique skills and uses him strategically for reconnaissance and infiltration.

Anji initially attacks Saichi Sugimoto by mistake, believing him to be an enemy agent.

After the misunderstanding is cleared, he notes the uncanny similarity between Sugimoto’s voice and that of a young Hijikata, foreshadowing their parallel roles.

He comes into conflict with members of the Seventh Division, including those under Tokushirō Tsurumi’s command and Rikimatsu Ariko.

His clash with them during the avalanche scene marks one of his most dramatic and emotionally charged appearances.

Anji also briefly interacts with Tatsuuma Ushiyama, playing the shakuhachi next to him like a live soundtrack while Ushiyama prepares to mete out brutal justice.

This odd scene underlines both his dark humor and his comfort around violent allies.

Anji’s design is strongly inspired by owls, particularly in his sound‑related features.

His ear covers are asymmetrical and shaped to funnel sound, just like an owl’s uneven ears that help it pinpoint prey in the dark.

The jagged patterns on his clothing echo the silhouette and plumage of an owl.

Combined with his white hair and still, listening posture, he gives the impression of a nocturnal predator silently watching its environment.

Because he is blind, he is unaware that his hair has turned completely white, and he reacts with genuine shock when someone tells him.

He recalls that before losing his sight, his hair had been entirely black.

His name is thought to reference the actor Tony Anthony, a notable figure in spaghetti western films.

This fits the series’ frequent use of Western‑style gunmen and frontier motifs, with Anji’s Mauser C96 and bandit lifestyle nodding to that genre.

The casting of Yū Mizushima as Anji surprised many fans familiar with the actor’s past work.

Mizushima is known for playing youthful, handsome characters in older series, and his public image did not obviously match a gruff, blind bandit.

The voice he uses for Anji is noticeably different from his classic roles, to the point that some viewers only realized it was him when they saw the end credits.

This unexpected casting added an extra layer of novelty to Anji’s anime debut and contributed to the character’s memorable presence on screen.