After being devastated in the third World War (known as The Third Division), Japan was divided in two. Several years after the end of the war, a crime organization called Vischio has taken control of the destroyed city of Toshima (formerly Tokyo, Japan's capital city), where they are holding a battle game known as Igra (romanized as Igura in the Tokyopop manga translation).
Igra is a battle game held in Toshima that may result in the murder of participants. To participate, one must meet with Arbitro and tell him their reason for their decision. Upon meeting with Arbitro, participants are given five dog tags, each engraved like a card in a standard deck of playing cards. One tag must hang from the participant's neck as proof of participation. Participants must then put their lives on the line to collect others' tags, with the goal being to collect a Royal Flush. If a participant collects a Royal Flush set of tags, they earn the right to challenge "Il Re" in battle. Battles end when one party either dies or lets their back touch the ground. The winner takes the loser's tags and is free to do as they please to the loser after that, often resulting in the loser's death.
The game's main character, a young man named Akira, is falsely accused of a crime. Once arrested, a mysterious woman appears before him, offering him freedom if he agrees to participate in Igra and defeat Igra's strongest man: the king, or Il Re. The story follows Akira's life in the harsh, lawless Toshima as he fights both to survive and to unravel the mysteries developing around him.
[edit]Characters

Akira (アキラ?)
Voiced by: Spoon Sakiware (PC, Drama CD), Kousuke Toriumi (PS2, Anime)
The game's protagonist. Akira is the cool and silent type. He has grayish hair, blue eyes, and stands at 172cm tall. Likes omelet rice flavored Solids. He grew up as an orphan along with Keisuke. Akira was an undefeated champion of the street fighting game "Bl@ster", where he participated in the RAY district under the name LOST. He was accused of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, but Emma got him out of jail so he could participate in Igra, which he does with slight reluctance. He usually acts cold and uncaring, but has a very naive side to him. His weapon is a knife.
Keisuke (ケイスケ?)
Voiced by: Nanimusha (PC, Drama CD), Tomokazu Sugita (PS2, Anime)
Akira's childhood friend and hard-working factory employee. Has brown hair and eyes and is 178cm tall. Likes green curry flavored Solids. They grew up together in the same orphanage. Because he is a bit weak, he has always admired Akira's strength. Though he is a bit quiet and shy, if Akira is involved, he suddenly becomes bold. Upon hearing Akira's situation, Keisuke chases after Akira and also joins Igra, despite his weakness and lack of fighting experience.
Rin (リン?)
Voiced by: Hayato Kiryuuin (PC, Drama CD), Jun Fukuyama (PS2, Anime)
A young blond, blue-eyed boy participating in Igura. 154cm tall. Though he is sometimes mistaken for a girl because of his small body, he is quite strong and able to get by in Igra. He helps Akira around the town and cheers up Akira when he's down. In the anime, it is mentioned that Rin and Shiki are half brothers, having the same father but different mothers. He is a former Bl@ster participant (from the GHOST area) who fights with two small daggers and also enjoys taking pictures. Likes the yakiniku flavored Solids. He's also good at parkour, as he jumps from roofs and walls in the manga and anime.
Shiki (シキ?)
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa
A black-haired, red-eyed man standing at 188cm and covered in black clothing who arms himself with a katana. He is the strongest man in Igura. Because he often appears in front of Igra participants and slays them immediately and with no warning, he is extremely feared. Though he kills Igra participants frequently, he neither carries nor collects tags, and thus does not appear to be an Igra participant. He is a violent man shrouded in mystery. The first Il Re who has never been defeated. Shiki formed the Igra in order to battle against Line-compatibles, so he could kill Nano and quell his memories of the first time they met.
Motomi (源泉?)
Voiced by: Kazuya Ichijō
An unshaven, middle-aged information collector who knows a lot about the tournament. Has brown hair and eyes and stands at 183cm tall. He has a friendly, carefree personality and is a heavy smoker. He does not participate in the game, but is in Toshima to observe it. He carries a gun for protection.
Arbitro (アルビトロ Arubitoro?)
Voiced by: Masaru Hishi (PC, Drama CD), Kōsuke Okano (PS2, Anime)
Manager of the narcotics organization Vischio. A gaudy blond man who always wears a mask over his face. 181cm tall. Has a strange hobby involving appreciating and modifying the bodies of attractive young men. Due to this "hobby", his mansion is full of statues of nude men and he keeps Kau, a human being, as his pet 'dog'.
Kau (狗?)
Arbitro's beloved 'pet', who is actually a young boy. He has white hair, is covered in black leather and a blindfold, and has a large scar and piercings on his stomach (due to Arbitro's personal preferences), and walks on all fours. Because Arbitro destroyed his eyes and vocal cords, he cannot see or speak. He does, however, have a keen sense of smell, and has been trained to pick up the scent of dog tags to help find rule-breakers within Igura. His name's kanji means "dog" in Japanese. He shows signs of severe Stockholm syndrome.
Kiriwar (キリオ Kirio?)
Voiced by: Fuji Bakuhatsu (PC, Drama CD), Katsuyuki Konishi (PS2, Anime)
Executes the rule violators of the tournament. Though he works for Arbitro, his ties to him are loose and he often likes to get him mad. At 200cm, he is a tall, strong man who carries a metal pipe (which he has lovingly named "Mitsuko") as a weapon. He has short, black hair and a scar across his forehead. He is usually seen with Gunji, who he calls "hiyo" or "hiyoko" (which means "baby chick"). Kiriwar likes to mess with Arbitro and seems to not care much about his job. His name is pronounced "Kirio" but is officially written as "Kiriwar".
Gunji (グンジ?)
Voiced by: Kazuya Sugisaki (PC, Drama CD), Kishō Taniyama (PS2, Anime)
Executes the rule violators of the tournament. He is a 195cm tall blond man who fights with metal knuckle claws. He wears a bright red hooded jacket that is open at the front, exposing most of his tattoo-covered torso. Gunji is not very smart and acts spontaneously and violently, and is extremely sadistic in his killings, but still has a fun-loving, childish innocence to him. Gunji has an affinity with name calling. He is usually seen with Kiriwar, who he calls "jijii" ("old man"), calls Arbitro "papa", and Shiki "Shikitty". Gunji seems to confuse cats with dogs, since although Kau is supposed to be a pet "dog", Gunji refers to him as 'Tama', which is a common pet name for a cat. In the manga, he also names a cat that he finds 'Pochi', the common pet name for a dog. Also, though many English-speaking fans spell and pronounce his name as "Gunzi", the name "Gunji" is considered the 'official' name as it is used most often and also used on official merchandise.
Emma (エマ Ema?)
Voiced by: Kaori Okuda (PC), Asako Dodo (PS2)
A beautiful one-armed woman. 167cm tall. She is the one who suggests participating in Igura to Akira as a way to free him of his false charge. She is often seen with Gwen. Very little is known about her.
Gwen (グエン Guen?)
Voiced by: Kikutarō Namerikawa (PC), Takuo Kawamura (PS2)
A serious man in a suit and hat that appears with Emma to convince Akira to participate in Igura. An honest man with a normally harsh expression. 178cm tall.
Takeru (猛?)
Voiced by: Takezō Koike (PC), Hideki Ogihara (PS2)
A one-eyed youth participating in Igura with an extreme passion to win, no matter what it takes.
Nano (ナノ Nano?)
Voiced by: Prof. Shiryuu (PC), Takumi Yamazaki (PS2)
Known as N or Nano, he is an enigmatic figure throughout the game. He is not an Igura participant and carries neither tags nor a weapon, despite the dangers in Toshima. He dresses very conservatively, which adds to his unsettling behavior. 182cm tall. Though he often appears in front of Akira, it is a mystery as to whether he is a friend or foe. Nano's blood is the source of Line. His real name is Nicole Premier.
Tomoyuki (トモユキ?)
Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura
A long-haired man participating in Igura. Though he seems to know Rin, they are not on very good terms with each other.
Kazui (カズイ?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa
A black-haired man somehow connected to Rin and Tomoyuki who seems to resemble someone else Rin knows.
Touya (トウヤ Tōya?)
Voiced by: Kentarou Itou
A young blond man participating in Igura with a team. He is his team's leader. Yukihito is one of his team members.
Yukihito (ユキヒト?)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya
A red-haired man in his 20s and new character added to "Togainu no Chi: True Blood", the Playstation 2 version of the game. He is a former Bl@ster participant (from AREA: RUDE) who is currently participating in Igura as a member of Touya's team.