Botobai Gigante

Botobai Gigante (ボトバイ=ギガンテ, Botobai Gigante) is a Triple Star Terrorist Hunter and also the eldest member of the Zodiacs with the code name "Dragon" (辰, Tatsu). He is part of the Defense Division, created in preparation for the voyage to the Dark Continent.

Appearance


Botobai is a very tall and burly late middle-aged man. Even seated, he is taller than most adult men. His face is full of wrinkles, making it appear like a dragon's hide, and he has a Hungarian mustache and thick eyebrows that is slanting upward. His hair is gathered into two bundles that look like flames. He wears a long coat that has a flame-like collar with a dragon head symbol printed on the back. In the 2011 anime, Botobai's mustache and eyebrows are initially colored black, though this is fixed in later episodes and are changed to white. His face resembles masks commonly used in Japanese drama. During his tenure as a court official in the Black Whale, Botobai is seen wearing a court dress with a cape.

Personality
Botobai is a collected man who is fiercely loyal to Netero. He rarely loses his temper, with the exception when Pariston proposed the idea of himself becoming the new Chairman without an election and when he was arguing against his fellow Zodiac whom Botobai accused of prioritizing his political affiliation before the former Chairman's request. He favors cooperation among the Zodiacs for the success of the mission, even if it means revealing his abilities. As a Terrorist Hunter, he has significant knowledge in geopolitics, legal affairs, and military.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc


After the death of Netero, Botobai, along with the other Zodiacs, are called to vote for a new Hunter Association Chairman. As all of the Zodiacs (minus the Rat) all gather in a private room, while waiting for the Rat Pariston Hill to hold a meeting on which how to approach the previous Chairman's Netero's final will. As the Zodiacs wait the Dragon Botobai Gigante proclaims his displeasure of why the Chairman didn't call upon the Zodiacs for the Chimera Ant crisis, as Kanzai agrees with Botobai and shows annoyance at Morel Mackernasey and Knov for going instead. The Dog Cheadle Yorkshire points out that Botobai wanted to fight the Chimera Ants himself and Kanzai is making up excuses for out of jealousy of the two Hunters. Pariston finally arrives and instantly takes control of the situation.

Pariston then declares his candidacy for Chairman and suggests they skip the election, making the Zodiacs become hostile towards Pariston. Though after some altercations, involving Pariston, the Ox Mizaistom, and the Boar Ging; Pariston suggests they decide on a systematic way of announcing the candidacy process and Cheadle suggests it be by lottery. Like the rest of the Zodiacs Botobai fills out a piece of paper with a set of rules written on it. Beans is then called into the room and he picks out a drawing from a dust bin and it's Ging's. As Beans reads Ging's rules Zodiacs become wary and are left completely dumb found by the final rule that the head of the voting committee is Ging Freecss. Botobai contemplates that with the final rule he can run the election as he pleases. However after Pariston says he'll concede to the rules 1-4, but suggests they decide on a head of the Voting Committee at a later date. Ging agrees to his and infuriating the Zodiacs for accepting that demand so calmly. After the First Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman was held on August 8th Botobai ties in 4th place with Mizaistom.



A meeting is held with the Zodiacs after the results of the 2nd election in which Botobai places in 4th place again, about the increase in absentee voters. And another meeting is held after the 3rd, where Botobai places in 3rd place and the meeting concerned about another increase in absentee voters in the election, so after it's decided that they shouldn't confiscate the Hunters Hunter License whom don't vote, Pariston suggests they hold a lecture on the importance of voting. During the lecture held by the Zodiacs in the Hunter Association auditorium, Botobai in the middle of the Chicken Cluck and the Snake Gel, is bewildered after witnessing Ging hit by a warped punch from Leorio Paradinight.



Botobai appears on a video montage of the top 16 candidates, it's revealed that Botobai is a Triple Star Hunter, the most senior of the Zodiacs and closest to the previous chairman in both name and ability. During the 5th election, Botobai ends up in 6th place making him one of the top 8 candidates for the 6th election. During the 6th election, he places in 7th place, but a new election has to be done do to the conditions not being met. During the 7th election, Botobai comes in 7th place with zero votes, and is eliminated as only the top four advance. At the beginning of the 8th election, Botobai gives a small speech thanking everyone who voted for him and wants those who did to vote for Cheadle and explains his reason why. When Pariston announces that he's stepping down as chairman after becoming chairman, he leaves Botobai along with the other Zodiacs flabbergasted.

Dark Continent Expedition arc


Botobai, and the rest of the Zodiacs are surprised when they learn that the Kakin Empire is holding an expedition to the Dark Continent, especially when the leader of the expedition is the son of the former chairman of the Hunter Association, Beyond Netero. The Zodiacs are given the task of hunting Beyond Netero. The Zodiacs hold a meeting to decide their next course of action. Botobai believes only hunters should be able to go and you can't put your political affiliations before the chairman's will. The meeting is interrupted when Beyond Netero himself calls and asks them to inform V5 of his capture. Beyond Netero requests a "give and take". The nine Hunters witness Cheadle and Beyond's following conversation from outside the cell. Later, Botobai witnesses Beyond signing the contract with the terms the Hunters Association has set.

Cheadle summons a meeting to introduce the new Boar and Rat, and she starts explaining about the V6, the Five Great Calamities, the difficulty of the mission, which is A, whereas the Chimera Ants were ranked B, and asks if anyone has any questions. Kurapika raises his hand, saying he has many. The first is how many infiltrators on Netero's side the Zodiacs have managed to identify, much to everyone's shock. However Mizaistom quickly asks Kurapika to talk about this outside the meeting room where Mizaistom explains to the younger Zodiac about the situation and then asks him to keep his theory to himself for the time being. The Zodiacs continues to sum up their preparations for the journey, with Botobai stating that as long as the armies of the United States of Saherta and the Begerossé Union collaborate with the Kakin Empire, there should be no problem. He adds he will be cooperating with the Intelligence Division upon landing with the double intent of strengthening their defense and preventing Beyond, whose physical and Nen abilities have been analyzed, from escaping. He is assigned to the Defense Division.



When Mizaistom calls a new meeting, Botobai is left flabbergasted by the announcement that a spy is likely to be hiding among the Zodiacs. Like the others, he agrees to reveal his powers. Unbeknownst to him, Kurapika is using his dowsing to determine who is lying, and he is revealed to be innocent.

Some time later, Botobai boards the ship. He devotes his attention to the three lower decks, where the conditions have turned out to be worse than expected. He and Mizaistom help the royal troops and private security to maintain the order and handle the criminal issues in the Black Whale, with Botobai also acts as a court official.

Equipment
Mallet: During his tenure as a court official in the Black Whale, Botobai wields a mallet similar in appearance to a gavel but with a very long handle.

Abilities & Powers
Botobai's authority in the Hunters Association is inferior only to that of Cheadle herself. As a Triple Star Terrorist Hunter, Botobai has assets and information unavailable even to pro Hunters. His status suggests he has extensive knowledge in security and anti-terrorist measures, as supported by his being a military analyst as well. His competence extends to the legal field as well, since he is also a public prosecutor. Botobai's powers are still unknown but since he is the most senior member in Zodiac it can be presumed that he is extremely skilled in Nen. It's also said that he is "in name and in ability the one closest to being chairman".

Quotes

 * (To himself, referring to Ging Freecss) "With this, he can control the election as he pleases...!!"

Trivia

 * "Gigante" is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian word for "giant". It is also a type of monster in the Dragon Quest video game series that Yoshihiro Togashi enjoys playing.