Botobai Gigante

"With this, he can control the election as he pleases...!!"

- Botobai, referring to Ging

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 codename "Dragon". 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. 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 colored black and his face resembles masks commonly used in Japanese drama.

Personality
Botobai is a calm, collected and quiet man. The only time he seemed to lose his temper was when Pariston proposed the idea of himself becoming the new Chairman without an election. He favors cooperation among the Zodiacs, even if it means revealing his abilities.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc


Botobai is the most senior member of the Zodiacs. After Netero's death he and the other Zodiacs are gathered to vote for a new Chairman of the Hunter Association. They are hostile towards Pariston, especially after he proposes himself as the new Chairman. Like the other Zodiacs, he is forced to follow Ging's rules to elect the new Chairman. In the 4th round of the election Botobai ends up in 4th place thus making him one of the top 16 candidates for the 5th round of the election.

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 comes 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.

When the 8th election is about to begin he is allowed to give comments to all the hunters and begins by thanking everyone who supported him and if possible would like for everyone who voted for him vote for Cheadle.

Dark Continent Expedition arc
Botobai, and the rest of the Zodiacs are surprised when they learn that Kakin is holding an expedition to the Dark Continent, especially when the leader of the expedition is the son of the former chairman of the Hunters 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. Kanzai asks him how he would know that, and Kurapika is surprised, as he thought it obvious: It is clear that [Beyond Netero|Beyond] was waiting for his father's demise and had been making preparations all along, with letting the Hunters Associations capture him being part of them. To achieve his goals, however, he needed both a competent right-hand man and a substantial group of followers, which Cheadle recognizes as Pariston and the Temp Hunters. Kurapika reflects that everything up to the election makes sense, but what will come after is still a mere hypothesis. After Mizaistom escorts him out to speak to him in private, the Zodiacs sum up their preparations for the journey, with Botobai stating that as long as the armies of Sahelta and Hekerose collaborate with Kakin, 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.

Abilities & Powers
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 confirmed by his being also a military analyst. 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 very strong, and extremely skilled in Nen. It's also said that he is "in name and in ability the one closest to being chairman".

Trivia

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