First Lieutenant Tsurumi leads a corrupt faction within the 7th Division, and he's one of the series' main antagonists. He and his loyal soldiers are hunting for hidden gold, putting them directly at odds with the protagonists.
A head wound during the Russo-Japanese War cost him part of his brain, an injury that shapes who he is throughout the story. As an Intelligence Officer, Tsurumi stands out from typical military brass—he's skilled at gathering and processing information on a massive scale, which makes him a genuinely dangerous opponent.
What drives him, though, is anger. Tsurumi resents how poorly soldiers were treated after the war, especially considering what they sacrificed. He's particularly bitter about the higher-ups' responsibility for the staggering casualty count, and plenty of soldiers in his division share that resentment. It's the kind of justified grievance that makes him sympathetic even as he pursues ruthless goals.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
