Might Guy Overview

In the Shonen Jump magazine, Viz rendered Guy's name as "Mighty Guy" in some chapters; this was changed back to "Maito Gai" in most of the graphic novel stories. Later this was changed to "Might Guy" when the guidebooks were released.

The name "Might Guy" is a joke aimed at the "hot-headed hero" archetype that appears in many movies and anime. Guy's appearance and mannerisms are similar to Bruce Lee's.

Background Information

Might Guy is a Konoha Jonin who is notorious for his thick eyebrows, green jumpsuit, shiny bowl haircut, and exceedingly boisterous personality. He graduated from the Academy at age seven, and became a Chunin at age eleven. He refers to himself as "Konoha's Prideful Green Beast" (木ノ葉の気高き碧い猛獣, Konoha no Kedakai Aoi Mōjū) and Naruto usually addresses him as Gejimayu-sensei (Master Thick Eyebrows). He is the sensei of the ninja team consisting of Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee. Of the three, he has bonded with Lee the most, because Lee reminds Guy of himself when he was younger. Guy's guidance prompted Lee to start tapping into his potential, despite having been considered sub par in all ninja categories up until then. In his first appearance, Guy was accompanied by Ninkame, a large red tortoise (his summon). This tortoise has not been seen since then. Guy believes that "hard work without believing in yourself is worthless", and though he uses the terms "youth", "power" and "explosion" a lot, he sadly notes that his own youthful power seems to have started fading. He first mentions this during training with Lee, who he can no longer keep up with.

Guy is perhaps the most emotional character in the series, and possesses several odd mannerisms accentuating this fact. Even by anime standards, in which character emotions are often ridiculously overstated, Guy over-reacts to just about everything. The first and foremost of these is his "nice guy pose", which consists of giving the thumbs up and smiling with teeth so white they give the proverbial "ping". It's often used by both Guy and Lee to indicate commitment to whatever statement they just made, the highest form of a promise. His relationship with Lee also carries these overtones. When Lee makes any sort of infraction, Guy will punch him and give him some sort of ridiculous task. The two then burst into tears and embrace. When this happens, a beach at sunset, complete with crashing waves, usually appears behind them.

Many of Guy's mannerisms and quirks are references to common clichés of seishun (青春, "youth," especially in the sense of "springtime of one's life") anime. The coach whose "tough love" and harsh training is eventually respected and loved by his charges whom he has turned from losers into champions is a staple of such sports anime, as well as US sports movies. These clichés are often viewed as hopelessly corny and commonly parodied in gag anime.

According to the official databook, Might Guy's favorite foods are super-spicy curry rice and curry udon. As to his least favorite food, he proclaims, "There is no such thing!" His hobbies are repeatedly jumping sideways and hitting mitts, and his favorite phrase is "Bursting with youth!"

Guy is the self-proclaimed rival of Kakashi Hatake, who acts indifferent to their rivalry, similar to Lee's rivalry with Neji. Kakashi's "cool" attitude annoys Guy to no end, so he to randomly challenges Kakashi and even tries to outdo him in the heat of battle. Guy has a record of 50 wins and 49 losses against his rival, and is very proud of it. This achievement, however, is not nearly as impressive as Guy makes it seem. In a flashback, these contests are shown to include 100-meter dashes, sumo-wrestling, ramen-eating contests, and even Rock, Paper, Scissors. Guy actually objected to the last item on the list, but Kakashi convinced him that luck was a skill. Incidentally, Guy lost that contest.

In his rivalry with Kakashi, he has developed a taijutsu counter against Sharingan users. By focusing on his enemy's feet, Guy can both avoid genjutsu induced through eye contact and predict their movements.

Despite his rather goofy nature, Guy is actually a very powerful Jonin, and can be serious when the situation demands it. When he saves Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai from Kisame during the Return of Itachi arc, Itachi narrows his eyes at his appearance. Kisame disregards Guy as foolish, but Itachi warns him to not underestimate Guy. In Part II, as Team Guy is approaching the Akatsuki hideout, Itachi warns the other members of Akatsuki again to not take Guy lightly. Considering the strength of each member of the organization and Itachi in particular, that Guy would merit such a warning is a sure indicator that he is a potent combatant.

Guy has never been shown using ninjutsu or genjutsu (even going so far as to use a regular disguise instead of using a transformation jutsu); however, unlike Lee, he is given a ninjutsu and genjutsu score of three out of five in the databooks, so one can assume that he simply doesn't like to use either. It is implied early on in the series that Guy summoned Ninkame on at least one occasion (offscreen), and he is capable of dispelling genjutsu (as seen during the Invasion of Konoha arc).