Infinity Fortress

The Infinity Fortress is a fictional locale in the world of the GetBackers manga series, and the anime based upon it. Named as such in the English translation of the manga, it is known in Japanese as Mugenjou (ç„¡é™?åŸŽ, literally "infinite fortress") it is also variously translated as the Limitless Fortress in ADV's English dub of the anime, and Maze City in Animax's.

Early history

The Infinity Fortress is a conglomeration of disused, condemned buildings that have, through chance or design, clustered together to form a self-contained habitat. Many smaller buildings surround its ground level, serving as the entrance to the fortress, while the core is formed of one especially tall tower that is said to have originally been planned to be a highly-advanced domicile, only to have construction abandoned mid-way. The remains came to be populated by beings from all walks of life, including one of the men responsible for its construction, Gensui Radou. The Fortress was soon subdivided into three specific tiers - Lower Town, the Beltline and the enigmatic Babylon City.
The Dark Age

Before VOLTS existed, Lower Town was in an era of anarchy. It was besieged by the Beltline inhabitants and few could oppose them. It was during this era that Ginji was found by Takeru Teshimine and later became Raitei during an invasion by the Beltline monsters, and marked the arrival of many of the future members of VOLTS. It was also during this period that Fuuga, led first by Saizou Toufuuin and later by Kazuki Fuuchoin, was the most powerful gang in Lower Town.

The Era of VOLTS

While it isn’t clear exactly how the VOLTS were formed, it is noted that the four Kings were awed by Ginji and gathered around him, some disbanding their previous gangs to follow him, such as the case of Kazuki and his gang Fuuga. Through Ginji and VOLTS, Lower Town was able to experience as close to peace as they could ever know while living in the Infinity Fortress.

However, this era came to a close when Ban came and fought with Ginji before taking him outside of the Infinity Fortress. With that, VOLTS began to slowly collapse, until only MakubeX remained. As MakubeX says, while speaking of his dream, “First Ginji leaves, then Kazuki and Shido follow, and the other guy too (meaning Masaki Kurusu). Everyone disappears, until finally I’m the only one left at Infinity Fortress”.

Lower Town
Lower Town is the lowest portion of the fortress, with several layers extending below ground level. It is populated by a vast number - accounts state various numbers from thousands to millions - of society’s disenfranchised and destitute, those who have come to Infinity Fortress because they have nowhere else to go. Consequently, with many clashing independent personalities populating it, Lower Town proved to be a chaotic place - a situation not improved by constant attacks from the inhabitants of the middle level, the Beltline, whose monstrous, murderous inhabitants terrorized Lower Town. From the mayhem, one particular gang named "Fuuga" (é¢¨é›… FÅ«ga, the translation "Elegance" is used in the anime), led by Kazuki Fuuchouin, emerged to bring some semblance of control.
Little was anyone in Lower Town aware, however, that they were all subject to the controlling whims of the mysterious entity known as the “God of Infinity Fortress,” which dwells within the highest level of the fortress, Babylon City, and controls all that goes on within it.

Constantly flooding the entirety of the fortress are bizarre electromagnetic waves under the control of the "God". These waves subtly manipulate and control the electrical brain impulses of the fortress’s inhabitants, thereby warping their perceptions of reality. Unaware of this external manipulation, the inhabitants of Lower Town live in a world that is partially physical, and partially a “virtual reality” shaped by this electromagnetic radiation, seeing, hearing and reacting to sensations, things and even people who do not truly exist - living an existence that is fully malleable and subject to whatever desire the God of Infinity Fortress may choose to extert. Many inhabitants of the fortress possess incredible strength and super-normal physical abilities, and it is noted that wounds heal faster within its walls - at least of a portion of these unusual occurrences are a part of the fabricated virtual reality aspect of the fortress, but precisely how much is unclear.

When Takeru Teshimine came upon Ginji Amano, a young orphan boy apparently abandoned in the Infinity Fortress, he took him under his wing and raised him, keeping him safe in the midst of the chaos. As Ginji grew, his superhuman power to generate and control electricity began to manifest; this power allowed him to tap into the electromagnetic radiation, and with its additional energy, he became the inhumanly powerful “Lightning Emperor.” With his power, Ginji was able to establish the VOLTS - a gang led by him, and sub-commanded by the “four kings,” Kazuki Fuuchouin, Shido Fuyuki, Masaki Kurusu and the mysterious boy, MakubeX - and bring some measure of peace to Lower Town.

It would later be noted that Ginji’s electric abilities had subconsciously allowed him to manipulate the electromagnetic waves, and hence the virtual reality of the Infinity Fortress, shaping things to his desires - precisely how much this ability played into the VOLTS’ control of Lower Town is unknown.

The Beltline
Briefly mentioned in the anime and further fleshed out in the manga, the Beltline, the most dangerous area of the Infinity Fortress, is ruled by Der Kaiser, a mysterious man and Ban's father. The citizens of the Beltline are said to be immortal and imperishable, and they 'will rise back from the dead everytime they are attacked'. This is maybe due to Der Kaiser's powers as the scion of the Queen of the Witches. Every single person from the Beltline has a hideous death-like appearance and a frightening strength.

A unique feature of the Beltline is that the area is relatively unstable. As it exists between two worlds, virtual illusion and true reality are constantly in conflict with each other. One phenomenon is the existence of 'clones'. If a clone is accidentally killed, the real body also dies. The Beltline is also able to suck up one's life forces slowly, so that upon entering it, a person will feel very exhausted. However, in the Beltline, the movements of the cells are also greatly agitated, allowing quick healing.

Among the citizens of the Beltline are the Voodoo King, the Ura Fuuchouin triad, ex-VOLTS King Masaki Kurusu and his followers, Der Kaiser and the Three Knights (who ruled a separate part) and uncounted undead.

MakubeX’s desire

After a battle with the recovery service agent known as Ban Mido, Ginji was convinced to leave the Infinity Fortress and start up the “GetBackers” with him. This signalled the beginning of the end for the fragile peace of Lower Town, as Kazuki, Shido and Masaki all soon departed the fortress as well, leaving MakubeX unable to control the VOLTS alone, and the gang disintegrated. Operating out of a subterranean level of Lower Town that had formerly been intended to be used as a waste disposal centre for the buildings, MakubeX put his computer programming skills to work, assembling a computer system out of the abandoned AI that had been created to manage waste disposal. With this system, he discovered the electromagnetic radiation of the fortress, and came to realise the existence of the God of Infinity Fortress and how this mysterious being had been shaping its reality and destiny.

Now aware that the very nature of Infinity Fortress could be manipulated, MakubeX sought to use this discovery to restore order. Using contacts from the outside, he assembled the components necessary to construct an atomic bomb, with which he planned to force the God of Infinity Fortress into a deal - either restore things to the way they were when the VOLTS ruled, or they would all be destroyed. When the GetBackers, teamed with Kazuki, Shido and others, were recruited by mysterious parties in order to recover the bomb’s IL component, MakubeX used his mother system to tap into a small portion of the fortress’s virtual reality, pitting the GetBackers and their team-mates against old friends and enemies in a wide array of virtual landscapes. (Here, "IL" is a code for the disk containing the programme required to manufacture the A-bomb. However, "IL" can also be short for "Implosion Lens", an actual component in implosion-type nuclear weapons.) However, confronted with the reality of life and living it by Ban’s Evil Eye and Ginji’s saving of his life, MakubeX stopped himself from going through with his plan and disassembled the bomb. He vowed to establish a new VOLTS that would restore order through their own power, and free Lower Town from the control of the God of Infinity Fortress.

Story divergences

At this point in its story, the tale of the Infinity Fortress sharply diverges between the original manga and the anime based on it, because further manga stories had not yet been published when the anime was in production. This necessitated the creation of an original storyline for the anime, which revealed a very different origin for the fortress, turning to science and social conspiracy to bring its story to a conclusion, in contrast to the mystical story that the manga would go on to tell.

Anime

The God of Infinity Fortress was revealed to be a secret cabal known as the “Brain Trust,” a group of powerful individuals - scientists, engineers, artists, politicians, patrons, and super-normal beings - that created the Infinity Fortress as an experimental site where any infinite number of ideas that could be conceived could be tested. Gensui Radou had been a member of the Brain Trust before discovering their true intent and leaving in disgust. Likewise, Masaki Kurusu was a Brain Trust operative who had been installed in Lower Town as a member of the VOLTS in order to observe their actions.

Continuing his plan to free Lower Town from the “God’s” control, MakubeX tapped into the “Archive,” the massive computer bank that controlled the virtual reality of the Infinity Fortress, and schemed to transfer the data that shaped Lower Town into his own computer system, thereby removing it from the God’s control. Aware of this plan, the Brain Trust ordered Kurusu to return to the fortress and abduct MakubeX in order to stop him. The news of his abduction reached the GetBackers, however, who defeated Kurusu and put their own plan into motion - with the help of Gensui Radou, they transferred Lower Town’s data into the computer banks of their associate, Paul Wan, and Ginji proceeded to destroy the Archive. With the Brain Trust’s copy of Lower Town’s data destroyed, it was finally freed from its control, fulfilling MakubeX’s desire.

Manga
In the "Get Back the Lost Time" arc, the final act of the manga, the GetBackers re-enter the Infinity Fortress with the intention of breaching the Babylon City.

Also, the organisation Brain Trust appears in the manga. Much like its anime counterpart, the Trust is using the Infinity Fortress as an experimental ground. Many characters in the manga, including the Specialist and the Witch Queen, have links with the Trust.

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