Team Banzai is a general name of people that support Buckaroo in his adventures. Some of them live in the Banzai Institute, most notably Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo's rock band and his most trusted inner circle, although it is not clear if all of Buckaroo's inner circle play in the rock band and there are also other musicians playing with Buckaroo (most notably Pinky Carruthers who is Blue Blaze Irregular).
The main member of the Team Banzai is Buckaroo Banzai himself. Team Banzai is informal name for Buckaroo, his friends and supporters. They can be very roughly divided between Banzai Institute members and Blue Blaze Irregulars, however, there are many people who belong to both groups. Besides that there are also The Hong Kong Cavaliers which comprise mostly of people from Institute. It is not clear whether Hong Kong Cavaliers is only the name of the rock band or whether it is Buckaroo's most inner circle of friends.
Banzai institute[]
Banzai Institute has three levels of membership: apprentices, interns and residents.
Residents[]
These people lived in the institute and are very close to Buckaroo.
- Rawhide
- Reno
- Perfect Tommy
- Professor Hikita
- Peggy Simpson
- Pecos (probably)
Interns[]
Only interns and residents are allowed to go on actual operations.
- Mrs. Johnson (at the beginning of the novel she is only an apprentice)
- Big Norse (note: Danish intern on duty with World Watch One, seems to be member of the rock band, expert with radio and communications, not appearing in film, her tasks done by other people)
Apprentices[]
These are (probably) the people, mostly researchers, who applied to Banzai Institute and were approved by the board.
Unknown status[]
These are people, who are known to be part of the institute, but their status is not explicitly stated
- New Jersey (offered job by Buckaroo himself, probably went straight to resident)
- Flyboy
- Seminole Kid
- Penny Priddy (probably resident)
- Sluggo (note: Buckaroo says to Reno: “I haven’t seen Pecos laugh since Sluggo died.”)
- the Swede, member of The Hong Kong Cavaliers
The following people died during raid at Yoyodyne.
- Mustang Sally
- Deputy Dan
- Evermore, brilliant geneticist
The following people appear to be with Buckaroo in the comic book Return of the Screw and might be residents:
- Red River Daddy
- Lady Gillette (Joins Buckaroo in Hardest of the Hard, plays piano)
- Appaloosa
Blue Blaze Irregulars[]
Never mind for a moment the fact there were at last count better than six thousand Blue Blaze Irregulars worldwide—men, women, and children who subscribe to the Blue Blaze newsletter; who attend selected symposia at the Banzai Institute, who submit their bodies periodically to rugged physical training at such places as the desert survival school in Nevada, the mountaineering school in Alaska, and a half dozen others around the globe; who are required yearly to make certain educational advancements; who are “on call” twenty-four hours a day to help Team Banzai in a pinch, or their neighbors in a natural disaster—it was only to be expected, B. Banzai would tell you, that he had committed to memory most, if not all, of their names. Blue Blaze Irregulars were, after all, ordinary and yet extraordinary people.
Notable Blue Blaze Irregulars
- Pinky Carruthers (plays guitar with the band)
- Scooter Lindley
- Casper Lindley
- Happy Weiner