The Swindler (Japanese: 詐欺師, Hepburn: Sagi-shi), also known as Ordinary Person (一般人, Ippanjin), is the protagonist of the anime series Akudama Drive by Studio Pierrot and Too Kyo Games. A young woman working at the Kansai Seal Office who accidentally becomes a criminal when meeting the Akudama Courier. After saving what she thought was a black cat, the girl pretends to be a criminal named "Swindler" to avoid being killed by the other Akudama. As a result of this, Swindler is the target of justice and often escapes from the policemen known as Executioners. Eventually, Swindler embraces her transformation into an Akudama to bodyguard two children known as Brother and Sister who Executioners from Kansai wish to kidnap. The character has also appeared in the series' manga adaptation. She is voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa in Japanese and Macy Anne Johnson in English.

In the making of the series, writer Kazutaka Kodaka had different plans for the character, envisioning as a mysterious character who would come across as an equal to the Akudama but stands out as well. However, after multiple discussions with director Tomohisa Taguchi, Swindler was rewritten to be as a more common character that might come across as the audience surrogate but still share her role as an assemble. The character was adapted by Cindy Yamauchi who aimed to give Swindler first an innocent design and later altered her into a more mature-like persona to symbolize her character arc.

Swindler was originally the subject of a mixed reception by anime and manga critics due to how she comically becomes a member of the main cast by accident, but still has no reason for staying with them, making her characterization appear forced and weak. However, Swindler's embracement of her criminal life was the subject of a more positive reception for becoming stronger as she wishes to protect two children regardless the cost. Kurosawa's voice acting as Swindler was also praised by the staff in charge of making the series.

The character of Swindler was revised from Kazutaka Kodaka's original vision as he wanted to show a character who could not fit into the Akudamas but Tomohisa Taguchi revised her for his own take of a protagonist: "I first thought about the plot, I had prepared a lot of gimmicks for her, and she wasn’t as straightforward of a character as she is in the final version. Amongst that, I wanted to include an ordinary person that would be mixed into the line-up of all the other Akudama. In that sense, I wanted to create a character that would be like a matchstick, or a character that fans could use as a reference point to see the abnormality of the other Akudama. I imagined a very ordinary character that would have different gimmicks later on." He expects to use this type of character again in other types of works. When he was thinking of Swindler, instead of having her stand under the spotlight, Kodaka wanted to make the viewers feel surprised. As a result, he wanted more mystery and suspense would be developed into her character.

As a result, Kodaka considers Swindler as a young girl who would surprise the audience. While Kodaka agreed that character designer Komatsuzaki does not care about his works sharing similarities, the team wanted each of them to stand out in the same fashion protagonists of Danganronpa stand out. Despite her innocence, with a societal punishment mindset, after Swindler's actions across the narrative, and threw society into chaos, Kodaka believes she might have gotten over potential to stay in prison for a century had she ever survived rather than been the subject of a public execution. According to Kodaka, the spotlight of the series is Swindler but it is not that everything goes from her point of view, and rather than the protagonist of the series, the cast of is an ensemble drama. Kodaka was surprised by the direction of Swindler's death scene due to the impact it delivers on the narrative when it comes to the series' main theme in regards to the what is justice and law as her death causes civilians and Executioners to question the law, resulting in the mayhem of Kansai.

The producer was concerned about the series promoting "evil" and came up with the idea of every character dying in a "cool" way similar to Reservoir Dogs. The day next after the series' finale, Taguchi noted that Swindler became a trend with Yamauchi praising her role in the series.

Rui Komatsuzaki created Swindler's design. When being asked about her similarities with Brother, Sister and Cutthroat, Kodaka claimed that while it is common to find visual similarities in designs within the cast, Komatsuzaki created the character to stand out alongside the other characters. Cindy Yamauchi adapted Komatsuzaki's work for the anime. The artist claims she found Swindler as the most difficult character to draw as she had to fit both the idea of being the protagonist and at the same time as innocent. Originally, Swindler was designed with the idea of looking beautiful and innocent, while a bag was added to her clothing which meant to hide from common items to weapons. Yamauchi revised Swindler and Sister's design for the series' second half, giving them a more adult feel based on the video game Detroit: Become Human.

Tomoyo Kurosawa voices the character in Japanese. When Taguchi heard Kurosawa's audition tape for Swindler, he thought she was fitting for the role. Kurosawa felt her character became more active in the narrative during the third episode as she becomes more prominent in most scenes. By the next episode, Kurosawa claimed that she felt the courage to finish the dialogue as she was inspired by the script. For the finale, Kurosawa stated she was glad with her work and wanted the audience to look forward to Swindler's role in the story.