TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - On the face of it, the duo

hardly seem fit to inspire confidence as the brains behind

Japan's newest stock fund: one, a former comedian and the other,

every bit the stereotypical "otaku" geek.

But their maiden fund, announced on Wednesday, may be the

Christmas gift that followers of the one-time entertainer,

Toshiya Imura, have been waiting for since he revealed his plans

for it about two years ago.

The 40-year-old father of three had gained fame and an

enthusiastic fan base by turning his obsession with stock

research into 6.5 billion yen ($41.4 million) in assets as an

individual investor.

His reputation was such that any time his name appeared in a

regulatory filing as a major shareholder, that company's stock

would surge, as followers sought out "Imura stocks" to

piggy-back on his value-investment bets.

But Imura had bigger dreams: to become a professional

investor to get more Japanese to profit from the stock market -

a goal that aligns with the government's efforts to shepherd the

roughly $6.5 trillion of households' cash into financial

investments.

He doggedly began his courtship of Keizo Takeiri, a quirky,

former Goldman Sachs analyst, to be his partner-in-crime.

Imura said he was instantly struck by Takeiri's photographic

memory, talent for analysis and sheer geekdom when they first

met in 2020.

"His knowledge was next-level," Imura told Reuters in an

interview this month alongside Takeiri and an official from the

fund's operator, Fundnote.

Takeiri had also previously caught the eye of Akira

Katayama, a famous online gamer-turned-billionaire whose

invitation to work at his hedge fund was further proof of his

analytical chops.

Known to his ex-Goldman colleagues as "that stock otaku",

Takeiri, 38, said his years at the elite Tokyo University were

spent skipping classes, playing mahjong and researching stocks.

Grooming was low on his priority list.

"He sometimes shows up with holes in his clothes and

bizarrely long fingernails," Imura teased. "Maybe he doesn't

care or notice? He's a real high-spec weirdo."

That sentiment is mutual.

Takeiri said Imura would send him 200 Slack messages on a

typical day but then go missing for days on end when diving deep

into a company's balance sheet.

"The force with which he throws himself into finding out

what he wants to know is out of this world."

The pair's new fund goes on sale on Jan. 10 and will have an

initial investment cap of 10 billion yen.

($1 = 157.1000 yen)