DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME PsychologicalGyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
MANGA DramaTobaku Hakairoku Kaiji
ANIME ComedyChuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa

REVIEWS

• 

  corgetov

  76/100
  Season two of Kaiji has bigger and better ideas than its predecessor, but falls painfully short of its potential.

  ___THIS REVIEW CONTAINERS SPOILERS___

  The theme of Kaiji season two is powerlessness. Hyodou himself says so, describing the broadcast of Kaiji’s grand pachinko gamble as being an exercise in powerlessness. This idea permeates every facet of the season, and nothing impresses me more than media that integrates a theme into every fiber of its being. However, we also see another, more long-running theme of Kaiji’s in season two: Good ideas failing to reach their true potential. Unfortunately, like many other would-be greats, the show becomes victims to all variety of annoying anime tropes that drastically hurt (at least my) viewing experience, in addition to one greater mistake on the part of the production team. But let’s start with what the show does well:

  THE GOOD

  Season two manages to improve upon much of the successes and failings of its predecessor. The narrator now only explains MOST of what’s going on, as opposed to interrupting every 5 minutes, the analogies and their respective animations have become much more interesting, the gambles themselves have become less predictable, and the number of “Kaiji-san”s has been roughly cut in half. As well as this, the show further improves upon its two main strong-points: the integration of its central theme, and the character of Kaiji. Kaiji as a show has always distinguished itself thanks to the uniqueness of its protagonist, who, unlike many of his fellow MCs, is a deeply flawed person, beyond just the surface level. He is a compulsive gambler, a horrendous hypocrite, and bears quite the hero complex. He is also entirely static. Throughout the whole 52 episode runtime, Kaiji learns just about nothing, never growing out of his old ways. In any other anime, a lack of character development would spell total and utter disaster, however, this gamble on the part of the author pays off in spades. It succeeds because Kaiji is not a normal character. Where other anime would fail because they do not have a cast interesting enough to create conflict on their own, Kaiji succeeds because Kaiji is a complex person. He has his own self-doubts, moral code, fears, hopes, and even an irregular, flirtatious relationship with religion. At the beginning of the show, Kaiji already is a complete toolkit for plot generation, and this is quite the impressive feat. It also enables the show to entirely change its metric for progression. Instead of being measured by his own actions and developments as a person, the viewer is left to judge Kaiji by his material wealth. Kaiji’s successes are only defined by the money he gains and his losses are defined by the money he lost, his only viable path to redemption being the pursuit of even more money, through the same methods that caused him to lose it in the first place. This creates quite the biting criticism of materialism, as it satirizes the idea of someone being defined only by their wealth through the very story-telling mechanics of the anime. If this was intentional, it’s fucking brilliant.

  Speaking of money, while Kaiji has always been about the dangers of greed, season two branches out to discuss the idea of powerlessness, and how it relates to gambling. Pachinko is a game that is literally all luck, which leads one to believe that it would be a terrible fit for any real narrative, as character achievement by pure chance is generally not very satisfying. However, remember, Kaiji (the show) doesn’t care about character achievement, it cares about money. In this season, it paints a clear picture of the risks involved in gambling, by portraying a scenario in which Kaiji, along with the rest of the cast, is entirely powerless. Still, the series takes its time easing us into the idea of sheer chance controlling both the narrative and the life of the MC so completely. The season begins with the Chinchiron arc, which is inversely defined by empowerment. It is about Kaiji taking control of his life, despite his circumstance, actively pushing against the antagonist (Ootsuki) to escape the labor camp. When he creates his own snake-eyes dice, he is an acting force, making effort to push towards his goals. And it pays off, the dice secure his victory, meaning that his previous actions had merit and purpose. The Pachinko arc is set up the same way, with Kaiji scheming for weeks, devising the perfect plan to defeat the Bog. This is a very clever illusion, meant to get the audience invested in Kaiji’s plan. Keeping the plan itself hidden furthers this, as it builds anticipation for future episodes where it will be revealed. It has been made clear time and time again that Kaiji’s plans are, if anything, convoluted and spectacular, defining their respective gambles.Thus the audience is left to assume the same is true here, and get attached to the idea of the plan. Then, said expectations are flipped on their head, as Kaiji slowly runs out of tricks to pull. The Bog refutes each of Kaiji’s real attempts to beat it, curling up in self-defense. It refuses to let him win through any method other than luck. Kaiji getting 10 million off of Endou was luck, the disposal tubes blocking was luck, the old man showing up with another 20 million was luck. Kaiji’s plan is an enabling force at most, but in the end is utterly meaningless. He could have just as easily lost regardless of his action prior to, which is a far cry from the near guaranteed success we saw his actions yielding in the first arc. As such, a clear stance is given on gambling as well as life: that everyone is, at least at some stage, entirely dependent on luck. There is still one ray of hope, though, as at the end of the show we see Kaiji finally free of his debt, accompanied by the op of the first season which boldly states "the future is in our hands." Where previously this phrase was used as satire to the belief many gamblers hold that they can determine their destiny through the cards in their hands, now it feels sincere, as Kaiji finally has a fresh start with the opportunity to make his own future.

  Compounding on the theme of powerlessness is the motif of the screen. Near the beginning of his battle against the Bog, a number of suits show up to broadcast Kaiji’s gamble to the prisoners underground, as well as to Hyodou. Hyodou explains that he wants to do this because the prisoners underground can do nothing but watch as Kaiji, presumably, fails, teaching them a lesson in powerlessness. What he does not explain however, is that they, too, are powerless. In fact, nobody has any real say in the proceedings. While the television screen separates the prisoners from Kaiji, leaving them helpless, so too does it separate Hyodou when Kaiji inevitably wins, leaving him frustrated and vindictive. Then, there is the glass screen of the Bog itself, preventing both Kaiji and Ichijou from affecting the proceedings. They establish in the beginning that neither party is allowed to modify the machine mid-gamble. As such, the glass of the Bog becomes an impregnable wall, leaving both parties helpless but to watch as the measures they had set in place before are set into motion. Even Kaiji, who is the one at the reigns, is nothing more than a glorified spectator. His options to influence the game are entirely limited to getting more money and sending in more balls, both of which are largely circumstantial to success. Finally the viewer is also literally separated from the events by a screen of their own, placing them in the exact same spot as Kaiji. This is the show’s secret, how it keeps you hooked. You want to see what happens next because you’re in the exact same position as the protagonist, entirely helpless but to continue. However, in its execution of these ideas, the show falters. Which brings us to...

  THE BAD

  The latter half of this season has the pacing of a boss fight in an awful dragon ball z clone. Kaiji’s war on the Bog lasts nine whole epsiodes. For over three hours, the show revolves around Kaiji sitting at a Pachinko machine and screaming/crying. That and a couple dozen flashbacks to slowly reveal his plan. In theory, this gamble could have been the most gripping arc yet, but it loses itself in its own self-indulgence, whittling away precious runtime with excess drivel. I can’t tell if this is the result of poor story-boarding or blatant filler to round out the season, but it is bad. I went from being on the edge of my seat, cheering Kaiji on, to cursing him for continuing to fight back. I just wanted it to end, and after a certain point, I didn’t care who won. This constitutes a fatal failure for Kaiji. On paper they had a fool-proof method to keep the viewer hooked, but they drew it out too long. There is a limit to the duration of a person’s excitement for any single given thing, this a simple biological factor that they didn’t consider. In failing to do so, Kaiji becomes grating and boring, almost tempting the viewer to skip episodes just so they can get the relief they were looking for and move on with their life. At this point watching is no longer about the character, the themes, or the plot, it is a primal need for closure. This overrides everything else that the show does well, ultimately ruining much of its value. It also forced me to notice all the little things the show does that I hate. As well as having the pacing of a dragon-ball clone, it also has the same dependence on mid-fight flashbacks. Initially, I think they do serve a purpose, but at a certain point it ventures into absurdity. Again this likely would not have been an issue if the gamble was simply shorter. Plus, even if it's less often, there’s always some filler character shouting out “Kaiji-san”, a chant that was on my nerves before the season even started.

  Overall I think the second season of Kaiji was still worth watching, but it could have been so much more.

  One last word of praise, I think Kaiji wasting all his money on Pachinko, only to be bailed out by a random suit is the perfect ending.

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• 

  kempokid

  87/100
  Kaiji's 2nd season is almost as tense as its 1st, but the final arc's slow pace drags it out a bit.

  In some ways Kaiji's 2nd season could be seen as a bit of a disappointment, with far less focus on the crazy gambling games that push each side's strategic and psychological limits to the max, and more of a character driven story with the focus being on pushing the luck in your favour. Even so however, the stakes prove to be just as high this time around, making a lot of the tension remain despite the much less intense moment to moment interactions between opponents due to the games being around finding the cheats and rigs of the game and exploiting them, rather than necessarily going head to head in a battle of wits. With the lack of definitive plot armour still being established from the first season being reinforced in this season, it also plays more into a sense of dread than ever before. This is especially noticeable once you realise that you constantly feel as if the soundtrack is lying to you, as no matter how triumphant it may seem, chances are that things still won't go to plan, making things feel incredibly uneasy right up until a victory has actually been confirmed. There is no better way than this to explain why this series works so well, that sense of actual tension and possibility of horrible failure always lurking in the background, with the audience being unable to tell whether or not this failure will come to fruition or not.

  With this said I do feel like this part is somewhat weaker than Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, mostly due to pacing issues. While I'm all for a slow burn that builds up to incredible heights, I felt like the sheer amount of time dedicated to the Pachinko Machine arc was actually absurd, with the lack of proper opponent to outright fight against being a big part of the reason. Everything about this felt a bit too drawn out, each episode focusing on a single development of the plans laid out by both sides and then riding on it for an entire 20 minutes, where it often felt as if it could've been cut a bit shorter across the board to shave this season down by about 4 episodes, which would have definitely made it all a bit more digestible. Even with that said however, this was still a great watching experience, especially with the first arc of the season being as incredible as it was, with one of the single best moments I've experienced in an anime.

  The bigger focus on characters here was also quite an interesting change, but one that definitely worked, especially with the development of Kaiji's character to demonstrate his multiple downward spirals into desperation and desire for another chance to feel the thrill of extreme stakes gambling. Seeing this lowlife with seemingly no future better understand his strong leadership and use it to inspire hope is such a nice little character arc that gives some further depth to the series and gives me high hopes to see what happens once I eventually get around to reading the manga.

  Overall, despite a couple of gripes with the pacing and repetition in the main arc of the season, this still manages to almost live up to the near-insurmountable expectations I had after being engrossed in season 1. If you loved the first season and want to see more, be warned that this doesn't quite feel the same as it, but manages to still be almost as quality to the point where it should also be considered essential viewing.

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• 

  EasternWarrior

  87/100
  When was gambling such an intense genre? Oh wait, it wasn't : /

  _Sighs feel like I rather have a review on this whole genre and anime in it instead of making one on Kaiji, but let's just not deviate too much from the topic tho. For the old-time sake, I'll also include some thoughts bout the similarities of Kaiji and Akagi so without further ado_

  ---

  _Kaiji is one of the few anime in its domain that gives us the cruel reality and the emotional feelings of what gambling can make to the man. It's really unique style of animation, combined with the music, voice acting, and characters make the whole show something memorable it's too easy to say._

  ---

  Music

  Hell yea I'm gonna start with the best part of the show. If not for the plot that I doubt it's gonna be boring for you, at least the music is made by none other than that Hideki Taniuchi, you know the absolute lad behind the music of Death Note, just to give you a glimpse of how badass can it sound. Not only that but it sounds just soo well combined with the suspense moments in anime and yea, those are a lot:).

  ---

  Artstyle

  _If you've seen Akagi firstly, you'll notice by now the similarities of the animation. Why? Well, ain't that a tricky one: maybe bcz it's the same manga creator and same studio? Dunno, just askin'. Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the one behind both Akagi and Kaiji gave us the happiness of endorsing those characters to the max (not really his intention probably but still, u ain't gonna see something like these days not mentioning him at least)._

  ---

  Characters

  _Not much to say here since for me it kinda felt like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, except this time the ugly one was the final antagonist and the rest would be the baddies. Yes, there are sadly few people around Kaiji that rly want to support him the best they can. Many others have their own desires, greed, destiny, etc. u name it and only see Kaiji as a mere fool at first who can manipulate how they want_. _Kaiji is your average gambling addict person who has debts after debts after casino losses (if I remember right, it's been some time). Just as it happens, oddly enough, that winning a contest of games on a random cruise would get him out of debts and live a normal life. Whelp, fate has other plans prepared for Kaiji and my oh my, what plans they are:/ Thus Kaiji will enter in madness-loop, trying to survive on that boat and many many more. The thing that will stand by his side will always be his way of thinking, finding the best outcomes in the most unfortunate moments. Imagine what I said combined with the music, juuust...f''k me:)_

  Kazutaka Hyoudou is like ur average fat ugly bastard, the puppeteer, the millionaire, the master of manipulation, etc. At first, it's not really interested in Kaiji since his full potential isn't showed yet, but damn, things escalate pretty quickly in the end of S1. I'll leave the rest for you to discover:)

  ---

  Similarities

  _Kaiji is like a lost brother to Akagi, but don't let that fool you. Yes, ofc they're not related but their character also differs in anime. Kaiji throughout the series tends to be more dramatic over any tight situation it hits him, escaping using his good charm and brilliant mind. Akagi on the other hand, being calmer and never loses his composer to any pressure whatsoever. Don't get it wrong, they're both maniac gamblers that would push the limits EVEN FURTHER BEYOND:)._

  ---

  Final thoughts and conclusion

  _By me at least, the gambling genre seems to go idk, nowhere as good enough as it was or even expand its meaning further. What did the industry rly do in this aspect? Like duh I get it there are gambling-related shows still airing, but I'm referring to the rly good ones, ones that stand out from the others at their respective time, ones that aren't full of effects, cliches, etc. and ones that arent' just God among mere mortals and don't suffer at all ffs:( How many people do actually talk about popular gambling shows in their true nature that you can easily slap an 8 rating on it at least and no I'm not talking bout the recent ones. How many are there like 3...4...5 shows that everyone heard of or consider popular? This situation can even be compared to the lack of Viking genre (before Vinland Saga what was idk the trend? wait, no Viking anime at least not after the 2000s and popular?tsch)_

  My thoughts above obviously, but yeah... more polishing. Not even gonna start a rant over what I've seen recently in gambling.

  _Should you...considering all I wrote...still watch Kaiji? It's your choice obviously, but if you don't mind the animation, love the music and enjoy the plot, I don't see why not. Watch more than just Kaiji if it got your taste? Yes, definitely, there aren't that many out there anyway but be careful when it comes to the plot (it might not be your style idk)_

  
  ~~when it comes~~_~~~

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