We all know that 99% of gamblers quit before they win a million dollars. In a similar vein, a large number of anime fans have missed out on the two season adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s manga “Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji,” which is a shame. I am currently midway through the second season and so far, I am completely hooked.
The title character, Kaiji Itō, is an impoverished gambler living in 1990’s Japan. With the bubble economy of previous years collapsing, times are hard, and our hero soon finds himself out of work, and with a huge quantity of debt. Eventually, a loan shark named Yūji Endō gives Kaiji an offer he can’t refuse: either spend 10 years working off his debt or be given the chance to pay off the entire debt in a night of highly illegal, underground gambling aboard the ship Espior.
Kaiji chooses the latter option, and from then on is drawn into one high-stakes game after another, all created by the mysterious Teiai Corporation. Each gamble is wildly different from the previous one and it is this huge variety of games that is one of the series’s highlights. I won’t spoil too much, but the games include variations on dice, card and pachinko games, plus some rather unexpected ones. These games have a few things in common though; they all have some sort of unexpected twist to them, and they all have incredibly high stakes — including enslavement, bodily harm or even death.
But while such dramatic stakes make for good viewing, the real genius of Kaiji is its focus on the characters’ psychology. Many of the most dramatic or shocking moments in gambling only take a few seconds, such as the spin of a wheel or a roll of the dice, and this is no different for the death-defying games in Kaiji. But during these moments, the anime slows down and zooms in, putting the gambler’s thoughts under the microscope. Inner monologues and bombastic, shouted narration show the audience how each character — good or evil — sizes up their opponent and the game itself. The series is especially good at illustrating moments of overwhelming doubt, cripping arrogance, and intense focus as each card or dice is played.
Even for anime standards, this can seem a little over the top. The action is frequently accompanied by intense, vivid metaphors, so you might suddenly and inexplicably see a character being swept away by a tsunami, or their soul zooming out of their body, or a giant, evil skeleton appearing behind them. It may seem a little goofy at times, but it does it’s job well, lending “Kaiji” a unique, hyper-dramatic charm; a charm that’s all too appropriate for a series in which failing to read a character’s eye movements or heart rate may mean certain doom. Watching a character get a flash of insight into a gamble, or realizing that the tables have suddenly turned on him, is a thrilling experience that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, eager to see what will happen next.
The character of Kaiji Ito himself is another one of the series’s highlights. He is by no means some sort of superhuman genius, or not even an expert at gambling; in fact, he’s almost painfully human. He’s often stubborn, easily distracted and overly emotional. He constantly falls for the classic gambling fallacies; often getting carried away with the thought of winning more money, only to fail painfully and suffer for it. There are moments when Kaiji shows such extreme stupidity or overconfidence that genuinely make you cringe, and question how, or even if, he can escape.
Yet simultaneously, there are times when Kaiji shows astonishing powers of observation and insight, able to quickly deduce what others cannot about his opponents or the games themselves, and able to use this information to turn the tables in his favor. He often comes up with elaborate plans to beat the odds of a game without directly breaking its rules, utilizing the laws of statistics in his favor. It’s cathartic to watch Kaiji recover from his past mistakes, and figure out a daring strategy to climb back up to the top. It’s equally cathartic watching Kaiji’s enemies — from fellow debtors to high-ranking CEO’s — mock and belittle him as a slacker and a bum, only to watch as their expressions turn to shock and horror as they fall for Kaiji’s trap.
It’s this contradiction between the two halves of Kaiji — his painful fallibility and his redemptive genius — that give his character a unique dimension. Adding to that is his unfailing morality (just like every stereotypical anime protagonist). Even in the dark world of the Teiai Corporation’s underground gambling, surrounded by people obsessed with greed and despair, he still believes in trust, friendship and the value of human life. It may seem hopelessly naive in the face of the backstabbing and betrayals that inevitably happen in this lawless world, especially considering the fact that Kaiji (a broke, unemployed gambling addict) is not always a good role model himself. But these values do pay off, somehow, and transform Kaiji from just a show about gambling to a show about the undefeatable human spirit.
As for the other characters in the series, however, they aren’t nearly as developed as Kaiji is, which is perhaps the show’s most obvious weaknesses. The villains, particularly the heads of the Teiai company, are all scumbags through and through. They are all portrayed as malicious, greedy cheaters, the kind that viewers love to hate. But other than making you want to see Kaiji beat them at their own games, there’s honestly not that much to them. Likewise, a lot of Kaiji’s fellow gamblers and allies aren’t given much time to shine by themselves. A part of this is because, while Kaiji often extols the power of friendship, he himself remains a bit of a lone wolf, never forming deep personal connections with anyone.
This series is primarily focused on Kaiji himself, but somehow, that’s all it needs to do. At its core, it’s a show about an everyman coming up against ridiculous, unfair and biased odds and somehow finding a way to overcome them, despite all the forces conspiring against him. It’s really a shame that Kaiji has only ever received two seasons of anime, and that it remains as obscure as it is. Which is sad, because Kaiji is everything a good anime, or even a good TV show in general, should be. It’s an intense, dramatic and strangely uplifting ride that will make you feel like the 1% of gamblers who win a million dollars.
