Category: Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji

SO, this was clearly a building-up episode. It’s a bit disappointing, as I was hoping that Kaiji would turn the tables already with the seventh round, but instead the creators decided to use these rounds to bring Kaiji more and more in despair. Kaiji has now lost six times in a row, and due to his recklessness he will now lose his ear if he doesn’t win at least once, even while betting 1mm at a time.

It’s a bit of a pity to see Kaiji in despair this way. What I really fear is going to happen is that Kaiji is going to lose even more after this, after which he miraculously wins once on the twelfth round and saves his ear. I’d rather see a more… evenly matched battle between the two of them, and I hope that Kaiji can grab himself together early enough to not make his survival depend on the very last match.

I’m surprised that Kaiji didn’t figure out that Tonegawa can only use Kaiji’s body language when Kaiji is the first to deal his card. After Tonegawa revealed how he knows exactly when Kaiji deals his emperor, based on his body-language, you’d expect Kaiji to go for either the fourth or the second card, but instead he chose the first and the fifth. With that, Tonegawa doesn’t even have to break a sweat, and just put down his slave whenever he sees that Kaiji puts the emperor down. Come to think of it, the only time that Tonegawa really had to think was in the third round, which was the only one where he won and was the first one to deal. Come on, Kaiji. Stop being emo and realize this!

Well, the same complaints as usual. We’re one episode further, and exactly two and a half rounds have taken place. Considering how one round just consists of putting up to five cards on the table (in this case two or less), you can’t deny that Kaiji is slow. Still, unlike the beam-arc and the ship-arc, I found myself not distracted by this at all. This episode is really what I’ve been waiting for with this series: mind-games, between two people who aren’t just a bunch of idiots, plucked off the streets.

I’m no Tonegawa, but this episode did a terrific job in showing Kaiji’s thought-patterns to the viewer, and I was actually able to predict some of his moves, just as Tonegawa did this with Kaiji. Like expected, in this episode Kaiji tried to use very basic knowledge to try and outsmart Tonegawa, which didn’t really work. I expect that every time Kaiji and Tonegawa change sides, the game will get more intense. After all, after the sixth round, Tonegawa really has the chance to prove how much he sees through Kaiji, and after the ninth round, it’s Kaiji’s turn to outsmart him, when everything depends on him, winning as much on the slave-side.

I’m just a bit worried about the role of the guys who fell off the beam earlier. Their significance in this series stopped entirely ever since Kaiji rose above them (which was quite early). The fact that they got through the door, and into the room that Kaiji and Tonegawa have been playing in (these guys have healed quite fast, by the way) must mean that they’ll have some kind of role later on. I really hope it’s something better than being idiots, like they usually are.

I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but this has been one of the most enjoyable episodes of Kaiji yet, even though it consisted mostly of people sitting and talking. It’s probably for the same reason why I still consider the first episode to be one of the best episodes of the series as well. It’s episodes like these that are simple, yet effective.

Now I realize that with the beam-arc, Kaiji had been drifting away a bit from its original purpose: gambling. The beam-arc just consisted out of a bunch of idiots who walked towards their death. What I want to see are the mind games; people who try to outsmart each other in a battle of psychology. Seeing people, just scared to death becomes uninteresting quite soon.

It’s because of this that this arc is looking very promising. This time, Kaiji doesn’t have an idiot on the opposing side. This time, he doesn’t have to strangely be the only one to worry about the fates of others. This is really a battle between two men, and it already starts out well. Of course, with two rounds, you won’t be able to predict your opponent. It, however, really seems that Tonegawa will only lose about four times if Kaiji doesn’t start using his head soon. I’m especially interested in this experience of Tonegawa.

So, in case you’ve been wondering: Ghost Hound and Saiunkoku Monogatari are both in a hiatus this week. Instead we have the new episode of the Tsubasa Chronicle-OVA and another episode of Kaiji. The current episode of Kaiji concludes the steel-beam-arc.

But really, I feel a bit cheated. The creators used a well-known plot-device in these kinds of situations: a huge amount of money is at stake, but some hidden twist somewhere in the middle makes the protagonist unable to cash in the money, whether he won or not doesn’t matter. It feels a bit cheap to use such a twist, just to keep the story going. I mean, the guys could just as well have tempted Kaiji to put his 20 million yet at stake for an even bigger amount, and knowing Kaiji I think that he would have obliged with the right words.

Still, that was about the only thing that I didn’t like about this episode. It’s indeed quite plausible to have some kind of loophole at the end, and Sahara was the perfect person to fall for it. He’s always eager and wants to show off to others. We also finally get to see a proper introduction of the guy who’s behind everything, and I must say that I like the guy.

The next game is going to be E-Card. We still don’t know the exact rules, but it involves ten cards with either a king, a citizen or a slave on it, and I think that the talk about kings and citizens by the big boss also has something to do with it. It looks quite simple, but I trust the creators to make something interesting out of it.

Now I know for sure: Kaiji is one of these anime that has a lot of things to like, but also quite a few points to dislike. The looks it gives at human nature are astounding. Ishida was amazing in this episode. Same with Sahara: the two of them were absolutely amazing to watch. The amazing intensity of the past few episodes is unbelievable and Tonegawa’s commentary was as fascinating as ever.

But still, don’t tell me that you didn’t see this episode coming. At one point, everyone falls off the beams at once, apart from the special Sahara, Kaiji and Ishida. When the series started, I remember noting how Kaiji was in no way special from the others. He was just another loser who wasted away his life, and I loved that part. Still, I can’t say that about this series anymore. Another problem with this series is the soap-opera-like cliff-hangers. They just don’t fit the series at all, and all they make me think is “god, not another week”, though that may be because this series is better watched as a marathon, rather than once every week.

Another small point of critique is that I didn’t quite buy the sense of balance of the characters, and how Kaiji kept his balance at all times, despite everything that happened. This is just a small detail, though. Overall, this was a very good episode, but really, the creators need to gear up the pacing very soon now. Slow pacing is just something that doesn’t fit this anime.

Okay, so the current is going to be predictable. Kaiji just has to survive; otherwise the show would just run out of main character. Still, that didn’t prevent this episode from being among the best that this series has had to offer. At the moment, I only see one annoyance in this series: this is one of the worst series to take screenshots for: all the best shots have subtitles in them.

In the Espoir-arc, death was more symbolic, but for the Starside-arc, it’s gotten much, much closer. I loved how, now that there is no more competition, the ten remaining contestants feel much closer together, now that they won’t have to betray to stay alive. Very refreshing for this series. Instead of that, a new threat has appeared: plain old fear and I loved how this episode showed how easily this can go out of control if your life is at stake. Take that, action-movies!

Tonegawa is also shaping up to be one of my favourite characters of this series. Unlike all the contestants, he’s not limited by predictability and after the previous episode I wouldn’t have thought that he’d actually enjoy events like this, seeing the scum of society suffer so much.

One thing that would make Kaii’s survival more credible is that he by far the most emotionally involved with the others. In this episode, you can see that he’s too busy with worrying about the others’ survival to realize that he too is on the verge of death. I also predict that Ishida will play a big role in the next episode, because he keeps relying on Kaiji so much. The two of them will probably use this to get to the other side, while Sahara will use his competitive spirit against Kaiji. It’s a shame that the other characters didn’t receive enough development like this, and they’ll probably all end up dying as well. Perhaps with the exception of the guy in the red shirt.

Ah, it seems that the Starside-hotel is going to consist out of a chain of life-threatening challenges. I still have no idea what still follows in this arc, but we’ve seen enough foreshadowing. In this episode, Kaiji manages to finish without pushing anyone, though he ends up getting disqualified. Now he needs to do the same thing again, but without pushing and without the competition, and in exchange the falling height has been increased from eight to eighty meters. In other words: certain death.

The thing is that the first event made sense: in order to make money of the rich guests, the yakuza needed a bunch of poor people who’d do anything for money. It’s fun to watch if you’re a heartless bastard, and it makes the Yakuza money. Still, what’s the point of this second challenge? There has to be something more than “giving the contestants an extra challenge to overcome”. I can’t imagine how they’d use just one unpredictable trial like this to reduce the total amount of money they have to pay. And let’s not forget the story by the narrator, at the end of the episode.

Anyway, about the rest of the episode, I find it intriguing that, while the other races aren’t shown, you can imagine what happened back there; especially the fifth one, because I can imagine how the most desperate people were in that group. These are the people that were too scared and decided to cling on to their life for as long as possible; much like Furuhata and Andou in the beginning episodes of the Espoir-arc. They would probably freak out the most when they found out that they had to pull off such a dangerous stunt, and probably all fell off in their despair. The only one who survived probably got grabbed by the one behind him, who was about to fall off, in an attempt to take at least someone with him, hence the damage number-tag.

And we’ve reached another two-episode arc that would have easily been put into just one episode. I’m not sure whether I like the new happenings on the Starside-hotel, it’s a bit one-sided, if you ask me. Still, perhaps the conclusion will prove to be more interesting. I’m not sure what exactly it is with this series, but there’s something that rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure exactly what, though. Surprisingly, we don’t see Furuhata and Andou back, though the old guy returns. So I was mistaken after the previous episode: he and the manger are completely different. He’s now turned into someone who keeps clinging to Kaiji, whom he knows he can trust because he was saved by him before. The game this time is completely different from the restricted Rock, Paper and Scissors. This time, the contestants (i.e. Kaiji&co), have to engage in an incredibly reckless stunt in front of a number of drunken bastards who are betting on them, fighting for their lives. Basically, there’s a 30-meter long bar that needs to be walked across. If you’re the first to reach the other end, you get 20 million. For every three people, there’s one bar, so if you’re second in line at one bar, the only thing that can make you win is push the one in front of you. Still, I doubt that this arc is over with just this game. Kaiji, the old man (Ishida) and Sahara didn’t get to share the same bar for a reason: they need to survive for the next stage.]]>

It’s strange… usually I can easily write enough for at least paragraphs for an entry, but for my entries for Kaiji I never seem to have any inspiration. In any case, this episode is an intermezzo: we see Kaiji, as he spends a few months living and working to pay off the huge debt he has now, before he gets recruited for the next arc by Endou. We also see the final major character introduced: the guy we saw in the ED. The guy really fits into this series: he likes to trick and make fun of people, but he is alert and can see through people, just like Kaiji. I liked the beginning of the episode, where Kaiji basically refused to socialize because he’s just not good at it. But one thing… his new manager, was that the same old guy as before? Well, there goes his image of a nice guy.]]>

And so, finally the Espoir-arc is finished. And really, the conclusion was awesome! It really showed the worst ides of human nature: the ease to lie and deceive. I was surprised at the way that Kaiji found his way out of that room, by actually stealing from Okabayashi. Overall, I think that anyone could have predicted who would survive the games right from the start. While it was awesome to see that probably the only honest guy on the entire ship was saved too, it had it coming. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had so much attention in the beginning-episodes. Predictability isn’t really Kaiji’s strongest point, but fortunately it makes up for this with excellent character-development and screenplay.]]>