(L) Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji

[Christen]

Spoiler for I was inspired:

[Chrono Helix]

The conditions for E card remind me of

Spoiler for Akagi:

Akagi's game against Washizu. It doesn't say that he can trade money for unscrewing the thing though.

Isn't E card just an edited version of Gentai Janken? Replace Emperor with Stone, Citizen with Scissors, Slave with Paper, it's the same game!

Spoiler for A little strategic analysis:

An interesting thing to note, is that on the first round the Emperor card has an 80% chance to win. If the first round is a draw, his chance to win in the second round is 75%. In the 3rd, 66%. 4th, 50%. And a guaranteed loss in the last round. Which means that the Emperor side may want to throw out his Emperor as soon as possible when his chance of victory is high. Which in turn means that the Slave side may throw it his Slave early to counter it. Hmm... I suppose this is where the psychological warfare part of the game comes in.

[Bigjig]

Originally Posted by Chrono Helix

The conditions for E card remind me of

Spoiler for Akagi:

Akagi's game against Washizu. It doesn't say that he can trade money for unscrewing the thing though.

Isn't E card just an edited version of Gentai Janken? Replace Emperor with Stone, Citizen with Scissors, Slave with Paper, it's the same game!

Spoiler for A little strategic analysis:

An interesting thing to note, is that on the first round the Emperor card has an 80% chance to win. If the first round is a draw, his chance to win in the second round is 75%. In the 3rd, 66%. 4th, 50%. And a guaranteed loss in the last round. Which means that the Emperor side may want to throw out his Emperor as soon as possible when his chance of victory is high. Which in turn means that the Slave side may throw it his Slave early to counter it. Hmm... I suppose this is where the psychological warfare part of the game comes in.

E Card is similar to Gentei Janken... at first glance.

It has a few major differences aside from the uneven probability of winning. The biggest difference is that in the RPS arc both combatants had to place their cards down at the same time, in other words it is not so much a mind game between two combatants battling each other, but rather it places emphasis on 'beating the system' as it were. Not just simply going into battles blind and playing on luck alone, but analyzing the information on the scoreboard, picking your targets wisely, using your limited resources wisely (i.e cards and money) and basically also not only tests your ability to play your own hands well, but to play other opponents against one another (and to pick and use your comrades well?)

E-card on the other hand at first glance seems like a much simpler game because only two combatants are playing the game one-on-one, but as you'll see over the next couple of episodes, it is anything but. The beauty of this game is that, unlike gentei janken, both players place down their cards not at the same time, but in turns - giving players the chance to bluff, to decide on what turn when to make an attack etc, and leads players to try and 'second guess' their opponents. This is what turns a simple game into very interesting game of psychological warfare. I'd love to try and play it myself (without betting my ear of course)...

[Snoop']

While crying and waiting for The Triad to sub ep.17, I found yet another awesome and hilarious video on Nicodouga : ZAWAMANGA DAIOH !
(original high quality video with comments : http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2227668 )

[NoSanninWa]

That was sick and awesome. Thanx!

[gaguri]

Well, since none of what's on this season interests me, I managed to roll through 16 episodes of Kaiji. I didn't start downloading Kaiji because I didn't think much of Akagi, but I'm liking this much, much more. Obvious difference is the main character, I mean, Akagi is interesting but he's someone you watch from a place where you can't dare to go near him, and has virtually no development. I like how Kaiji is really smart, has that dare-devil spirit inside of him, but also the inexperience and naive nature that's bringing him down. Akagi never had this, but Kaiji slowly learns to overcome it. I also liked those frequent visual descriptions in Kaiji, such as people walking on tight ropes, and people deciding fates for others, which reflect the lives of 'trash' of our society. I really liked those. I remember Akagi doing something similar (only they did more on character itself), but none of them exactly interesting or memorable enough for me. And well, I also prefer the games played here than people sitting around in board game. But there are also irritating elements in Akagi that's unfortunately also present in Kaiji. Like its slow pacing, lot of times I just facepalm and say to myself 'I get it, so let's just move along'. Maybe they tried to establish more suspense and tension but meh. And like Akagi, it gets predictable and you sort of know what's going to happen next. You don't know what exactly, but you can more or less predict when Kaiji is in a pinch, or when he's going to prevail. And they're really overdoing zawazawazawazawa sound effect with dizzy background...
But if they keep this up for another 8 episodes and I'll be happy.

[Bigjig]

Originally Posted by Snoop'

While crying and waiting for The Triad to sub ep.17, I found yet another awesome and hilarious video on Nicodouga : ZAWAMANGA DAIOH !
(original high quality video with comments : http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2227668 )

That was hell funny, thanks for the link!

[SuperKnuckles]

For some reason, the extreme dourness and dark nature of the show just invites inappropriately funny parodies.

[Deathkillz]

That parody is cruel...but O so funny...I feel bad for laughing >_<

ep 18

Spoiler:

Holy crap...this is madness!

Kaiji has totally lost it - no doubt about it now, tonegawa is a master of reading body language.

So at the end of this kaiji has 4 mm left and 4 more matches...by my calculations his ear is going to pop

The OST has been out for some time now and I have to say I just love the full ED

Talk about being melo ^^

[Jazzrat]

nearly spit my coffee watching that Azumanga Daioh parody XD

Seems like i was rather off when it comes to pro n con of choosing between the eye and the ear. Choosing the ear means enduring the sound of the drill which is quite unnerving especially when you got an eardrum at stake.

I really doubt Kaiji will get a buyout in the end. Tonegawa and the chairman seems pretty intend in torturing Kaiji.

Yet again, i m left with the same feeling at the end of episode 17.... i wanna see episode 18!

[Holy Knight]

Spoiler for kaiji 18:

Poor Kaiji. He just never gets a break.

I hope he can leave unscathed, but it just doesn't look good with Tonegawa there and the current state of mind Kaiji is in.

At least Tonegawa let him know how he was able to guess which card he chose when. Maybe that will help him in making some decisions, but at this rate it just seems hopeless.

[NoSanninWa]

I'd say that Kaiji doesn't really have a choice for how much he's betting on this next hand. He's got to bet all 4 mm that he has left. He already knows that he's going to lose his ear unless he can win a hand. Since this is the best chance he'll have to win a hand he has to bet everything on it.

If he then wins the next hand, he could just play it safe with 1mm per hand and not lose his ear. Somehow I don't think that'll be allowed. There will probably be some offer to Kaiji that will risk his ear again.

[Deathkillz]

Yet...if he doesn't bet all 4mm in this next round he still has 3 chances to live...whilst it is low, having some chance is better than none.

[SuperKnuckles]

Man, for some reason, the recent episodes feel like a drag both literally and rhetorically. For one, we're on the same exact game for around three episodes and all of them is about Kaiji losing big time. I really hope the next episode changes things or even move on to the final arc.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Yet...if he doesn't bet all 4mm in this next round he still has 3 chances to live...whilst it is low, having some chance is better than none.

But if he stays a slave to his fear, then he will never break out of Tonagura's grip. Only if he faces himself can he become unpredictable.

[Jazzrat]

I think the story moved on quite briskly, only 4 more round left to go for Kaiji and once again, our proantagonist is desperate.

I doubt Kaiji will be able to get his 20 million from the game. It's whether he can save his eardrum or not now.

Great episode, i expected Kaiji to start losing but didn't expect him to lose 6 times in a row. For Kaiji to win, i think he needs to start reading Tonegawa's body language while trying to determine his thought process which prove to be not so apparent.

[Holy Knight]

The audience troubles me. I wonder if they have any sort of significance of being there. Maybe they have some sort of fate tied to the game itself where Kaiji will be in complete control.

[Chrono Helix]

I'm imagining Kaiji will lose all the way till the last round (29mm in) then he'll think 'hmm if I lose my ear's gonna get busted no matter how much I bet, so I might as well bet big and hope I win' and bets 1 metre.

[gaguri]

Can't recallall the specific rules, but can he bet more than the difference in length between drill point and his ear drum? If he can bet 1 m, why not just bet one trillion km for a chance of driving those guys bankrupt. Maybe Kaiji will even get to make his own twisted and sick games and laugh at Tonegawa and his boss swimming across a pool of crocodiles.

Anyway, my problems with Akagi has resurfaced again and can be summarised by below comments,

Man, for some reason, the recent episodes feel like a drag both literally and rhetorically. For one, we're on the same exact game for around three episodes and all of them is about Kaiji losing big time. I really hope the next episode changes things or even move on to the final arc.

Addition to this, I hate the narrator. Tonegawa puts a card down, and narrator so kindly jumps in to break the news of the century; Tonegawa has chosen a card. Then he goes on to say they open the cards (no way we could tell that from happening). Every now and then he makes these unnecessary comments, like if it reaches 30mm, the eardrum is done for. And just in case we forgot this complex idea, he kindly reminds us again of this fact later on. Which he did before the final episode too I think. It was same as hearing the same old broken record narrator in Akagi about how the money they were dealing with were worth ten times more in today's money, and how much blood Akagi will lose if he lose this much points, and the shocking fact that he'll die if he reaches the fatal amount (no shit sherlock). I think it would be better if narrator closes his mouth a bit more in future, so I can feel more of the tension between the characters as the game progresses, without needing someone to tell me that Kaiji has placed a card on the table because I can bloody well see that.

[Incoan]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

Great episode, i expected Kaiji to start losing but didn't expect him to lose 6 times in a row. For Kaiji to win, i think he needs to start reading Tonegawa's body language while trying to determine his thought process which prove to be not so apparent.

I doubt Kaiji is able to read body language when he doesn't even know what signs to look for and what the movements of different body parts mean. I mean what certain shoulder movements mean? I don't know for example.

And , firstly I'd like to say that I am not trying to sound like a frigging body language expert lol, just sharing whatever I have on this subject , so don't misunderstand , but from what I observed and pieces of knowledge I managed to gather from random sources , there are a lot of signs we are really unconscious of.

Take for example our daily life. There are some things I look out for when in a conversation with someone. If that person doesn't keep eye contact with you , looks away , crosses his arms , or like closes himself with his body in one way or another and etc. that likely means something is wrong. The person is uncomfortable or just not interested. Fidgeting is a sign of nervoussness (not knowing where to hide hands for example ). Trying to get a cellphone out of the pocket to look busy, keeping a tough face desperately trying to look... well, tough are signs of lack of confidence. And then there are girls' body language which is a greatly deeper world.

And moreover, even when you know what those signs are , at first it'll be very hard to fix them. Like at first I couldn't stop fidgeting from nervousness even while I was actively trying to convince myself not to - the thing is it makes other people uncomfortable , you know. But the more you dive into this stuff and practice it gets better and ,I believe, you'll be able to control bad body language signs and fake ones you want to project.

My point is , Kaiji will not be able to suddenly fix his subcommunications , and even when he sees something in Tonegawa's behaviour , it'll be hard for him to distinguish whether it is something Tonegawa faked (being an experienced player and all) or not.