(L) Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji

[sukreih]

逆境無頼カイジ (Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji) (Official Title)

Based on manga by Fukumoto Nobuyuki
Official site: Here
Airs on: ntv, OCTOBER 2nd, 2007
Created by: Madhouse
Director: Sato Yuzo (Akagi's director)
Music: Taniuchi Hideki (also Akagi's music creator)
Cast: Ito Kaiji-Masato Hagiwara (Same VA as Akagi!! Seriously?!)
The official site is up.. thank you for the info, Toua!
First impression of only the character design: looks vvverrrrrrrry nice... good job on drawing Kaiji's overall cuteness.(I am being 100% serious)
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Finally, 2 years after Akagi another Fukumoto manga reveals itself in anime form! This time it's Kaiji, a gambling anime as the title suggests..
Kaiji is probably the most famous work in Fukumoto manga, winning the Kodansha awards back in 1998 and being the longest running series. The animated part will be the first part, 'Apocalypse', 13 volumes in length.

The main character Ito Kaiji is a normal.. actually lazier than normal guy who lives day by day without any desire to do anything. His life consists of working part time (currently not working at all), gambling with his friends and always ending up losing money. He always cries blaming himself, cries that he is broke, yet he still doesn't want to work. Kaiji’s hobbies are taking little 'souvenirs' off expensive imported cars, just for his own satisfaction and stress relief. Yes, he IS a loser.
Then one day he is visited by Endo, a lender of a loans company. Kaiji,in fact,had a 3,850,000 yen debt because signed to make a guaranteed debt for a person he rarely knew. He thought it would be nothing special, but the company had super high interest rates which boosted up the debt over 10 times its original in 14 months.
Endo convinces Kaiji to go into a gambling ship called 'Espoir' to pay off his debts. He says the ship was for the 'salvation' of young men in debt, with a high chance of 'making it out of the ship' with some extra cash if lucky.


...is basically the starting part of the story.
Kaiji is not about Mahjongg... the gambles here are made up or existing games with simple rules that everybody can understand. Kaiji's job is to understand the rules at its full extent and struggle to 'win'; more to 'survive'.
Thing is Ito Kaiji is no Akagi Shigeru.. he's very emotional, gets fooled easily, freaks out, cries his tears off...mostly how you and I would react in situations he was in.

Spoiler for You will mostly see him in this state of mind.:

The only difference he has is... yes, gambling talent. In fact Kaiji is a genius at gambling, too bad he can't display his hidden talent unless he's left with just two choices:1.To win 2.To lose and 'Die'. Kaiji is too much of a lazy individual to 'use his brains'.. therefore he always gets a slap of reality before realizing he is seriously in big, big trouble.
While Akagi relies on guts and ESP(j/k), Kaiji has this totally different style of 'setting up' a winning situation. If he had used his smarts in gambling for work, Kaiji would have been really successful. Thing is, he's not..so will he ever learn?

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Missing out on this anime will be a huge loss to your healthy Anime life.. and yes, I'm saying that because I'm a fangirl. But still, in a general point of view, I guarantee this anime WILL be UNIQUE and hopefully very INTERESTING. I just wish I could write more convincingly.
Since Akagi was a huge success the expectations will be high.. I wonder if Kaiji can make up to that. With lots more characters(with the most evil villains ever, even more perverted than Washizu!),brainstorming and planning featured in the manga, it definitely will be a harder job to animate Kaiji.I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.
Oh and..there will be a LOT more blood and suffering in Kaiji..those timid in the heart might have a hard time watching some events unfold. And one more.. I THINK there will be at least one female character (not an old woman this time) in here who has a line. At least a word or two. Or maybe they'll omit that event as well.

[Malintex_Terek]

There is mahjong in Kaiji, it's just not a big focus. A lot of Japanese gambling plays into this story, with a lot of unconventional stuff as well. Suffice to say, this will be my go-to series for Fall. Kaiji's not GAR, but his anime will indeed be legendary.

RON.

[sukreih]

Yay thx for the supporting comment XD!!
Yea there is mahjongg, but it's not until the Datenroku series,right? The Apocalypse series does not have mahjongg.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I'm definitely in for this one. The idea sounds like a great one for a time passing anime, and I should hope it allows you to think along with Kaiji as he works to solve each game and come out on top.

[gianna]

If anyone doesn't want to dl you can view the first chapter here
http://www.yanmaga.kodansha.co.jp/ym...ji/kaiji.html#

You can see Kaiji being a waste, taking another hood ornament (and even making scratches on the car) to add to the little collection in his room lol, and a visit from Endou! Who tells him about the 385 and Espoir

I haven't read the manga so the only female character I know of is Bunny Girl - but she's an original character for the game
http://www.rodeo.ne.jp/catalog/kaiji/0001.html

[mac_pack]

Kaiji is definitely highest on my list this season.

Spoiler for The nose knows.:

[Kanon]

I was waiting for a Ten anime, but Kaiji should be very interesting to watch too, judging by your summary. I hope someone will sub it.

[7Th]

Should be fairly fun if nothing else, I'm glad the lead character is completely different from Akagi even if Akagi himself was indeed an amazing guy himself.

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Now this is something great that you can tell might be a sleeper if many people don't see it but right now from what I've read and seen this will be a must watch for me.

[cyth]

You can add the official page to the first post now. Link So far only the cover image is up.

[sukreih]

thank you so much for the info!
omg the anime Kaiji looks so good...

Spoiler:

I already want to see him naked!!! (yes,it's a spoiler)

One of the Japanese Fukumoto fansites posted the images that were in this week's Young Magazine(the magazine Kaiji is currently running in). You can see it here(warning: scrolling too much can cause spoilers to part 3). Since the director mentioned that 'they are animating the first series', there is a high possibility that the second part will be animated as well.(nice!!!)

[sukreih]

According to here, the official title for the anime will be Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji.
And Kaiji will be voiced by Masato Hagiwara. He's the same VA as Akagi, he either has to be really bad or have a totally different(and acceptable) acting style.

[gianna]

Seems the date has changed yet again -- Moon Phase lists 10 02

[digiboy123]

I want to watch this SOOO much. Can't wait for subs.

[sukreih]

Originally Posted by gianna

Seems the date has changed yet again -- Moon Phase lists 10 02

So it is October 2nd, right? The official site also states it will start in October.



The logo is up on the site! 'Ultimate Survivor' suits Kaiji really well
I'm still concerned about the seiyuu,though. I cannot imagine Hagiwara Masato acting Kaiji..

[sukreih]

Seems like some VAs have been confirmed, with some character sketches as well.

Narrator- Fumihiko Tasaki (probably most famous for Eva's Gendou)
Ito Kaiji- Masato Hagiwara (still concerned, but who knows)
Tonekawa- Hakuryu (seems like an actor who played lots of Yakuza roles.)
Endou Yuuji- Naoya Uchida (he does Japanese dubs for Bruce Willis.Also an actor himself.)

[sukreih]

can't wait for next week!!

10s CM up on Nico Nico Douga: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1144204 (registration required.Might be up on Youtube sometime..okay,here it is. )
The opening song 'The Future is in Our Hands' is sung by Kaiji(and Akagi's)'s VA Masato Hagiwara.

[Schuyler]

I just got done watching Akagi, and will start reading the manga. I have high hopes for this show to be awesome like Akagi.

[Malintex_Terek]

In what years does Kaiji take place? Akagi occured in the late 1950's and early 1960's, Ten was in the late 1990's. Would that place Kaiji in the 1970's or 1980's?

[sukreih]

Originally Posted by Malintex_Terek

In what years does Kaiji take place? Akagi occured in the late 1950's and early 1960's, Ten was in the late 1990's. Would that place Kaiji in the 1970's or 1980's?

The first part(the one that's being animated) of Kaiji starts off in February 1996. I think that was when Fukumoto started drawing Kaiji..
Aaaand just fyi, Kaiji is born somewhat around 1975.