Ranked #742

Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji (Manga)

Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: The third arc of one of Fukumoto Nobuyuki's brilliant gambling stories: Kaiji. Assuming that you have read the past arcs, Kaiji has his freedom back. However, he's in an unfortunate situation which doesn't allow him much enjoyment in life: He's penniless. Throughout the story, he meets his friends who allow him another opportunity to gamble. Another chance in life to redeem himself. This time, it's with Mah Jong.

STORY - 9
The story of Kaiji has always been extremely captivating and enjoyable. Knowing how much difficulty and trouble Kaiji has been through in the story is infuriating at times, but it helps in depicting the human nature, and the realism in the story. As always, the games are intellectual which creates the majority of the interest for this story. The very thought of imagining how you are a step away from death through truly what makes this story so potent.

ART - 7
There has been a lot of mixed opinions for Fukumoto Nobuyuki's art style. Certainly, it's not as aesthetically pleasing as typical shoneun art styles. But that's how his art style depicts the harsh realities of human nature for his brilliantly constructed stories. It is perfectly suitable for the crueler characteristics and aspects that us, humans possess. It's perfectly suitable to tell a dark tale.

CHARACTERS - 7
The characters in Kaiji are usually rather dull. Besides Kaiji, who is very humane and capable once his life is pushed towards the line with a gamble, the reminder of the characters do not express any interesting personalities. The majority of them are simply selfish human beings who have a desire of profiting off others. In a sense, all characters are significantly influenced by the desire of money. All, but Kaiji. Surely Kaiji does desire money, but the interesting characteristic he possesses is how kind he can be. Surviving many difficult gambles, and barely being able to come out alive, one would imagine that he would be a cruel character. However, he is most likely one of the kindest characters throughout the story. His personality is in a way, very "pure" and enjoyable to see.

ENJOYMENT - 5
Normally, this would be the highest rating from me. However, this arc has been rather treacherous and long. The only game played is a variation of Mah Jong which continues for up to thirteen different volumes. The past arcs of Kaiji included at least two different games per arc, however that is not the primary point I am influencing. It's that the strategies in the arc are incomparable to the strategies that have been created beforehand by Fukumoto Nobuyuki. His works: Ten & Akagi display incomparably greater strategies. A simple example would be switching tiles, but in a sense where it can completely change the flow of the game. Although Kaiji cannot be compared to one of Fukumoto Nobuyuki's genius characters such as Akagi, he should have been allowed an arsenal of exciting tricks. The intellectual aspect of the game could have been significantly improved if Fukumoto Nobuyuki shown a glimpse of his talents, likewise when he wrote Ten.

OVERALL - 7
The third arc of Kaiji has been long and fulfilling for the most part as the story did continue to progress well. However, the intellectual aspect of the story was not as great as it could have been. The characters are simply the same as always: enjoyable and primarily cruel (with the exception of Kaiji). The art is very fitting for the story considering that it is very good at depicting the dark and cruel world known as reality. Overall, this story is still rather good, but the past arcs of Kaiji shown were more thrilling and enjoyable towards the intellectual sense. read more

= Alright so i am a huge Kaiji fan having read all the Manga to date that i can. I truly love the character and the well developed scenarios,the settings and the general atmosphere of the series. I am gonna go over the good and bad points of this particular serialization of Kaiji.

The story is pretty much the same as past Kaiji arcs except this is not started by force because of a debt he must pay. This time Kaiji makes the decision to try and gamble for a sure win and help his friends in the process. A fairly noble yet self serving plot for Kaiji but still noble enough for a character like him. The problem with the plot of this particular serialization is its about Mah jong, for anyone who has no idea about Mah Jong they may be completely lost in this arc. Every panel gives specific information about different Mah Jong hands and plays that generally no average Joe would know. Though if you pay close attention you can get a general idea of what he needs to do and what he is doing. I had to have someone fully explain what was happening at the start of this because i have never played any form of Mah Jong before. I can tell you this Mah Jong without your life on the line is one thing if only one thing, extremely boring. The best part of the story is actually just Kaiji lamenting and making realizations the actual game is kinda long and drawn out with some very obscure knowledge needed to fully understand.

The characters the main characters for this series are very bizarre ones at that. The best part of them is that from the way there faces are and the sounds they make and even the trembling you can get a really good grasp of what they feel and just what kind of person they are. A new set of gambling opponents for this series being the manager and a mysterious loan shark. Miyoshi,Maeda and Kaiji are back in the game trying to win there freedom and a little spending cash to get back on there feet. Kaiji seems to be himself for the most part but in this story hes more relaxed and rusty and he lacks the desperation that makes him complete at the start. Half way threw the Manga he starts to show his true character more and more sweating and panicking as he laments at his poor judgement and trust.

The art of Kaiji is not exactly a master piece. It is a very unique art style with some pretty specific quality's to it. It has some very pronounced features like for the face like the nose,eyes and chin. Kaiji only shares this art style with Manga produced by the same creator and it can be delightful if you pick up on what its trying to convey. It is not exactly pretty but its expressive and that’s whats needed for this Manga.

I touched on this in the story portion of the review but the Mah Jong element really brings down the excitement when reading for this. I maybe might not be a big Mah Jong fan but its a pretty simple table game and it's just not as over the top as some of the past games. Kaiji has not cut off his ear or watched anyone die over it so its watching a board game essentially. Though i do enjoy the drama and atmosphere of Kaiji so much that i do keep reading and i can get past this one game just like Kaiji.

I think true fans of Kaiji's saga will like this even if its not as exciting as the past books but Kaiji is still Kaiji, the most miserable and unlucky person ever. I consider this a good Manga but not great compared to the books before. read more