Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji

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This review may contain small spoilers, though I have avoided any major plot points.

Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji continues Kaiji's struggles and is the arc directly after where the anime leaves off. If you had watched the second season of the anime, you might even recognize that the ending theme was an animation of some of this arc's early scenes where Kaiji is forced into cohabitation with Mikoko.

Quickly, the story thrusts Kaiji into a situation where he gambles for more than he's worth, a mainstay of the series at this point.

The characters in this part, both old and introduced, are compelling. Kaiji's opponent is absolutely ominous ... and helps makes this my favorite part in terms of characters. Coming from the second arc of the series where he fights The Bog, I felt that the combination of characters, situation, and game played are all better and more exciting -- if you understand riichi mahjong, it's even better.

I've thought quite a bit about whether you need to understand mahjong to enjoy this arc. And really, while you don't need to, it would of course enhance the experience. I myself had been playing mahjong for more than a year by the time I read this arc and the logic used in the game is not anything bizarre that a normal player wouldn't learn if they played for more than a week or two. Some of the terminology may be lost on someone unfamiliar, but even then it doesn't often matter. There is just one scene in particular that I wonder what someone unfamiliar would think, because without working knowledge of the game the scene loses some tension and panic. Overall, it should not impact the reader too much.

It also helps that it is the trend that the games played in the Kaiji series are modified, usually simplified, versions of real games. Or, original ideas where the rules can be deep but understanding the game at face value is simple. This is to say, I think the way the game is explained suffices. A lot of the complexity of mahjong is eliminated, and the type of game it is is summed up perfectly very early on when they reveal the name and rules.

If you have enjoyed the previous Kaiji parts or want more of what the anime offered, don't be intimidated by mahjong. The reward is what I believe to be the best arc.

The third part of Kaiji surpasses the second part in regards to its ending and the way it finally moves the narrative forward (or seemingly does), but it flounders in regards to the actual gamble. Fukumoto falls back on his old faithful, Mahjong, for this part's game, and while it is an interesting spin on Mahjong, it is still Mahjong. What I mean is that this Kaiji arc feels more like Akagi then Kaiji - it's an endless labyrinth of tiles and hands and clever complexities that Mahjong players are sure to appreciate.

While I enjoyed Akagi, despite having very little knowledge about Mahjong, and I ... enjoyed this part too, Minefield Mahjong just isn't as interesting in Kaiji. The first part of Kaiji has Restricted Rock Paper and Scissors, followed by games where the contestants are literally balancing themselves on a beam, and then concluded with a simplistic, but psychologically complex card game and Kaiji's rigged lottery. These are all simple games, explained thoroughly and very easy to follow for the reader. Fukumoto shows just how good he is at coming up with these gambles. Part 2 keeps this up - the dice game and the pachinko machine are just very easy to understand.

But Mahjong, on the other hand, is a lot more to process. The chapters started to blend together for me, and I was getting deja-vu of Akagi's antics, and, well, I'm only going to remember the most exciting moments of the game. Kaiji's solution is very satisfying, though.

I was honestly hoping that they'd play Uno...

Mahjong Legend Kaiji: The Genius Who Descended Into The Darkness.

Picking up immediately after the end of the previous part in Kaiji’s saga, Kaiji is now a penniless layabout in Sakazaki’s home, much to the latter’s disdain, and ultimately, is told to leave before things get nasty, which neatly coincides with Miyoshi and Maeda, two of the 45ers, confronting Kaiji with a get-rich-quick scheme involving the president of the underground casino they now work at. This involves 17 Steps, a form of Mahjong he invented, where both players start in tenpai, and must declare mangan to survive a round (for a total of 17), and declare ... ron to win instantly, and if neither player does, then their hands are reshuffled, and the next round begins, with the wager doubled. And this is the basis for the volumes of this manga, and all I can say is, if you thought E-Card or The Bog went on too long, then you’ll have to prepare yourself, because this is definitely much longer than those two, and truthfully, though enjoyable, and I never once did find myself bored, I think this is certainly one of the weaker games, perhaps because I’m a baka gaijin whose understanding of Mahjong is rudimentary at best (though great effort is made to help explain things, so it’s not as though it makes no sense), but really, it’s not until Kaiji develops his major strategy to win the unwinnable, as he so often does, which occurs by about the 80th chapter, that it really picks up the pace, which is a shame, because those chapters in which he does reminded me precisely why I loved the nail-biting intensity of Kaiji so much, it just makes it unfortunate it gets off to such a slow start, because from this point onwards, it’s as good as the previous games in the series. It’s also interesting to get some character development for Maeda and Miyoshi, and an interesting one at that, in particular it can be compared to Ishida and his son, and in a sense the same can be said for the ‘Young Master’ who also accompanies them in the room, but that’s also where my final complaint lies, for now at least. When the gamble is over, he offers to do one himself with Kaiji, which he instantly accepts, claiming he’d been hoping he could all along, but I don’t particularly see why, it may be an act of bravado, but it just seemed so instantaneous, I should probably keep my mouth shut in case it does get explained early on in the next part, but really, he had very little reason to do so.

Ultimately, it’s Kaiji, part 3, and that should be enough of a review for anyone, I can’t imagine anyone would’ve gotten this far and remained unsure whether they liked the series or not. Admittedly, it does start off rather slowly, and while perfectly enjoyable, it’s certainly not the same quality as seen in the beginning of the previous gambles, but once the brakes are off, it’s rushing forwards with the same intensity any reader of Kaiji’s familiar with, unequivocally exceptional quality through and through, but I must give one final complaint, I preferred the greasy and unkempt look of Kaiji’s hair and face in earlier volumes, which has since disappeared.