The year is 1958, in the dark streets of Japan and in the middle of what seems to be a very long night for Nangou, a neurotic and addictive gambler who is in the verge of losing his life after the debts stack up against him in a game of Mahjong, versus the shady and infamous Yakuza gang. But unknown to him, in a different scenario a man survives a near death experience after playing a game of chicken, in which two different persons drive a car all the only to brake at the right time in order to avoid falling off from a cliff and lose their life. It happens to be that one of the two participants from the game of chicken has lost his life and the other is on the run after surviving even though falling off from the cliff. This makes the cop, Yasuoka, to go after this survivor in order to arrest him. Back to the Mahjong battle against the Yakuza gang, Nangou only moves even more closer to his death and away his prize money which would clear all of his debt in one go. If something called luck existed, it was completely absent in Nangou's game. All hope seems lost for him with his life lingering in the hands of the outcome of the game and as death seems inevitable, something unexpected happens. The chicken survivor, who is actually our protagonist from the show Akagi, is on the run from the police and intrudes upon the parlour where Nangou is playing a seemingly valueless game with victory nowhere near in sight. There is a knock from the door which gives a momentarily relief for Nangou as one of the gang members stands up and heads for the door. It's a young man seeking refuge from the gang, but is instantly denied entrance and is told to go away at once. But Nangou then disrupts the member saying he was one of his underlings he had called for when he was away from home for a long time, but in the truth it was nothing but an attempt to get hold of as much time as Nangou could to think of a way to get back in the game.
Nangou sits back and relaxes for a while asking who the young man was explaining the circumstances of his seemingly in vain Mahjong battle to him. Akagi tells everything about him and how he was on the run from the police before running into Nangou. He also gives Nangou a piece of advice, saying that all he could sense in his game play was an aura brimming with fear and no real winning sense. Nangou senses something from Akagi as well. From his personality he feels that he might be able to overturn the game on its head and get Nangou away from death. He explains the basic rules of Mahjong to Akagi, who at the time is completely unbeknownst of the rules of the game. Akagi then sits down to play the game while the gang members could only laugh it off as how a thirteen-year old (Oh shit! Did I forget to mention he was freaking 13?! Well if you just started the anime it's not that much of a surprise after seeing the art style. I literally laughed my ass out at first when he mentioned he was 13 years of age for as he looked to me he was over 25+!) could defeat them. However this was just a start of a new legend that would succumb into the darkness. Akagi is able to defeat the Yakuza members and save Nangou off his troubles and in the meantime defeated Yagi, a representative player of the Yakuza gang and with it mark his first ever professional victory as a gambler.
Uptil now you must've learned more about Akagi Shigeru. He is a thirteen year old natural-born gambler who exceeds all expectations and uses any kinds of mean and shrewd tactics to pull off the game. Sometimes he goes to even an extent that he doesn't have any regards for his own life. Nangou is one of the earliest characters in the anime, an addictive but a coward gambler who gets caught in a cat and mouse game against the Yakuza gang members. But luckily for him, Akagi is able to beat them and save Nangou's life, after which he decides to never gamble for money again. A lesson well learnt. Another main character who is featured frequently in the series is the cop-turned-gambler, Yasuoka. He's the cop that chases Akagi into the parlour and witnesses his match against the Yakuza members. He quickly comes to learn that however he maybe young, he is a devil inside that has unthinkable tricks up his sleeve and is a genius in the making.
After the antics of Akagi facing off and winning against the Yakuza members, his next challenge awaits him. Ichikawa is a man in his fifties, blind, yet considered a master in Mahjong. This forecasts an incredible battle between the two with Akagi coming out as the victor amidst extreme tension. This helps cast Akagi as a genius totally unrivaled, unsurpassed and invincible in the format of gambling. Although after his victory against Ichikawa, Akagi quickly disappears into the darkness only to be found five years later by a member of the Yakuza gang. He comes to know that Yasuoka the cop has set up a fake Akagi who seems to be as good the real one, and a showdown against the two awaits. Osamu is another young, amateur Mahjong player working with Akagi in a factory and who keeps follwing Akagi wherever he goes. His main role in the show is to play against Urabe, a gambler who is facing Fake Akagi before his showdown against the real Akagi. Unknown to him that there's a great amount of money involved in the gamble, Osamu actually fares pretty well against Urabe before learning the fact that 32 million yen is on the line. Akagi then interferes him and plays his own battle against Urabe. He is able to defeat Urabe and make him pay his socks off for the amount of money, while making us learn that Osamu was actually made to play to manipulate Urabe and learn more about his skills and habits on the game. He comes to know that Urabe is the type of the guy who waits and see's his opponent through and does not rush towards victory. It's actually a shame that Osamu is nowhere to be seen in the second cour of the show as he had a likeable personality.
Well after his tie against Urabe, Akagi, seeking a game where one would bet his own destruction, now moves forward to face his final opponent, the lunatic Washizu Iwao. Washizu Iwao is a former World War veteran, a retired police sergeant who had made a great deal of money, an amount more than enough required in one's life. He also has the upper hand over all the politicians and has all the means to rule the nation from the underworld. He is a dark leader. Washizu's style of Mahjong play is quite different from the usual. Transparent tiles which can been seen through completely is used for play among a few opaque tiles. Washizu succeeds at defeating various players and attains a legendary status who has never lost in Mahjong. That is before he faces against Akagi.
The anime focuses on the growth of Akagi as a Mahjong gambler, and his earlier and younger days in the first part of the show and also his matches against various oppositions before he faces against Washizu Iwao, his final opponent of the series. Whereas in the next 13 episodes the show completely revolves around the tie against Akagi and Washizu lasting for six sessions. It actually gets kind of repetitive after the 13 episode mark. With all the development from start of the show, they could've made it last a little longer but everything's hurried a bit and ended before the second cour of the show begins. This honestly weights down the show a little, because it has such a gripping story from the start, even the ending is a bit abrupt.
The artwork of the show is quite unsurprisingly the most talked about factor by both the people who have watched it and not yet watched it. However if that's a reason that you're holding back on watching this show I'd suggest you drop that idea at once.
Sure, the art is... well, crazy to say the least. It takes time for you to getting used to but it infact supports the psychological and intense nature of the show. For a protagonist who is 13, but quite obviously looks 25+, you get the idea that this isn't a show in a stage which could be said ordinary. Infact, this is a completely different Seinen from others not only because it tackles about gambling, but does it in a most unorthodox way. This way it's quite true that the art style is the most suitable for this kind of anime.
Even for the transparent Mahjong tiles, the effects are beautifully done. The backgrounds have a perfect synchronization to the timeline this anime revolves around, in the 1960's.
Moving on to the sound aspects of the show. Akagi is voiced by Hagiwara Masato who did the voice acting for Tokuchi Toua as well, the protagonist from One Outs. Akagi's voice has a prominent gambling type of fathom in it. It's as if Hagiwara has a natural-born skill for voice acting gambling roles. His three famous voice-roles that of Kaiji, Tokuchi and Akagi are all protagonists in any form of gambling. The soundtracks in the anime is done pretty well, with tones adjusted to the tense nature of the show. The opening track remains the same throughout the show and is of a traditional japanese accent which only adds to its premise. The first ending is done by Maximum the Hormone, more famously known for the second opening in Death Note. The second ending is glorious as well. The visuals are what I really like from the second ending. They accompany the track extremely well and I would pay to watch that majestic walk on a railway track from Akagi. The next thing I'd like to depict is the voice by the narrator. While not over the top perfect, he does his job of explaining the stuff happening pretty well without over-exaggerating. There have been various anime that have succeeded using the narrator for the most part, and while the narrator for Akagi doesn't add to any further reputations for the show, he works on his part pretty well.
I will finish off by saying Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai is a supreme and classic Seinen about gambling which is executed brilliantly right from the start. A lot of people may not be daring to go into this one because of the concept its made around, the game of Mahjong. While it would certainly help if you knew a little about the game, but even if you are a newbie to it like myself, you'd still be able to comprehend given you give complete attention to the translator notes and the rest of it is explained pretty well by the narrator himself.
