Touhai: Ura Rate Mahjong Touhairoku

Ever since moving into his own apartment, quiet high school student Kei has been looking for a new thrill. He soon finds himself playing mahjong, but his whole life takes a dramatic turn when he is forced to play the game with a criminal group. Even though the odds seem against him, Kei is able to outmatch the others. Instead of claiming his reward in cash, however, he decides to take an abducted girl named Amina under his wing.

Due to Kei's skills and cold playstyle, the mysterious Hideharu Seki takes an interest in him, introducing him to mahjong parlors and new potential opponents. But when matched up against an experienced player named Doujima, Kei is severely outskilled and only narrowly escapes going into serious debt. If he wants to protect his new life with Amina, Kei must find a way to outwit these shady characters and come out on top in every game he plays.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kei Main

Tanabe, Kousuke Japanese

Amina Main

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Doujima Main

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Hatakeyama Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Katsuragi, Yuu Supporting

Akasaki, Chinatsu Japanese

Ai Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Seki, Hideharu Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Takatsu, Noriyuki Supporting

Koyama, Tsuyoshi Japanese

Kudou, Masayo Producer

Matsuoka, Kouhei Producer

Hatori, Jun Director

Naya, Ryousuke Sound Director

Reviews

Apr 25, 2025

StycinViro

Recommended

First of all, I know nothing about Mahjong, and after finishing this series the only things I've learned are some words like Tsumo, Riichi, Pon, and Dura. Not like I know what any of those mean, but now I know them. So, as someone who doesn't know anything about the gambling game that this entire series has as it's core gimmick, here's my review after finishing it:

It was really fun to watch the plot develop and the world evolve as the show went on. The character's are all good, and it's always satisfying when one pulls of some insane crazy move that wins them the ... round. The high stakes that they set for some of the games are also impactful, and not always just a monetary prize, which helped keep the show from feeling boring and repetitive (if they had only ever won money, then it would've eventually been pointless and get up to unrealistic amounts).

Someone always has an angle they're working, and a reason that makes sense for that character to be working that angle, and since each of the characters were so well crafted that's the reason I enjoyed this show. I probably would've liked it more if I had any knowledge of Mahjong, and sometimes I rolled my eyes when someone would get the exact thing they needed even when it has a 1/100,000 chance of something happening, but the story was engaging enough for me to keep watching anyway.

TL:DR;
I'd recommend this if you enjoy shows about the underworld gambling scene, even if you don't know anything about Mahjong. I certainly didn't when I started watching (and still don't after finishing) this show and I still enjoyed it enough to watch all 25 episodes. I'd probably even watch a second season if one ever comes out.

7/10 because I don't know anything about Mahjong and that's a main part of the story so it wasn't possible to get around that.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 28, 2025

yasa4

Mixed Feelings

Touhai's anime adaption falls flat because it fails to find the balance between mahjong and hardcore yakuza violence that the manga discovered after a few volumes. Perhaps a victim of wanting to maintain the non-mahjong playing audience's attention, the mahjong is rushed and so payoffs aren't given enough time to be built up. Instead the focus is on moving to the next insane bit of stomach turning yakuza violence.
This might be fine if the core story line was compelling, plenty of sports manga could have the core sport swapped out with just about anything. However, in the case of Touhai's manga, the violence exists ... to give weight to the mahjong being played. The weight of a riichi is heightened when life and limb are on the line. In the anime adaption, the supporting role of the yakuza story line is instead thrust into centre stage, and frankly is shown up for being a bit lacking.
If someone is really into Japanese mahjong, there are still some really cool moments in here and I think it is worth a watch. Unlike some series it doesn't constantly drink from the well of countering opponents' cheating. There's also focus on reading opponents, tricking and trapping them, and also a good dose of the unshakable reality that sometimes you just can't beat a sufficiently lucky player.
If someone really likes violent yakuza anime but doesn't know anything about mahjong, it might be worth a watch if you just treat it like a sports anime and basically just ignore the specifics of the mahjong. The mahjong here is frankly pretty high level, they don't stop and explain why discarding suji to the dora on the ippatsu turn is such a bad choice. So just sit back and accept what the ridiculous mahjong people are saying.

So yeah, unless you specifically like mahjong or violent yakuza anime, this series might not be for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 16, 2025

P0L0-Fujiwara

Not Recommended

Well... This anime made me feel to write my first review on this website for quite a while which wonder why.

To get straight to the point : The anime greatly lacks on the writing side all the way from Episode 1 to 25. The reason is being mostly focused on Mahjong (obviously) but, also, on a Yakuza war. Character development is non-existent, foreshadowing can be calculated pretty much in advance. I believe it looks the same on the manga which explains the "story" progress this way. This is clearly a sub-Akagi anime in terms of plot, characters & rules-sets.

Unfortunelately, the violence is also too ... present in a deseperate attempt to fill the gaps in the lack of writing.

The only good thing i can say is correctly animated and backgrounds is decent and doesn't make an immediate drop. Is maybe better that this anime didn't been simulcasted and just stay in the shadow realm.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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