Kaiji is one of those animes that is different in many aspects, from its art style to the premise itself, that´s why i cant understand why kaiji being a fresh and different concept cant be as popular as crashbags like sword art online or mirai nikki...
Well, let´s talk about Kaiji: Ultimate survivor...
The worst thing that i could say about the wholes series incluiding its second season, is the art style, despite i liked because of how it gave the show an identity, its ugly and the low budget CGI doesnt makes the things better, its an art style that will repel most of the audience.
Talking about the things that the show did good, lets talk about the OST, even is not the most important part in an anime, all themes are put in the correct moment and make the expectator feel even more tense.
Turning to the most important (and the best executed) parts of kaiji, lets talk about the Story and the characters...
Kaiji uses a premise that is not very usual in the anime... "The debts", yes, is an anime about the stress of having debts and gambling, in paper it sounds like a boring anime, but its execution is amazing... let me explain myself.
The matches arent only to try to pay debts that the main character has with the yakuzas (yes, there are yakuzas in this anime), but also to survive, in all the games kaiji is in constant danger, one bad step and he is dead, also the series manages to be psychological with simple games like "Rock, Paper, Sissors" making those games a lot more complex than they are suposed to be, and there is another thing about the strategies, they made sense, they arent Deus ex machinas or plot conviniences with no explanation that are there to make look cool the main protagonist (ejemejemlikecodegeassdidejemejem), they are logic strategies that have an explanation.
Also, it works as a social critique of those that have money and society losers, The rich people are represented by yakuzas, people that lend money to those that need it, but, they dont want to be paid, they only want to have fun of the losers suffering, but, the losers arent victims of the society, they act like rats, they manipulate, lie, betray and also kill because of their desesperation.
And finally, but not least important, the main character Kaiji Itou is probably my favorite main character in anime, it is the most balanced and human character i have seen in anime, Is smart, but makes mistakes, is brave, but he has fears, it has a good heart, but he doesnt let others trample him, is MANLY, but he doesnt contains his emotions, i could even say that is a tridimentional character, he is not like kirito or like yugi, he doesnt always wins because of the "PLOT ARMOR POWER", he has to think in a way to escape of the situation that he has gotten.
In conclusion, Kaiji is one of the best anime that i have seen, it´s adictive because of the dynamic direction and the juxtaposition of the sounds, is fresh because of the concept and the way it manages to make it interesting, it has the best strategies i have ever seen, one of the best main characters of anime and an interesting point of view of the social classes.
9/10 "I want a Third Season of this instead of a second of OPM"
