Yes, you should watch it.
Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor is an adaptation of a manga by the same name by Mad House. It stars a Japanese man named Kaiji. Kaiji is a bum who gambles away all the money he comes across and steals hood ornaments off cars. One day he is confronted by a debtor who he assumed was there to rough him up for his vandalism.
Although he's actually there to collect the payment for a loan Kaiji cosigned for. Kaiji is then told about an exclusive gambling ring where he is capable of earning all the money he needs and more.
Kaiji doesn't enter some underground fight club and box Ippo style. Nor does he pick up a gun and take down the ring. This is a gambling anime. And it is one of the most engaging, masterfully executed thrillers out there.
Story/Premise 10/10 :
Kaiji as a thriller succeeds by constantly raising its stakes. Kaiji failing means that he falls further into debt or loses everything he's gained. The more debt he gains the more consequences to them, It keeps you on edge with elements such as time limits, new strategies, and Kaiji getting stumped and being forced into a corner. Which makes Kaiji even more enthralling. Kaiji doesn't always win which makes you really feel the pressure of his choices and the stress he's feeling. And that's what makes the stakes so high... Kaiji doesn't always win. Kaiji is constantly backed into corners and forced to find other ways continue surviving. None of the games are repeated. Each game played by Kaiji is different and every game puts Kaiji at risk of losing something. Whether it be his freedom or punishment through a horrible bodily injury. The show is very tense and brutal forcing Kaiji to do everything in his power to think of ways to survive. We get to see his though process and dissection as he's desperately trying to work the system into his favor. Kaiji is very resilient and his diligence for survival is intense and motivational. One minor thing is Kaiji often has situations brought upon him or him getting out of certain situations in some way. Although it never feels like asspulls or like they came out of nowhere. The losses are always high and it never stresses your suspension of disbelief. Its pacing is also very solid and moves as quickly as it needs to.
Kaiji also tackles very dark themes. Such as Morality vs. Nature and Overcoming any obstacle that's presented by giving it your all. Nothing pretentious, its very well executed.
Art/Presentation 7/10:
The show looks like an animated manga and that's sweet.
The animation is very good technically, smooth, and clean. The over the top visuals, actions, and animation add to the flair of the show and will grab your attention easily. This makes it much more interesting than just watching two people sitting down playing a card game.
Kaijis art is very distinct and has a certain flavor. Before Kaiji makes his move you are often given every emotion and thought he's dealing with prior. You will be so invested you won't mind the visuals even if you dislike them at first. Kaiji will causally animate visual metaphors of Kaiji overcoming an obstacle and these are interesting and add flair to grip you but simply put the presentation is fine. It's camera angles are sometimes just not flattering and the animated characters on (very well rendered) CG backgrounds is very obvious and makes the characters look very flat and unrealistic from angles like Birds eye...
Kaijis art style is very unique and you can complain about it all you want but its a very distinct western feeling style. Another positivity about the art style is how emotional the faces can look and how it paints a perfect definition of the feeling in the expression alone.
Sound 10/10:
Kaiji has a kick ass theme and music that screams and makes you feel the tone and tension. It has tracks that make you feel on edge and tracks that make you feel triumphant and relieved. AN overall very good soundtrack. Not every track is flawless but every character and moment sounds great. From the sleazy to sounding sleazy and Kaiji having very realistic execution in basically every line in the show.
Character 8/10:
Kaiji is an excellent character analysis. It puts the characters in extremely stressful, high pressure situations and shows every aspect of how they escape the hell set in them. Demonstartating to us how great a human's passion to survive is. Humans will react differently to the life and death situations but our lead is a survivor who won't buckle under the weight. It is also a character analysis because it provides a look into how desperate the lower class is as well as how corrupt and sociopathic the 1% are.
The show never loses focus on Kaiji. He shows that even though he doesn't have motivation to work and is irresponsible with gambling he really has human compassion and is a will for surviving. Kaiji begins as being a very naive but bitter person but after being manipulated, he realizes his mistake and becomes a strong motivation who rallies his allies or crushes those enemies without a hint of mercy. Kaiji is the parallel to the human nature that comes out when others are trying to survive and Kaiji becomes a morally correct character that is willing to swallow his feelings and act rationally so he can continue to calmly survive. When humans are caged like animals they act like cruel and heartless animals. This is one of the main themes of the anime. Although Kaiji maintains his passion for surviving as well as his heart. Even in life and death situations, Kaiji never loses his humanity.
Kaiji is shown to have this sympathy from the start when he tried to help bail his friend out of a lone. So from the starting line we see Kaiji has heart. Kaiji is an amazing character. He has a very black/white moral code and always tries to give people the benefit of the doubt. He believes everyone deserves mercy so he will trust even the shadiest looking people, because in reality that's what he wants. Kaiji wants a break. He will never stop fighting until he reaches the top of the pit that he dug for himself. Even people who cost him an ear he still will have sympathy for when seeing them endure harsh torture. As he notices they're just trying to survive and make it like him.
Although Kaiji has flaws such as his irresponsibility, nativity, underestimation and overconfidence.
Kaiji NEVER puts on the Shounen villain cockiness but his trust in his own flawed strategies is fully capable of biting him in the ass. When hes overwhelmed he cries very realistically. Having a full on emotional breakdown and sometimes cussing and screaming like a baby. When this happens you feel the emotional breakdown and urgency Kaiji is going through. You're seeing the weak side of this usually strong, determined character, as his own luck or a counter strategy has broken him. Its the flaws and the actions that help us all relate to Kaiji and make him such a deep and likable character. We see his entire thought process and plan as he tries to save himself from a horrible situation as well as his group at he time. Even with his flaws Kaiji is one of the most likable characters ever written and I wouldn't have any other lead.
The other cast members unfortunately don't develop enough or at all but are very good at furthering the growth of Kaiji who is a 10/10 character on his own. They have clear establishment but are confined to supporting roles. Although the supporting cast members are characters I still came to care about likely through Kaijis compassion and desire to help and motivate them to survive as well. The villains introduced later on are interesting and clever. They represent the hardships and struggles all humans must endure to survive and have very interesting philosophy. The main villain isn't some morally gray guy you can sympathize with but he is a gambling genius though and despite his philosophy is more of a character Kaiji must endure and overcome. Kaiji is what he doesn't want to see. He likes to see the true darkness of humanity with his gambling ring, but Kaiji is a force that totally opposes his expectations.
It hardly matters as Kaiji is beyond capable of holding the entire show on his back. So him being more of a solo act is perfectly fine.
Misc Problems:
There was one Misc. problem and its that there is a narrator. While the over the top narrator adds enjoyment to the presentation. I can very well tell how Kaiji feels and how I'm supposed to feel at certain scenes. Silence is preferred. As some scenes invoke very intense emotions and the narrator comes in and disrupts your experience and thoughts.
Kaiji is one of the best anime I've seen. It has an amazing lead, amazing story, great sound, alright presentation, is very intense, has great pacing, its fresh, its over the top, its unique and is overall an incredible thriller. If the art bothers you so much that you won't watch it you're missing out on something genius. Its theme is also just as badass as Kaiji himself. Get ready to shed some manly tears bro.
Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor gets a 10/10. An A+ anime.
Its not perfect by any means but is an outstanding work that no fan of thrillers can miss.
