Kaiji’s second season is not as good as Kaiji’s first season. While it has a stronger start than the former, and while it is littered with better animation and more charismatic characters, there is something about it that just doesn’t hold up to the first.
The concept of the arcade machine is intriguing and the tactics used in that arc are nothing short of brilliant, but it is the fact that the arc dragged on for so long and the episodic structure became about finding a way to beat the machine and the old man, that it became redundant to sit through. The first season of Kaiji, while having a weak start, managed to flip everything on it’s head and change it’s formula multiple times so that it could become a refreshing ride. This stuck with one thing and repeated it over and over again until became predictable as to what would happen, and that is: Kaiji coming up with a genius plan, the men at the arcade owning Kaiji and beating his plans, Kaiji retreating to come up with a better plan, and the old man laughing at Kaiji. Rinse and repeat.
Moreover, the ending is not good or unique like the first ending in the first season of Kaiji. Without going into needless spoilers, the first season’s ending was both immensely cathartic and very unique and one of a kind, hard to find elsewhere. This season’s ending was lackluster and felt really bland and generic. Not really a bad ending, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth as opposed to the first season’s unique end. It does have a moral message and delivers it’s theme quite well, but it just feels mundane and more like a dues ex machina than a natural ending.
The final villain in the first season was better than the one here, which added more spice to the payoff of the first season. The audiovisuals are great, though I miss the beautiful melodies of the first season which were more visceral to Kaiji’s whole experience. Tracks such as Chorus, which elevated the mood from fun poker to instant sense of danger are missing here. The animation has not changed, and Madhouse is as consistent here as the first season, so that is something good.
Kaiji’s second season does not quite reach the peak of the first season, but it still does solid in most of what it achieves. Good music, nice visuals, and tactics that were brilliant and well thought out, though took really long to give the viewer a payoff. This season is not as good as the first, but it is still worth checking out.