The thick plottens! *zawa zawa*

Oh, just as an added note, I never, ever want to get into a situation that requires me to lock myself in a toilet with two other men. Especially a pink toilet. If they hadn’t already realized from the whole insurmountable gambling debt thing, this would surely be the sign that they’ve hit rock bottom.

Another of the things I enjoy about Kaiji is the interesting angles used in relatively ordinary scenarios. There’s nothing particularly interesting about a bathroom stall, but with top notch cinematography this series can make the typical seem intense and anxious.

“Typical?”

Actually, you know what, nevermind. I don’t want to know.

Although I’m sure this was supposed to be a gripping scene, I just couldn’t take it seriously because of the unintentional comedic effect the setting provided. I mean, the toilet is pink.

Once again, and you’ll probably hear me reference this quite a bit this season, but I love how Fukumoto utilizes these strange analogies to illustrate the emotions or the strategies. It’s rather ingenious considering that depicting something so ephemeral is not exactly easy. However, you understand Kaiji’s thought processes and how he comes to the conclusions he does in a much more eloquent fashion.

Masashi Kishimoto, of Naruto juggernaut fame, does this quite often in explaining the various ninjutsu techniques. The effect is not nearly as powerful, however, because it presents itself in a “Dummy’s Guide to Hidden Leaf Ninja-ing” kind of fashion. Kaiji uses the same type of expositional device, but in a much less text-book, and far more entertaining manner.

Now I’m gonna think of this image every time I go to Vegas and see people sitting vapidly in front of the slot machines. >_>

Because it wouldn’t be a Kaiji episode without manly tears!

Well, for once it’s not Kaiji doing the crying; he seems to have gotten over himself. Cry me a river, n00bs.

Moses…once again Furuhata and Andou show their inevitable tendency to crack under pressure. It reminds me of how when children get lost they usually don’t stay put. When I was a kid and I wandered off in a grocery store, as soon as I lost sight of my mom I would run panic stricken through the aisles, knocking over foodstuffs along the way.

Yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty accurate analogy for how they handle themselves whenever things go poorly. “Like a chicken with its head cut off” is pretty popular too, I hear.

Really, I think Kaiji’s willingness to put up with their BS is a testament to his character more than anything else that we’ve seen in this show.

I certainly wouldn’t be willing to stake my life on two cowardly reprobates such as these, especially when I’ve been burned by one of them once already, yet Kaiji continually supports these two losers. I’d have long since taken my three stars and said “Sayonara suckers!”, confident in the knowledge that they’d never advance to the next stage with their feeble, defeatist attitudes.

The manner in which Kaiji concocts and carries out his strategy seems to exemplify good business tactics. He quickly devises a strategy to corner the market, and he views it an an investment – buy cards low, sell stars high.

He even manages to subcontract out to third-party agents to avoid doing the grunt work himself. In addition, by offering these guys a sure-fire way of getting rid of their unwanted cards and offering them a cash reward to boot, Kaiji is slowly building up goodwill toward his group. These people will probably be more willing to collaborate with his schemes in the future if he has need of them.

Once again this raises the question of why Kaiji was such a bum. He obviously has a brilliant analytical mind, as well as a good strategic business sense. I guess it goes to show that even a genius can be rendered useless with a good dose of apathy (and alcohol).

Again, this is good insight into Kaiji’s character – despite his “rock buyout” strategy failing, he manages to collect himself and move forward. The worse the situation becomes the more his confidence rises and his doubts fade. Very cool indeed.

There always seems to be some overconfident douchebag character like this in Fukomoto’s work, the “Fake Akagi” type, if you will. I must admit, though, I do like that Kaiji referred to him as bleach-head. You’re Japanese, good sir; blonde is not your color.

Ah yes, and Kaiji raises the stakes. You have to love how the more dire the situation becomes, the more brilliant and bold Kaiji’s strategies are. It makes for quite the gambit, simultaneously near despair and jubilation.

Well the stage is set again for more Kaiji ron-face action. If you haven’t already watched five, I can tell you now that you’re in for some good time fun.