Oh my God, is that a woman in a Kaiji episode?! What has the world come to?? Up is down, left is right, J.C. Staff is KyoAni!!

Hmm, well at least I think that’s supposed to be a woman, anyway…I dunno, Guff? What’s your expert opinion?

While the skirt and sweater vest may seem indicative of the female gender on first glance, look carefully at the nose.

Stand by…now magnifying… Read the rest of this entry »

The Gurren-dan motto of pushing and smashing every obstacle in the way has never seemed more sinister.

But then, sinister and provoking is the kind of storytelling that Kaiji does best.

Kaiji is essentially out of the frying pan and into the furnace. Though he’s escaped with his life from the Espoir, the conditions are pretty dismal. Read the rest of this entry »

Kickin’ butt and takin’ stars.

Kaiji lays down some serious smack in this episode! It’s about damn time, too!

His so called “companions” have been nothing but dead weight from the very beginning. Despite Kaiji’s Buddha-like patience and motivational speeches that would make Donald Trump proud, they’ve time and time again proven themselves to be nothing but cowardly, backstabbing morons.

I just cannot overstate my satisfaction at seeing them get exactly what they deserve. Andou especially; what a tool.

On a somewhat unrelated note, it seems that the real life Andou has been discovered, and he apparently is a fan of Lucky Star! Who knew… O_O Read the rest of this entry »

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

6 zawa zawas

5 GIGA DRILLS!
4 metatags
3 rain charms
2 Guchuko’s
And a cruise on a nice boat for free!

If only I could invent my own sound effects as easily as Fukumoto, the author of the enigmatic Kaiji and Akagi manga. The Japanese really love their onomatopoeia, but as I explained in our initial review of Kaiji, Fukumoto goes the extra mile beyond even that to create his own unique style, both in art and storytelling.

Perhaps that’s why I enjoy Kaiji and Akagi so much - they’re refreshingly different from everything else out there right now, especially with the recent flood of moe pandering shows and sappy harem comedies. I mean, Fukumoto hardly ever even has female characters in his stories, let alone fanservice. Although given his art style, I don’t know that I’d necessarily want to see that anyway! O_O

The heck with strategy, it’s time for some fisticuffs!

Gentei Janken finally comes to an end, but not without a few twists.

(For some reason this screenshot just makes me laugh uncontrollably.)
Read the rest of this entry »

ZAA PAY-PAAAH!*

In gambling, even the best laid plans can go awry.

Fortunately it seems as though Kaiji is pretty good at thinking on his feet.

* Kudos if you get that reference.

What I enjoy about this series is that even though there are multiple twists and turns you never really feel gypped. When a counter-strategy arises it actually has a logical progression - the Rock vs. Paper buyout for example.

Thankfully Fukomoto is categorically not M. Night Shyamalan and doesn’t resort to pulling crazy twists out of his ass in order to move the plot along.

But if he did the story would go something like this:

“And then Kaiji realizes the strategy was only in his mind and wakes up in the bathroom of despair with only five minutes left on the clock!” Read the rest of this entry »

Kurae! Final attack, Dai-Zidane Headbutt-o!

After escaping from the Ship of Hope, Kaiji will go on to pursue a promising career as a:

A. French Soccer Player
B. Motivational Speaker
C. Hood Ornament Salesman
D. Mullet Model Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Choki! Finally the first glimpses of Kaiji’s inner demon are revealed.

.

.

And the moment we’ve all been waiting for arrives. Kaiji’s fish takes the bait and he’s taken in…hook, line, and scissors.

It was most excellent to finally see Kaiji’s shrewd gambling cunning come into play and his accompanying RON face.

In this respect, Kaiji is completely unlike the cool and collected Akagi, who always maintained his composure, and who barely so much as cracked a smile when he crushed his opponents, let alone gloated over them. Read the rest of this entry »

haha n00b i use t3h l33t sploitz nao all ur c4rd r bel0ng 2 me

;_;

lolol rofl pwned kkthxbye!!1 Read the rest of this entry »