LogFAQs > #969868366

BONUS. Kaiji
https://myanimelist.net/anime/3002/Gyakkyou_Burai_Kaiji__Ultimate_Survivor
Fall 2007 (26 episodes), Spring 2011 (26 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 8.28/10 S1, 8.25/10 S2
Best Character: Itou Kaiji
Recommended by: @Reg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7myzgxz9nI

Premise: Itou Kaiji is stuck with a huge debt after foolishly cosigning a loan with a friend. He's given an opportunity to pay it back all at once with a night of high-stakes gambling, but losing could also destroy him.

The Good: Kaiji is a gambling anime about the titular character. He's a shiftless bum who's already going nowhere in life even before getting shackled with a friend's debt. His only way out is to participate in shady high-stakes gambling. He struggles constantly to keep his head above water while trying to find an edge he can use to win or, at least, to survive.

I'm a big fan of another gambling anime, Kakegurui, and Kaiji does a lot of the same things that made it enjoyable. I like learning the rules of the unique games they'll be gambling on. Then, just like the players, I try to spot potential cheating or find ways to tilt the odds. It becomes a sort of mystery, and that's my favorite thing about it. I thought the second season accomplished this feeling a lot better than the first season. The last arc with the Bog in particular had a lot of really cool moments. I loved how Kaiji had a plan, but it wasn't spelled out to the audience, so I was caught up in the high-stakes battle of wits. Kaiji was the only character I really liked, most others weren't around for long enough, but he was interesting. I liked the balance of genius and stupidity where both halves felt realistic rather than contradictory.

The Bad: I have two big complaints about Kaiji. I praised the second season for keeping the viewer in the dark about Kaiji's plans. The first season, by comparison, felt like it was always info-dumping as much information as possible. The final gamble of the first season was really bad about that. It took several episodes painstakingly telling me about Kaiji's plan and it just wasn't exciting. I enjoyed the second season a lot more, but my complaint there is the slow pacing. Every time some minor thing happened, it would cycle through the reactions of every single person in the room, and the narrator started repeating everything three times. He repeated it three times! Three times! Zawa zawa.The Bog had a lot of interesting moments, but it would've been so much better if they got through it in half the episodes.

Overall: I enjoyed Kaiji, but it definitely didn't beat Kakegurui as my favorite gambling anime. The pacing was slow and, in season one, it kept explaining too much about Kaiji's plans. My favorite thing in a story like this is trying to figure out how much the protagonist knows and if they have a plan to get through. Still, I'm glad I watched it despite those problems because the Bog arc had so many epic twists and turns. It would've been better with faster pacing, but it still managed to be exciting regardless. I think I just look for different things in a gambling anime. I could easily see people liking this a lot more if their main focus was on feeling the tension of Kaiji's predicaments. Things like the slow pacing really enhanced that, but I was more interested in seeing the next move. Still, thanks for recommending this, Reg! Even if I didn't love everything about it, the highlights of the various gambles were always great. I'm glad I finally watched this.