This is my second time watching an anime about gambling. The first one was One Outs and I quite like it. As for Kaiji, I enjoyed the first half of the series as the mental games played were interesting. However, I don't feel the same about the second half of the series as it has a much darker theme and uses very extreme ways to showcase the ugly side of humans.
The second season of Kaiji has been confirmed and will start in April. Frankly, I'm surprised that Kaiji is getting a second season as even though the story is interesting, Kaiji does not seem to be the type of anime that will bring in the money for the animation company.
Story: (8/10) – Good
Kaiji is a bum with no real purpose in life. One day, a man called Endou, a debt collector, visited him and informed him about a loan which Kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate. Since the work-mate had disappeared, the burden to repay the loan was passed on to him. Kaiji obviously had no money to repay the loan and so Endou proposed a chance to Kaiji and it involved getting onto a gamble ship with others who were in the same position. In the ship, the debtors had to gamble with loaned money, and that would give them a chance to win money to clear their debts or fall into deeper debt. After some coercion, Kaiji accepted a position on the ship in order to clear his debt and make a bit of money as well.
In Kaiji, there are 2 kinds of people - the poor and debt-ridden ones, and the ones with too much money and free time. This anime basically shows how the poor ones struggle to win in the game of gamble set up by those who have too much money and free time. To win the game of gamble, the poor ones have to fight among themselves and engage one another in psychological battles. Though it's interesting to see how Kaiji crack his brain and try to outwit the others, at the same time, I also find it very disgusting to see the rich people toying with people's lives.
Character: (7/10) – Fairly Good
Initially, Kaiji seemed like a very average person but as the series progressed, he surprised me with his analytical skills. There are many other characters in this series but their main purpose was to support and develop the main character Kaiji. Though Kaiji is an interesting character, I don't find him very appealing. I think he cries too much throughout the anime.
Art/Animation: (6/10) – Fair
The art style is not my cup of tea but it's bearable enough for me to complete Kaiji.
Music: (8/10) – Good
Kaiji has a cool and upbeat Opening theme - "Mirai wa Bokura no Te no Naka" by Kaiji with Redbourn Cherries and the Ending theme "Make inu tachi no requiem" by Hakuryuu has a complete different feel. Though both themes are completely different, they suit the mood of the anime well.
Enjoyment: (6/10) – Fair
I have mixed feelings about this series. Though the characters are not appealing to me and the rich people are very detestable, I still managed to complete the 26 episodes. I tried watching Akagi (an anime about mahjong and it's by the same mangaka) before and I dropped it after 2 episodes. I think this is because the first half of Kaiji was interesting and though I found the events which happened in the second half of the series distasteful, I still decided to finish it. I'm not sure what the second season will be like but I'll watch the first couple of episodes to see if I like it.
Overall: (7/10) – Fairly Good
I know of many people who love this series, and even though I don't share their sentiments, I do have to agree that Kaiji is an original and interesting anime.
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