In Defence of Kaiji

I read a blog post about Kaiji and the person wrote that Kaiji is an evil series that promotes sin and a bunch of other things. Yes, the characters lie and betray one another for personal gain and greed. Yes, some characters have died or are subject to inhumane human labour. Yes, some characters have lost limbs as a result of losing a gamble. Does the manga promote crime and murder though? I fail to see it.

It’s a work of fiction. Am I as a reader going to go and start deceiving people for my personal gain because I’ve read this series? Of course not. What I got from the manga is an intense and exciting reading experience. Most of the time, you read manga for entertainment. Am I a bad person for reading this series because some characters have died and other characters are in terrible life situations? What series doesn’t have something like this.

Kaiji Itou is a man thrown into unfortunate circumstances. He’s not particularly smart like Akagi, for example, and sometimes loses his gambles. What strikes me about him is his perseverance and desire to overcome his obstacles. This is why many people became interested in the series. I am caught up on the manga and do not think that this has changed. Kaiji still has obstacles he needs to overcome but he has been vigilant and cautious in Part 6 of the manga.

At least in my experience, I feel motivated after reading Kaiji. Seeing Kaiji so determined makes me want to do something. This “something” can be as simple as getting out of bed. Sometimes I look at my life and think, what would Kaiji do? He wouldn’t give up like this. There are many inspirational quotes in Kaiji.

As for the Tonegawa series and comedy spin offs, I think they are fine as long as they are separate from the Kaiji manga (and they are). I’ve read the spin-off manga and watched the spin-off anime. I know that spin-off Tonegawa is not the same person as Tonegawa in the Kaiji series. That being said, spin-off Tonegawa does not change how I view Tonegawa in the Kaiji series. Tonegawa is a separate series and should be seen as such.

How to Gain Followers on Twitter (Middle Manager Tonegawa Episode 21)

Synopsis: Tonegawa is tasked with the difficult job of taking over Teiai Corporation’s Twitter account. He has to gain more followers and beat a Teiai hater account.

1. Tweet original fan art of popular anime. 

2. Go aggressively after any trending hashtags. 

3. Pin any tweet that ends up being buzzworthy. Understand what ‘buzzworthy’ means.

4. Tweet animated gifs of cats. Learn where to get gifs first.

5. Watch all the popular anime. 

6. Don’t tweet about the weather. Weather-related tweets are boring.

7. Take food pictures. In my experience, food pictures get a lot of likes.

8. Upload videos. 

9. Understand internet slang. Include all the capitals for LOL.

10. Draw anime fan art. I’ve seen this one work well on Twitter.

Do you agree with the tips and tricks for gaining followers on Twitter? I’ve seen all of these except for the video one!

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa (Middle Manager Tonegawa) – Episodes 14 & 15

I thought the Ootsuki spin-off would be its own series, but it starts at episode 14 in Middle Manager Tonegawa. I expected to see Kaiji instead, so I was a little disappointed. Nonetheless, I’m still enjoying this anime because I love FKMT and it’s really funny. This anime might be harder to understand if you have not watched Kaiji seasons 1 or 2. Ootsuki appears in Kaiji season 2, so I think you should watch both seasons before you watch Middle Manager Tonegawa.

Synopsis: Ootsuki works at the underground labour camp because he has a lot of debt and in this show, we get to see what he does when he uses his “One-Day Outing Ticket.” Essentially, he has a free day and he can do whatever he wants. Ootsuki is a food lover so you can expect him to enjoy and savour food in every episode.

Episode 14

Ootsuki likes to take his time and rest… After he is relaxed, he eats food… then sleeps… It’s very relaxing to watch.

Most people run after the clock starts and try to win money from casinos to get out of the labour camp. Ootsuki, on the other hand, is totally calm! He loves to eat food!

Episode 15

The episode is divided into three parts. In the first part, Ootsuki spends his free day with a labour camp mate. Ootsuki teaches him how he spends his free days.

In the second part, Ootsuki spends his free day with a blacksuit (one of the men in black suits). The blacksuit is very skeptical of Ootsuki at first but they become best buddies at the end of the day.

In the last part, Tonegawa walks into a restaurant and ends up in a food eating contest with Ootsuki. It was awesome seeing the two of them meet and I liked how Tonegawa didn’t disappear from the show completely.

This anime has a lot of the same elements from Kaiji, such as a narrator, zawa zawa, and awesome music. The opening song is so good!

Overall, this is still one of the shows I look forward to the most each week. I want Kaiji to appear, but I’m satisfied with Ootsuki and Tonegawa. I used to hate both of them because they were antagonists but this show is showing us different sides of them, making them seem human and likable.

I blogged about Middle Manager Tonegawa in which the episodes were focused on Tonegawa. You can read that here.

Review: Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa

Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa, also known as The Chronicles of Middle Manager Tonegawa, is my favourite Summer 2018 anime, second to Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3. It is a spin-off series, with the original being Kaiji. The series follows the life of Tonegawa as the middle manager of Teiai Corporation and it is set before he meets Kaiji.

You should watch both Kaiji Season 1 and Kaiji Season 2 first.

I love this anime because it’s hilarious!!! This series is nothing like Kaiji. You shouldn’t compare the two because this anime does not involve gambling. The goal of it is to make you laugh, and it certainly succeeds at making me laugh.

Synopsis: President Hyodo orders Tonegawa to organize an entertaining game. Tonegawa takes on the task and leads a team of men in black. Remember the games in Kaiji? Well, those ideas didn’t appear out of thin air. They were carefully planned by Tonegawa and his team! Tonegawa faces many obstacles, from having troubles remembering the names of his men, to having to please President Hyodo.

Watching this anime has made me like Tonegawa. He is one of the antagonists in Kaiji, and of course I was not on his side when I was watching Kaiji. I hated him in Kaiji. However, Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa shows us many sides of Tonegawa that we have never seen before. We even get a few shots of his muscular build. More importantly, Tonegawa actually has a heart! He is hard-working, cares about his men, and does what he says he will do. Tonegawa is a likeable and relatable character in this anime and I see him differently now.

I give Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa a thumbs up! Nine episodes have been released and I’ve enjoyed all of them so far. This comedy series will have 24 episodes.