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.

Deceiver’s Distrust in Psychological Anime & Manga

I was studying for an exam and the term, deceiver’s distrust, came up.

Deceiver’s distrust = When people lie to others, they often begin to perceive the recipients of the lies as less honest and trustworthy as a result.

I thought about it, and it does happen in a lot of psychological and gambling anime. Two examples of deceiver’s distrust in anime and manga are Kaiji and Liar Game. Deceiver’s distrust plays out often in these two series, but I’ll outline two specific scenarios. Spoilers ahead!

1. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Kaiji is the best psychological anime I’ve seen. I highly recommend it. In a match against Middle Manager Tonegawa, Kaiji trusted Tonegawa. Tonegawa, who was cheating the entire match, believed that Kaiji had switched the cards for his own benefit. Because Kaiji trusted Tonegawa and because Tonegawa thought that Kaiji had switched the cards, he lost… bitterly.

2. Liar Game

Liar Game is a psychological manga. I highly recommend this series as well, but the ending was extremely disappointing. During the Contraband game, Nao and Akiyama promised to save everyone, even though it meant that they had to move onto the next round. Yokoya, who was secretly smuggling money into his own account, did not believe Nao and Akiyama’s good intentions. He called them losers, stupid, and foolish. Spoiler alert: he lost the match.

There are many more examples of deceiver’s distrust in anime and manga. Can you think of other examples? What about in real life? Perhaps believing that others are less honest and trustworthy reduces their own guilt. What do you think?

Top 10 Tricks in Death Note

Here are my ten favourite tricks in Death Note. These are in chronological order of appearance in the series. Spoilers ahead. 

1. Determining Kira’s Location 

Performer: L

This was the pivotal scene where L outsmarts Kira in the beginning, when the broadcast is aired to the “world” (it was only aired in the Kanto region of Japan). From this scene, L gains three valuable pieces of information. One, that Kira exists. Two, that Kira can kill without being there in person but cannot kill under other circumstances. Three, that Kira is in the Kanto region.

2. False-Bottomed Drawer

Performer: Light

Light came up with an ingenious way of hiding the Death Note. If an intruder tried to ransack the drawer in his room, the Death Note would go up in flames.

3. Fake Name 

Performer: Naomi

Naomi manages to dupe Light by giving him a fake name. He is unable to kill her at first because of this, and Ryuk finds it very amusing.

4. Checking the Door

Performer: Light

Light suspects that there are video cameras in his room and around the house because of two reasons. One, he placed a piece of lead at the door and it broke. Two, he tilted the door handle at a certain angle. The intruder put the door handle back to the angle he left it, which could not have been done by a family member (it’s too careful, a family member would have put the handle to its normal position).

5. Writing in a Blind Spot

Performer: Light

This is one of the best scenes in Death Note, where Light takes a potato chip and eats it! He dupes L and the police on the taskforce by appearing to be studying in front of the video cameras, when he is actually writing down names and listening to the news hidden in the potato chip bag.

This scene is unforgettable because of its intense music and emotions. The cinematography of the animation is brilliant. It also shows us again how intelligent Light is, and what a great character he is.

6. Profiling with Tennis 

Performer: L

The tennis match between Light and L was really fun to watch. It was interesting because at this point in the anime, L already revealed to Light that he was L and that he suspected Light to be Kira. Both are super competitive so there was that dynamic present as well.

7. Memory Control

Performers: Light, Misa

Both Light and Misa gave up their Death Notes, which resulted in them losing their memories of the Death Note. This helped them later on when they were interrogated by Soichiro and L.

8. Fake Sakura TV Show 

Performer: Matsuda

Matsuda plays a key role in the series, especially in his involvement with Higuchi. The fake Sakura TV show brought forth Higuchi’s death as one of the Kiras.

9. The Fake Notebook 

Performer: Mikami

Mikami made a duplicate Death Note, which was a replica of the real Death Note. This was done to fool Near because he knew that he was being watched.

10. Switching the Notebook

Performer: Gevanni

Gevanni, who works with Near, broke into the locker where Mikami hid the real Death Note. Gevanni switched the real Death Note with a copy he made, which ultimately brought down Light’s downfall. Gevanni is a heavily underrated character, in my opinion.

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There are almost 90 tricks in the series! You can see why Death Note is such a great anime, and why it’s one of my top three anime. What were your favourite tricks in Death Note? Thanks for reading.