I've just finished the 2nd episode of Kaiji, a Fall 2007 anime adaptation of a manga penned by the same guy behind Akagi. Here are my thoughts:
+ the story premise seems a lot better in many ways. Akagi was too perfect a player, he didn't really value his life (which allowed him to play "recklessly" and win where others would have hesitated), etc. Kaiji is a true bumpkin in this world of gambling; he's a relatively nice guy; he certainly values his life, even if it has been pretty slovenly up till now; etc.
- poker, blackjack, any and all of it ... it just isn't the same as mahjong. :( Mahjong is one of my favorite "gambling games" of all time, and its magic really carried through in Akagi. The game itself is so fucking dramatic that the show was able to provide us with insane situations that literally made you hold your breath for a good solid minute, made your hands drenched with sweat, etc. Not only has Kaiji failed to do that so far (granted, we're only on Episode 2, but still), I don't anticipate that it will ever be as exciting as Akagi was. Perhaps a better story overall, but not as exciting a one.
+ the animation's the same. Good ol' Akagi. :)
- the voice acting is also the same. Confusing as fuck since some of the biggest villains this time around are voiced by Akagi VAs who did less major or less villainous roles. (e.g. isn't Funai's VA the same as Yasuoka's? Sure, Yasuoka was a corrupt police officer, but as far as Akagi's concerned, Yasuoka was a protector and a pretty nice guy ... unlike Funai, who's a complete rat-bastard shark)
+ the new intro theme song is pretty kickin'. :)
- the new intro song reminds me of Naruto too much. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, it's just that I don't want to be reminded of Naruto when watching Kaiji because the shows are just so completely unrelated.
+ I love the trio! :) I hope they stick around all boat-ride long. I'll be crushed if the fat guy has a nervous break down or proves to be as traitorous as Funai was. While not as crushed, ditto for Kaiji's ex-friend.
- it's sort of hard to root against the yakuza at this point, considering how polite they've been. O_o Even the head hauncho who threatened to kill all the passengers then afforded them a pretty soft "ripping into" speech when he was explaining how they shouldn't bother themselves over petty details when they're pretty much as shit-out-of-luck as men can be.
2 comments:
I was really surprised that you checked this show out, since you didn't seem to like Akagi that much. But I know what you mean about the VAs. It was really bizarre hearing Akagi's voice pleading, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" in the first episode.
I am surprised as well. I guess I enjoyed Akagi more than I thought; or perhaps more likely is that my memories of Akagi have become increasingly rose-tinted with time and I remember the good aspects (the exciting battles which put Yu-Gi-Oh to shame, Washizu - oh my God, I'll never forget that epic near-draw! - , the introduction it afforded me to the beautiful game of Mahjong) over the bad ones (how I felt the early battles were drawn out over simple games while the latter half of the series was going by way too quickly).
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