Thread 280654352

Is this as good as everyone says? I don't know how much of it has been translated, but I dig the concept of a gambling manga.

>>280654352 (OP)
Unless you're planning to buy the new physical release (or reading in Japanese), don't bother reading the first section of Kaiji. The existing English scans are infamously dogshit and basically ruin the manga by making it nigh unreadable.
Watch the first two seasons of the anime. They cover Parts 1 and 2 of the manga. From there it just goes
>Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji (Part 3)
>Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: Kazuya-hen (Part 4)
>Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: One Poker-hen (Part 5)
>Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: 2.4 Billion Escape (Part 6)

>>280654481
It's kind of funny but I started with part 3 by pure happenstance. It was on One Manga back in the day and I used to press the Random button a lot to get surprised and was drawn in by the very unconventional art. For some reason I didn't feel lost despite the clear nature of there being a lot of story before this that I haven't read, but it was really gripping at the time. And in hind sight I appreciate having read it like that first because compared to what happens before and after it's frightfully mundane, so reading it

>part 3
>part 1
>part 2
>part 4
>part 5
>part 6

Was accidentally the better way to read it in my opinion.

>>280654844
The thing with Part 1 that hooks people (and shows Fukumoto's mastery as a writer) is that it's a horror manga at its core. The anime adaptation captures that which is why Part 1 is the most popular part in the west, and it reflects the trajectory of Kaiji, where as he recovers and learns, the horror aspects are stripped away, sort of like this:
>Part 1
Starts with debt and only goes deeper into debt.
>Part 2
Finally begins to lose his debt, and returns to '0' at the end.
>Parts 3-6
Actually begins to acquire wealth. You could probably tie all this into Shinto (despite being mostly dry gambling manga, Fukumoto imbues a lot of his works with Shintoism).

The existing TL of the Part 1 manga kind of takes away from this as it's hard to feel the horror when the dialogue is ESL tier. The new translation actually works perfectly, but only one volume releases a year and it's physical only, so nobody has read it as their introduction to Kaiji.

Yes, it is. And Mahjong is the best arc, unironically.

FKMT is one of the greatest mangaka of all time

>>280654352 (OP)
I came for the main story and stayed for the spin-offs.

Based thread said everything, especially the spinoffs

>>280654352 (OP)
I don't remember and might've skipped the early parts but apparently it's a BIG deal how unreadable they are. I've no idea how you mtl a manga but there are accusations of mtl. How does that even work? AI wasn't invented back then. if it was I'd say it was AI. It feels very chatgpt if you think about it.

>>280659555
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_Fish_(website)

>>280654352 (OP)
nah just watch Squid Game instead

>>280654481
The anime is good, but if the guy wants to read, he can start reading from part 2. Not only does it have good translations, there are some small scenes here and there that the anime skipped. Moreover, the thing that most people complain about part 2 is that the bog is paced a bit too slow, and it's way faster to read through the manga than to watch the anime so reading can help alleviate that. Ideally, Kaiji fans should do both.

>>280654352 (OP)
I'd say it's worth it. However part 6 is a bit different than the others so depending on your taste you might not like it.

Do I actually have to learn Mahjong to enjoy Akagi (and some parts of Kaiji?)
I had no idea what was going on in the small mahjong section of Kin to Gin, but still liked it

>>280661208
You will enjoy it regardless because they are stories about great characters and mahjong is meant to facilitate the philosophical points the author is making. But you'll be missing some parts of the meat and it'll make you want to learn mahjong anyway so why not bite the bullet and take 1 or 2 hours to get it?

https://mahjong.guide/a-beginners-guide-to-riichi-mahjong/
Do the mahjong soul tutorial and you'll be fine.
Then you can also keep pic related with you for cross reference as you read Akagi and Kaiji, it's a list that shows all the possible winning hands. Big list but only ~50% of it is relevant.

>>280660852
I like part 6 just because I like seeing Kaiji actually succeeding for once.

>>280654352 (OP)
It made me realize that spectators and reactors in manga make manga less boring.
I never understood laugh tracks in TV comedies, but I guess it's like that.

FKMT is one of the best mangaka around, and he has so much good shit out there. You should definitely read Kaiji or watch the anime to get a taste. And if you enjoyed Kaiji, you open yourself up to a treasure trove of high quality manga and spin-offs, not just about gambling (Kaiji, Akagi, Zero) but human drama (Kurosawa, Nikaidou) as well.

>>280663346
Foreman and Ichijou are top tier

>>280654352 (OP)
Read it and find out.

>>280654481
>FKMT fans are retarded anime onlies
Not shocking

>>280664168
>retarded anime onlies
If you only read in English and read the English version of Part 1 that is up online, you are retarded.

>>280664168
>illiterate anon fails to read post

>>280663346
this could use an update...

>>280654352 (OP)
It's the og Squid Game but deeper and more thinky.

>>280668218
The og Squid Game is Liar Game actually

And whether it's Kaiji or Liar Game, they're so far above Squid Game it's not even funny. It's not just a matter of being "deeper", it's a matter of basic story concepts

>>280654481
>The existing English scans are infamously dogshit and basically ruin the manga by making it nigh unreadable.
Are they? I remember the scan of Part 1 that I read being pretty good, although I do remember seeing that some sources had some other shitty one that was entirely in Times New Roman.

>>280661208
I read it and Akagi without knowing anything about Mahjong. Fast forward a few months and I've sunk hundreds of hours into Mahjong Soul (Hardstuck Expert 3 btw)

The anime is perfct. I don't about the manga.

>>280669875
>animebabby

>>280665778
this really doesn't convey the horror of what's going on as well as the anime did. definitely gotta watch part 1.

>>280671323
FKMT got a lot better as an artist around Kaiji part 2. From part 3 onwards I don't miss the anime, I would still love watching one but the manga is already succeeding at doing its own thing and the anime would only be different, not straight better.

>>280654352 (OP)
Watch first two seasons and read manga, yes, absolutely worth it. Then proceed to watch Akagi and read other FKMT mango

>>280668305
literally all i could think about whilst watching squid game was
>i wish i was watching kaiji for the first time instead
and that was season 1, not season 2 with the weird tranny plot

>>280672614
Check out Liar Game, that's the real Squid Game. The one that actually explores how people deal with gain and betrayal, how systems manipulate people and shape the way they think, how it's possible to push through despite rules and so on.

Kaiji is great but it's not really exactly about that. It shares a lot of these themes (obviously, Andou's betrayal is a good example of people dealing with gain) but it's more about the individual than the system. That's also why retarded westoids tend to claim season 1 is the best because it's LE ANTI CAPITALIST one, but Kaiji and FKMT manga were never about muh systems.

>>280661208
>Do I actually have to learn Mahjong to enjoy Akagi (and some parts of Kaiji?)
No, you will get enough enjoyment as a Dekinai.
And it rewards coming back after you are (more) experienced, you will either see it as genius or as pure bullshit (it's a bit of both lmao).

>>280663346
>Zero
FKMT is a fucking troll with this one.

>>280672744
Akagi/Ten have some bullshit but it's usually only in the early parts where FKMT was writing a bit differently. Later parts know how to contextualize crazy luck moments and make sense of them. It got to the point where characters really struggle to get any hand going in Mamiya, a lot closer to regular mahjong games.

>>280672799
>Later parts know how to contextualize crazy luck moments and make sense of them.
Washizu was luck shitting the whole game.
Akagi got away with some bullshit too but Washizu was too mindbroken at that point to make the obvious and easy play lmao.

>>280672856
Not exactly.
Washizu had some crazy luck surges, but it never came free, and it was rarely predictable. When his luck was on the decline he'd struggle a lot. But when his luck was high he could pull insane shit.
On the other hand, Akagi was for most of the games struggling to get any hand going. He got one or two big hands after building up some momentum but if you look at the hands he actually got they're basically what you'd expect in regular games.

That's kind of what i meant with contextualizing these moments, during Washizu mahjong the crazy luck is acknowledged as such and played around. Before Washizu mahjong, you'd have characters planning their win around Rinshan Kaihou and other unreliable stuff like it's predictable, which doesn't make sense. Meanwhile in Washizu mahjong they kind of react around that, and if a character is actually banking on crazy unreliable shit then it's acknowledged as the supernatural feat it is.

>>280672998
>Washizu had some crazy luck surges, but it never came free, and it was rarely predictable.
No, Washizu always had superior luck, but he left some of it slip because he wanted to deal a finishing blow. It was poor play of him.
The only time you can argue that he had "less luck" was during the 5th round Honba, and still he was 1 or 2 tiles away of high points Tsumo until the Honba finished.

Akagi also had some strong luck with 1 or 2 hands when he had just garbage and had to play too retarded for Washizu to comprehend he was doing or just give the points to the Cop.

They do a proper review of the game after the finale and how Washizu's luck was too overpowered all his points came from Tsumo, Akagi never conceded by Ron directly to him.

>>280673168
>Washizu always had superior luck
Not always, it came and went. For most of the game Washizu was the one dictating the flow and the luck, but the moment Akagi would get a decisive psychological win on him it would tend to make Washizu's flow decline. You named the 5th round Honba part and during these parts Washizu did have less luck than Akagi (whose luck was probably at an all times high, getting expensive hands). But you can also count what happened right after Washizu got atamahane'd on his Kazoe Yakuman (end of the anime), from that point onwards he gets wrecked for one or two hanchan in a row (mostly offscreen)

I guess what I'm trying to highlight is how FKMT made this "luck" idea more of a dynamic, moving beast rather than just a flat stat. Something that would smile upon you or kill you depending on the circumstances.

>>280654352 (OP)
Yes it's very good, the arc before the current one was incredibly good and the current arc is boring as fuck and the author has been on a hiatus for like 2 years or something

>>280654352 (OP)
what happened to this manga? It's still on hiatus? Problems with translation? All of the above?

>>280673370
Hiatus, the author is working on Nikaido Hell Golf (which is currently having some TL issues)

>>280673366
Part 6 is 10/10 but like every other Kaiji or FKMT part you don't want to read it weekly/monthly, it should be read as a batch when it's done.

>>280673370
>Problems with translation?
One of the main translators went into a Christian rant some years ago.
It was something to see for sure.

Right now we have a proper team but the manga is in hiatus.

>>280673287
NTA but salient point

>>280665778
Is Kaiji getting anally vored?
>>280672726
I really enjoyed Liar Game. A shame it doesn't have an anime, it'd probably be a cult classic.