>>283027989
That's a very fair assessment. Especially highlighting how strong and layered part 3 is, not just in the game and its rules but also the psychological setup.

I would put part 5 a lot higher because even though it's a pretty simple version of poker, the endless FKMT monologues make it very strong in my opinion. It's not exactly the most realistic but it's very entertaining. The higher production value (or should I just say better art) gives it at least something over part 2, I tend to rate these two parts equally.

Part 4 is extremely underrated like you say. For me, it's the "he found a new aesthetic for himself" part when Mitsuyama says "I'll watch you die and send you off".

But to return to my original post, I appreciate picking the Kaiji 2 anime specifically. Few people do that because part 1 is the normie friendly one with short games and "capitalism bad" undertones that they absolutely love. But if you actually stick around to appreciate FKMT writing, there's so much more than that and it's a pretty minor theme all things considered. Which is why these kinds of people stop giving it this sort of "high art" praise even though it has so many qualities. Kaiji's character arc in part 2 is a bit less in your face than the one he has in part 1 but it's definitely just as good if not better.