Those of you who haven't seen or read Kaiji,please fix that.
No seriously,fix that.
What,the ugly and uncoventional character designs are preventing you from fixing that?Get over them and fix that.
I haven't made it past the first season of Kaiji yet,but what I saw is now one of my favorite animu ever.EVER.For those of you who are unfamiliar with the thing,Kaiji is a tale about a man who is consistently forced to gamble for his survival.
It turns quite simple games and gambles into something awesome,as Kaiji playes to circumvent the system,raise his own chances through the clever expoitation of rules and often engages in mind games with his opponents,trying to figure them out,lure them into his traps or use their own mindsets and habits against them.In addition to this,the stakes are always HIGH(as in HIGH),with something horrifying always awaiting Kaiji should he be unfortanate enough to lose and boy are these whole ordeals INTENSE(as in INTENSE).Its so damn tense every single time,that as soon as the event gets rolling,this show becomes an adhesive,a friggin' glue that binds your eyes to the screen.Only times when the show lets up is during the introductory/transitory episodes where the shit hasn't gone down yet…there are like,2 of those total in the first season.
Furthermore,the main character is awesome.He isn't your average amazing pro genius,he is a poor good-for-nothing low-life,who's only any good when he is on the absolute brink of falling into flames of hell.More fucked he is,the more brilliant he can become and it's absolutely gratifying to see him pull of a goddamn miracle of an upset.However,even when he taps into survival instinct-induced rushes of brilliance,he isn't infallible like your average "Just As Keikaku'd" animu strategists,his plans backfire from time to time and he isn't infallible.Sometimes he just burrows himself further into the hole he is in.He can amaze you with his strategems and the fuck himself over at another turn.As such,Kaiji is someone who is admirable and pitiable at the same time.It's not hard to root for a character you both admire and pity.He is just a very humane character,his lows and highs,and this isn't limited to his gambling prowess at all.
Insights into human nature are made aplenty in the series,with even the villains,who are admittedly almost cartoonishly evil,sometimes dropping some truly meaningful social commentary.
The series is also over the fucking top,with the whispers "ZAWA ZAWA" and the blazing narration by Gendo Ikari.If Kaiji's,for example,disturbed,Akainu will tell you that Kaiji is,infact,DISTURBED.Add in the various visual metaphors and stuff and you get the idea.
Also,awesome soundtrack.
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tl;dr:Fucking Kaiji,get to it.