Ask John: What are the Best Gambling Anime?

Question:
I’ve just watched Legendary Gambler Tetsuya and I really like it. The highly stylized high-stakes competitive gambling, the post-WW2 recovery period of Japan as it’s rebuilding…. I’ve never seen anything like this. Can you recommend anything similar to this in terms of atmosphere or gambling themes?

Answer:
Typically, gambling anime seem to polarize with either a very dark and threatening atmosphere or a light and fun atmosphere. Mahjong anime including the 1992 Super Zugan and 2009 Saki TV series and the 2010 Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku OVA are lighthearted and comical. The 2008 Ad Lib Ouji OVA revolves around rivalries between professional pachislo players, but the anime concentrates on goofy humor and depiction of bizarre personalities far more than competition and gambling technique. 2011’s Rio! Rainbowgate television series is set in a casino and stars Blackjack dealers but focuses exclusively on ridiculous, albeit entertaining, situational comedy rather than gambling strategy or suspense. Then there are the darker, more serious and dangerous gambling anime. Two titles immediately spring to mind that are very comparable to 2000’s Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya TV series. Gainax’s little remembered and even less often seen 1988-1990 OVA series Mahjong Hisho Den: Naki no Ryu is set in the 1980s and splits its focus relatively evenly between rivalries among Japanese mobsters and the intense rounds of mahjong that they play. The anime series features the exact same sort of unsavory characters in dimly lit, smoky rooms that appear in Legendary Gambler Tetsuya. However, since none of its three episodes have ever been translated into English, they’re now difficult to find and may not be very interesting to viewers that can’t understand the Japanese dialogue. Madhouse’s 2005 TV series Tohai Densetu Akagi -Yamini Maiorita Tensai- (Mahjong Legend Akagi: Genius Who Descended Into the Darkness) doubles-down on the foundation that Legendary Gambler Tetsuya laid. Akagi likewise depicts high-stakes mahjong games played between villains and criminals, but elevates the games to literal life and death stakes. The nearly mean-spirited narrative revolves around Akagi Shigeru, a self-serving, ruthless villain who employs relentless psychological manipulation and intimidation in conjunction with his amazing luck to crush and humiliate his mahjong opponents.

Creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s Akagi has been overshadowed by the success and popularity of his Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji series that got anime TV series adaptations in 2007 & 2011. The Kaiji anime series may appeal to a variety of viewers because Kaiji depicts a variety of high-stakes games instead of just sticking to mahjong. Kaiji may also be more accessible because its protagonist, Kaiji Itou, is a highly falible ordinary guy, unlike the sharp-witted, ruthless genius Akagi. However, a viewer used to the skilled gamesmanship evident in anime like Legendary Gambler Tetsuya and Akagi may be disappointed by the extensive reliance on coincidence, deus ex machina, and authorial manipulation present in Kaiji that substitutes for intelligence and strategy.

The 2008 One Outs TV anime tonally falls in between Akagi and Legendary Gambler Tetsuya. This show about high-stakes betting on professional baseball stars a professional pitcher who relies on his incisive understanding of human nature more than the strength of his arm to torment and intimidate the batters who try to swing at his pitches. One Outs, like Akagi, is engrossing and addicting because of its smart, suspenseful writing. While a bit more psychological than Legendary Gambler Tetsuya, One Outs isn’t quite as bitterly wicked as the Akagi anime is. Once again, while One Outs may be a bit smarter than the Kaiji anime, it may not be quite as appealing to a wide audience because One Outs, like Akagi and Legendary Gambler Tetsuya, stars a prodigy rather than an ordinary guy.

Strictly speaking, the 2007 Shion no Ou television anime isn’t a gambling series, but its tone is very comparable to ominous gambling anime. Overtly, Shion no Ou resembles mainstream, encouraging hobby anime like Hikaru no Go, Chihayafuru, and Saki. However, at its core, the show about an emotionally traumatized shougi prodigy literally haunted by the murder of her parents treads into some dark psychological realms and spends a considerable amount of time devoted to the strategy and culture of professional competitive shougi play.