History Manga / Kaiji

* MoodWhiplash: In episode 10, when Sakazaki is talking about his daughter, Mikoko, the initially serious atmosphere prevalent throughout the series suddenly (and briefly) shifts to a comedic one. Doubles as a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* TheBadGuyWins: Unfortunately [[spoiler: Kaiji was pretty much in the clear after winning E-Card and just had to leave with his earnings. But decided to get revenge on Hyoudou and challenged him to a tissue box game he created and tried to rig. It backfired as Hyoudou saw though the deceit, turned it against Kaiji and caused him to lose pretty much ''everything'' he risked his life for through the night.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Sort of, Kaiji finally pays of his debt and even earned more money than he needed; however, Endou's contract drains him of a huge chunk of cash and, combined with [[ChronicHeroSyndrome the paying of the debts of his fellow 45'ers and Ishida]], he ends up blowing the rest on pachinko trying to earn some of it back. Still one of the black suits gives him enough money to go out drinking with his friends and he ends the Part happily.]]

* CompressedAdaptation: Story-wise, the first film is basically a mix of the first two seasons.

A {{SpinOff}} manga focusing on Tonegawa's life before Kaiji, ''Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa'', got an anime adaptation in the Summer 2018 season.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Manga/GamblingEmperorLegendZero''.

* {{Yakuza}}: The Yakuza are the main antagonists of the series. They force poor fools into debts they can't pay for sick games, or worse, force them to become slaves in underground facilities to pay them. What's worse, is very unlikely you are capable of paying them.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: The manga ran concurrently for almost 20 years, but Kaiji is still a very notable {{foil}} to Fukumoto's other main protagonist, ''Manga/{{Akagi}}''.

* {{Yakuza}}
* YaoiFangirl: ''Kaiji'', ''Manga/{{Akagi}}'', and many other series by Fukumoto Nobuyuki have surprisingly large female fanbases. Put that together with an almost complete lack of female characters and this happens, apparently.

* ChromosomeCasting: No female characters.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:In the E-Card game, Kaiji gets to choose between putting his ear or eye on the line. Averted when he picks his ear, but we are still treated to some nice {{Imagine Spot}}s with the mini-drill moving closer to his eyeball.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:By the end, after losing his fingers, Kaiji seems to have learned his lesson about hard work and not trusting life to give you what you want when getting on the bus... only to then lamet how close he was, blaming Hyodo for all his problems.]]

* PoorPredictableRock: [[PlayingWithATrope Somethingverted]] in the first arc; it could be described as anything from PlayedStraight to [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]].

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Part VI is a big departure from the previous so far, with no gambling involved and the main focus being [[spoiler: managing to escape with the 2.4 Billion earned in the One Poker match]] instead.
* SpoilerTitle [[spoiler: The title gives away that Kaiji wins the battle with Kazuya.]]

* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: The Manga.
* AesopAmnesia: By the end of season 1 Kaiji seems to have learned his lesson about hard work and not trusting life to give you what you want. When we see him again at the start of season 2, he's back to the lousy deadbeat gambler he was at the beginning. Justified in that a year has passed since the end of the first season.
** End of season 2 - [[spoiler:in the day it takes him to meet the 45ers after they're free, he manages to blow his entire cut of the winnings on Pachinko.]]
* AllOrNothing: The show. Kaiji almost always tries to play it safe, but is eventually forced to play it all in order to win.

* ArtStyleDissonance: A slight version. Looking at the exaggerated artwork, overdramatic facial expressions and ridiculously high-stakes gambles, one could easily assume that this series is partly comedy. In reality there is almost no comedy to be found in ''Kaiji'', and those high-stakes gambles are played ''completely seriously'', making for one of the tensest and suspenseful manga of all time.

* CombatCommentator

* CrapsackWorld

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All the named participants to the Human Derby are dead, Kaiji survives but has lost all of his money (and is further in debt), along with his left ear and left hand fingers. Meanwhile, the villain has won money, and has been entertained throughout the night.]]

A {{SpinOff}} anime focusing on Tonegawa, ''Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa'', aired as part of the Summer 2018 Anime season.

* WorkOffTheDebt: The start of this arc begins when Endou, now [[ReassignedToAntartica reassigned as a debt collector]] finds Kaiji and takes him to an underground city that Hyoudou is creating with slave labour from those in debt to Teiai. Unfortunately, since Kaiji owes Teiai about ten million yen he's forced to work back breaking labour for 15 years. Finding away out of working in that city becomes the plot for the rest of the arc.

* SaveTheVillain: [[spoiler: Kaiji desperately tries to persuade Kazuya not to end his own life, but much like Washizu from Manga/Akagi, he sees it as a betrayal of gambling.]]

And that's just how the first series begins. ''Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji'' is probably the most famous work of Nobuyuki Fukumoto, a {{seinen}} {{mangaka}}. Starting in 1996, it has since then received critical acclaim for its ridiculous yet brilliant gambles as well as the complex psychological analyses of the characters. There are currently five series, the first two of which have gotten anime adaptations by Creator/{{Madhouse}} (much like ''Manga/{{Akagi}}'' before it), and eventually LiveActionAdaptation films and pachinko games. Kaiji also makes an appearance in ''Girls RPG Cinderellife'', a dating sim by Creator/Level5, for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. As of November 2016, the fifth series is ongoing at 12 volumes.

** Subverted when [[spoiler: it's revealed that Kazuya is cheating.]]

* ExactWords: Kazuya says that the Poker machine will deal out cards to both players randomly, it will always accurately report whether a card is in the High or the Low range, and he guarantees that the game will be fair. [[spoiler: The trick is that you can swap a card with another card as long as they're in the same range. He switches out 3 high cards for Aces during his turns. However, he views it as fair because Kaiji has the same opportunity to cheat as he does - as long as he figures out where the cards are hidden]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Seemingly impossible in a game where you have to choose between two cards. [[spoiler: Played straight when Kaiji discovers there's a way to swap a King for an Ace.]]
** [[spoiler:And then again when he decides to play his 3 instead.]]
* SaveTheVillain: [[spoiler: Kaiji desperately tries to persuade Kazuya to not end his own life, but much like Washizu from Manga/Akagi, he sees it as a betrayal of gambling.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Nothing that destructive, but Kaiji beats up [[spoiler: Furuhata and Andou after he manages to get his hands on them after they've betrayed him, and much later he beats up Maeda and Miyoshi (who have betrayed him) when they try to restrain him from catching Muraoka on the act of cheating.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Sort of, Kaiji finally pays of his debt and even earned more money than he needed; however, Endou's contract drains him of a huge chunk of cash and he blows the rest on pachinko trying to earn some of it back.]]

* LockedIntoStrangeness: [[spoiler:Kaiji's hair appears to turn white once he's out of money at the end of episode 24. It might be a StockVisualMetaphor.]]

* WorkOffTheDebt

* {{Mahjong}}: The entire third part focuses on this game, but it's a two-player variant.

And that's just how the first series begins. ''Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji'' is probably the most famous work of Nobuyuki Fukumoto, a {{seinen}} {{mangaka}}. Starting in 1996, it has since then received critical acclaim for its ridiculous yet brilliant gambles as well as the complex psychological analyses of the characters. There are currently five series, the first two of which have gotten anime adaptations by Creator/{{Madhouse}} (much like ''Manga/{{Akagi}}'' before it), and eventually LiveActionAdaptation films and pachinko games. Kaiji also makes an appearance in ''Girls RPG Cinderellife'', a dating sim by {{Level 5}}, for UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. As of November 2016, the fifth series is ongoing at 12 volumes.

* ChekovsGun: The toothpick that Kazuya gave Kaiji comes back into play [[spoiler:to allow Kaiji to figure out how Kazuya is cheating.]]

And that's just how the first series begins. ''Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji'' is probably the most famous work of Nobuyuki Fukumoto, a {{seinen}} {{mangaka}}. Starting in 1996, it has since then received critical acclaim for its ridiculous yet brilliant gambles as well as the complex psychological analyses of the characters. There are currently five series, the first two of which have gotten anime adaptations by Creator/{{Madhouse}} (much like ''Manga/{{Akagi}}'' before it), and eventually LiveActionAdaptation films and pachinko games. Kaiji also makes an appearance in ''Girls RPG Cinderellife'', a dating sim by {{Level 5}}, for Nintendo3DS. As of November 2016, the fifth series is ongoing at 12 volumes.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: While members of Teiai Corporation resort to all sorts of cheating and [[MovingTheGoalposts goalpost moving]], they never outright refuse giving a well-earned prize for no reason at all, even considering the implication that they can just easily eliminate the participant without paying anything if they really want to do so.

** [[spoiler: Also Ichijou later in Part 2, who also does not die but starts begging Kaiji to end their "duel" as a draw when he realizes he's going to lose in a few moments -a request he had denied a desperate Kaiji just a little while before.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoilerSort of, Kaiji finally pays of his debt and even earned more money than he needed; however, Endou's contract drains him of a huge chunk of cash and he blows the rest on pachinko trying to earn some of it back.]]

* [[spoiler:HiddenSupplies: Both sides of the Poker machine have a secret drawer that contains three Aces.]]

* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: All the named participants to the Human Derby are dead, Kaiji survives but has lost all of his money (and is further in debt), along with his left ear and left hand fingers. Meanwhile, the villain has won money, and has been entertained throughout the night.]]

* [[spoiler:ShaggyDogStory]]

* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding]]
** [[spoiler: Sort of, he finally pays of his debt and even earned more money than he needed, however, Endou's contract drains him of a huge chunk of cash and he blows the rest on pachinko trying to earn some of it back.]]

* [[spoiler:FaceHeelTurn: Miyoshi and Maeda, but it's justified; see WellIntentionedExtremist below.]]

* [[spoiler:SoreLoser: Muraoka, so much that even Kazuya can't believe it.]]
* [[spoiler:WellIntentionedExtremist: Miyoshi and Maeda did not betray Kaiji just because they could; [[PoorCommunicationKills due to a misunderstanding]], they thought ''he'' had betrayed ''them''.]]

* [[spoiler:EverybodyLives: What the ending of this gamble is, suprisingly. Mario and Chang are sentenced to death, and Kaiji spends his own money in an attempt to save them to the surprise of literally everyone that was in the room (including ''hinself''). This proves Kazuya's ideologies about the world wrong and infuriates him. ]]

* [[spoiler:BigDamnHeroes:Chang and Mario pull this off when they agree to gamble their own lives to save Kaiji, proving that they are the TrueCompanions Kaiji hoped they would be.]]