Gambling Apocalypse: KAIJI, Volume 3

by Nobuyuki Fukumoto

Having escaped the Espoir, Kaiji returned home with debts over than six-million yen still hanging over his head. The life-threatening experience has motivated him to change his ways. But real opportunities for advancement in the mid-nineties are hard to come by. Japan's financial bubble has burst as the country's economy has recently collapsed.

Kaiji, now working part-time at a convenience store, resents society for his lack of prospects. So when approached with an opportunity to make some big money quick, Kaiji decides he'd rather take his chances than toil away at dead-end job for the rest of his years.

Genres: Manga, Thriller

544 pages, Paperback

Published December 14, 2021

About the author

Nobuyuki Fukumoto (福本伸行 Fukumoto Nobuyuki) is a Japanese manga artist well known throughout the Far East for his unique and original gambling ideas, deep psychological analysis of characters and distinct artstyle. Yakuza and gambling are recurring themes in his manga. In English speaking countries, he is known best as the author of Akagi, a mahjong-related manga. In 1998, he won the Kodansha Manga Award for Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji. An onomatopoeia "zawa" (ざわ…), meaning an uneasy atmosphere, appears frequently in his comics and is considered Fukumoto's trademark.
In June 2010, he visited Finland as a guest of honor for Desucon.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The degree to which Squid Game ripped this off is criminal. Maybe literally. They took so much from this manga and just fully repurposed it with big, bright colors, it’s basically just an unauthorized adaptation. This volume really slams that home. There are differences in pacing and character, but the core premise and so many of the ideas are *identical* to Squid Game. Reading this has honestly made me lose a massive amount of respect for Squid Game (not that the second and third seasons deserved any anyway).

In any case, this volume is a minor step down in terms of tension from the previous two, but still a solid setup for more death game horror. Sad to learn this entire series has not been translated into English!

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Review covers books 3 & 4**

This arc sees Kaiji being recruited for yet another mob-run high stakes gambling game to eliminate his debt from the proceeding experience on the cruise ship. This time the tournament in question revolves around escalating tight rope games, where contestants must walk narrow beams or fall to their death (amongst other threats).

It was fun getting to rejoin this series, as I remembered the tone and focus feeling so distinct. The first volume was such a unique mix of high stakes tension and oddly intricate tactics exploration that I hadn't found much elsewhere. While this arc doesn't quite provide that latter contribution, it certainly does the former with some white knuckled drama and even adds an interesting philosophical detour or two to the formula. The narrative was sadly a little less fresh due to the core gimmick being adapted into Squid Game but there are still enough fun differences in context and direction to make this enjoyable on its own.

The art in this series was never really my jam, nor that offensive either but this arc had some pretty playful compositions. That being said, the lighting "eureka moment" background gets old pretty quickly, especially without as much tactics / reading people going on in this arc.

[Alex Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best thrillers you'll ever read, and maybe the best ever examples of an artist having a character say the most evil shit imaginable and saying to society "this is what you believe right? This is what we all believe? This is how we've organized our society. You see that right?"

Good as hell.

[Vincent Mollica]

❤️ (MARKER: End of part 3)

[David Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part 1 of the Human Horse Race/Brave Man’s Road arc. Less game theory focused and more about pure capitalism.