Kaiji/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alas, Poor Villain: While he doesn't die, the Roasting Kneel counts for Tonegawa. As much of a rat bastard as Tonegawa was, it's hard not to feel a bit of sympathy for the man when Hyoudou forces him to hold his hands, knees and face on a plate of hot coals for ten seconds.
    • In series 2: Ichijou. Being sent to an underground labour camp for 1050 years can't be fun.
  • Anvilicious: Don't rely on luck, never resort to magical thinking, and for the love of God, quit while you're ahead.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: In Chapter 7 of Series 3, we are left on a cliffhanger with Kaiji staring at a box of Uno cards in a way that suggests it may be the next game. The President talks about it in a way that also suggests it, but Kaiji quickly declines, and by the third page of Chapter 8, it is a distant memory, never to be mentioned again.
    • Some of the Proverbs of Kaiji segments in season 2 come off as this, due to the way said proverbs can sound out of contenxt.
  • Bishounen: Ichijou (in-universe, of course).
  • Complete Monster - Kazutaka Hyoudou.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome - Too many to count.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny - Mikoko's picnic with Kaiji in the third series; the scene was so popular that they based the second anime season's ED of it.
    • Pretty much every time Sakazaki talks about his daughter.
    • Otsuki's Villainous Breakdown; he waves his fists around and shouts NO COUNT over and over again. His lackey and friend Numakuwa gives him a tired look that just screams "wow, he really has lost it this time".
    • Muraoka suggesting UNO as the game for his gamble with Kaiji in series 3; the fact that it's the last page of a chapter combined with Kaiji's over-the-top reaction makes it look like some kind of bizarre Cliff Hanger.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming - The entire finale to series 2.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome - Oh yeah, tons of it. Wish, Kaiji's Theme, This World III, Beginning, Transparent, Law Breaking Theme, Bassment, Max Zawa and Hakairoku Theme to name a few.
  • Ear Worm - It's near impossible to get Numa out of your head.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse - Mikoko Sakazaki has become really popular on the Internet, which the creators are apparently aware of. Tonegawa also qualifies because of his Badass speeches on society, and for being a Magnificent Bastard in general. Then there's the narrator...
  • Faux Symbolism - The finale of the first series uses this to some extent.
  • Ho Yay - Murakami's undying loyalty to Ichijou has made them a popular pairing among fans. Kaiji is commonly paired with Endou, Kazuya, Sahara, or Ichijou.
    • No Yay / Foe Yay - Between Hyoudou and Kaiji. The former drools at the sight of the latter in pain.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Tonegawa. Despite having cheated his way through the E-Card game, in the end he still comes off as noble and ultimately badass. Even more so Hyoudou.
  • Memetic Molester - Hyoudou. Let's leave it at that.
  • Memetic Mutation - Aaaaandooooooouuu!
    • I hate it! (He hates it!)
  • Nightmare Fuel - Teiai Corp.'s various torture devices as well as the second half of the Brave Men Road arc.
  • The Scrappy: The number of people who unironically like Andou can probably be counted on one hand. To a lesser extent, Furuhata.
  • Tear Jerker - The death of Ishida in series 1 and, only one episode later, Sahara.
  • Ugly Cute - Some find Mikoko to be this.
  • The Woobie - Some will argue that the whole point of this series is to see Kaiji lose tremendously, get back up in an inspiring and heart-winning manner...then lose even more tremendously. In the end, you just want to give him a hug or buy him some drinks after all that's happened to him (losing scads of money, betrayal and bullying, maiming, losing his comrades, being forced into slave labor, being harassed by a girl he doesn't like...the list goes on). Many fans will argue that Kaiji is indeed "moe", or moeGAR.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Kaiji/YMMV?oldid=1540540"