Kurosaki: You must be dreaming. You have two weeks to sing to your heart's content above ground. Like a cicada out of season.
Kaiji: I will win. I promise.
Kaiji: I will win. I promise.
Kaiji 2: The Ultimate Gambler is a film adaptation based on the manga of the same name, which was written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, and a sequel to Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler. It was released on the 5th of November, 2011, and it is the second instalment in the Kaiji trilogy.
Kaiji Itō (Tatsuya Fujiwara) has been forced into the Teiai Corporation's underground labor again because of another debt, despite having paid one already through a perilous series of challenges. There, a dice game allows him to return to the surface for 14 days with one mission: win 200 million yen to permanently free himself and 25 fellow workers. His salvation? A Teiai casino called "La Mare Au Diable" Translation, where 'The Swamp' stands. This rigged, unbeatable pachinko machine holds a ~1 billion yen pot, and Kaiji will need the help of new friends, old enemies and everything in between to beat the system... before it beats him.
This film is followed by Kaiji: Final Game.
Kaiji 2: The Ultimate Gambler contains examples of:
- Arc Words: "You've got to push to survive", or variants thereof.
- Call-Back:
- After Yumi betrays Kaiji, Tonegawa and Sakazaki, Tonegawa calls her a "snake" for working with Ichizo. This alludes him calling Kaiji the same thing during 'E-Card', as well as what Kaiji called him when he proclaimed his victory.
- Before Kaiji and Tonegawa part ways, Tonegawa suggests a game of 'E-Card', which was the last game in the previous instalment.
- The Cameo: Funai, the man who tried to trick Kaiji in 'Restricted Rock Paper Scissors', appears as the announcer of 'The Princess and the Slave'.
- Central Theme: Friends, and how one uses them. Kaiji firmly believes that no one should be left behind in Teiai's underground labor, and hence makes it his mission to win enough money to set them free. He even affirms that friends are more important than any currency in the end. Ichizo firmly believes that friends can only be used so that one may obtain higher positions in life. He believes this because he had to kill people in 'Brave Men Road', because others thought he was trying to push them off. As for Tonegawa, he's a mix of the two. He only becomes Kaiji's friend to trick him into thinking he blew up their shares of 'The Swamp''s prize money, when that was actually counterfeit and he had the combined sum of money all along. His final scene has him sarcastically saying that Kaiji has friends, showing how he only used his "friendship" with Kaiji to fulfil his personal revenge.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: When Kaiji suggests to Tonegawa and Sakazaki face 'The Swamp' a second time by betting all their money, Tonegawa objects giving his up and leaves. However, when Kaiji and Sakazaki fail again, Tonegawa relents with 10 million more yen, continuing the game.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Tonegawa's three pieces of advice given to Kaiji during their Shogi game becomes this for 'The Princess and the Slave', when he reminds Kaiji to push the right button with "determination"."One... courage. Two... guts. Three... determination."
- An unknown person is seen digging a hole until light comes in and he smiles. That person was Tonegawa, who was trying to dig into the vents of Ichizo's office and make 'The Swamp''s Section C ball size bigger.
- The first contestant playing 'The Swamp' is seen inserting a special credit card in the Teiai ATM, giving him 10 million more yen. When Tonegawa returns and uses that same method to aid Kaiji and Sakazaki, he tells Ichizo that "[he] shouldn't have issued this card to employees". Logically, it hints that anyone working for Teiai would be in possession of the card, like Yumi. Who uses it to fuel Kaiji's game with more money after Tonegawa's contribution fails as well.
- Tonegawa's three pieces of advice given to Kaiji during their Shogi game becomes this for 'The Princess and the Slave', when he reminds Kaiji to push the right button with "determination".
- The Ending Changes Everything: The movie's final plot twist of the movie makes us view a certain character's actions through a different light. Tonegawa's Heel–Face Turn was a ruse, done to get a big sum of money for himself. He played along with Kaiji's plan to beat 'The Swamp', and then made him believe that he blew up the two's shares with a car bomb. As a result, he has Kaiji's and his own sums of money, with a bonus of him finally getting even with Kaiji over his 'E-Card' loss a year ago.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Kaiji fails on the second attempt for 'The Swamp', he is contemplating this loss... until he looks down at the drainage ducts and has an idea for the next try. His face is one of surprised glee.
- Fake Defector: Yumi pretends to defect to Kaiji's side when him, Sakazaki and Tonegawa attempt 'The Swamp' a second time, so that she can record their attempts to sabotage the machine itself. This fails.
- Foreshadowing:
- Ichizo's monologue about "push[ing] to survive" and "knocking off others to secure your seat" hints at his past in getting into Teiai's high positions: the Brave Men Road challenge had him literally shoving several people off a long height. It's even more blatant when Yumi, in her Motive Rant, says that "[she doesn't] want to be the one pushed off the ledge".
- When Ichizo washes his hands in his office, the water levels fluctuate, causing him to blame the building's infrastructure. He wasn't far off, as Kaiji and Tonegawa used the building's water supply to fill twenty 1,000-litre water tanks on the seventh floor for 8 hours, cancelling 'The Swamp''s hidden forward tilt.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Tonegawa's 'E-Card' loss took a toll on him. His appearance throughout the movie is far from the sharp-dressed man he was in the previous film. While in a homeless shelter, his rants about losing fall on deaf ears, with one passerby shoving him over to shut him up. His new job at Teiai isn't better off either, since he carries out menial tasks for Teiai, like being a human chair for Ichizo.
- I Fight for the Strongest Side!: This is Yumi's reasoning for working with Ichizo: she believes that 'The Swamp' will always take down any player. However, when she starts to witness Kaiji, Sakazaki and Tonegawa actually beating the many obstacles implemented in that game, she eventually joins them.
- Motive Rant: After Yumi betrays Kaiji a second time, he asks her why she would stoop to an act so low. She responds with this:Yumi: To move ahead, you have to let others fall. I don't want to be the one pushed off the ledge! I refuse to end up like my stupid father! Working like a sewer rat. Scuttling around every day, soaked in grease. Stupidly honest, weak-willed and gullible. Bowing to his creditors. No wonder he died a pitiful, miserable death. It's laughable. A LAUGHABLE LIFE! I, FOR ONE, DON'T PLAN ON REPEATING IT. (Giggles) What I created was Kaiji. You.
- The Power of Friendship: The one thing fuelling Kaiji's struggle against 'The Swamp'. Even when Ichizo wants to declare the game a tie in the third act, Kaiji will have none of it, giving a speech about this trope.Kaiji: The guys underground who pinned their hopes on me... and everyone above... are more valuable than any prize money. I can win because of them. Even over this infernal 'Swamp'!
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In an unusual case, Kaiji gives one towards 'The Swamp', a pachinko machine, during the game's final stretch."They're all here pushing. Supporting my weight, making me a winner. SO GIVE IT UP! ALL THE MONEY, LIVES AND SOULS YOU'VE GOBBLED! HOPE, DESPAIR, TEARS! SPIT IT OUT! Go... GO!"
- Unfolding Plan Montage: This occurs during Sakazaki's hidden magnet plan against 'The Swamp'.
- You Killed My Father: Yumi believes that Kaiji killed her father, Ishida, when we know it was anything but.
