History Awesome / Kaiji

** The machine itself has pins arranged so neatly that they ''just'' let a small number of balls toward the jackpot, which is then guarded by flippers that can be computer-controlled to deny the entry of any balls. To counter this, he uses a two-fold KansasCityShuffle: He gets Sakazuki to damage the machine and cause a ruckus so that he can sneak into the staff office. Ichijou thinks that Kaiji's after the money, but Kaiji was after information -- the knowledge that the maintenance tools are conveniently under an air vent. By damaging the machine and forcing maintenance, he can swap the replacement flippers with faulty ones and gradually sabotage the maintenance tools to modify the pins without Ichijou noticing.

** The actual conclusion is incredibly intense: Kaiji runs out of ideas and is stuck in a deadlock, unable to pass through the curtain of air that surrounds the last hole. Right as the black suits of Teiai try to take him, he desperately yells out for someone, ''anyone'', to lend him money to keep playing. [[BigDamnHeroes In comes Sakazuki]], who delivers a [[ShutUpHannibal verbal smackdown to Ichijou]], and with enough money to allow Kaiji to literally flood the trays of the Bog. Despite the entire machine being rigged from start to finish, Kaiji manages to defeat it through sheer brute force and enough tenacity.

* The BOG presents many awesome moments. The most notable is Kaiji finding an easy way to ''tilt a damned BUILDING''! Now that's pure genius.

** "Sit the fuck down. You're dealing again." - Kaiji

* [[spoiler: Ishida's death is a tragic example. In a world where everyone is willing to backstab one another to further themselves except Kaiji, Ishida, on his literal last legs, gives Kaiji his ticket for 20 million yen and asks that he uses it to help his wife. Afterwards, as he falls to his death, he gives his entire might to prevent himself from screaming, enduring unfathomable mental pressure to keep quiet as he plummets to his death all so that Kaiji might have a better chance. It is this moment that proves integral to Kaiji's future faith in humanity and his own decency. A more subdued example, but perhaps the most beautiful and tragic version of a determinator we see in the series. Because even if he gave in to his fear and fell to his death, he had the will to at least make his death as dignified as possible.]]

* [[spoiler: Ishida's death is a tragic example. In a world where everyone is willing to backstab one another to further themselves except Kaiji, Ishida, on his literal last legs, gives Kaiji his ticket for 20 million yen and asks that he uses it to help his wife. Afterwards, as he falls to his death, he gives his entire might to prevent himself from screaming, enduring unfathomable mental pressure to keep quiet as he plummets to his death all so that Kaiji might have a better chance. It is this moment that proves integral to Kaiji's future faith in humanity and his own decency. A more subdued example, but perhaps the most beautiful and tragic version of a determinator we see in the series.]]

* [[spoiler: Ishida's death is a tragic example. In a world where everyone is willing to backstab one another to further themselves except Kaiji, Ishida, on his literal last legs, gives Kaiji his ticket for 20 million yen and asks that he uses it to help his wife. Afterwards, as he falls to his death, he gives his entire might to prevent himself from screaming, enduring unfathomable mental pressure to keep quiet as he plummets to his death all so that Kaiji might have a better chance. It is this moment that proves integral to Kaiji's future faith in humanity and his own decency. A more subdued example, but perhaps the most beautiful and tragic version of [[Determinator a determinator we see]].]]

* [[spoiler: Ishida's death is a tragic example. In a world where everyone is willing to backstab one another to further themselves except Kaiji, Ishida, on his literal last legs, gives Kaiji his ticket for 20 million yen and asks that he uses it to help his son. Afterwards, as he falls to his death, he gives his entire might to prevent himself from screaming, enduring unfathomable mental pressure to keep quiet as he plummets to his death all so that Kaiji might have a better chance. It is this moment that proves integral to Kaiji's future faith in humanity and his own decency.]]

** In the first, Kaiji has realized that the device that pushes a drill deeper into his ear with each loss is also sending his vital signs to Tonegawa, allowing Tonegawa to predict his moves. [[spoiler: After a violent fit in the bathroom, Kaiji returns to the game clutching his bandaged ear, the device still mostly transmitting data. Tonegawa, at a point where Kaiji is visibly panicked but it doesn't match up with his vitals, assumes he is bluffing. He is not. Kaiji cut his ear off and the vital signs he was seeing was of the man who was holding it for him, costing Tonegawa the match.]]
** In the second, Tonegawa removes the watch that displayed those vital signs and relies on pure skill. However, as the game continues, he notices some of Kaiji's cards have bloodstains on them. [[spoiler: He quickly deduces that the ones with stains are the ones he played in the previous round, and that therefore the Slave card will have blood on it. Just as he is about to play a Citizen, which would kill the slave, he hesitates. At that point, he remembers a move Kaiji had made to suggest that he had swapped the Slave with one of his Citizens. Doing this to trick Tonegawa into thinking that the Slave was out when it was really a Citizen. Elated, Tonegawa plays the Emperor...only for it to be revealed that it really was the Slave and that Kaiji had FAKED swapping the cards. When Tonegawa, [[VillainousBreakdown who is on the verge of losing his shit]] angrily demands to know why Kaiji did that, Kaiji replies that [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Tonegawa, who prides himself on being above people like Kaiji, would never have missed the moves Kaiji had made.]]]]
* Tonegawa gets a villainous one. [[spoiler: After losing to Kaiji in E-card, he is forced to kneel on a heated steel plate for ten seconds. It is established that no one has been able to do this under their own power, and usually has to be forced to do it by an outside force. Tonegawa throws off the men who were about to force him down, and proceeds to kneel on the plate by himself for the whole ten seconds. The guy is a monster, but you have to admire the willpower that took.]]

* The BOG presents many awesome moments. The most notable is Kaiji finding an easy way to [[spoiler: ''tilt a damned BUILDING'']]! Now that's pure genius.
** The actual conclusion is incredibly intense: [[spoiler:Kaiji runs out of ideas and is stuck in a deadlock, unable to pass through the curtain of air that surrounds the last hole. Right as the black suits of Teiai try to take him, he desperately yells out for someone, ''anyone'', to lend him money to keep playing. [[BigDamnHeroes In comes Sakazuki]], who delivers a [[ShutUpHannibal verbal smackdown to Ichijou]], and with enough money to allow Kaiji to literally flood the trays of the Bog. Despite the entire machine being rigged from start to finish, Kaiji manages to defeat it through sheer brute force and enough tenacity.]]
* The third series' game, 17 Steps / Minefield Mahjong, features Kaiji at perhaps his most desperate yet. In order to fool Director Muraoka, a cowardly, hypocritical cheater, he decides to take a massive gamble by [[spoiler:''allowing'' him to cheat extensively and even take a picture of the whole game's tiles save for Kaiji's hand by going to the bathroom, knowing he wouldn't resist the opportunity to cheat. Kaiji then reveals he set up a ''fake Haku'' two rounds prior and mixed them into the game, again, knowing Muraoka would use process of elimination to find out what hand Kaiji had, and fooling him into dealing his own Haku, giving Kaiji the pair he needed to win 160 Million Yen. On top of that, he gets a massive Dora bonus through pure stroke of luck that triples his winnings. In doing so, he ends up winning 480 million yen, and [[VillainousBreakdown reducing Muraoka to a gibbering pile of nerves who wets his pants]].]] The whole game is a massive case of IKnowYouKnowIKnow, as this last gamble is dangerous enough that a single mistake would have easily killed him.

* The third series' game, 17 Steps / Minefield Mahjong, features Kaiji at perhaps his most desperate yet. In order to fool Director Muraoka, a cowardly, hypocritical cheater, he decides to take a massive gamble by [[spoiler:''allowing'' him to cheat extensively and even take a picture of the whole game's tiles by going to the bathroom, knowing he wouldn't resist the opportunity to cheat. Kaiji then reveals he set up a ''fake Haku'' two rounds prior and mixed them into the game, again, knowing Muraoka would always opt to make the safest move. In doing so, he ends up winning it all, and [[VillainousBreakdown reducing Muraoka to a gibbering pile of nerves who wet his pants]].]]
** In general the whole game is a massive game of IKnowYouKnowIKnow, as this last gamble is dangerous enough that a single mistake would have easily killed him.

** In the second, Tonegawa removes the watch that displayed those vital signs and relies on pure skill. However, as the game continues, he notices some of Kaiji's cards have bloodstains on them. [[spoiler: He quickly deduces that the ones with stains are the ones he played in the previous round, and that therefore the Slave card will have blood on it. Just as he is about to play a Citizen, which would kill the slave, he hesitates. At that point, he remembers a move Kaiji had made to suggest that he had swapped the Slave with one of his Citizens. Doing this to trick Tonegawa into thinking that the Slave was out when it was really a Citizen. Elated, Tonegawa plays the Emperor...only for it to be revealed that it really was a Citizen and that Kaiji had FAKED swapping the cards. When Tonegawa, [[VillainousBreakdown who is on the verge of losing his shit]] angrily demands to know why Kaiji did that, Kaiji replies that [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow Tonegawa, who prides himself on being above people like Kaiji, would never have missed the moves Kaiji had made.]]]]

* The third series' game, 17 Steps / Minefield Mahjong, features Kaiji at perhaps his most desperate yet. In order to fool Director Muraoka, a cowardly, hypocritical cheater, he decides to take a massive gamble by [[spoiler:''allowing'' him to cheat extensively and even take a picture of the whole game's tiles by going to the bathroom, knowing he wouldn't resist the opportunity to cheat. Kaiji then reveals he set up a ''fake Haku'' two rounds prior and mixed them into the game, again, knowing Muraoka would always opt to make the safest move. In doing so, he ends up winning it all, and [[VillanousBreakdown reducing Muraoka to a gibbering pile of nerves who wet his pants]].]]

* Finding an easy way to [[spoiler: ''tilt a damned BUILDING ?!'']] Now that's pure badass genius.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ0_ywZIm-0 The intro to season 2]] is one giant CMOA. While this troper is no fan of the band playing the song, the video manages to capture ''everything'' he loves about Fukumoto's works. They even managed to put in a cameo of [[Manga/StrongestLegendKurosawa Kurosawa]]!

* The finale to Underground Chinchiro. [[AwesomeByAnalysis By realizing Ohtsuki would be looking at Kaiji's hands, waiting for him to grab the 4-5-6 dice since he would naturally think Kaiji would grab the dice if he knew they were cheats, Kaiji discerns that the first two dice rolls were made using legitimate dice since Ohtsuki was looking at Kaiji's eyes.]] Even after Kaiji grabs the dice and exposes the 4-5-6 dice on the third roll, he gives in to Ohtsuki's desperation to [[ExactWords "play using loaded dice" and "sharing with each other"]]. Ohtsuki accepts, thinking he'll at most lose 1 million Perica. Then Kaiji and gang busts out their ''own'' trio of dice: completely covered in ones, meaning '''Ohtsuki has to pay quintuple'''. One 2.5 million Perica payout later and he tries to limp away to lick his wounds...Until Kaiji reminds him that ''the dealer deals twice in Underground Chinchiro.'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard A rule Ohtsuki implemented to help him cheat.]] In one night, Kaiji earns 18 million Perica, completely and utterly ruining Ohtsuki. When it's do or die, '''you do '''''not''''' [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK]] with Kaiji.'''

* Finding an easy way to [[spoiler: ''tilt a damned BUILDING ?!'']] Now that's pure {{Badass}} genius.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ0_ywZIm-0 The intro to season 2]] is one giant CMOA. While this troper is no fan of the band playing the song, the video manages to capture ''everything'' he loves about Fukumoto's works. They even managed to put in a cameo of [[StrongestLegendKurosawa Kurosawa]]!

* The finale to Underground Chinchiro. [[AwesomeByAnalysis By realizing Ohtsuki would be looking at Kaiji's hands, waiting for him to grab the 4-5-6 dice since he would naturally think Kaiji would grab the dice if he knew they were cheats, Kaiji discerns that the first two dice rolls were made using legitimate dice since Ohtsuki was looking at Kaiji's eyes.]] Even after Kaiji grabs the dice and exposes the 4-5-6 dice on the third roll, he gives in to Ohtsuki's desperation to [[ExactWords "play using loaded dice" and "sharing with our own"]]. Ohtsuki accepts, thinking he'll at most lose 1 million Perica. Then Kaiji and gang busts out their ''own'' trio of dice: completely covered in ones, meaning '''Ohtsuki has to pay quintuple'''. One 2.5 million Perica payout later and he tries to limp away to lick his wounds...Until Kaiji reminds him that ''the dealer deals twice in Underground Chinchiro.'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard A rule Ohtsuki implemented to help him cheat.]] In one night, Kaiji earns 18 million Perica, completely and utterly ruining Ohtsuki. When it's do or die, '''you do '''''not''''' [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK]] with Kaiji.'''

* The finale to Underground Chinchiro. [[AwesomeByAnalysis By realizing Ohtsuki would be looking at Kaiji's hands, waiting for him to grab the 4-5-6 dice since he would naturally think Kaiji would grab the dice if he knew they were cheats, Kaiji discerns that the first two dice rolls were made using legitimate dice since Ohtsuki was looking at Kaiji's eyes.]] Even after Kaiji grabs the dice and exposes the 4-5-6 dice on the third roll, he gives in to Ohtsuki's desperation to [[ExactWords "play using loaded dice".]] Ohtsuki accepts, thinking he'll at most lose 1 million Perica. Then Kaiji and gang busts out their ''own'' trio of dice: completely covered in ones, meaning '''Ohtsuki has to pay quintuple'''. One 2.5 million Perica payout later and he tries to limp away to lick his wounds...Until Kaiji reminds him that ''the dealer deals twice in Underground Chinchiro.'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard A rule Ohtsuki implemented to help him cheat.]] In one night, Kaiji earns 18 million Perica, completely and utterly ruining Ohtsuki. When it's do or die, '''you do '''''not''''' [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK]] with Kaiji.'''

* The finale to Underground Chinchiro. [[AwesomeByAnalysis By realizing Ohtsuki would be looking at Kaiji's hands, waiting for him to grab the 4-5-6 dice since he would naturally think Kaiji would grab the dice if he knew they were cheats, Kaiji discerns that the first two dice rolls were made using legitimate dice since Ohtsuki was looking at Kaiji's eyes.]] Even after Kaiji grabs the dice and exposes the 4-5-6 dice on the third roll, he gives in to Ohtsuki's desperation to [[ExactWords "play using loaded dice".]] Ohtsuki accepts, thinking he'll at most lose 1 million Perica. Then Kaiji and gang busts out their ''own'' trio of dice: completely covered in ones, meaning '''Ohtsuki has to pay quintuple'''. One 2.5 million Perica payout later and he tries to limp away to lick his wounds...Until Kaiji reminds him that ''the dealer deals twice in Underground Chinchiro.'' [[{{Irony}} A rule Ohtsuki implemented to help him cheat.]] In one night, Kaiji earns 18 million Perica, completely and utterly ruining Ohtsuki. When it's do or die, '''you do '''''not''''' [[PrecisionFStrike FUCK]] with Kaiji.'''

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xy__9e6H30 The intro to season 2]] is one giant CMOA. While this troper is no fan of the band playing the song, the video manages to capture ''everything'' he loves about Fukumoto's works. They even managed to put in a cameo of [[StrongestLegendKurosawa Kurosawa]]!