Line #16 YMMV/Kaiji


1	* AccidentalAesop: Although it's long since moved past it thanks to SerialEscalation, the first arc also serves as a cautionary tale reminding readers and viewers to not co-sign for a loan that you can't pay off yourself.
2	* {{Anvilicious}}: The manga keeps driving the point to not rely on luck. The gambling industry is ''not'' trying to help you. It only wants your money and ''will'' take advantage of your hopes and desperation.
3	* ArcFatigue: Can happen at times. Most notable during the Bog Machine arc due to the gambles of that arc revolving around a pachinko machine, which takes away the face to face confrontations that make the other arcs so exciting.
4	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Oh yeah, tons of it.
5	** The anime has ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meBzDGG7WeU Wish]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRes2_wZE4 Kaiji's Theme]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhNm19gVw60 This World III]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njUrn6wbc2I Beginning]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6AcB1eJfHs Transparent]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQzkQmxmieU Law Breaking Theme]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P62vPjg7DBg Bassment]]'', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcGHbsDLyz4 Max Zawa]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAlXRgcPHlc Hakairoku Theme]]'' to name a few.
6	** Yugo Kanno of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' and ''Anime/PsychoPass'' fame was the one to helm the three live-action films, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W83F1jHehJ4 his main theme]] just fills you with hope for our protagonist to achieve a victory of some magnitude.
7	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In Chapter 7 of Series 3, we are left on a cliffhanger [[spoiler: 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]].
8	** Some of the ''Proverbs of Kaiji'' segments in season 2 come off as this, due to the way said proverbs can sound [[ItMakesSenseInContext out of context]].
9	* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Kazutaka Hyōdō]] is a {{sadist}}ic and {{greed}}y monster of a man who orchestrates many of the horrors in the story to satisfy his own depraved love for seeing others suffer. Taking advantage of gamblers and other people in deep debt, Hyōdō offers them the chance to win their way out of debt by engaging in a variety of "games" that range from harmless card activities to tightrope walking across high buildings on electrified posts. Hyōdō forces the participants to risk body parts, organs, and even their very lives in service of his challenges, ensuring that the dozens of losers of his games either die in the process or are [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaved]] and worked in horrible conditions for years or until death, and [[BadBoss doles out similar punishments to his own minions for often absurd reasoning]]. Hyōdō also subjects even the loyal [[TheDragon Yukio Tonegawa]] to burning his head on a boiling plate for [[YouHaveFailedMe failure]]; [[TheCorrupter corrupts]] his son Kazuya into becoming a similar monster as himself; and schemes to one day hold the key to survival for all life on Earth, planning to only save those who can pay him or who he will find amusement in tormenting.
10	* CryForTheDevil: Kaiji himself [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope for [[spoiler: Kazuya]] at the end of the One Poker arc, [[spoiler: lamenting his wish to [[IJustWantToHaveFriends be around other people he can trust and be friends with]]]]. The audience is further shown the moment in his childhood where he loses all trust he has in other people, [[spoiler: when his mother chooses to save his brother instead while they're both drowning]]. The real {{Tearjerker}} is that [[spoiler: it was a big misunderstanding.]]
11	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Averted. While the gambling is very entertaining to watch, Kaiji so often ends up losing everything he won, frequently ending up worse than how he started. It hardly is presented as something worth imitating.
12	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Mikoko Sakazaki has become really popular on the Internet, which the creators are apparently aware of. Tonegawa also qualifies because of his badass [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech speeches]] on society, and for being a ManipulativeBastard in general. Then there's the [[Creator/FumihikoTachiki narrator]]...
13	* FauxSymbolism: The finale of the first series uses this to some extent.
14	* JerkassWoobie: Hiromitsu Ishida is quite rude and unpleasant with how he constantly tells Kaiji that his plans to excape are pointless, but he's still meant to be sympathetic and one of the big questions of the Bog arc is if he'll be able to improve himself. [[spoiler:Thankfully, at the end, the 45'ers put their money together to buy his freedom]].
15	* HilariousInHindsight:
16	** During the Brave Man's Road gamble, Tonegawa compares the participants' refusal to take the situation seriously with them pretending to be in a virtual reality. Years later, the gamble itself received a video game adaptation. In Virtual Reality. A trailer for the game can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jctWLThMFDo here]].
17	** It's never explicitly stated what happens to people who get sent to the other room aboard Espoir. The Playstation 1 Kaiji game takes a guess in its game over, [[spoiler: showing people getting strapped down on a restraining table [[CruelAndUnusualDeath and chopped up to sell their body parts for profit]]]]. Years later in Part 3, it turns out Kazuya uses the exact same method to make people repay their debts to him.
18	* HoYay: Murakami's undying loyalty to Ichijou has made them a popular pairing among fans.
19	%%** Kaiji is commonly paired with Sahara, Endou, Kazuya, [[FoeYayShipping Tonegawa, or Ichijou]].
20	* MemeticMolester: Hyoudou. [[{{Squick}} Let's leave it at that]].
21	* MemeticMutation: [[spoiler:Aaaaandooooooouuu!]]
22	** I hate it! (He hates it!)
23	** ざわ。。ざわ。。ざわ。。(ZAWA... ZAWA... ZAWA...) [[labelnote:Explanation]]A japanese onomatopoeia meaning uneasy atmosphere, used ''a lot'' both in manga and anime (to the point of being incorporated into soundtrack). Basically, an equivalent of ゴゴゴゴゴ from Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure. Expect a lot of those being thrown around whenever somebody discusses the series. [[/labelnote]]
24	** Comparing Taro Otsuki's resemblance to UsefulNotes/HugoChavez is pretty common.
25	** "''Series/SquidGame'' before ''Series/SquidGame''![[labelnote:Explanation]]The premise of people in debt due to horrible economic conditions agreeing to compete in a DeadlyGame is very ''very'' similar to Squid Game - with some people not realising Kaiji actually came first.[[/labelnote]]
26	** Related to the above, people familiar with the series have often imagined Kaiji in other [[DeadlyGame Deadly Games]] to imagine how he would beat them.
27	* NauseaFuel:
28	** Sakazaki [[BringMyBrownPants wetting himself after losing all his money to the Bog.]] Bog players have to sit barefoot on a pile of all the prize balls, so one can only imagine what it smells like by the time Kaiji takes on the Bog at the end of the arc.
29	** One of Hyoudou's hobbies is to force his subordinates to drink wine from a bowl after he's done something very unhygienic, such as licking up some of the wine with his tongue or standing barefoot in the bowl.
30	* NightmareFuel: Has its [[NightmareFuel/{{Kaiji}} own page]], because it ''seriously'' deserves one with the horrors shown.
31	%%* NoYay: Between Hyoudou and Kaiji. The former ''drools'' at the sight of the latter in pain.
32	* {{Padding}}: Way more than even your usual primetime game show. Even ''Series/DealOrNoDeal'' can't compare.
33	* TheScrappy: The number of people who unironically like Andou can probably be counted on one hand. To a lesser extent, Furuhata.
34	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: With most (if not all) Kaiji's victories being either temporary or [[PyrrhicVictory too nominal and costly to be celebrated]], and most losses resulting in permanent injury or unrecoverable consequences, many viewers wonder if it's reasonable to cheer for a protagonist who appears to be doomed from the start. The story starts to become more optimistic in the later parts, as Kaiji begins to succeed in his goals more and more, giving viewers the idea that he may actually stand a chance thanks to his willpower and morality.
35	* UglyCute: Some find Mikoko to be this.

Context YMMV / Kaiji