is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. The story centers on Kaiji Itō, a consummate gambler, and his misadventures around gambling. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from 1996 to 1999, and has been followed by five series: Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji (2000–2004); Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji (2004–2008); Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: Kazuya-hen (2009–2012); Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: One Poker-hen (2013–2017); and Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: 24 Oku Dasshutsu-hen (since 2017). As of December 2023, the overall Kaiji series has been collected in 91 volumes. In North America, the first series was licensed for English release by Denpa, being released in a six-volume omnibus edition, with the first volume published in 2019. Manga Planet also licensed the first series for digital release in 2020.
The first two manga series were adapted into two anime television series of 26 episodes each, produced by Madhouse and broadcast on Nippon TV; Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor aired from October 2007 to April 2008, and Kaiji: Against All Rules aired from April to September 2011. Crunchyroll added both titles to its catalog in 2013, while Sentai Filmworks licensed them in 2020.
Kaiji has also been adapted into a series of live-action films, directed by Tōya Satō and starring Tatsuya Fujiwara as the titular protagonist. The first film, Kaiji, premiered in October 2009; the second film, Kaiji 2, premiered in November 2011; the third film, Kaiji: Final Game, premiered in January 2020; a fourth film, Kaiji: Jinsei Revenge Game, is set to pemiere in January 2027. A more loosely adapted Chinese live-action film, titled Animal World, starring Li Yifeng and Michael Douglas, premiered in June 2018. The series has also spawned three spin-off manga series; Mr. Tonegawa, 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchō, and Jōkyō Seikatsuroku Ichijō.
By October 2023, the Kaiji manga series had over 30 million copies in circulation. In 1998, Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji received the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award for the general category.
Plot
Japan, February 1996. Three years after graduating high school and moving to Tokyo in search of employment, Kaiji Itō struggles to secure steady work. Consumed by despair, he spends his days in his apartment, indulging in petty pranks, gambling, alcohol, and cigarettes, while obsessing over his financial woes. His life takes a dramatic turn when he is visited by Yūji Endō, a loan shark seeking repayment of a debt Kaiji had co-signed for a former co-worker. Endō presents Kaiji with a choice: either repay the debt over ten years or gamble aboard the ship Espoir (French for 'hope') for one night to settle it. Manipulated by Endō's deceit, Kaiji reluctantly agrees to the gamble, with Endō confident he will never return. However, Kaiji survives the night and is invited to another gambling event at Starside Hotel. Initially hesitant, he is persuaded by his acquaintance, Sahara, to participate. After emerging as the sole survivor of the event, Kaiji seeks to avenge the fallen participants by entering a new gambling match, "E-Card", organized by the shady financing corporation, Teiai Group. Despite losing an ear, he defeats Yukio Tonegawa, Teiai's second-highest executive. Kaiji then wagers his winnings in a high-stakes game against Kazutaka Hyōdō, Teiai's president, but this time loses both his money and four fingers.
After surviving the events at Starside Hotel, with his ear and fingers reattached, Kaiji is left with a debt exceeding ¥9.5 million. He contacts Endō, hoping to participate in another high-stakes gamble, but Endō deceives him, sending him to Teiai's underground labor camp to work off his debt for 15 years. At the camp, Kaiji is initially paid 91,000 perica (equivalent to ¥9,100) per month to dig an underground kingdom, but his earnings are halved to 45,000 perica after losing to Tarō Ōtsuki, a site foreman, in a game of "Underground Cee-lo". Kaiji eventually allies with other "Forty-fivers" (those earning 45,000 perica monthly) to defeat Ōtsuki, and earn enough for a one-day outside pass. Using multiple passes, Kaiji escapes the labor camp with ¥800,000, but has only 20 days to earn ¥60 million to secure his freedom and liberate the other Forty-fivers. He encounters Kōtarō Sakazaki, an indebted man who informs him of a high-stakes pachinko game called "the Bog", located at a Teiai-owned casino. Despite the game being rigged by Seiya Ichijō, the casino manager, to prevent payouts, Kaiji devises a strategy to beat the Bog, and in collaboration with Sakazaki and Endō, they win over ¥700 million. As a result, Ichijō is sentenced to the labor camp for 1,050 years to repay the lost funds. After paying off his debt and celebrating his victory, Endō drugs Kaiji and confiscates most of his winnings, as repayment of the loan used in his strategy to win the Bog, leaving him only enough money to free the Forty-fivers.
Months after clearing his debt, Kaiji lives with Sakazaki and his family until he is forced to leave with ¥3 million. Kaiji then assists former Forty-fivers Miyoshi and Maeda in challenging a casino president, Takashi Muraoka, at his rigged mahjong game, "Mine Field Game "17 Steps"", with the potential to win over ¥100 million. After losing money, Kaiji discovers the game is manipulated in Muraoka's favor, with Maeda secretly relaying his tiles to Muraoka and Miyoshi sending false signals to Kaiji. Kazuya Hyōdō, son of Kazutaka Hyōdō, loans Kaiji funds to continue playing. Through a stroke of luck, Kaiji eventually defeats Muraoka, winning ¥480 million. Kazuya invites Kaiji to gamble with him, revealing his cynical and ruthless nature, as well as his disdain for humanity. To test his beliefs, Kazuya devises a life-or-death game called the "Salvation Game", involving three indebted friends—Mario, Chang, and Mitsuyama—to determine if their bond is genuine. Kaiji observes the game, urging the trio to defy Kazuya's bleak worldview. However, Mitsuyama ultimately betrays his friends, seizing all the money involved in the game, and abandoning them to their fate. Kaiji intervenes to save Mario and Chang, and before proceeding to a warehouse for his own gamble with Kazuya, he asks them to join and support him in defeating Kazuya.
Kaiji and Kazuya engage in a high-stakes game called "One Poker". After several intense matches—during which Kaiji nearly dies—he ultimately defeats Kazuya. In an act of compassion, Kaiji, aided by Mario and Chang, save Kazuya from death. While Kazuya remains unconscious, the trio escapes with ¥2.4 billion. Upon discovering what happened, Kazutaka Hyōdō orders his men and Endō to pursue the trio and recover the money. Kaiji, Chang, and Mario evade capture, but soon realize they are being relentlessly hunted by an army of Teiai debtors. Facing constant danger, Kaiji resolves to leave Japan permanently after Chang and Mario return to their respective countries.
Gambles Series 1
The gambling tournament aboard the Espoir has a 50% survival rate. Participants receive war funds ranging from ¥1,000,000 to ¥10,000,000 as loans with 1.5% interest compounded every ten minutes during the four-hour voyage. Contestants retaining funds until arrival owe 140% repayment, incentivizing early game completion. Any excess beyond the repayment amount may be kept. The game adapts rock paper scissors using twelve cards (four of each gesture) and three plastic stars as betting collateral. Losing players surrender one star per round. To succeed, contestants must retain all three stars while playing every card. Discarding cards results in immediate disqualification. Matches conclude rapidly, often within seconds. Winners exchange surplus stars for cash in an upstairs lounge, while losing participants are escorted away by staff.
The Starside Hotel gamble comprises two stages: and . Unlike previous challenges, contestants receive no prior explanation of the rules. Participants begin in numbered "coffins" elevated to a platform above a concrete courtyard, where they must cross four narrowing steel beams. The first two finishers win ¥20,000,000 and ¥10,000,000 respectively. Physical contact with the beams results in disqualification, while pushing between contestants is permitted and encouraged for spectator betting purposes. Falls frequently cause severe or fatal injuries. Winners receive time-limited prize coupons redeemable by crossing electrified beams 75 meters above ground. The electric current, while non-lethal, induces stunning that often leads to fatal falls. The challenge's psychological difficulty increases due to a barely visible glass stairway at the endpoint, requiring contestants to make a blind leap to complete the crossing.
E-Card (Emperor Card) is a simplified social allegory card game featuring three card types: , , and . The Emperor defeats Citizen, Citizen defeats Slave, and Slave defeats Emperor, mirroring societal power dynamics. Each match pits an Emperor-side player (4 Citizens + 1 Emperor) against a Slave-side player (4 Citizens + 1 Slave). The disadvantaged Slave side receives fivefold winnings due to lower victory odds. The game consists of 12 matches divided into 4 sets of 3 rounds, with players alternating sides. Each round requires playing one card from the five-card hand. When Kaiji lacked sufficient funds, he faced the option of forfeiting an eye or ear as collateral.
Unlike the other gambles, this gamble is made by Kaiji himself. After completing E-Card he prepares to leave the hotel but then steps on a tissue box and notices that its sides are open, which he finds fascinating. Upon further investigation of the box Kaiji decides to challenge Hyōdō to a raffle gamble with the tissue box as the container for the lots made of small torn squares of paper towel. The winning piece had a circle drawn on it.
Series 2
A variation on the dice game, Cee-lo, this game was crafted by Ōtsuki, the foreman of Kaiji's work team in the underground labor camp. Notable rule variations include that the dealer is not fixed and each player can take a turn as dealer. However, each player may opt to pass their turn as dealer, but if they agree to play dealer, then they must be dealer two consecutive times.
An elaborate pachinko game in a high-stakes casino featuring a payout of 100% of the earnings from the machine. Taking this into consideration the house has set up state-of-the-art countermeasures to ensure victory; such as tightening the nails to ensure only 1 in 100 balls go in, using flippers to knock away balls, and tilting the three bottom plates to prevent any balls dropping through the winning holes. Previously only two people have ever beaten the Bog; Hyōdō and Tonegawa. Each ball is worth 1000 times more than a normal pachinko machine, ¥4000 (around $39), but the payout is 100 million balls. When Kaiji first comes across the Bog the jackpot is ¥550 million but when he plays it, the jackpot has risen to over ¥700 million.
Series 3
A variation of Japanese Mahjong where the game is played by two players who make their best hand from a random draw of 34 tiles. Players do not draw a tile as usual, but instead take turns discarding the 17 leftover tiles from the 34 tiles used to build their hands. Because no tiles are drawn, a hand can only be won by declaring ron on a winning tile discarded by the opponent. A winning hand must reach or higher in order to be valid. If neither player achieves ron after 17 turns, the game becomes a draw, the tiles are reshuffled, and the current wager is doubled.
Series 4