498 – Manga in Motion 61 – Inu-Oh
Seamus returns to derail us with butter talk! We discuss Black Clover, VERSION, Rokyo Bakuto-den Soga, and more! Then, we explore Masaaki Yuasa‘s revisionist rock opera, Inu-Oh for a new episode of Manga in Motion!!!
Continue reading482 – One Shot 69 – Hen Kai Pan
Seamus is back! He talks about pro wrestling shows and convenient stores from his trip to Japan! We discuss if manga makes us feel dumb! Then we return to the amazing art of Eldo Yoshimizu by examining Hen Kai Pan!!!
Continue reading393 – Triple Dip 61 – The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa!, Sunrise Snack Bar, Ragna Chronicle
Seamus is back so we’re doing a Triple Dip based on series from Manga Planet Library! We’ll be checking out The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa!, Sunrise Snack Bar, and Ragna Chronicles! We also discuss My Summer of You, Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu, and the end of Golden Kamuy and Chi. ~Chikyu no Undou ni Tsuite~!!!
Continue reading392 – Morgana’s Manga Makeup 4 – The Fable, Crocodile Baron, Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji
This week dakazu and his wife have been watching SPY X FAMILY, Komi Can’t Communicate, and Black Clover! He also finds a contender for best manga of the year with Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo! Then launch into a very Darfox-centric edition of Morgana’s Manga Makeup by revisiting The Fable, Crocodile Baron, and Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji!!!
Continue reading365 – One Shot 44 – Gogo Monster
October Extravaganza continues with Night 3 as we do a One Shot on Taiyo Matsumoto’s Gogo Monster! dakazu also read the end of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, watched Ranking of Kings, talks about Kamen Rider with Tojima Tanzaburo wa Kamen Rider ni Naritai, and rants about Spotted Flower and Shimoku Kio!!!
Continue reading318 – One Shot 31 – Venus in the Blind Spot
We’re wrapping up October Extravaganza with the master of manga horror himself, Junji Ito! We’re reviewing his latest collection of spooky stories in Venus in the Blind Spot! Join us as we discuss our favorite stories from the book and share our admiration for Ito himself!!!
Continue reading293 – Yu Yu Hakusho part 2
This week Darfox is finally ready to read Gambling Apocalypse: KAIJI while Seamus and dakazu discuss the unpredictable changes in To Your Eternity! Then we continue our Retrospetive review of Yoshihiro Togashi’s Yu Yu Hakusho as Yusuke and the gang fully transition into shonen battle manga antics!!!
Continue readingGambling Apocalypse: KAIJI
A manga about a deadbeat man who falls deeper and deeper into a spiral of debt and gambling where the stakes keep growing.
We’ve discussed this book on an older episode.
I have a hard time recommending KAIJI to new readers because if you’ve never seen Nobuyuki Fukumoto‘s art work, you’d be shocked at how bad it looks. But while Fukumoto can’t even consistent draw body proportions correctly, I and millions of other are drawn to his manga because of his amazing storytelling.
Fukumoto cut his teeth on various mahjong manga where he effectively used bluffing and cheating tactics that lead to dramatic comebacks. KAIJI takes it a step further with various original gambling games that force our protagonist to struggle through betrayal, loss, and redemption. It’s entertainment at its finest.
If the art is keeping you from checking out the English edition from Denpa, you can always check out the excellent anime adaptation.
~dakazu
Ichinichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchou
A lighthearted spin-off of Gambling Apocalypse: KAIJI that follows foreman Ootsuki as he leisurely enjoys his 1-day vacations from the underground debt labor camp.
Compared to Mr. TONEGAWA: Middle Management Blues this spin-off is not purely a comedy. Sometimes the foreman just has a nice time eating good meals and other times he gets into some wacky adventures with his two underlings. I personally like this spin-off more.
My favorite part of this manga is that whenever the series needs to take a short hiatus from it’s serialization in Young Magazine, there’s a page that shows the foreman’s saving are depleted along with the message “We need to save up more money before we can go on another 1-day vacation!”
~dakazu
Mr. TONEGAWA: Middle Management Blues
A comedy spin-off of Gambling Apocalypse: KAIJI that follows the hardships of Yukio Tonegawa as the 2nd in command of an evil corporation run by the crazy old coot Kazutaka Hyoudo.
My initial reaction to this was “another spin-off?” but I was shocked at how great this is. Taking the aspects of KAIJI and turning them on their head for laughs works amazingly. The creators Tensei Hagiwara & Tomohiro Hashimoto do a perfect copy of Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s art style and storytelling. I laughed so hard at the parody of the inspirational ‘Brave Man Road’ monologue that I was crying.
The anime adaptation is even better with the narrator being my favorite character. If you’re a fan of KAIJI than you should definitely check it out!
~dakazu