Anime series about gambling are becoming increasingly popular among gambling enthusiasts worldwide. Here are five of the best shows to watch today.
Gambling can be a fun way to get entertained at any casino, including Ice Kaszinó, whether you win or lose money. It’s a high-stakes battle of brilliant minds in which everyone tries to cheat, bluff, or trick their way to success at the table.
Every good gambling narrative involves high tension, high stakes, and credible characters prepared to put their lives on the line for a better tomorrow. And to add to the fun of gambling, anime has several intriguing gambling series you can feast your eyes on.
In the following post, we’ll review five of the best anime shows about gambling. Watch intriguing characters experience the good, bad, and ugly side of gambling in these top gambling anime.
Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
Arguably the world’s number-one anime gambling series, Kaiji’s hype is unbelievable, to say the least! The show revolves around Kaiji, who has little going for him in life. He, indeed, spends most of his time stealing hubcaps and getting drunk. His already humdrum existence gets even worse when an ex-colleague tricks him into taking out an almost insurmountable debt.
To get out of the debt, Kaiji must join an outlawed gambling gang on a cruise ship. He has one aim only – to get out of trouble alive and in one piece. But considering all the mind games, lies, and cruelty involved, does this seemingly hapless fella stand a chance?
Kakegurui
Kakegurui is one of the most popular anime gambling shows of all time. The entire Netflix series revolves around the gambling manga show that Homura Kawamoto wrote. The story unfolds in a high school known as Hyakkakou Private Academy, where students are graded based on only their gambling skills.
As weird as it may sound, Hyakkakou Private Academy’s goal is to mold future professionals and leaders based only on their capacity to outwit their peers in various gambling games. In the show, students bring their own cash to school, where they eventually become successful or fail and become subjects of the rest.
One Outs
One Outs is probably the perfect example of why the Japanese are traditionally obsessed with baseball, a game that’s originally from North America. In this show, all schools in Japan have taken it upon themselves to produce top baseball talent. Among these talented future stars is Toua Tokuchi, the main protagonist in One Outs. A professional athlete but a careless gambler at heart, Tokuchi is recruited by Hiromichi Kojima for Saikyou Saitama Lycaons.
Excellent at the One Outs game, Tokuchi shows potential and promises to take the fast-fading team to the highest level. But the team’s owner, Tsuneo Saikawa, is wary of too much success for his team as he’s plotting ways to generate more revenue. When approached to make sure his team deliberately loses, Touchi responds by saying he’ll make Saikawa an irresistible offer. For each “Out” Toua pitches, he’ll earn 5 million. But each run he forgoes will cost him 50 million!
This whole anime gambling series about baseball may seem premeditated. However, there are plenty of plot twists that should keep you on the edge of your seat!
Death Parade
Death Parade is a top dark anime theme that can mess with your mind. It centers on Decim, an accomplished bartender with a poker face dealing with the afterlife. His mission is to judge folks depending on their real-life experiences through various intense gambling games. After that, he decides if one will be reborn or their soul will permanently disappear into the void.
Decim initially appears quite expressionless. But as Death Parade progresses, his personality starts to evolve. Overall, Death Parade is a fabulous TV series about high-stakes games and gambling that reveal the true nature of people and how dark one can get.
Akagi
Mahjong is undoubtedly one of the most popular gambling games among families and friends in Japan. However, Akagi is one anime gambling narrative demonstrating how Mahjong can turn into a dark game in the hidden corners of society. Nangou is a gambling freak who has sunken into an ocean of debt. While desperately trying to get out of it, he lands in a load of trouble. Sadly, rather than winning, Nangou edges ever closer to death each time he gambles.
When all hope is seemingly lost, a guy running away from the police appears out of thin air. His name is Shigeru Akagi. In a bid to turn the situation around, Nangou hands Akagi the game after teaching him some of its rules. Initially, the mafia underestimates Akagi’s ability to play the game. But they soon realize they made a big mistake.
Shigeru Akagi, the main protagonist in this show, is invincible. That’s his biggest asset, and throughout the series, he fights the mafia for survival and money. That’s why he’s on his way to becoming a legend!
Final Bet: Dark and Light Sides of Gambling in Anime Stories
While anime themes don’t usually revolve around gambling, those that do make for super fascinating stories. From Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor to One Outs and Akagi, there are dozens of interesting anime shows to binge-watch.
Whether you like taking risks or not, be sure to watch at least one of the shows above. You’ll thoroughly enjoy each one of them, we promise!
