Gambling is one of the most entertaining industries in the world. So, it’s not a surprise that movie makers have taken advantage of this niche and made amazing productions based on gambling. From the Oceans collection to The Gambler, there is no shortage of gambling movies in the industry. What if you prefer animated series to movies, can you find an interesting animated series with gambling niches? The answer is yes. There are many amazing animated movies and series related to gambling and you can find them across industries, not just Hollywood. These animated films are as interesting and, in some cases, more interesting than live-action movies.
Top 5 Animated Productions About Gambling
1. Take a Hint From Saki Miyanaga the School Girl
Saki is a teenager who doesn’t like to hear or do anything related to a gambling game called mahjong. Apparently, she has had some negative experiences because of the game in the past and would prefer not to let it interfere with her life. The game addresses different aspects of gambling including gambling strategies, and the impact of gambling in schools. The 25-episode long show started showing on the 6th of April 2009 and the final episode was released on the 28 of September 2009. It is televised by Gonzo. While the last episode was aired over a decade ago, you can still find it to watch on Crunchyroll.
Despite Saki’s hate of mahjong, her schoolmate, Kyoutarou Suga, introduced her to the game. She ends up being better at the game and other players. She stands out due to her exceptional talent and the president of the club spots her talent and tries to nurture it. This anime teaches people how to get an edge over other players by studying patterns and using patterns of their own. It shows that winning or losing in gambling when you’re playing with other people depends a great deal on focus and observation. Saki uses this strategy to her advantage and eventually begins to love the game. This amazing anime was a hit thanks to the creative work of its writer Ritz Kobayashi.
2. Learn About Gambling Strategies With Akagi
Akagi was the animated version of a live-action series of the same name. If you don’t have access to Crunchyroll, you can look for Akagi on Netflix. This is another amazing gambling Anime that aired from 2005 to 2006, October 5th to March 29th to be precise. It teaches players the importance of strategies in gambling. All twelve episodes are amazing and viewers were disappointed when another season wasn’t released. The anime is set around the second world war. It depicts what life was like right after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing when Japan was trying to recover from the death and devastation.
A young boy called Shigeru Akagi is the protagonist of the anime. It is also about mahjong. This isn’t surprising since mahjong is among the most popular games in Japan. Shigeru Akagi is an amazing player who engages in a standoff with members of the Yakuza, the most popular traditional organized crime syndicate in Japan. Even if Akagi is a young man, he looks older than his age and has grey hair like an old man. He was a gambling genius before he was 13 but he showed empathy and tried to rescue Nangou. Nangou had a serious gambling problem and he dug a debt hole that was three million deep. Nangou wasn’t just in a cash depth, he bet his life in a game against the mafia because he had no way to pay off his debt. Thankfully, Akagi came right in time to save Nangou.
3. Learn About the Life of the Compulsive Gambler in Kakegurui
Another interesting gambling anime you can find on Netflix is Kakegurui. This also happens to be one of the most popular gambling series on and odd Netflix. The entire series consisted of 12 episodes and it aired from July to September 2017. It also happens to be about young people like many animated series. It is about students of the Hyakkaou Private Academy but the protagonist of the show is Yumeko Jabami. Yumeko Jabami transfers from her former school to the Hyakkaou Private Academy where she meets other intriguing students.
In school, students are not evaluated with English or math exams. They are evaluated by their gambling skills. The better you are at gambling, the more you will score in your test. Successful students will become gambling experts in the real world. The best gamblers in the school are praised and lord over the losers. The biggest losers are tagged as the house pet. While many other students focus on gambling as a tool to climb the social ladder, Yumeko Jabami is a compulsive gambler who does it for the thrills. Her passion makes her reckless and she begins to make enemies of students at the highest level of the school’s social structure. As the series progresses, the other students try to stop Jabami.
4. Become an Ultimate Survivor Like Kaiji Itou
You can’t honestly make a list about the best gambling anime without Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor. Ultimate Survivor is a fantastic and educational gambling series of 26 episodes. The first episode was released on the 3rd of October 2007 and the last episode was released on the 2nd of April 2008. The series also came to be popularly known as the Gambling Apocalypse and it is available to watch on Crunchyroll. Kaiji Itou was the main character in the series but Ultimate Survivor wasn’t his first appearance.
The character first appeared in 1996, in a print by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. Several other versions of the services were subsequently released with the latest one dating 2020. If you watch the first series, you’ll be propelled to watch all the others that follow. Kaiji Itou is tricked by someone into taking unnecessary risks and accumulating debts. Since he was usually drunk, it wasn’t difficult for the other person to trick him. When he realizes that he is in over his head, he decides to stop drinking and clear his debts by joining an illegal gambling program that was organized on a cruise ship. The story is especially inspiring to heavy drinks who have accumulated debt due to taking irresponsible risks. You will learn a lot from Kaiji.
5. Meet the Legendary Gambler Tetsuya
Tetsuya is another great gambling anime. It is based on the true-life story of Takehiro Irokawa, a legendary gambler who was unbeatable in mahjong. The protagonist of the series bears the same name, Tetsuya. The series was made up of 20 episodes that aired from 2000 to 2001. Tetsuya has a master who trains him for years. Eventually, he becomes better than his master.
He becomes great at using psychological tricks to win games against his opponents. Tetsuya is less of a talented gambler and more of a cheat. He doesn’t believe that there is anything wrong with cheating. In one of the scenes, he says that his actions only count as cheating if he is caught. Just like Akagi, Tetsuya is set after World War II. Tetsuya sees cheating as a winning strategy. Tetsuya isn’t the only professional gambler on the show that cheats. All the other gamblers cheat too as it was common in the post World War II Japan. It is important to note that not everything about the series reflects the life of Takehiro Irokawa. Some things were added to spice it up but you’ll get the gist from the show.
All these gambling animes are great. You don’t need to sacrifice one for the other. You can watch all of them and more if you have a thing for gambling anime. Some can be found in Netflix and the others on the world’s largest anime library, Crunchyroll. A deep Internet search will show you more exclusive reviews about each anime if you’re still not certain if they are right for you. Always remember than animes are not for children alone. Some Japanese animated series are even rated 18. So, there is a big difference between an animated series and cartoons. You don’t need to be ashamed or feel bad because you love watching any anime about gambling.
