Kaiji S02E02 Review: Getting the Groove

Kaiji, Season 2, Episode 2: Rules of the Game

We finally get the gambling segment open, with a brief little exposition about the rules of the gambling nights of this workplace. The game this time around is Chinchirorin, otherwise known as Cee-lo, a classic Chinese/Japanese gambling game with three dice. As with most Kaiji games, we do get a fair bit of explanation and exposition in regards to the game -- Otsuki explains the rules, where players roll three dices, and two of them must be the same for the roll to count, with the odd die out being the 'score' taken. Three mismatched dice are counted as a loss (up to a maximum of three), with several special rolls -- 4/5/6 doubles your win, 1/2/3 doubles your loss, having all three dice with the same number triples the bet, with triple 1 giving you five times. Oh, and you can't have your dice fall out. Otsuki also notes the three special rules of "underground Chinchirorin", where the dealer's advantage is eliminated, anyone can pass being a dealer, and a dealer can only deal for two rounds. Again, all of these are nice to know, but aren't exactly relevant yet. 

It's a fun little setup, with Kaiji musing to himself that these people are likely to be "nobodies" compared to the bigwigs he's taken down in the first season. The first couple of rounds are basically shown to just be basic dice-rolling and pretty much nothing, with Kaiji getting some easy wins -- but the episode actually shows off just how bland the low-stakes gambling is, with the money being moved around not really being super exciting, with Kaiji himself acknowledging that the only real way to win big is to be the dealer. 

And, well, the stakes are basically too small for Kaiji, who ends up being numbed to all this. And as a gambling addict, it's pretty damn interesting to see this being explored, with the small 100-currency deals being more boring than anything. We get a fun well-animated bit with Kaiji describing winning big and losing big as being equivalent to burning with flames or freezing, which is actually pretty neatly animated, whereas at the moment Kaiji's just sort of numb to everything. Hell, he even passes as a dealer...

But when the dealer position passes to the nice-looking-man Miyoshi, Kaiji ends up throwing in a huge chunk of his funds, just to get the 'groove' of gambling. And, of course, despite Miyoshi rolling a one, Kaiji ends up rolling one of the worst possible rolls in the game, a set of 1, 2 and 3, meaning he loses double. This, of course, leads to Kaiji suddenly being quite literally electrified back to life, because, well, this is the thrill of gambling and all that. Overall, it's a very expositionary episode, but it does what it does well -- explore the mindset of someone that's truly addicted to gambling and just the sort of thrills he's searching for.