Kaiji S02E24 Review: Jet Stream Attack

Kaiji, Season 2, Episode 24: Meandering Silver Balls

Apparently, it's an air vent that surrounds the final hole, which is... interesting, for sure! I'm not sure just why Ichijou is just such a moron to misplace the remote, but I guess they've truly gone complacent. And no matter how many balls Kaiji's shot into the third plate, the jet streams keep knocking them away and the only hope is to hope that the balls bounce onto each other with enough force to knock them over the jet stream... and even when that happens, it doesn't actually get the ball in.

Teiai enforcers show up and basically get ready to arrest not only Kaiji, but Endou as well... and Kaiji panics. After some obviously brusque comments, he utterly breaks down, wanting to just call it a draw, buy back the remaining balls that he hasn't used, and buy at least him and Endou out of debt from the Teiai companies. Kaiji is utterly desperate, defeated by the jet stream, but Ichijou refuses to entertain the thought, and Kaiji just... just breaks.

And it's clearly Kaiji's lowest point, as he's just so utterly defeated, with no real way to come back, no final observation, and most importantly -- no more money. It's a great showing from him. He's dead broke, and this series have shown that it's very much willing to punish Kaiji even when he does well, since this is a gambling show after all. After all, the first season did end in a downer ending of sorts. And this could lead to a final set of two episodes of either a final gamble against Hyodou, or simply a downer ending and Kaiji has to claw his way back out... maybe? It's definitely not a good look for Kaiji. Endou is desperate for Kaiji to find some ridiculous way to get out, but he can't even do so, at least not at this time. And to see the gambler absolutely broken and disheartened, after his utter confidence these past few episodes... it's certainly a great cliffhanger.