Kaiji S02E07-08 Review: Fixed Dice

Kaiji, Season 2, Episode 7: Magic Dice;  Episode 8: Retribution

I'm covering two episodes in one go because of how closely-knit these two are. No real idea how I'm going to do subsequent episodes of Kaiji. I'll alternate between the two-episode and one-episode format as is more convenient, in any case.

Anyway, we start off episode seven with a huge,  huge focus on Otsuki, who basically thinks that whatever the case is regarding whether Kaiji caught on to his game, he's just trying to become a legend. We get the bit of an introdump to the creation of Otsuki's magic custom job dice, which are three dice with only 4, 5 and 6 painted on them. Otsuki's going to use them only when they really need it, guaranteeing at least anything from a 4 and above with the off-chance of getting a 4/5/6 and triples, while Otsuki's goons will be responsible for swiping away the magic dice whenever they win. It's actually not a bad way to cheat, with the justification of three sides being visible at any point, and the fact that the dice doesn't actually guarantee a win.

And the entirety of the seventh episode is just mind-games with Otsuki trying to roll with regular dice, afraid that Kaiji has deduced how he cheats, and it's glorious to see him self-destruct as he keeps second-guessing and second-guessing himself. Does Kaiji know? If he does, why doesn't he make a move? Or is he just trying to psych him out? Is he oblivious? Does he not know the exact methods of the cheating? We get a hilarious bit where Otsuki ham-handedly tells Kaiji that he's going to get a 4-5-6 combo, and Kaiji refuses to break his poker face, whereas the 'ghost' or the 'spirit' of Otsuki suddenly pops out screaming bloody murder. And then Otsuki basically realizes that Kaiji's plan might be to use the sheer amount of money on the line to make it look like he's on to Otsuki's cheating methods, and that fact would deter Otsuki from actually cheating.

So for the final roll, Otsuki uses the cheating dice... at which point Kaiji suddenly reacts not when the dice have stopped moving, but the very moment before -- leaving episode 7 at a cliffhanger.

Episode 8 starts off with a logical segment of Otsuki and his goons beating the shit out of Kaiji, but he refuses to budge, shouting about how the foreman uses loaded dice. At this point, a different foreman comes in (wand the reason Kaiji raises so much fuss to gather people around is apparently to bank on this?) and checks... to find out that, yes, Otsuki's dice are actually modified. Otsuki stammers out some bullshit justification about how if he had the fixed dice to cheat,  he would've used them all the time... but then Kaiji explains to the huge crowd about the mechanics of the magic dice, as well as how he realizes just when Otsuki is going to use the loaded dice -- it's to see if he is watching the dice or watching Kaiji's eyes.

Otsuki also realizes that he was pushed over the edge to ensure a win due to Kaiji himself causing the foreman to really hate him with stuff like throwing a beer in his face, and all the abuse being given by Otsuki just causes him to want to give an extra heaping of said abuse onto Kaiji.

Otsuki then tries one desperate yell for a 'do-over', because it doesn't count, and then gets beer cans thrown in his face. Kaiji smirks and says about how "yeah, you can continue, but we'll also use our own special dice". Otsuki had assumed that, yeah, if everyone uses the 4-5-6 dice, they'll at least have a decent chance of winning fairly... but the way Kaiji words it, "using our own special dice", means that he's apparently prepared a dice with one painted on every face. And Otsuki just can't find any way out of this with him not really finding a leg to stand on or be 'fair'. The Forty-Fivers win the round... at which point Otsuki decides he's done for the day, but Kaiji, wanting him to feel ULTIMATE DESPAIR, says that his turn as dealer isn't done yet. Dealer deals twice, after all!

Pretty fun little story arc, for sure! I'm not sure if the honestly more lower-stakes of the dice arc makes it any worse than the first season's truly-high-stakes games, but I dunno -- the rivalry between Kaiji and Otsuki at least is really well-executed. And that's really where Kaiji shines. Not in the uniqueness of the story because this is basically the Espoir story with the specifics of the game and the victory swapped around, but in the execution. Good stuff.