Gyakkyô burai Kaiji

- Season 1

(2007)

Kaiji learns about his debt from endou 'a loan shark' and must decide if he wants to take up endou's proposal about gambling.

Aboard the Espoir, Kaiji finds himself with hundreds of people who also have debts. "Restricted Rock Paper Scissors" is announced as the gambling event that will be played by Kaiji and the other debtors on board the ship.

After being tricked by Funai, Kaiji meets the former co-worker who got him into debt, Furuhata Takeshi. Kaiji teams up with him and finds another person to join their team, named Ando Mamoru. Kaiji comes up with another plan to win.

With only ¥14 million and no cards, Kaiji begins to think strategically. He comes up with a plan to monopolize the game by first acquiring 30 Rock cards. But another group thought of the same strategy. Kaiji then challenges their leader.

Kaiji challenges Kitami to a Rock Paper Scissors death match. Kaiji successfully guesses which card he has and beats him, winning 3 stars. He then hatches a plan of buying out all 30 Paper cards held by the Kitami group.

Kaiji buys out the Kitami group's Paper cards. Funai offers Kaiji a deal to trade his star for a few cards, but Kaiji refuses. With everyone's hand is being leaked, Funai proposes that they should reshuffle the cards, ruining Kaiji's plan.

The Rock Paper Scissors gambling event is nearing its end and Kaiji's group is forced to join Funai's idea of reshuffling. However Funai cheats to lower Kaiji's chances. Kaiji now prepares to challenge Funai, who is holding 9 stars.

Kaiji challenges Funai to a final match. Funai is reluctantly accepts the unfair wager. After winning, Kaiji gives the 5 new stars and the money to his team, trusting that they will get him out from the dark room in the buy-sell period.

Ando betrays Kaiji by selling his extra star and it doesn't take long for Furuhata to desert him as well. After Kaiji finding his way out, he confronts his former allies. With his new wealth, Kaiji buys the freedom of another man, Ishida.

Kaiji was able to survive the event, but is left with a new debt of ¥6,295,000. Four months later, Kaiji is working at a convenience store, still in debt and poverty. One night, Endo appears before him, offering a chance to clear his debt.

Kaiji accepts the invitation to the next gambling event, the "Human Derby", where the entrants must cross a high, narrow beam to reach their goal. Soon, the contestants realize they must push the one in front of them off the beam to win.

Kaiji decides not to push the player in front of him to win, and gets disqualified. The survivors must participate in "Electrified Steel Beam Crossing" to collect their winnings or, like Kaiji, compete for one remaining bonus ticket.

Ten people including Kaiji volunteer to cross the electrified beam bridge. Kaiji tries to have their morale lifted, and they begin to cross the beams, but the demon of fear grabs hold of them and two soon falls to their deaths.

The remaining 8 wants to give up but Tonegawa ignores their pleas of mercy. Soon, only Kaiji, Sahara and Ishida remain. Before he falls, Ishida hands his ticket to Kaiji to give to his wife. Sahara panicking, and begins to run.

Sahara gets to the other side, but falls to his death afterwards. Kaiji takes a glass staircase and wins, but Tonegawa declares his ticket void. The Chairman intervenes and offers Kaiji an opportunity to play E-Card for ¥100 million.

Tonegawa explains the rules of E-Card. They are simple, but the odds are against Kaiji, who will be betting his hearing. After the instrument is attached to his ear, the game begins. In the 1st round, Kaiji wins the first two hands.

In the 3rd hand of E-Card, Tonegawa wins, saying that the true psychological battle has just begun. In the next 3 rounds, Kaiji draws on the 1st hand but loses the 2nd, shaking his confidence. But the beginning of the 2nd round is a draw.

The 2nd round of the E-Card game continues with Kaiji trying to find a weakness in Tonegawa. He makes a large bet 10mm on the 3rd hand, but loses. The game continues, leaving 4 matches to play and only 4mm before his eardrum is pierced.

The 9th match begins. Kaiji changing his play at the last moment. The chairman punishes Tonegawa for losing, making Kaiji suspicious. He realizes that they are cheating. Now confident, Kaiji bets 18mm, risking more than just his hearing.

Having figured out Tonegawa's method of cheating, Kaiji throws a violent fit in the bathroom to attempt to defeat the sensors in his ear. Too late, Tonegawa realizes Kaiji's trick, who now challenges him for the 12th and final round.

The final match of E-Card begins and Kaiji decides to go for another life-or-death gamble, as he is determined not to leave without winning ¥20 million. The round begins as Kaiji is about to pull his last trick.

Kaiji manages to beat his opponent. The Chairman takes pleasure in forcing Tonegawa to bow, pressing his head onto a red-hot griddle for 10 seconds. Kaiji realizes that the real demon is the sadistic Chairman, and swears to defeat him.

In the restroom the survivors use tissues to stop the bleeding from Kaiji's damaged ear. The tissue box gives Kaiji an idea for a kind of rigged lottery. With all preparations met, he heads out to challenge the Chairman to one more gamble.

The Chairman accepts Kaiji's challenge and gets convinced the to accept the idea of a Tissue Box Raffle. However, the Chairman places three conditions. Reluctantly, Kaiji accepts, and the game begins.

Preparations for the Tissue Box Raffle are complete. The Chairman is first to draw a lot, and takes a long time with his selection, but he draws a blank. Kaiji takes his turn, but he cannot find his hidden duplicate winning lot.

The Chairman draws the winning piece, and Kaiji prepares to have his fingers severed. As Kaiji departs with his severed body parts in a bag of ice, he realizes how experienced and cunning Chairman Hyodo is. However he still wants revenge.