The second season of Kaiji is almost just as good as the first, but it makes you breathe harder than after doing the FitnessGram Pacer test in that last arc. Everything that made the 1st season good is carried over in the next. The art is still cool looking, the music is great, the narrator is just as annoyingly dramatic, and Kaiji is still gambling to survive. Although, if I thought that season was slow sometimes then wow, I was not prepared for this one. But before I get to that, I want to talk about the things I really like about this season.

I think that the development of the plot and characters was cool. I enjoyed how people like the 45s and Ichijou are brought in to build the world more. The scope and severity of Teiai's tyranny was only introduced in season 1, but season 2 picks this right back up through these aspects. The debtors underground have an interesting hierarchy going on where people mercilessly feed off each other and lose their minds which shows us how much scarier Teiai's influence is. And while Ichijou has a lot of power managing the casino and running people dry, he's still oppressed by Hyodo and also has his own pride to hold as an individual. I also liked how the only games Kaiji played were purely based off luck. I feel like it's a small but neat detail to emphasize the uncertainty and risk that determines whether Kaiji leaves or stays in debt hell.

My main nitpick is as obvious as can be and that the Bog arc just feels way too sluggish. I don't mind that Kaiji sits his ass in front of a pachinko machine for like 11 episodes. I think that the mere thought of it is funny and I do enjoy the strategies that developed, which made me think of it as more than a game of pure luck. I also think that the entire length of the arc is fine as long as there were interesting developments, but the one thing that threw me off was how much Nobuyuki baited the win. I'd say I was pretty engaged the entire time especially when I thought Kaiji would get it, but then he would be like one touch off and that really tried my patience. I don't know if I have any other ideas to substitute though, and I'm guessing that the pacing felt less wringing in the manga. Although, I'm not too upset about the entire stretch since I enjoyed everything else a lot.

In short, if you really liked the 1st season then I would definitely recommend the 2nd. It has everything lovable about Kaiji and even more. I feel like there isn't as much spotlight on Kaiji's character, but there's other elements that go to put Teiai's villainy into a broader perspective. You just have to be prepared to play it in the long con... For longer.