As someone who adores Kaiji and also enjoyed the Tonegawa spinoff, I was very optimistic going into this manga expecting the FKMT-esque presentation in some absurdist mundane setting. It turned out to be nothing like I actually described it but that is alright since it fulfills some level of expanding on the Kaiji mythos through exploring certain ideas dabbled in Kaiji but fully fleshed out here. If you wish we got to see Kaiji more in his daily life before he entered in and became the Ultimate Survivor, this manga serves well as a pseudo substitute to that desire.

Ichijou Seiya starts off as any other wide eyed Japanese highschool graduate moving to Tokyo to really experience the real world as he didn’t believe college was his calling. He’s actually fairly intelligent and competent but he shares a lot of traits with Kaiji in how they’re both stuck in a dead-end lifestyle while still trying to convince themselves that they will eventually mount towards something great. However, in comparison to Kaiji, Ichijou does indeed occasionally make slight productive improvements and gets quite critical of himself and others. Whereas Kaiji would be overtly naive and idealistic, Ichijou is very cynical and pragmatic which lends for a great parallel in the fact that this manga portrays how Ichijou is still living the life similar to Kaiji.

But the content of the manga itself doesn’t necessarily always link back to its origins of Kaiji. Sometimes it leans more heavily on a FKMT critique of modern society through the lens of zoomer culture with technology, memes, and its overt referencing of the trends the manga was made in, especially with the “sigma grindset” that's heavily championed by social influencers being incredibly apt for Ichijou’s personality. Other times, this story becomes a slice of life but with the subtext that Ichijou, a man born in his generation, is struggling within the confines of capitalism where ordinary mundanities are seen through the lens of a class critique.

Ultimately, despite being a FKMT spin-off it doesn’t always adhere to its origins tropes and is willing to do more light hearted stories that serve no thematic purpose of the overall message beyond its characters development. Sometimes not even related to Ichijou. I would honestly welcome some of this character drama in any other manga but it just doesn’t fit here. The FKMT artstyle just doesn’t work well with the narrative it's trying to sell sometimes and something like a romantic comedy just feels out of place in the Kaiji world.

I think if you like Kaiji and its spinoffs this is definitely worth a read, but temper your expectations as this is completely different from what I mentioned and that might be to its detriment. There’s still some great FKMT-isms in here that’ll make a reader experience the emotions you’d feel in his other works, but this is definitely trying to aim for something else with its element of relatability and cringe comedy humor. I like it though.