Why I watched this show?

So, I have watched the show "Kaiji-Ultimate Survivor"
The reason I watched this show was because I saw some Youtube Video on CyberSecurity with Kaiji in the Thumbnail
The character design was pretty different from the ones we see in the anime but it still looked like one from the anime
I had some free time and was scrolling to see for any good shows and I happen to see the same character on HiAnime
And so it was time to give it a watch

How the Show set up its Formula and Kaiji himself?

I started watching Kaiji-Utlimate Survivor without any information about the Background of the Show
The 1st episode of the show started, the starting was slow and was setting up next few episodes, nothing much to make one invested in it
And then it started with the Gambling Ship, the show itself shows the Kaiji is naive as he is fooled by the debt collector in thanking him for having to keep a seat for him on the ship, being careless about being the loan collector of his co-worker which caused him to have the debt in the first place

And soon enough, Spoilers ahead, he is on the Ship and had a sure enough way of getting any Debt
The game shows the rules of the game-Total 12 cards with 4 each of Stone, Paper and Scissors
So, if someone else agrees, they all can simply draw their matches within ten minutes, have their three stars and have no debt on the money they borrowed before the start of the show
But soon enough, Kaiji is taken advantage of, from a person who actually tells him he is a repeater on the ship
And Kaiji knew that and yet still trusted him, thus show establishing him as naive
Why a person who knows that the money they borrow will have interest added after every 10 minutes and still take the maximum amount along with coming on the ship in the first place?
And then after this, the real show begins

The show already establishes him to be a risk-taker
Kaiji still remains naive in his character like trusting Ando who used up a card even without thinking even when they tried to stop him
But Gambling is just the stage and the Mind-games are the payoff and even the payoffs are great

Apart from the Mind games?

There are emotional scences in this show too(2 of them), I won't spoil it for you

(Spoilers)Things from which I am slightly disappointed from the Show

But in the end, during the final gamble, Kaiji taking uncesseary risk with the Director, being not able to see the crumbled winning lot, matter of fact, the same Kaiji who sensed How Tonegawa was cheating, felt wrong with the violence being increased to bit
The payoff of the whole season, being able to grant the wish of Ishida, the Kaiji in the finale left it all
This Kaiji was different from the one we see throughout the season
He never suspects Director to be so confident, had his 20 million and still took a bigger risk and failed to see something so obvious, it was not what the Kaiji who fought with Tonegawa would have done

I mean show wanted to show when Kaiji is confident and how gambling becomes his downfall
Being so confident because this time he was the one setting up the trap, but the ending with his fingers cut was brutal

My Final Thoughts

Except that the show is pretty good
The opponent Kaiji faces are not Dumb like other shows, they reason their moves and also have their own strategies running
Tonegawa, the Paper hoarding group and Funai played all great along with their decisions being actually having reasoning behind it
The main character is not the only one scheming and they so we have these variables going behind the main play of the mind games
Although later in the show, the number of variables decrease but the show is still enjoyable upto the end of E-Card

So, in the end, If you want to see mind games just like Death notes but the opponent changes just like Boss battles in games as one progress, this will be a good show to watch
In Death note, death note is the main stage/the thing which starts the events, here debt of Kaiji and gambling will do the part, all the mind games will be great to see