As I have watched the Season 1 and what words Kaiji said at the end, it was obvious that anyone who watches S1 complete will have to see the Season 2. Right from the start, here the S2 starting episode sets up the sequence of events which will go forward throught S2.
In S1, we have seen how the initial episode set up the whole Season. The episode establishes that though Kaiji may waste all of his life, he wasn't the one who landed himself in trouble. The adventure over the ship as not because Kaiji was a gambler, he didn't walked on the pole from one building to another because he wanted to and neither did he played E-card just because he loves to gamble, he was there because of his financial situation. And that happened because of his carelessness or more like how naive he is as established in Season 1 by his initial interaction with Endo himself. But you will see that Kaiji in S1 is on run as obvious it is, on meeting Endo he asks him for where he can gamble. That was a pretty big change in his character which was never established throughout S1. He had been in his position because of his circumstances, but no, S2 sets up him as a gambler. The reason for finding Endo could have been set up as Kaiji asking someone he can trust in his situation, but no, he is just a straight up Gambler.
And the next thing I want to mention is that we have seen multiple games Kaiji played, though in some he just faced them on the spot and went through all of them, in 2nd Season, there are only total of 2 games and 2nd one is stretched a lot. And in terms of Quality, Gambling is now the stage and luck is always involved. Kaiji the person who was in S1 ending, he thought all his actions with his game with director, even he had a chance to win against the director only if he used his thinking to see through the Director's perspective, is all thrown out of the window. He not only sees the problem with his plans on the spot, but now for every stage, he first depends on luck(though there are only 2) or sees someone else perspective involving luck for the main part, then sees through the stage and comes up with his own plan, which still has luck in play. S2 really shows Kaiji being in his situation because of his own fault. Although, I am not dissatisfied as the ending still keeps the main trait of Kaiji we have seen in Season 1.
In S1 ending, Kaiji loses his ear and 4 fingers. In S2, he gets them all re-attached. I am not a very big critic of this, but this feels like there was no real harm done to him for his losses. It just makes me feel impact of those game less. The physical torture greatly reduces which do reduce the tension in earlier Season just translating to working down in Underground for the whole life or getting bullied. I am not a critic of this but yes, S1 really keeps one on the edge as the stakes were high as the harm was more visual. Here Kaiji is more about having his/her Revenge in both the gambling stages, as you will see whereas in S1, it was only about survival. So, a tone shift is there but S2 is still enoyable.
So, Kaiji is finally underground and Endo is the one who sends him there. There is no issue in how this plays out as Endo is just an employee who is paid to do what he does, just a cog in the machine(I will talk about Endo in another section of his own). And we will see Kaiji gambling for the first time, depending on luck. I guess he won't cheat in a game just to win. He really has his own stuggle throughout this arc but the Payoff scence is pretty great and intense, where every word used against him earlier is used by him at the end.
So, what you expect from Teiai corporation is what you see. They cheat and the game is rigged against you. And here too, theme ofGambling and luck is more relevant than mind games. The antagoinst is just present there for providing hurdles which are already set up (readily available to see through as all of the obstacles are fixed and Kaiji can know about them beforehand_ and Kaiji overcomes them by his planning until he doesn't and then blind luck makes the situation tilt towards Kaiji. Double Tilt being used against Kaiji really makes me think that how come Kaiji failed to see why someone won't use it against him. Also, in S2, there is preparation phase and then execution phase, in Dice arc, execution was flawless but here flaws were provided only to extend the show time. The red hair guy was no fun and his motives against Kaiji and being with Teiai corportion only to have underground shelter in case of nuclear fallout does not exactly holds any weight. Kaiji was really dependent on luck in this one.
Ending really was great, Kaiji being made to lose just because of something he would have easily fugured out like S1 was not there and no dumb reason for his debt to stay. He being truthful to his friends, sharing his winnings and even fulfilling his promise to Ishida was all in character. Him gambling away all the little money he was left with, losing it in Pachinko after winning over the Bog, was funny and even made him question the Bodyguard, but it was established in S2 starting and Dice game that he does gambles, when not with his life, then with his money. One thing I hated was how in Bog arc, they were trying to show a friend side of Endo with him asking to increase his 2 beers a month to 3 if they lose it all, only for him to pull out the shit he pulled in the end. And Endo being the one in debt just being a plot device on convenience for Kaiji to have someone rely on for the preparation could have been handled better. Rest I liked the S2 and wish you all a great time watching the show.
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