Television, movies, music... they're all so fake and shallow! I want to see the real thing! Ruin, despair, and then death! That is the real pleasure in life! ...don't you agree, Tonegawa?

Yukio Tonegawa. Japanese, middle-aged. He works for a company, a very powerful company: Teiai Group. He's a big shot, in fact he's the right-hand man of Kazutaka Hyodo, the Chairman! There's one problem though... Hyodo is absolutely bonkers. He's greedy, sadistic, and just all-around insane. And obviously, Tonegawa has to satisfy his superior's needs and wants at all costs, or else!

One day Hyodo finds himself bored, and orders Tonegawa to come up with something that may entertain him, a sort of game if you will. And even if Tonegawa became the company's Number Two thanks to his skills (and some good boot-licking), he couldn't possibly handle this Herculean labour all by himself, which is why he creates Team Tonegawa, a group of selected employees that will help him achieve a satisfactory result for Mr. Boss Hyodo. But this is just the tip of the iceberg: many, many more challenges await Mr. Tonegawa & Crew!

Zawa... Zawa... Zawa...!!

If you aren't familiar with Kaiji or Fukumoto's works in general, you'll instantly notice how unique and bizarre the art style is. It is clearly controversial and maybe even ugly; I wouldn't be surprised if you were put off by it. However, if you can bear it, you'll be rewarded with a great comedy anime that keeps getting better and better. Again, if you're not familiar with Kaiji, I'll tell you what it is about: it's a psychological series focused on gambling in which there's a lot of emphasis on descriptions, metaphors, hyperboles and exaggerations, all hyped up by the narrator. Now imagine all of this in
a comedy anime. The result? A well done story that doesn't take itself too seriously with an amusing, fresh and original take on the psychological genre; and while comedy is very subjective, I assure you a lot of effort was poured into this anime to make it stand out as much as possible. Let's not forget about the soundtrack either:
it's really good and I suggest you give it a listen whenever you can, because it too feels different from what one would generally expect.

Don't give up, Tonegawa!

This is not Kaiji and it does not want to be Kaiji, it is merely a parody thereof. Speaking of Kaiji, I recommend watching it first before diving into this anime; Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa will give you a peek into the more humane and down-to-earth side of what is otherwise a pretty darn evil company with pretty darn
evil people working in it. Perhaps it will even make the events of Kaiji feel all the more tragic and tear-jerking than they already are.

This is not a perfect anime by any means, and it's definitely not for all palates, but it's still pretty awesome and it'll definitely be a treat to all Kaiji fans. I had a lot of fun watching this and I hope you too will enjoy this small, itty-bitty, unremarkable story of a great, remarkable man.