Kaiji (逆境無頼カイジ)

An average man, Kaiji,

who lives a life of sloth and self-indulgence.

One day, suddenly, he is thrust deep into debt,

due to having cosigned a friend's loan.

To win forgiveness of that debt, he boards the Ship of Hope, Espoir.

Kaiji is invited to an evening with the Devil.

Traps! Betrayals! Cheats!

The ultimate gamble unfolds!

And Kaiji survives through it, to face...

The demon of the underworld and Teiai's CEO, Kazutaka Hyodo!

But! But!!!

Kaiji, fated to lose, loses. Hyodo, fated to win, wins.

Kaiji, defeated by the King, is held to his debt.

Thus, the devil's night was sealed with Kaiji's blood!

And as the seasons change!

Where the hell is he!?

What's wrong with you!?

Oh shit.

Several months have passed.

Kaiji is once again living a life of sloth and self-indulgence.

Where'd he go!?

But when Kaiji lost to Hyodo, his debt was already...

6.8 million yen!

Further, treatment of his ear and fingers at an underground clinic cost another two million!

With interest factored in, his debts have reached 9.5 million yen!

The Teiai Group has been in pursuit of him for several days.

But Kaiji does not yet know this!

Damn that walking trash!

Endoh, who had entered Kaiji in both

Restricted Rock, Paper, Scissors and the Human Derby,

after his failure lost his usual position

and was assigned to finding and "recovering" defaulted debtors.

Kaiji!

Hey, Endoh!

Great! You came!

Huh?

I'm kinda broke right now.

I wouldn't even be able to make the hundred thousand

if you turned me upside down and shook me out!

I'll do anything! Just show me where the action is!

You trash...

So, how are your ear and your fingers feeling?

This time I'll win! I swear it!

I know I will!

Really!

He's still trying to gamble after he went through that?

I thought he was better than this.

It's sad. He's a total junkie.

Completely nuts.

Come with me.

I knew you'd come through, Endoh!

This time I'm really gonna win!

Kaiji. There is no winning or losing.

You trash!

That should knock you out for a while.

What are you going to do to me, you bastard!?

You're going to work, you loan cheat.

Work...?

You'll find out all about that when you wake up.

What kind of—

Oh, right.

In Hell. Deep underground, just like it's supposed to be.

Kaiji, you owe about ten million, so it'll take you fifteen years or so to pay it off.

Fif...teen?

Yeah, fifteen years.

Let... me out... Let me...

Never.

Kaiji awakens in the Abyss.

An unknown location, deep in the bowels of the earth!

Hot and loud... Dusty, smelly, and unsafe...

A forced labor camp of the disappeared!

This is not only Teiai's nuclear shelter, but an entire underground kingdom!

Just like Kaiji, forced to labor after his default,

the other workers also bear deep debts.

Dammit!

Shift over!

Line up by group!

Hurry it up!

A group and B group, advance!

When their work is finished, they strip and shower!

That fucker tricked me!

Shit! Shit!

Shit!

Then they eat!

Their repast is nothing but dried sardines and pickled radish!

A mere pittance!

When this is finished, they return to their rooms.

This is E group's barracks, home to 23 men!

Inside are old newspapers, old magazines, shogi and go boards, and cards.

Night and day spent with one's comrades!

This sucks...

Woken at 5AM by an alarm,

they clean their room, eat breakfast, and return to work!

Apart from a short break for lunch, they work until evening!

The daily routine never changes!

Kaiji must work 15 years in this hidden underground society,

cut off from all contact with the surface!

Dammit... Even just being chased around on the outside would beat this...

But...

Even if I try to escape, the security cameras will catch me.

Even if I fool the cameras and break down that thick door,

nothing lies beyond but a labyrinth.

This is an inescapable underground fortress.

And even if I take a supervisor hostages,

All the foremen, even the director, are down here because they didn't pay their debt.

They're all prisoners. Useless to ransom.

It doesn't seem like rioting would do the trick, either.

Not only are the guards strict,

there's enough of a hierarchy established to hold things down.

So my only hope is...

The hard work bonus.

A one-day vacation!

In order to encourage the prisoners to work harder,

special incentives are offered!

One of those is this one-day vacation!

All I need for that is money.

If I can just get out of here for one day, I'll figure something out.

If I'm out, I can make it to a track, or an illegal casino...

Anything! Anything would work!

Just one win, and I'll pay that ten million back all at once!

But...

It costs 500,000 perica!

My ticket out of here for a day is 500,000 perica.

Shit!

Attention!

Great work out there today.

I've signed your timecards for today.

I'll pass them around.

Oh, and it's finally payday!

Come up and take your pay when I call your name.

His first payday!

91,000 perica!

perica are a currency used only in this underworld.

Their value is 1/10 that of the yen; that is, 91,000 perica is worth 9,100 yen!

In return for a month of backbreaking labor,

Kaiji receives only 9,100 yen!

Kaiji's debt is 9.5 million yen!

The interest alone is nearly 140,000 yen a month!

Kaiji, with no job, cannot pay even the interest!

But working underground, that usurious interest is forgiven!

Bit by bit, he can begin to pay down that 9.5 million yen!

But Kaiji's daily wage is only 3,500 yen!

Of that, 2,000 yen is applied to his debt!

Another 1,150 yen are taken to pay for room and board!

He receives only a scant tenth of the original 3,500 yen!

For a day's labor, only 350 yen!

Damn it! This is just insulting!

Meaning everything rests on this!

Kaiji's entire future!

Give me a beer, too!

Sure, that'll be 5,000 perica!

Me too!

I'll have a tallboy!

6,000 perica!

And some chips too!

Okay, that'll be 9,000 perica!

I'll have some nuts.

Coming right up.

Those morons!

They're throwing away their dreams! Those greedy idiots!

5,000 perica for a beer? That's 500 yen!

That's more than twice what it costs outside!

They'll blow all their money in no time!

There's no saving people like that.

But I'm different. I'll save.

At 91,000 perica a month, if I save up for 6 months...

That's 540,000 perica! I'll be able to afford my ticket out of here!

That's all I need!

Who the hell would blow their money with that dangling in front of their faces?

Not me!

Dammit!

But as determined as Kaiji is, he faces stiff opposition!

It makes perfect sense! So why am I so nervous?

I know! I can buy something!