FUKUMOTO NOBUYUKI

Japan, 1995. After graduating from high school, Ito Kaiji moves to Tokyo to get a job, but he fails to find steady employment because the country is mired in its first recession since World War II. Depressed, he festers in his apartment, biding the time with cheap pranks, gambles, liquor and cigarettes. Kaiji is always thinking about money and his perpetual poverty frequently brings him to tears.<br /><br />Kaiji's unrelenting misery continues for two years until he is paid an unexpected visit from a man named Endo, who wants to collect an outstanding debt owed to him in Kaiji's name. Endo gives Kaiji two options - either spend ten years to repay this outstanding debt, or board the gambling ship Espoir ("hope" in French) for one night to clear the debt. Using a con, Endo pressures Kaiji into accepting the deal, believing he will never come back from the voyage.<br /><br /><br />***Please Note***<br />The Kaiji series as of now is divided into 5 parts, and this is the 1st of those parts. The series follows this order:<br /><br />Part 1: Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji (Has an Anime Adaptation, but Manga is not fully translated)<br />https://manhuascan.com/comic/_/comics/tobaku-mokushiroku-kaiji-r1874<br /><br />Part 2: Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji (Has an Anime Adaptation, and Manga is fully translated)<br />https://manhuascan.com/comic/_/comics/tobaku-hakairoku-kaiji-r5071<br /><br />Part 3: Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji (Not yet animated, Manga is fully translated)<br />https://manhuascan.com/comic/_/comics/tobaku-datenroku-kaiji-r923<br /><br />Part 4: Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji - Kazuya-hen (Not yet animated, Manga is fully translated)<br />https://manhuascan.com/comic/_/comics/tobaku-datenroku-kaiji-kazuya-hen-r7381<br /><br />Part 5: Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: One Poker Hen (Not yet animated, Manga is being translated)<br />https://manhuascan.com/comic/_/comics/tobaku-datenroku-kaiji-one-poker-hen-r14151

Ichijou Seiya is a young prodigy who is the manager of the Teiai underground casino and the creator of the diabolical pachinko machine "The Bog." Before his fight to the death with his nemesis, Itou Kaiji, he had a smoldering youth and was unable to make anything of himself. The story is set in Ooyama, Itabashi, Tokyo, a "bog" that has swallowed up all the dreams, hopes, and despairs of young people, and is about the ambitions and difficulties of freelancer Ichijou and his younger colleague Murakami who move into the capital and live in a tiny apartment.

Six months after the fight to the death with The Bog, Kaiji escapes from the underground and pays off his debts. Sakazaki gets fed up with Kaiji and tries to get rid of him by giving him 3 million yen as compensation. At that time, Kaiji is reunited with Miyoshi and Maeda, who were his friends in the underground, and they come up with a plan to swindle a large sum of money from Muraoka, the president of the underground casino where they work. Kaiji takes 3 million yen from Sakazaki, promising to pay it back, and plays a variant of mahjong called "17 Steps" invented by Muraoka.