is a 2011 Japanese

live-action film Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a Live-action animation, live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define ...

based on ''Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji'', the second part of the

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series ''

Kaiji Kaiji may refer to: People *, Japanese manga artist whose works include ''Eagle'' and ''Zipang'' *, Japanese voice actor; see List of Ultraman manga characters * Kaiji Tang, (born 1984) an American voice actor *, Japanese ceramist of the Showa er ...

'' by

Nobuyuki Fukumoto is a Japanese manga artist, well known for his work including unique and original gambling ideas, deep psychological analyses of characters, and his distinct art style. Gambling and yakuza are recurring themes in his manga. In English-speaking c ...

. It is the second film of a trilogy directed by Tōya Satō and premiered in Japan on November 5, 2011. It was followed by '' Kaiji: Final Game'' released in 2020.

Plot

Set one year after Kaiji Itō's victory against the Teiai Group. Despite his earlier success, Kaiji has returned to poverty and is forced back into labor to repay his debts. With the help of allies, he re-enters the world of high-stakes gambling, aiming to win ¥200 million within two weeks to secure freedom for himself and others enslaved by Teiai's debt system. The contests include Chinchirorin, a traditional dice game with variable rewards; the Princess and the Slave, a life-or-death game requiring strategic door selection; and the Swamp, an elaborate

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...

machine with nearly impossible odds. Kaiji confronts Seiya Ichijō, the orchestrator of the Swamp, in a final bid to escape his relentless cycle of debt and subjugation.

Cast

Tatsuya Fujiwara is a Japanese actor. Internationally, he is best known for his leading roles as Shuya Nanahara in the '' Battle Royale'' films, Light Yagami in the ''Death Note'' films, Kaiji Itō in the ''Kaiji'' films, and Rikuhiko Yuki in Hideo Nakata's '' ...

as Kaiji Itō *

Yūsuke Iseya is a Japanese actor, director, artist, and businessman. Career Iseya co-starred with Arata Iura, Yui Natsukawa, and Susumu Terajima in Hirokazu Koreeda's ''Distance (2001 film), Distance''. He appeared in Takashi Miike's ''13 Assassins (2010 fi ...

as Seiya Ichijō *

Yuriko Yoshitaka is a Japanese actress. She has played numerous roles in film and television, including lead roles in '' Snakes and Earrings'', '' Yurigokoro'', and the NHK asadora ''Hanako to Anne''. Career At age 16, her first year of high school, Yoshitaka ...

as Hiromi Ishida *

Katsuhisa Namase is a Japanese actor, known primary for his roles in television dramas. His roles are often positions of authority, such as managers, principals, or police officers, but many of these characters also share a certain kookiness and incompetence. S ...

as Kōtarō Sakazaki *

Teruyuki Kagawa is a Japanese actor, kabuki actor (as ), and boxing commentator. Unlike most other Kabuki actors in his family (such as his father Ichikawa En'ō II and his cousin Ichikawa Ennosuke IV) who play both male and female roles, he is a ''tachiyaku' ...

as Yukio Tonegawa *

Suzuki Matsuo is a Japanese theatre director, actor, novelist, and screenwriter. Career Born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Suzuki started his own theatre troupe, Otona Keikaku, in 1988 and was joined by such talent as Kankuro Kudo and Sadao Abe. He won the Kishida ...

as Taro Ōtsuki *Hayato Kakizawa as Murakami *

Ken Mitsuishi is a Japanese actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Chaos (2000 film), Chaos'' and ''Tokyo Playboy Club''. Filmography Film ;1980s *''Tora's Tropical Fever'' (1980) *''Foster Daddy, Tora!'' (1980) *''Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (film), Sai ...

as Kōji Ishida *

Tarō Yamamoto is a Japanese politician and former actor, who is the founder and current leader of the anti-establishment political party Reiwa Shinsengumi. Yamamoto currently serves in the House of Councillors representing Tokyo, and previously served in the ...

as Jōji Funai *

Kyūsaku Shimada is a Japanese actor. History Shimada was originally part of the Tokyo Grand Guignol Theater group, formed by artist Norimizu Ameya. He stayed with the group until its dissolution in 1986. One of the productions the group undertook was an adaptat ...

as Yoshihiro Kurosaki

Soundtrack

Yugo Kanno is a Japanese composer and musician known for his work on many television dramas, anime series, and movies. Biography Kanno was born in Saitama, Japan. He attended junior high school in Kawagoe before later moving to Takanezawa for universit ...

composed the music for the film. The original score was released on November 2, 2011.

Release

''Kaiji 2'' was announced in November 2009. ''Kaiji 2'' was theatrically released on November 5, 2011, in Japan. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 25, 2012. The film was screened at the

anime convention An anime and manga convention (often called just anime convention) is a fan convention with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Anime conventions are commonly multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college cam ...

AM² AM² (Which is pronounced: "A" "M" "Squared") was a three-day anime convention held annually in the summer at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Programming The content provided by AM² covers a range typical to anime conventio ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

in June 2012.

Reception

Box office

''Kaiji 2'' was Japan's nineteenth highest-grossing film of 2011, earning () at the box office that year. The film also grossed $68,175 overseas in Singapore.

Critical reception

Maggie Lee of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' criticized the film for its lack of tension and shallow characters, noting that despite the cast's heightened performances, their roles remained "cardboard". She found the betrayals predictable, especially for fans of survival-game stories like ''

Liar Game ''Liar Game'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinobu Kaitani. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from February 2005 to January 2015. It was adapted into a Ja ...

'' or ''

The Incite Mill is a 2010 Japanese psychological thriller directed by Hideo Nakata. The movie is based on Honobu Yonezawa's novel of the same name. Plot Ten people are promised a dream job that pays 112,000 yen ($1,236 US dollars) per hour, no experience or qua ...

'', writing that the shifting alliances no longer surprise. Still, she praised the film's energetic camerawork and sound design, calling it a "geeky but still entertaining sequel to the crowd-pleasing "gambling" genre."

References

External links

Official website

* * {{Kaiji 2010s Japanese-language films Films about death games Films directed by Tōya Satō Films scored by Yugo Kanno Films set in Japan Japanese films about gambling Kaiji (manga) Live-action films based on manga Toho films