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Kaiji Manga Takes Break Until December
posted on by Alex Mateo
This year's 47th issue of Kodansha's Young Magazine revealed on Monday that Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji (Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji) manga is taking a break until the magazine's first issue of 2020, which will ship on December 2, 2019.
Denpa licensed the manga, and it describes the story:
Ne'er-do-well Kaiji Itou's shiftless existence is suddenly rattled by a visit from the yakuza. Burdened by debt and resentment, Kaiji is coerced into gambling for his worthless life. As the stakes grow higher and the rules become increasingly more bizarre, Kaiji must finally take the future into his own hands! Legendary mangaka Nobuyuki Fukumoto finally makes his English-language debut. The inspiration for the infamous anime by the same name and the Netflix live-action film Animal World takes readers into the dark side of Japan's post-bubble economic society by thrusting them into a world of debt, debauchery, and delusion.
Fukumoto's manga is inspiring a new live-action film titled Kaiji Final Game, which will open in Japan on January 10, 2020. The film is billed as the "last chapter" of the series, with a completely original story by Fukumoto.
Fukumoto serialized the original manga in Kodansha's Young Magazine from 1996 to 1999. The manga has inspired multiple sequels and spinoffs, two television anime series, two previous Japanese live-action films, a Chinese live-action film, and a reality game show. Denpa released the first volume of the original manga on September 30.
Source: Young Magazine issue 47
