Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor (賭博黙示録カイジ, Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji), also known as Gambling Apocalypse: Kaiji, is a 2007 television anime series based on Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s manga series of the same name. The series was adapted by studio Madhouse, and the staff credits include director Yuzo Sato, screenplay writer Hideo Takayashiki, character designer Haruhito Takada and music composer Hideki Taniuchi. The series first aired in Japan on October 2007.
Background:
“Unemployed degenerate Kaiji Ito spent his time drinking, gambling, and racking up bills, and was sure that his life had hit rock bottom. Then that bottom fell out when Endo the Loan Shark arrived to inform him of a friend’s default on a loan that Kaiji foolishly co-signed, making Kaiji responsible for a soul crushing 3,000,000 yen! But there is one possible way out; if Kaiji goes to a secret gambling ship and plays successfully for one night, his debt could be absolved. It’s a trick, of course, but what choice does Kaiji have? Trapped into playing a series of increasingly ruthless contests that are hopelessly rigged against the players, Kaiji finds himself a pawn in a competition where the game pieces aren’t expected to survive… and the real players are all actively betting against KAIJI!”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 2023.
There are a lot of anime released over the past decades that are generally not picked up for official release whatsoever. This could be due to the timeframe where the licensing boom caused problems like when ADV, Geneon and Media Blasters all struggled which lead to the rise of Sentai Filmworks, Bandai Entertainment and Funimation, or there being different factors like too many anime to license so they had to pick and choose, or licensing issues from Japan got in the way or the distributor wanted to release a series on Blu-ray but there are only DVD materials available.
Kaiji is in a weird spot because it has always been legally available for streaming through Crunchyroll, and I know about the series because it is considered to be one of the best anime shows released during its decade, which is also supported by studio Madhouse who have a high reputation as well. While Kaiji is beloved, especially in Japan, it’s mainly been left out of the spotlight for years in the west, at least until the sudden appearance of a spin-off series called Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues appeared with an anime adaptation, which introduced a lot of newer anime fans to discover the Kaiji franchise. Sentai Filmworks licensed Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues and even provided an English dub which surprised a lot of people.
After being unlicensed for many years, in 2020 Sentai Filmworks eventually picked up the streaming and home video rights for Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor and its second season Kaiji: Against All Rules, after they released the spin-off series Mr. Tonegawa on home video. They released both seasons in one complete collection and has been available for a while now. Anime Limited during their MCM London 2023 panel revealed they had licensed the UK & Ireland rights which is great news, though they have jumped the gun a bit and rushed it out of the window which I’ll explain in a bit.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
While Sentai have released Kaiji as one complete series collection release, Anime Limited have decided to split the series across two season sets, which makes sense given the length of the show and the costs related to the BBFC. At least it received a collector’s edition release.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, and alongside the case is a 20-page booklet as well as a fold-out poster. The booklet contains character illustration artwork from the anime series.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £79.99, and is expected to receive a standard edition Blu-ray release later down the line.
The series was included as part of their 12 Days of Christmas 2023 Early Bird line-up so I ordered it alongside five others. The set was on offer for £44.99 with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £40.49.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 20-page Booklet
- Fold-out Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 18th December 2023 (AllTheAnime), 29th January 2024 (General retailers)
The collector’s edition release for Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor contains all 26 episodes across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks via their 2021 complete series release.
Because Anime Limited are re-using Sentai’s 2021 release, the audio options are Japanese with English subtitles only. Earlier I mentioned about how the distributor jumped the gun for this series, and one of those reasons is because Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor did in fact receive an English dub by Sentai Studios which premiered on HIDIVE over the course of 2023. The dub has yet to be released onto home video but I can assume Sentai is waiting on the dub for Kaiji: Against All Rules to be completed first.
Another reason on why this release feels rushed is because of the show’s production. Long story short, similar to a few anime released back in the day, there are frame rate changes between the opening/closing sequences and the main episode content (30fps and 24fps respectively), also known as Variable Frame Rate (VFR), which is why it’s released in interlaced format in Japan (back in the day they did broadcast at 720p but probably deinterlaced). Sentai authored the series in its entirety at 30fps which does result in juddering throughout the main episode content. I reviewed the differences between the original and Sentai’s version, and while it is watchable you will notice it a lot more when the scene moves around with its camera. For instance when characters are standing still I didn’t see any noticeable issues, but when there’s any form of movement it starts to feel off. It’s a shame Anime Limited didn’t re-author the series to amend this video issue but I suppose the series is too niche for them to put more time into things like this and they just wanted it out of the way so they can move onto other projects. If the series was way more popular perhaps they would have been more cautious but you can’t always win as an anime fan.
The yellow subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080i High Definition Upscaled format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 3:
- Clean Opening Animation “Mirai wa Bokura no Te no Naka (The Future is in Our Hands)”
- Clean Closing Animation “Makeinutachi no Requiem (Requiem of the Cowardly Losers)”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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