Kaiji: Against All Rules (逆境無頼カイジ 破戒録篇, Gyakkyō Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen) is a 2011 television anime series based on Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s manga series Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji, and a continuation to the 2007 anime series Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor. The series was adapted by studio Madhouse, and the staff credits include director Yūzō Satō, series composition writer Hideo Takayashiki, writer Mitsutaka Hirota, character designer Haruhito Takada and music composer Hideki Taniuchi. The series first aired in Japan on April 2011.
Background:
“After the events at the Starside Hotel, Kaiji finds himself in dire straits. The Teiai group captures him and throws Kaiji into an underground forced labor camp. And that’s only the start of his troubles….”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, October 2024.
The Kaiji series continues! The manga is a long-running series with numerous parts similar to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The first part ran for 13 manga volumes and adapted into a 2-cour anime series known as Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor. Now we have the second part which ran for another 13 manga volumes between 2000 to 2004 which was then adapted into another 2-cour anime series called Kaiji: Against All Rules. Studio Madhouse returned as well as the staff behind the first series.
Kaiji does have more manga parts since, with Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji between 2004-2008 for 13 volumes, Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: Kazuya-hen between 2009-2013 for 10 volumes, Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: One Poker-hen between 2013-2018 for 16 volumes, and the latest currently serialising series Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: 24 Oku Dasshutsu-hen since 2018 with 26 volumes available in Japan. Despite the manga’s popularity, the third part onwards has yet to be adapted into an anime, but we did receive three Japanese live-action films by director Tōya Satō starring Tatsuya Fujiwara of Battle Royale & Death Note fame, and a Chinese live-action film Animal World by director Han Yan that did release on Netflix for international audiences.
The first series as well as the second series Kaiji: Against All Rules were among the many shows and films that were left unlicensed for years but had some exposure thanks to Crunchyroll’s streaming platform. Sentai Filmworks eventually licensed the series after they released the spin-off show Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues with a home video soon after, however due to how the show was made with Variable Frame Rate, the North American release was not perfect. Watchable but not the best version.
Anime Limited licensed both seasons and re-used the same assets as the Sentai Filmworks release with two expensive collector’s edition sets when the US release would go for super cheap especially during sale. Makes sense to split the show up given they were two shows to begin with, but there was room here to improve upon the release.
Never the less, both seasons of Kaiji are now officially available in the UK on home video, but if you wanted to watch the show with an English dub, Sentai just recently scheduled the Blu-ray for Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor with its new dub pretty soon.
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. The collector’s edition release could have had more value though.
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, with a standard edition Blu-ray already released for retailers.
The series was included as part of their October 2024 early bird line-up which I have ordered from. 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: 7th October 2024
The collector’s edition release for Kaiji: Against All Rules 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. In contrast to Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, Sentai have yet to provide an English dub for Kaiji: Against All Rules and it’s up in the air on whether they’ll even bother to do so.
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 “Chase the Light!”
- Clean Closing Animation “C kara hajimaru ABC (ABCs That Start From C)”
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Kaiji: Against All Rules is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release is available exclusively through AllTheAnime Store, while the standard edition Blu-ray 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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