AKAGI: YAMI NI ORITATTA TENSAI
STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
36
RELEASE
February 1, 2018
CHAPTERS
306
DESCRIPTION
While mahjong is a game that is often played with family and friends, it is also a game that is played in the darkest corners of society. Nangou is a compulsive gambler who has accumulated debt over three million yen. In a last ditch attempt to clear his record, he decides to wager his life on a game of mahjong with the mafia. Unfortunately, as the game progresses, Nangou only moves further from the prize and closer to death.
When all hope seems lost, the game parlor is suddenly intruded upon by Shigeru Akagi, a young boy on the run from the police. Desperate to turn the game around, Nangou hands the game over to Akagi after teaching him a few of the rules. The mafia can only smirk as Akagi sits down to play. However, they soon come to learn that Akagi is a natural born gambler. An imposing figure who does not fear death. One who is destined to become a legend.
CAST
Shigeru Akagi
Iwao Washizu
Yasuoka
Takeshi Ohgi
Yukio Hirayama
Ichikawa
Osamu Nozaki
Keiji Yagi
Suzuki
Ryuuzaki
Urabe
Nangou
Ishikawa
Yamanaka
CHAPTERS
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REVIEWS
Joshhhp
The most trilling manga that I've ever read.Continue on AniList"Akagi... it was a long hard fought battle... for me you were the most incredible, most extreme, the greatest foe I've ever fought! A unique gleaming diamond in the rough! So parting with you will be such sweet sorrow!"
Now I will explain the full picture of the manga in a few words before jumping to what I think it is really essential to do a little review about it. The story is about a young genius named Akagi, a strange individual with a clear obsession with gambling and the game he'll spend doing gamble for most of the manga is Mahjong. His incredible and non-human skills will lead him to gamble against the villain of the story, Washizu. This experience has been one of the most unique I've come across to read in a really long time. Going off with the anime I felt weirded out that there would never be a sequel and that they had cut the anime off during the last battle, a judgment I think most would have agreed with. But the feeling of curiosity that Akagi left me led me to read the manga, I was at all costs ready to know what would happen after the legendary battle between Akagi and Washizu. To my astonishment nothing happened after the final arc, and even more unbelievable to find out was that the fight in the anime was not even halfway to the end… not even close! The mastermind mangaka Fukumoto continued the arc for 225 chapters to be exact, spending over 20 years from start to finish, possibly making the battle the longest-running of all battles that occurred in manga history.
To say I was dumbfounded would be an understatement, I didn't know what to think about it and had already wondered if I would ever be able to finish the whole story considering I've never been much of a Mahjong expert so I feared I'd get so bored to the point of not being able to finish. The results well... they were the opposite of what I imagined. I read the entire manga twice, in the same year, never disappointed by what was about to happen. And it's mainly thanks to this battle that I've gotten to love the series even more. I must specify that before reading Akagi I was never a fan of battles that needlessly dragged on for a large number of episodes/chapters for the purpose of filling space or entertaining the audience. A clear example are some certain Battle Shounen series like Dragon Ball... fights that went on for so many episodes without having much action to show on the screen, because we know that in anime, at least during the 90's and 2000's, they had to broadcast episodes in step with the chapters of the manga that were coming out, and therefore events that were supposed to last for a few episodes expand double or triple in length therefore making the pace irritably slow and having characters doing nothing to the point it's killing off your interest. This is the essential key to any story that tries to entertain: pacing. Does the Akagi series keep up its pacing well enough? Yes, but in a method that not many would understand. That's not to say that games come and go quickly from each other. The all arc consists of six sessions and in its 20 years spam the final session is the one that lasted the longest, i.e. THIRTEEN years which is more than half the battle. And let's not forget that an entire volume was spent of how the players create their hands, ONLY their hands! So it's safe to say that the matches drag on for a very long time but what makes them interesting is how they are presented. The war between the two protagonists is full of moments of tension, anxiety, anguish, trauma and strategies. Fukumoto is a master in creating horrific panels where Washizu, despite simply playing a board game, remains under pressure, and out of control at certain moments considering that in a sense he keeps on being on the edge of death. The way the mangaka can immerses you in his works is captivating, never gets a moment to retain situations calm but instead it's all filled with distressing scenes until one of the two opponents will eventually collapse. A fundamental change that is easily noticable if you read most of the volumes is how Washizu goes from villain to a sort of "protagonist" of this arc considering that most of the attention is directed towards him and his strategies to have any sort of hope against the demon sitting before him, Akagi. And with this Akagi himself changes as well, this time from protagonist to antagonist... not being afraid to descend into hell, he always remains passive and gives himself a great presence of danger for the opponent. Oh and another little fundamental change is the art design, I mean… with two decades gone by while making the match obviously Fukumoto's style would have gone through some changes. Washizu in particular looks like he melted by the end with his eyes now covering almost half of his face! Although it's surely nothing to be bother with.
There is no real explanation as to why it took 20 years to reach conclusion. I would assume that Fukumoto had an unimaginable motive that led him to make the battle unforgettable for the readers. Whatever his motivations are I appreciate it because while some may struggle and lack the patience to read the full match, it has given me so much inspiration and hope that many mangaka will have the opportunity to finish their projects, knowing that it isn't always the case nowadays. Should I recommend the manga to you? Well yeah you might have very good time with it, but mostly if you know the rules of Mahjong and have enough endurance to overtake what I would call the legendary battle between Akagi and Washizu. Final score is a perfect 10. I don't care if it stretches for too long, I would have continued even if it was thousands and thousands of chapters long. Best piece of entertainment ever, will revisit it again.
Ermia
Akagi a Theatre of DeathContinue on AniList“In a gamble there's no such thing as an Emperor or a Kid everyone is in the same rank.„ Akagi Shigeru
Akagi a gambling manga or to be more precise a mahjong gambling manga centers around a young boy named Akagi who infact does not know of mahjong and only starts playing it at 13. However cuz of his genius mind he starts to show unbelievable talent and destroys every opponent he faces. Akagi is presented as a runaway kid with no family and not ever mentioning of such. Despite the main reason of gambling for most people being the money and the goods they might achieve in the story Akagi doesn't seem to care about it at all and he always wins as much money as he needs and just gives up the rest. This attitude of him made me think that he's just edgy character who just is written this way and there's no depth to him but oh boy i couldn't be more wrong.
Whilst Akagi plays Multiple mahjong games in the first few arcs the main part of the manga is centered in the ultimate battle between him and Washizu. An Old man so good at gambling throughout his whole life that he could earn more than ¥500 milion and now just gamble for fun. He brings talented guys to his mansion and makes them gamble with their bloods just to see her death. He's that sure to himself that he just doesn't simply care about the chance of loss and just wants to see people die. This stems from him believing to be an emperor but now facing Akagi he finally faces an opponent of his own rank. An emperor at first sight but the more the game goes in depth the more akagi becomes like a demon. Just like a battle of Angels & Demons, Darkness & Light all taking place in the thin border or life and death. The author Fukumoto Nobuyuki takes these metaphorical aspects to another level with his insane talent at narrating his stories and more importantly his breathtaking art.
After watching the anime it really made me interested to go and read the manga to see the conclusion but i sure did not know it's gonna take almost all the manga for this breathtaking battle to finish. I was afraid i was gonna drop middle way but this was definitely one of the most Wild and bombastic hype manga i've read with the level of intensity never dropping. It was crazy how the pace got slower and slower the more i read yet the more i read the better it got. The 5th session was the best amongst 1-5th sessions yet 6th session just outdid even one poker in terms of battle of wits and psychology. I never had much of a pacing issue except around the Oni arc (only 1 volume). But the most outstanding thing in this arc to me wasn't the gambling,akagi's genius ideas,the art or the intensity. It was all about Washizu.
In anime we just saw him as a greedy old bastard but he went on to become way more than just that. A true emperor we could respect and most of the time cheer for him to win. It was crazy how the manga subtly makes him the protagonist of this arc and we see his approached and tricks to win the games and in the end i for one did not want to watch his ruin and thus we even sympathize him. This was indeed one of the few arcs in fiction that made the Antagonist a protag and this will makes this arc special forever. But that is the beauty and yet the ugliness of a death match. There's not a really good ending when it ends up in death or is there?
This manga truly shows that in whatever religion,rank or social state we may be at we're all equal to death
Death was the main theme of the manga and with the 2 main Protagonist and Antagonists facing it for the very first time in their long gambling games truly opened their eyes specially for Akagi. To us Akagi was just a soulless creep that will eventually just win but even he cannot stand against death. Manga unintentionally makes us think that what's the true route to Akagi's brilliance? And the more we go into this arc we see that how he just wants to live his life to the fullest and not stop anywhere or fear any minor things paves him the path to this absolute cleverness of him. Yet you can't live if you don't die can you? And thus him facing death in the arc truly makes him feel alive. And in such extents that he states "i was dead all along and i've never felt more alive than now". And near the end of the match both of em addicted this scene of Living they found an obsession for each other. An obsession for this feeling of living at the peak of their lives,the most thrilling moment of it. and thus they don't want it to finish. Yet they have to give this match a deserving ending out of respect for that same opponent.
"Akagi... it was a long hard fought battle... for me you were the most incredible, most extreme, the greatest foe I've ever fought! A unique gleaming diamond in the rough! So parting with you will be such sweet sorrow!"
Fukumoto wanted so much for his manga to represent death that at the end of each volumes he uses arts directly from divine comedy which is one of the most important works of literature written by dante alighieri. Divine comedy is about his journey through Hell, Purgatory and then Paradise which perfectly goes well with Akagi and Washizu's journey
This arc took 20 years for the mangaka to finish. You read it right 20 years! With over 27 volumes. But it all only took 10 real hodiurs in the manga. This very fact shows how intense it was for both of the characters and we can truly see how much they've changed in the end and that's what made this manga so special to me. I hadn't ever seen a manga fleshing out the theme of death this good and all that in a mahjong manga. Akagi made me want to live with less fear and perhaps with a little bit more fun and i sure recommend it to everyone. Please do not let the manga being a mahjong manga take you away from reading this masterpiece. I highly recommend to read this guide: https://mahjong.guide/a-beginners-guide-to-riichi-mahjong/
And then watch the anime and continue the manga from chapter 108. You just can't miss this hell of a ride!Also this was my first review on this app (or any app lol) so i appreciate any feedbacks!
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SCORE
- (4.1/5)
MORE INFO
Ended inFebruary 1, 2018
Favorited by 362 Users