News
Kaiji Sequel TV Anime Replaces Scene After Quake
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff of the ongoing Gyakkyō Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen television anime sequel replaced a scene in the aftermath of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster of March 11. Nobuyuki Fukumoto's original Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji manga follows the title character as he attempts to gamble his way out of a huge debt. The real-life earthquake and tsunami occurred midway through the anime's production, and NTV Producer Toshio Nakatani (NANA, Death Note, Kimi ni Todoke) instructed the staff to completely replace a scene as a result.
In the original manga, the affected scene represented Kaiji throwing himself into large-stakes gambling by symbolically drawing him into a rushing torrent of water. Not only had an anime episode's screenplay adapted this manga scene, but the voice cast had already recorded their lines for it. However, the staff changed the script; Nakatani explained, "The depiction in the original work would have been wonderful to shoot, but to animate and air it during these times would have been hurtful to some. We need to have consideration when expressing some things."
Other anime that faced changes, edits, or preemptions due to disaster-related content include Precure All-Stars DX3 Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai o Tsunagu Niji-Iro no Hana, Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne—!!, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji (2000-2004) is the first of three manga sequels since the original 1996-1999 Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji manga series ran in Kodansha's Young Magazine. Fukumoto has been drawing the current Tobaku Datenshi-Roku Kaiji Kazuya-Hen sequel since 2009. Besides the anime, a new Kaiji pachinko machine is in the works, and the fifth book volume of the Kazuya-Hen series shipped in February.
The Joost website had streamed the previous 2007-2008 Kaiji television anime series in the United States. The manga also inspired a 2009 live-action film with director Tōya Satō and Death Note star Tatsuya Fujiwara as the title gambler. That film has a sequel in the works for this year.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
Image © Nobuyuki Fukumoto/Kodansha, VAP, NTV
