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Kaiji's Fukumoto to Collaborate on Spinoff Manga Starring Tonegawa
posted on by Karen Ressler
This year's June issue of Kodansha's Monthly Young Magazine will announce on Wednesday that Kaiji creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto will collaborate on a spinoff manga starring the Kaiji character Yukio Tonegawa. Tensei Hagiwara is writing the series, titled Chūkan Kanriroku Tonegawa (Middle Management Chronicle Tonegawa), and Tomohiro Hashimoto will provide the art. The series will begin in the July issue on June 20.
The manga will focus on the "agonizing daily life of Teiai Group executive Yukio Tonegawa, who gets into conflicts with Hyōdō and the black suits."
In the Kodansha Manga Award-winning story of the original 1996-1999 Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji series, a consummate gambler named Kaiji bets on games ranging from janken (rock-paper-scissors) and human racing to falling pachinko balls and two-player mahjong. There were three Kaiji sequels before Fukumoto launched Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji One Poker-Hen in 2013. One Poker-Hen is still running in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine, and Kodansha shipped the sixth compiled volume in March.
The story inspired two television series and two live-action films with director Tōya Satō (live-action Gokusen, Gatchaman) and main star Tatsuya Fujiwara (Death Note's Light, Battle Royale's Shuya). Crunchyroll is streaming both anime seasons.
Update: Title name reading is Chūkan Kanriroku Tonegawa.
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