Anime like Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya

Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai

Also known as Akagi.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , DR Movie
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sports , Thriller

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 a debt of 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.



Tags: Gambling , Mahjong , Death Game , Time Skip , Noir , Seinen , Anti-Hero , Historical , Crime , Yakuza , Police , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Vampire , Body Horror

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor

Also known as Kaiji - Ultimate Survivor.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP , Sentai Filmworks
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Thriller

Itou Kaiji is a bum who steals car emblems and slashes tires on what seems to be a regular basis. This routine changes one day when he is paid a visit by a man in a trench-coat. Once the two get talking, it seems that the visitor (Calling himself Endou) is a debt collector. The reason for his visit is an unpaid loan which Kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate (Furuhata Takeshi). The original loan was 300,000 yen and once Takeshi had disappeared, the loan then fell on Kaiji.

Kaiji is then told of a way to clear the interest compounded debt (which stood at 3,850,000 yen), which involved getting on a boat with others in his position. Once on the boat the debtors would then have to gamble with loaned money, which would end with a few winning, and others getting into deeper debt and having to work to pay off their debts. After some coercion Kaiji accepts a position on the boat, in order to clear his debt and make a bit of money as well...

Tags: Gambling , Survival , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Primarily Male Cast , Class Struggle , Male Protagonist , Death Game , Philosophy , Tragedy , Crime , Card Battle , Revenge , Yakuza , Urban , Ships , Torture , Athletics , Anti-Hero , Body Horror , Nudity , Work , Prison

Pachislo Kizoku Gin

Studio: Actas , Fuji TV , Yomiuri Advertising
Status: Finished
Genres: Action

It's a Pachisuro (Pachinko) anime about Ginya Otonashi who writes articles for a Pachinko magazine.

Tags: Gambling

One Outs

Also known as One Outs.

Studio: MADHOUSE , VAP
Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sports

The story begins when Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the fictional Lycaons in Japan's Pacific League, heads to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa to train and bring himself out of a slump. There, he meets Toua Tokuchi, a 134-kmph (83 miles per hour) pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Out." At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons under an unusual contract: he gets 5,000,000 yen (about US$46,000) for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen (US$460,000) for every point he gives up.



Tags: Baseball , Gambling , Philosophy , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Anti-Hero , Male Protagonist

Pon no Michi

Also known as Pon no Michi.

Studio: OLM , Kodansha , DMM.com , Mainichi Broadcasting System , Good Smile Company , Myrica Music , SUPA LOVE , OLM , SANKYO , Yostar , AQUA ARIS , Bit Grooove Promotion
Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

The anime is set in Hiroshima Prefecture's Onomichi City, where a high school student Nashiko Jippensha was kicked out of her house. Without a place to play with her friends, she learns that the mahjong parlor that her father used to run is now vacant. She fixes the mahjong parlor and turns it into a place where she and her friends can have fun, cook, have tea, and sometimes play mahjong.



Tags: Primarily Female Cast , Mahjong , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Female Protagonist , Food , Primarily Teen Cast , Advertisement , CGI , Board Game

Touhai: Ura Rate Mahjong Touhai Roku

Studio: East Fish Studio , Pony Canyon , Akita Shoten , Sotsu , Mainichi Broadcasting System
Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sports

Money, women, organs. Kei, a high school boy, frequents the underground mahjong parlor teeming with desires, earning him the moniker 'K of Ice' in the underworld due to his cold-hearted strategy and stylish gameplay. Rumors also circulate that he keeps a girl at his home.



Tags: Mahjong , Yakuza , Seinen , Crime , Gambling , Board Game , Fugitive , Gangs , Criminal Organization , Torture , Slavery , Drugs , Gore , Delinquents , Bullying

Saki

Also known as Saki.

Studio: GONZO , TV Tokyo , Square Enix , Sotsu , Picture Magic , Lantis , Pony Canyon , KLOCKWORX , TV Tokyo Music , Kiyosumi High School Mahjong Club
Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life , Sports

Miyanaga Saki is a first year high school girl whose family would get angry if she won the family mahjong games. But losing would also have its consequences. Because of this she develops a new way of playing that allows her to stay on the thin line between winning and losing, the plus/minus zero score, an almost impossible score. In a game that relies mainly on luck, the plus/minus zero score is harder than winning, but Saki can achieve this every time.

Having always hated the game, her friend from middle school, Suga Kyotoro, forces her to play in the schools mahjong club. Her developed skill and superhuman luck has made her a worthy mahjong opponent, even to the middle school's national mahjong champion.



Tags: Mahjong , Yuri , Primarily Female Cast , Seinen , Female Protagonist , School Club , Super Power , Kuudere , School , Ensemble Cast , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Primarily Teen Cast , Ojou-sama , Food , CGI , Nudity , Ghost , Board Game

Mahjong Hishou-den Naki no Ryuu

Studio: Bandai , Gainax
Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

The protagonist, Ryuu or Crying Dragon, is a mysterious man who often plays games with the gang members. He only wins by "ron", a move in which one needs to wait for the opponent's tile to complete the win.

'Ron' is also called 'Naki' in mahjong, which has the same pronunciation as 'Crying' in Japanese.

Mahjong Hishouden Naki no Ryuu is a mahjong anime based on a manga by Nojo Junichi in 1980s-90s.


Tags: Mahjong , Yakuza , Gambling , Mafia , Gangs

Super Zugan

Studio: Kitty Film , Fuji TV
Status: Finished
Genres:

A story about mahjong.

Tags: Mahjong , Shounen