Manga like Tobaku Haouden Zero

Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji

Also known as Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Ne'er-do-well Kaiji Itou's shiftless existence is suddenly rattled by a visit from the yakuza. Burdened by debt and resentment, Kaiji is coerced into gambling for his worthless life. As the stakes grow higher and the rules become increasingly more bizarre, Kaiji must finally take the future into his own hands!



Note: Won the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1998.

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Survival , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , Death Game , Card Battle , Yakuza , Class Struggle , Tragedy , Nudity

LIAR GAME

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Wishing she would live up to the ideal, Kanzaki Nao's father named her thusly for “honesty”. Nao has more than lived up to her father's wishes--even exceeding them and earning the label of "a foolishly honest girl". This makes Nao the least qualified candidate for the high stakes 'Liar Game', where winning requires deceiving the opponent out of their money and losing means receiving massive debt. However, that doesn't stop a box containing a hundred million yen in cash and a card informing her of her participation in the game from arriving at her doorstep, nor does it stop her from being promptly tricked out of the entire sum of money. Upon hearing that a genius swindler, responsible for the bankruptcy of a major corporation, is being released from jail, Nao goes to the swindler, Shinichi Akiyama, to enlist his help. With that, the two are drawn into the dark, greed-filled, and deceptive world of the Liar Game.

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Cult , Ensemble Cast , Death Game , Transgender , Bullying , Conspiracy , Coming of Age

Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: One Poker-hen

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Kaiji and Kazuya face off against each other in a high-stakes game of "One Poker," a modified version of standard poker. Kazuya sets forth a gamble of 2,000,000,000 yen! How will Kaiji survive?!

Chapter count for this arc is 101-254 in the original tankoubon.

Tags: Poker , Gambling , Card Battle , Death Game , Survival , Seinen , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast

Buraiden Gai

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama

The story revolves around Kudou Gai, a mischievous 13-year-old all alone in the world. He despises his classmates who live by their free will, although supported by parents, but taking it for granted. Gai soon finds out he is contradicting himself for he is being raised at an orphanage as well, and makes an attempt for independence. His actions lands him in trouble, where he is framed for murder and sent to a place in an unknown location called the "human institute".

Tags: Shounen , Male Protagonist , Survival , Fugitive , Bullying , Primarily Male Cast , Gore

Kakegurui

Also known as Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler -.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent-the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling?

At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!



Tags: Gambling , Card Battle , Female Protagonist , School , Primarily Female Cast , Poker , Anti-Hero , LGBTQ+ Themes , Death Game , Primarily Teen Cast , Villainess , Twins , School Club , Idol , Ojou-sama , Slavery , Bullying , Drugs , Economics , Family Life , Shounen , Yuri , Unrequited Love

Q.E.D.: Shoumei Shuuryou

Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery

Touma Sou is an MIT-graduated-student who comes back to Japan because he wants to know how it feels to be a high school student.

Mizuhara Kana is a strong girl who loves sports.

Together, they are partners in solving cases that happen around them.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Crime , Episodic , Male Protagonist , Police , Primarily Teen Cast , Detective , Shounen , POV , Revenge , School , Tragedy , Urban , Educational , Foreign , Historical , School Club , Suicide , College , Lost Civilization , Heterosexual

Usogui

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Thriller

There are gamblers out there who even bet their lives as ante. But to secure the integrity of these life-threatening gambles, a violent and powerful organization by the name of "Kakerou" referees these games as a neutral party. Follow Baku Madarame a.k.a. Usogui (The Lie Eater) as he gambles against maniacal opponents at games—such as Escape the Abandoned Building, Old Maid, and Hangman—to ultimately "out-gamble" and control the neutral organization of Kakerou itself.

Tags: Gambling , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Crime , Death Game , Martial Arts , Philosophy , Memory Manipulation , Amnesia , Poker , Anti-Hero , Mafia , LGBTQ+ Themes , Tragedy , Gore , Terrorism , Fairy Tale , Guns , Aliens

Gamble Fish

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Ecchi , Psychological , Romance

The story is set at Shishidou, a school attended by rich and elite people. Tom Shirasagi, a gambler, is a mysterious new transfer student who has come from a public school (instead of a prestigious private one) and faces the elitist environment. There, he declares a challenge toward any student and claims he will bring to the ruin the whole school through a series of gambling matches. Nobody knows why he has come to that school or what the real motivations behind his actions are.

During any match, Tom shows off all of his unique coolness and ability.

He employs a wide range of tricks, both psychological and physical, to ensure his victory. In any game, you will constantly ask how he's planning to win, why he's really doing certain things, and what's really going on. At the end of the matches, the tricks are revealed, and they all work in real life, even if they do require one to be highly skilled or lucky in order to perform them.

The story centers around the various matches he undertakes and the interactions between the various characters, like Mika Shishidou, the beautiful granddaughter of the school headmaster, who is highly intelligent but contemptuous and superb, or Abidani, the vampiric looking dorm superintendent and main villain (for now) in the series, who has a sadistic personality and whose goal is to make Tom leave his school (or to get him killed).

As the story unfolds, more about Tom's past is revealed, leading to unpredictable turns of events.

Tags: Shounen , Gambling , Female Harem , Death Game

Acma:Game

Also known as Acma:Game.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Supernatural

Oda Teruasa is a high school student gifted with intelligence, good looks and wealth, making him the "perfect scion" of the Oda Group: a powerful conglomerate whose name is known all over Japan. But then he gets caught up in a nightmarish game of winner-takes-all against the son of the Belmont mafia family...

Tags: School , Shounen , Gambling

Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

After Kaiji's showdown with Chairman Hyoudou at the Starside Hotel, he's forced into labour at an underground mine. With his meagre daily wage, he'll be working for decades to repay his debt unless he does something about his miserable situation. Kaiji decides to wager his earnings in an underground dice game for a ticket to get out of the mine for a limited period of time. But even if he surfaces, he only has one chance to win it big: by challenging the unbeatable pachinko machine nicknamed "The Bog."

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Survival , Slavery , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Prison , Tragedy , Torture , Primarily Adult Cast