Kaiji 2

2011 live action adaptation of the Kaiji manga

Nobuyuki Fukumoto
Junya Yamazaki
Sachiko Ōguchi

Based onTobaku Hakairoku Kaiji
by Nobuyuki FukumotoProduced by

Seiji Okuda
Osamu Kamikura
Toshio Nakatani
Hiroshi Miyazaki

Starring

Tatsuya Fujiwara
Yūsuke Iseya
Yuriko Yoshitaka
Katsuhisa Namase
Teruyuki Kagawa

CinematographyOsamu FujiishiEdited byMototaka KusakabeMusic byYugo Kanno

Production
company

AX-ON

Distributed byToho

Release date

November 5, 2011 (2011-11-05)

Running time

133 minutesCountryJapanLanguageJapaneseBox office$21 million

Kaiji 2 (カイジ2 人生奪回ゲーム, Kaiji 2 Jinsei Dakkai Gēmu, lit. Kaiji 2: Life Recovery Game) is a 2011 Japanese live-action film based on Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji, the second part of the manga series Kaiji, written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It is the second film of a trilogy directed by Tōya Satō and premiered in Japan on November 5, 2011. It was followed by Kaiji: Final Game released in 2020.

Cast

Tatsuya Fujiwara as Kaiji Itō
Yūsuke Iseya as Seiya Ichijō
Yuriko Yoshitaka as Hiromi Ishida
Katsuhisa Namase as Kōtarō Sakazaki
Teruyuki Kagawa as Yukio Tonegawa
Suzuki Matsuo as Taro Ōtsuki
Hayato Kakizawa as Murakami
Ken Mitsuishi as Kōji Ishida
Tarō Yamamoto as Jōji Funai
Kyūsaku Shimada as Yoshihiro Kurosaki

Soundtrack

Yugo Kanno composed the music for the film. The original score was released on November 2, 2011.^[1]

Release

Kaiji 2 was announced in November 2009.^[2] Kaiji 2 was theatrically released on November 5, 2011, in Japan.^[3] It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 25, 2012.^[4]^[5]

The film was screened at the anime convention AM² in Anaheim, California in June 2012.^[6]

Reception

Box office

Kaiji 2 was Japan's nineteenth highest-grossing film of 2011, earning ¥1.61 billion ($21 million) at the box office that year.^[7] The film also grossed $68,175 overseas in Singapore.^[8]

Critical reception

In a review of Kaiji 2, Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter felt little suspense and satisfaction with the characters and the actors' performance. She wrote that the cast "cranks up their acting" but due their "cardboard" roles they "have no hopes of being more than that". Lee expressed no excitement in the "character reversals", pointing out that they have become quite common in the survival game genre, with works like Liar Game or The Incite Mill, stating "no matter how many times the key persons in Kaiji switch their allegiances, it no longer surprises." Nevertheless, Lee praised the camera movements, music and sound levels, ultimately calling the film a "geeky but still entertaining sequel to the crowd-pleasing "gambling" genre."^[9]

References

^ カイジ2 人生奪回ゲームオリジナル・サウンドトラック (in Japanese). VAP. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
^ Loo, Egan (November 18, 2009). "Kaiji's Live-Action Film Gets Sequel Green-Lit in 2011". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
^ "KAIJI 2". Nippon Television. Archived from the original on August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
^ カイジ2 人生奪回ゲーム (in Japanese). VAP. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
^ カイジ2 人生奪回ゲーム（通常版） (in Japanese). VAP. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
^ Loo, Egan (March 3, 2012). "California's AM2 to Host Kaiji 2 Film's US Premiere". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
^ "2011". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^ "Kaiji 2: The Ultimate Gambler (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^ Lee, Maggie (December 27, 2011). "Kaiji 2: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved November 18, 2018.