Akagi: Yami ni Oritatta Tensai
Akagi: Yami ni Oritatta Tensai 「アカギ 〜闇に降り立った天才〜」 is a 36-volume manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It started on June 1, 1991 and finished publishing on February 1, 2018. Studio Madhouse produced a 26-episode animated series from October 5, 2005 – March 29, 2006.
Plot
Yagi Arc
The manga starts with Nangou, a gambler who has bet his life insurance in a mahjong match against the yakuza. He has been losing for a while, and is one 4th place away from losing the session (and his life)... until he reaches tenpai with a big hand. There's one problem - he would need to discard a dangerous tile. At just the right moment, Shigeru Akagi wanders in. Akagi does not know the rules of mahjong, but realizes Nangou is afraid, and states "you'll only survive if you die". Nangou, encouraged, discards the dangerous tile, wins the hand, and survives. Had he discarded the "safe" tile, he would have dealt into another player and lost everything.
Before the next hanchan, Nangou decides to let Akagi play for him, despite the latter not knowing how to play. Akagi accepts, on the condition that Nangou provide an alibi. It turns out that Akagi survived a game of "chicken" - where two cars were racing towards a cliff - and the police were after him. For a while, Akagi does not win any hand, but does not deal in either.
Eventually, Akagi receives a monster hand: a hand with three dragon pairs, but he does not pon any of the dragons. Nangou is frustrated - "even if he doesn't know about daisangen, he would know that having three yakuhai triplets would be a big hand!" Suddenly, the police, looking for Akagi, start knocking. With the yakuza distracted by the police, Akagi makes his move: he takes the necessary dragons from the other's discard pile, then forces the distracted yakuza to continue playing. As the police enter, he wins with a giant suuankou daisangen hand. Despite Akagi's blatant cheating, the yakuza are unable to do anything. Because the police are now present, the yakuza are unable to do any violent punishments to Akagi; thus, he gets away with it.
Nangou and the yakuza provide an alibi for Akagi (Nangou convinced by Akagi's actions; the yakuza not wanting any further trouble), convincing most of the police to leave. However, Yasuoka, the detective, stays to watch. He knows that Akagi participated in the game of chicken, but cannot prove it. The game continues, and from this point forward, Akagi starts dominating. The results eventually force the yakuza to call in Yagi, their rep player.
Yagi demands that Akagi bet his fingers, because Akagi was not risking anything of his own, as an intimidation tactic. Akagi, not scared, responds with the same. Yagi was able to give Akagi some trouble, through sleight of hand techniques, but ultimately falls due to Akagi's trick of his own.
Akagi had won back Nangou's life insurance money, and asks to double the stakes. Nangou initially rejected it, but felt compelled to accept (Akagi saved him). Yagi was mentally defeated, but due to the yakuza's pride, also felt no choice but to accept. Akagi wins, and demands another double - until Yasuoka says otherwise. The detective mentions that, if the payment was too high, the yazuka would refuse to obligate their debt. Yasuoka suggests to arrange another match, with the same organization, but with higher stakes and an overseer, at a later date. (Yasuoka, getting a cut of the next match's earnings, stops investigating the chicken game.)
Ichikawa Arc
Akagi's next match happens in 3 days. After discussing how Akagi, Nangou, and Yasuoka would split the money, Akagi visits the yazuka gang he'll be facing off (entering alone, but with Nangou outside). Akagi does this for two reasons. The first is to meet his main opponent - Ichikawa, the blind mahjong master. The second is to obtain a revolver. Akagi tests Ichikawa by playing a game of Russian roulette. Ichikawa hears how many times the barrel was spun, turning it so that the next chamber is empty, and is courageous enough to have the trigger pulled on him. Then, it is Ichikawa's turn to pull the trigger. Akagi, confident that the chamber after would be empty, and survives the game.
The other purpose of the gun is to deal with Akagi's unfinished business. He pays a visit to the gang that played the game of chicken with him. The gang, enraged because the other player of the chicken was heavily injured, assaults Akagi. Akagi lets himself get injured to the point where he could "claim he acted in self defense", then reveals his gun and fires twice at one person's legs, then puts the gun to the member's head. Unlike Ichikawa, the gang member is unable to handle the pressure, and the others run away. Akagi mentions the "fake anger" and "fake fights" of the gang members - wanting to kill Akagi but unable to handle dying themselves - and wishes for more.
Due to his incursion, Akagi winds up late for the mahjong match. Nangou is forced to play in his stead. This match has special rules: the game does not end until either Akagi's party or Ichikawa run out of points. At the advice of Yasuoka, Nangou plays a simple, defensive mahjong: rely on tsumos with good-wait hands. Ichikawa is easily able to take advantage of this playstyle, using unpredictable waits. Nangou ends up with 1000 points, and once again hits an impasse. He calls, and is about to reach tenpai for a good hand - but needs to discard one of two dangerous honor tiles. At the right moment, Akagi arrives, and takes over. It turns out that Ichikawa was waiting on both honor tiles... but Akagi plays a trick: he actually discards the chun, but swaps the position of chun and the previously discarded West, announces that he had discarded the West. Ichikawa knows that this is impossible - 4 Wests had already been discarded - but is unable to prove anything, and lets it slide. Afterwards, Akagi gets a lucky sanbaiman, and then wins points from the other two players.
Media
Akagi is a prequel to Ten: Tenhou-douri no Kaidanji (1989 - 2002). Akagi himself first appears as an opponent to Ten, but later becomes an ally in the main tournament arc. Following the success of the two manga, various works set in the same universe were made:
- Washizu - Enma no Touhai and Washizu - Tenka Sousei Touhairoku (2008 - 2012) are prequels to Akagi, featuring Akagi's ultimate antagonist.
- HERO: Akagi no Ishi o Tsugu Otoko (2009 - 2021) is a sequel to Ten. Some characters in Akagi are referenced/appear.
- Yami-ma no Mamiya (2019 - ) is set further in the future than Hero.
Animation
- A 26-episode animated series of the same name was produced from 2005 - 2006. It covers Chapters 1 - 109 (beginning of manga to Washizu Mahjong, end of 4th hanchan) of the manga mostly faithfully, skipping over a minor arc.
Television
- An 18-episode live action series was released from 2015 - 2018.
- Season 1 ("Akagi") covers Chapters 57 - 211 (Washizu arc beginning to Washizu, 6th hanchan)
- Season 2 ("Akagi: Ryuzaki, Yagi-hen / Ichikawa-hen") covers Chapters 1 - 26 (beginning of manga to end of Ichikawa arc).
- Season 3 ("Akagi: Washizu Mahjong Kanketsu-hen") covers Chapters 211 - 296 (Season 1 end - end of Washizu)