Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji - Recommendations
If you're looking for manga similar to Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji, you might like these titles.
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Tetsuya: Jansei to Yobareta Otoko
- Vol: 41; Ch: 339
- 1997 - 2005
In the year 1947, the people of Shinjuku are down on their luck. With little money to buy food or necessities, some resort to gambling in order to survive. Traveling Tetsuya chooses to spend his time at Mahjong parlors where he is wiping the floor clean with his adversaries. However, Tetsuya meets the intensely-skilled Boushu-san, this is when he realizes that his skills are still lacking.
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Reasons you might like Tetsuya: Jansei to Yobareta Otoko...
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ReSeinen says...
They share a similar aspect of gambling which is cheating, Kaiji is more about figuring out how the opponent is cheating and its countermeasure while Tetsuya himself is well versed in cheating in mahjong being able to get away with implausible wins. Kaiji has a whole part dedicated to "minefield mahjong" which is a specialized variant unlike Tetsuya's case although sometimes conditions may be subject to change depending on the match. They're very tense gambling series involving ingenious breakthroughs/twists against formidable foes as well as working with partners like Danchi for Tetsuya or Miyoshi and Maeda/Chang and Mario (in later parts) with Kaiji.
81 Diver
- Vol: 35; Ch: 375
- 2006 - 2014
Kentarou's former shogi teacher taught him to (metaphorically) dive into the 81 squares of the shogi board. Thus, his nickname is "81 Diver". He has failed to enter the professional league of shogi competition. However, he continues to play the game for a living by gambling at amateur shogi clubs.
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Reasons you might like 81 Diver...
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ReSeinen says...
Sugata is a similar character in emotional regard, while other series' gamblers tend to be stoic both Kaiji and Sugata let their emotions flow during the matches (even crying a lot). They both have evil corps to face such as Teiai with Kaiji's case which is deeply involved in the underground world of illegal gambling and orchestrates death games. In contrast, '81 Diver' has the Kishoukai, an evil shogi organization with a bunch of assassins at their disposal with a global scheme (they also share a nuclear "bunker"). Characters meet backbreaking gambles during their journey that require them to fight under unfair conditions.
'Kaiji's 3rd part' is more similar to '81 Diver' in regard to the use of traditional Japanese board games, mahjong (minefield ver.) for the former and shogi for the latter, and is recommended to know the rules to some extent to get the most out of these series but overall both are full of twists and visual metaphors so it can be enjoyed nonetheless.
Ten: Tenhou Doori no Kaidanji
- Vol: 18; Ch: 164
- 1989 - 2002
The underworld: a place where the yakuza gather and where games of mahjong are fought with life-or-death stakes, transcending the very existences of those involved. This is the world where Ten finds himself, where he must put his considerable talents to the ultimate test against the most skillful and underhanded players Japan has to offer.
Akagi
- Vol: 36; Ch: 306
- 1991 - 2018
One stormy night, a desperate man finds himself playing Mahjong with yakuza thugs; the prize is his life. He is losing, and death seems certain, until a teenage boy stumbles out of the darkness into the Mahjong parlor, drenched in rain. Allowed to watch, the boy soon offers to play in place of the marked man, and that night, a legend is born. After his first taste for Mahjong, Akagi Shigeru finds himself entangled in the dark underworld of Mahjong gambling: for money, reputation, and lives.
Seikimatsu Bakurouden Saga
- Vol: 9
- 1995 - 2013
Denju: Heisei Heta Koroshi
- Vol: 2; Ch: 18
- 1994
Mukoubuchi
- Vol: 59+; Ch: 493+
- 2000 - ?
The 1980's was an unusual decade. The price of land skyrocketed, and the value of money went well above the norm. The numbers that defined the world all spun out of control, launching one of the largest bubble economies Japan had ever seen. For Mahjong, as well, it was an age that saw high stakes games on a scale unlike any age before it. And in this age, a man some call "Kai" lives as a "Mukoubuchi", what true, lone-wolf gamblers are called.
Liar Game
- Vol: 19; Ch: 201
- 2005 - 2015
"Congratulations! You are 1 of 100,000 people who have been entered in the amazing Liar Game tournament!" For Nao Kanzaki, an overly-naïve student, receiving this message in the mail was only the beginning of an unending financial and psychological nightmare. Winning the game means riches beyond one’s wildest dreams, while failure means crushing debt. And with no choice but to play the game, Nao quickly turns to Shinichi, a well-known swindler, for help. However, little do the two know just how far the Liar Game goes. Who will win, and who will lose it all?
Atsuize Pen-chan
- Vol: 2; Ch: 21
- 1986 - 1995
Watanabe Yuuichi, also known as Pen-chan, loves mahjong. It's just too bad that he's not very good at it. Follow Pen-chan's wins and losses (mostly losses) in a series of short tales about his friends, family, co-workers, and local yakuza until the final conclusion where Pen-chan makes the biggest gamble of his life...
Desupai
- Vol: 1; Ch: 8
- 1989 - 1990
Gambling. Mahjong. Death. These are the themes of this fast-paced, undercover-agent-style manga where outrageous life-or-death gambles are made daily occurences and insurmountable odds are overcome. The most hardcore, action-packed mahjong manga you will ever see.