Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku - Reviews

Alt title: Legend of Koizumi

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Thrawn's avatar
Apr 2, 2011

I don't know the first rule of Mahjong nor how you score. The only thing I do know is that it might have originated in China and that it involves tiles and ham. That didn't prevent me from enjoying an OVA based around it. Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku doesn't teach you how to play but it doesn't need that crap and neither do you. This is all about the ACTION. All about the raw EMOTION and BADASSERY that mahjong has to offer! THIS represents the serious business side of Mahjong in the political world! For here... nothing stops you from playing mahjong. NOTHING.

See how the paragraph turned into ham? That's what this is all about: A sandwich made of ham and cheese. At no point can this be taken seriously nor does it do anything serious. If a moment looks like it's serious, then something cheesy will follow. But in it's three episodes, the plot is to play mahjong amongst world leaders. That's it. A badass "former Prime Minister of Japan’s Cabinet" (I don't know what that is either) named Koizumi plays for Japan with another guy from Japan in games of mahjong, because it takes four people and in teams of 2. Hah! It does teach ya! Guess I was wrong.

For plot and characters, I took into consideration tbe following: A) The absurdity of it all; B) How brain-deficient this is; C) The badassery of Koizumi and D) Political and former political leaders playing mahjong. If I were to grade it without those, the scores would be on their way towards the Earth's core. Keep that in mind as plot and characters are pretty much non-existant.

The animation works quite well for something like this. Serious business calls for serious animation and it delivers. It does look cheap at times but if it were more childish, it wouldn't be as fun.

Sound... the music makes it more fun and the voices are hammy with a bit of cheese so it does it's part.

There's not much else to say about it. It's an episode of a regular anime packed with ham and mahjong as serious business. If you don't mind a half hour of ham, cheese and absurdity in political mahjong then check it out.

*The final score isn't an average of the shown categories as it's affected by the unseen enjoyment factor. I had a blast with this and didn't use my brain once. Just ride the wave on this one.

5/10 story
7/10 animation
6.5/10 sound
4/10 characters
7/10 overall
Humice's avatar
Aug 15, 2010

The story is a fictionalized version of Japan’s 89th prime minister, Junichirou Koizumi. In this political parody, Koizumi plays a special form of “mahjong diplomacy” against foreign adversaries such as George W. Bush, Kim Jong-il, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, and others. When undergoing diplomatic meetings the victor of the game of mahjong, must have all their demands met. It also has much comedy in it.

?/10 story
?/10 animation
?/10 sound
9/10 characters
7/10 overall