As someone who was reading Akagi when the monthly releases were still happening, it was... definitely something else. It became kind of a joke about what part of the game Fukumoto was going to drag out towards the end (I have a conspiracy theory that he ran out of game mechanics to prolong the match which is why it ended). The fact that the last hanchan took like 2/3rds of the entire Washizu arc is kind of hilarious as well.

Man people thought the boat arc in Berserk was crazy, Akagi was stuck in a chair for decades.

Currently sitting around chapter 164 in akagi, and it's crazy how different washizu looks compared to the beginning of the arch lmao. He melted

I’ve never wanted a villain to win so bad until now. It legit feels like washizu was the protagonist and Akagi was the antagonist during this whole match

My headcanon is that Washizu knew that he could never beat Akagi so he decided to drag out the match until Akagi dies of old age. But unfortunately for him, Akagi is revealed to be immortal as Washizu begins to suffer from Alzheimers due to his advanced age.

I really loved that at an indeterminate point when reading, the mood actually shifts. You start off rooting for Akagi who's fighting against impossible odds, but at some point we get more and more into Washizu's POV and view Akagi as this mythical, immoveable predator slowly eating away at Washizu's reserves, who cannot be defeated or delayed no matter what Washizu tries.

I love Fukumoto but I never want to read one of his series as it comes out.

Imagine starting off reading this as a kid and when the arc ends you are now in you thirties. Kind of depressing when you think about it that way.

...Kaiji-themed pachinko machine. _Kaiji_ themed. Pachinko machine. That feels like some manner of sacrilege. Like a Captain Planet themed coal mine, or a "Lorax Approved" -car- thneed.

I haven't read this manga but this seriously needs to be a world record for the longest battle in manga. This is absolutely insane.

If anyone wants to experience the agonizing pace of a Fukumoto manga, Kaiji is still ongoing We are currently at the point where a character is shopping for 20+ chapters

The picture of the events that happened irl while Akagi was playing shows that he won teo sessions the same year as the twin towers fell. TWO GAMES, TWO TOWERS.

Ive read the whole thing recently and man its a trip. Despite taking 20 years its more consistent then most series, as if it was all planned from the start to conclusion! Not only that, there was no hiatus, it was consistently being published all these years.

I have a feeling I'm gonna continue reading Kaiji as it's coming out... with my grandchildren.

I remember when the anime ended, I said "I can't wait for a second season". But after checking the absolute state of the manga, I can see why it will never happen. I just don't know what motivated the author to drag a mahjong match this long

I find it crazy that out of this 20 year span, it was the 6th session, that last THIRTEEN YEARS or over half this length. Insane. 13 years for a match that must have taken an hour or 2 at most.

When i finished Akagi i quickly jump to the manga to read the rest of the gambles... turns out, it was all washizu

There was an entire volume of only how they form their hands..... ONLY THEIR HANDS!!!! GOD!!!! but, what a great battle. Especially the analogies... totally recommend reading fukumoto works. Also, there is a lot's of groups to learns mahjong if any people are interested

1:40 I didn't know Kaiji has pochinko machines. The god damn irony of a story portraying consequences of mismanagement of finances and of gambling having pachinko machines is a horrifying comedy.

I love how the arc was 20 years long but in the story itself they started on September 31st and ended the day after. They played all night which equalled 20 years for us, but at the start Akagi when he first got introduced. He played first time at the age of 13 and beat everyone there in like 20 chapters.

I certainly love reading Kaiji for the high-octane shopping, fretting about hiding money, and 'getting used to new neighbors who think I want to fuck their dog' plot lines.

Now talk about that one night in kaiji that took close to 400 chapters to finish

The anime is only 26 episodes and its very good. Akagi anime has 0% women 0% energy blasts 0% swords 0% emotional MC 100% talent.

This manga really takes "find out next time in the next episode-" to a whole new level.

People were born and became adults during this majong match

This is one of those things you only hear about in the world of manga, the amount of dedication some authors put into their work is mind blowing

Every monthly serialized manga is like seeing your old best friend at school reunions, chatting before finally one of the meetings will be the last. Sounds nice but in actuality its hell, im remembering the pain of so many manga that won't end until I am in a retirement home

Another (bit funny) thing about this: Both Akagi and Kaiji got an anime adaptation by Studio Madhouse. Kaiji, already long, got the first two arcs made, up to the end of the bog arc because the rest wasn't finished at the time. A lot of stretching, but no problems there. Akagi's single season goes all the way up to Washizu Mahjong final round (which wasn't finished either at the time) and then skips to after the match. It's like, instead of waiting what would happen, the studio was like "there's no way any sane person makes this last round into an anime" and went to the end

This arc is almost as long as actually waiting for the winning tile in a game of mahjong

Akagi is the most terrifying character to ever created by the Mangaka.

The beginning of the anime was so enjoyable I actually learned Mahjong because of it. Not to play, but to better understand what was happening. Still don't know much about the different hands or their values, but I think I knew enough to further my appreciation for the games of the series.

Great video!! It feels so lucky that ive literally just started "getting into" Fukumoto's works and now I stumble upon this gem. Keep making content, good luck with the algorithm!

I usually dont watch videos like these, but this one caught my eye. I recently finished watching seasons 1-2 of kaiji, and seeing this video I might just watch this too. Loved the vid

I started reading Akagi because I was learning how to play Riichi Mahjong. At a certain point the story started to annoy me because at first it feels like Akagi wins because he is making decisions that a genius could realistically make or just outside of that. Eventually the luck factor, and it being on your side or not, started to become more and more of a plot point which really killed my suspension of disbelief and thus my enjoyment of it. I get why it was done, but it made the series into something fundamentally different from what it originally was for me. Like it went from being something that could happen in the real world, to something that is strictly fiction. So I had to put it down for a while. Eventually I came back to it and, with the correct expectations, I enjoyed it a lot more. As a piece of fiction it is incredible. I would absolutely recommend it.

Fukumoto is such an unbelievably dedicated mangaka full of nothing but passion for his works its insane how consistently thrilling his stuff is.

i remember finding this manga after looking up its author and took a peek at it and kinda skipped thru and thought that there had to be some kind of chapter ordering error cuz no way would the same thing still be happening 100 chapters later

I can't think of any other examples of a battle so long that they decided to just end the anime in the middle of it

Jeez. I’m a weekly One-Piece reader and I thought those fights taking 1-2 years each was a long time.

The monster association arc in one punch man is freaking *endless* , HOWEVER, although the arc is gigantic, the amount of stuff that happens is enormous, so it doesn't feel stretched out at all when reading it, cause many important things happen every chapter, with absolute 0 filler

This video made me read and love Akagi about a year ago. Thank you so much for making it and I hope you make more manga videos in the future.

I love how washizu starts looking like a new main character on the covers, and anyone without context would just think he was a friend who joined the main cast and not just the other half of a 300 chapter mahjong game

This is actually inspiring for creative types grinding on for years on end with no recognition. One day you will get out of the chair and see the sunlight.

If you haven't seen it, I would strongly recommend watching the Akagi anime. It's genuinely one of the best psychological thrillers I've seen, with a unique artstyle, tense, involving storytelling, and an incredible soundtrack that amplifies the mood. People who dislike stereotypical moe anime shows may find it a refreshing change of pace. One of my favorite shows.

It's fucking insane to think this 'final battle' began more than two years before I was born and ended when I was just near finishing middle school. That's INSANE.

This video is so underrated, the only reason I found it was because I was searching for the longest arc in manga and I guess this it totally it by a large margin not only in publication time but also chapter numbers.

Damn you… you made me re-read the whole Akagi manga again! Mind you, it’s a kickass manga so I owe you some thanks as well.

I remember the ending to Yu Yu Hakashow feeling rushed. The beginning of Yu Yu was solid but there is no doubt that the dark tournament is why the show is fondly remembered today. The ark, the characters, and of corse it’s all-star antagonist Togoro set it far apart from any tournament before or sense. I bring this up because that ark was long and got to fully realize everything it wanted to do. The ark following it suffered from a lack of direction, the new abilities brought out felt like a slap in the face to everything the story had already brought up. I say all this because for all arks except the final it had a perfect amount of time given to each, however going into the final ark it felt has though it needed to pick up the pace since the last ark fell flat. However the ending to the show had extreme promise. The demon world was fascinating and felt like a natural progression to everything, the arks for each characters were amazing and the twist of Yu Yu being a demon was a curveball that really landed. However it just never got time to flourish, if the ark was given time so that we could see and epic clash between each character and their armies it would’ve rivaled the dark tournament. In the end however we really get one epic final battle that ends to quickly, and while I deeply enjoyed the ending it felt like the show went to quickly and missed its chance to do something special.

Thanks, you've convinced me to read Akagi just for the sheer ridiculousness of this battle.

I couldn't even believe it when it finally ended. It's like the whole manga is fighting washizu.

This was a such a great video! I suscribed I hope to see more of this!

I read the whole damned thing because of you lol. I was really astonished by how I never really got bored with it. There were parts that dragged, sure, but it was genuinely captivating throughout. Washizu's divine luck trounced at every turn by Akagi's mind games and disregard for his own safety and life. You really are rooting for Washizu by the end lol. By the time I reached the chapter with that timeline image, I was laughing and crying from the absurdity. 20 years! 20 YEARS OF WASHIZU MAHJONG! [SPOILERS] ... Washizu coming back from Hell just to finish the game was so damned exciting. After a full game of defeat, anger, and fear, I think it was only then he surpassed Akagi's level. He no longer cared if he lived or died, he just wanted to finish the game. That's when he truly became unstoppable. I also really like how the weight of the 20 years it went on for played into how the match ends. Washizu is finally in the position to win, but he realizes his life will no longer have purpose if Akagi dies. I know the technical reason he loses is because he dies (temporarily) of blood loss, but I feel like the real reason is he simply cannot bring himself to win the match and kill Akagi. In the end, Akagi is left with a hollow victory that leaves him with an empty feeling that haunts him for the rest of his life (See Ten) and Washizu gets a new lease on life pursuing the rematch lol.

HOW ARE YOU NOT MORE POPULAR THIS WAS AMAZING

every once in a while i hear the akagi soundtrack in a video essay and i gain just a bit of respect for whoever edited it in

Kaiji based Pachinko machines IRL omfg I love it so much I barely understand mahjong, played a lot of it versus CPU half-clueless

I've never read Akagi, but this video has definitely inspired me to make a 50-page long card game for one of my stories. The premise is that character A is in the game, distracting the antagonist at his house, whereas character B sneaks inside to find the antagonist's evil plans or experiments during that time

Lovely vid , thank you so much!

broo this is one of my favourite animes, watched it like 6 times i always thought about picking up the manga but im not a manga guy i cant believe it stuck to this one arc for the rest of show

Akagi Fans: "I dont want to hear anything about Berserk release waits ever again"

Higurashi Sotsu really comes to mind as the one I really wish had more time, I think if it had another 7 episodes so it was as long as Gou to focus on Rika and Satoko working out their issues that would've been amazing. Unlike most people I really liked Sotsu going over the previous loops from Satoko's perspective and I wouldn't want to cut that. Just give them more episodes.

man whenever i hear about multiple year long battles i wonder how the mangakas are able to actually remember what the characters would be most likely to do.

Fukumoto makes such good gambling stories that we let the man cook for 20 years.

i remember watching the anime and having the battle just end suddenly

I also read it after and I think the anxiety would've burned me out reading it on release LMAO. It's so incredibly good, I absolutely had to binge.

I rewatched Akagi last year because I was getting into Mahjong Soul. After finishing I wanted to see where the manga was. **Spoilers** WASHIZU LOSES A ROUND. DIES. GOES TO HELL AND IS SO STUBBORN ABOUT REMATCHING AKAGI that he fucking escapes. He escapes hell. He defies death. I couldn't believe it.

Don't forget about the Live-Action adaptation which turned out really really well and was actually my introduction to the series

Dude you're A great storyteller keep doing interesting Videos.

As someone in the Hollow Knight Silksong fandom, I can definitely see all the memes that must've come up in the community while it was running

I actually stumbled across the live action series first. The actor who plays Washizu is great and is clearly having fun.

I didn't finish watching this vid and left it half-way a couple months ago, so I didnt see the spoiler part of it. If only you knew how much it dawned on me when you said what actually happens in the manga that takes 20 years. This is some of the most wild stuff ive heard.

thanks for this!

Very interesting and entertaining video!

This show/manga is underrated. What a long wait though, lol

I would love an anime adaptation of ten :c

4:18 Literally the first thing that came to everyone's mind after reading the title

imagine if they made another season of akagi, they would be on the same game for the whole 24ep season

The Washizu arc is legendary, but I'm glad that I only started reading Akagi 1-2 years before its end. Edit: You absolutely NEED to know how to play Mahjong, you don't have to be good in it but you're missing out on a lot if you can't play at all.

LOVVVVVE THIS VIDEO

This was a nice video

This Nobuyuki Fukomoto is a fucking mastermind

You have me convinced I have to read this

Dark Schneider vs. Uriel was a wild ride, but it seems like the current Bastard hiatus is gonna run even longer. Wonder if Lavi will ever get off his chair.

This video is excellent

And here i was innocently watching anime and thinking how drag out last battles of both akagi and kaiji were

youreprob hype this video rlly got sum traction on it

Akagi was so good. After watching the anime I started playing mahjong, and won $50 from entering free tournaments. I never cashed out...

On this topic i would report the manga Arachnid by Murata Shinya. This thing should've been called Battle Royal Arachnid

great vid

I have read it all and it was amazing

Wow it started a year before I was born.

Just imagine this weekly, 5 years of this

DBZ: "I have the longest stretching possible" Akagi: "Hold my tileset"

I'll go check it out XD

*“If a Rivalry Lasts Longer Than 7 Years, Then You Are No Longer Just Rivals. You Are Gay”* 🥴

I love alot fukumoto's works so much but Kaiji n Akagi def are my absolute fav

That Oda san is still at it is amzing.

It's amazing to see the exact video where a channel explodes, well done man, I just subscribed and hopefully more people will. Also Akagi has a great soundtrack made by Taniuchi Hideki, the great composer whose career ended because he smoked marijuana ): freaking Japan.

Good video dude. Kinda flabbergasted lol

"That was a nice game, how about a rematch?"

Berserk has resumed publication under Kouji Mori since this video came out.

I will definitely give this a go. Seeing this video made me google X 1999 manga update which I do every year or so because maybe just maybe this is the year they will finish it.......... I guess there is always hope right.