Toya Sato's live-action gambling adventure "Kaiji" gets a sequel

by Chris MaGee

Six weeks so far in the top ten at the Japanese box office, including two weeks at the top after its October 10th release has definitely made Toya Sato's live-action adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto manga "Kaiji" (a.k.a. "Ultimate Survivor Kaiji", a.k.a. "Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji") one of the biggest hits of 2009. And what happens when a film rakes in billions of yen? That's right! It gets a sequel! So many of us think that Japanese films are made with some purer intention that the pursuit of money, but alas, Japan has and still is just as guilty of beating the proverbial dead horse as Hollywood is,

Case in point - Anime News Network is reporting that Toho has green-lit a sequel to "Kaiji" and scheduled it for a 2011 release. "Kaiji" tells the story of a gambler named Kaiji (and played by Tatsuya Fujiwara) who agrees to board a high stakes and very dangerous casino cruise ship in order to avoid a very messy end at the hand of loan sharks. This sequel will invariably follow the original manga which has had three sequels published since its original run in Kodansha's Young Magazine in the late 90's.

No additional casting or plot details have yet emerged about this second "Kaiji", but it is safe to assume that Fujiwara will be reprising his role and that the folks at Toho will rake in dough like a craps player on a lucky streak. As more details come out we'll definitely share them with you all.