Fifth episode

He's not taking part in one of those Saw games.

Kaiji's group has assembled a good 5 stars.Although they have 4 more to go to accomplish their mission, Kaiji and his trustworthy partners know they're on a roll after their last triumph. The tide has turned in their favour and they totally want in on that!

Antagonists aren't impervious to za-wa za-was either.

It has been established that Kaiji won't blindly hurl himself into a gamble that will lead to an unknown outcome. He's realised that things aren't to be left for luck alone and so he needs a strategy to assemble more star pendants with minimal risk. You'll always see Kaiji plotting strategy after strategy. It almost drives home the point that Kaiji's purpose in life is to think up the ultimate killer strategy to win in life.

That'd make for a cool versus screen.

Slamming money on a table is one of this series' choice staples.

However, things don't always go so smoothly. Kaiji needs to go through rough times before realising that his objectives are harder than it looks. So what does he do?

You'll lose a life, I mean star, if you fall down there.

It seems that he saw through the folly of going head-to-head at the gamble of restricted rock paper scissors. What if someone used their war funds to buy a large number of gesture cards, to the point that it became possible to predict in a more accurate manner their opponents' cards? That's what Kaiji does and soon a card buy-out ensues. The struggling threesome sets out to buy all the rocks, so they can challenge opponents in possession of scissors.

I've seen something like this in a Castlevania game.

However, something is amiss. Nervous glances at the scoreboard reveals that the scissors are being depleted much more quickly than the remaining suits. At one point they bandy among themselves the fact that scissors are being depleted two at a time!

Kaiji's partners become a little edgy about the whole situation and rush off in despair. The unwelcome emotion's ugly clutches are laid on Kaiji for a moment and he ponders about blindly challenging someone randomly in an attempt to get an extra star in utter disregard to his own carefully thought out plan. Reason knocks at the last moment though, and he settles down.

Just because you're a suffering pariah, it doesn't mean you can't taunt others

Andou and Furuhata don't come to their senses and are challenged by suspicious-looking henchmen of another card-buying group. They lose their respective battles, then realise they had been marked out as sitting ducks by the other group's leader: Kitami.

Kaiji has a plan to help them and Andou dissents. Now that's new.

What did he do? Buy out all the papers. Simple as that. Now it's up to Kaiji to take stock of the situation and mount a counterattack. Since time is unforgivable in this context, he should do it most quickly and on his own, as his comrades continually prove time and time again to be more of a burden than a useful addition to his cunning skills. They even threaten to stall him by refusing to challenge Kitami over the remainder of their stars, even though that a win would mean they would move closer than ever to their 9 star goal. It's not until Kaiji slams his 10 million wad on the table in an offer for Kitami to take it should he fail to convince his own spineless comrades that the plot gets a kick in the rear to get moving. Everything draws to a climatic bout between the two quick-witted leaders and Kaiji does come up the winner again. To boot, he outsmarts Kitami yet again by having him pay Kaiji to accept his remaining cards, else he would disclose to everyone that Kitami's cards were all papers, eventually condemning him to an earlier defeat in the gambling hall. Kitami takes stock of his dire situation and coughs up the required amount of money, then move one. No more Ken Masters-lookalikes to entertain us fighting games fans.

Wir sind Weltmeister!

Kaiji- Fourth Episode

Ladies and gentlemen: this is Andou's only useful contribution to the group.

Kaiji is the worse for wear with this gamble. He might as well do something else

Shoot him, you say?

Kaiji makes an amazing comeback by putting a brilliant plan to work. How can someone hatch such a cunning plan in place like this, you ask? What just happened is that Kaiji just had one of those flashes of enlightenment, which allowed him to devise a plan to gamble his way out his bind. While staring at his set of gesture cards, he noticed that it would be convenient to maintain some sort of balance with the remaining cards in order to not end up deprived of any choice to make in the final rounds. Next he realised that more people would be playing by the same reasoning. So it was a short jump from his figuring out that he needs to detect this trend in someone else first to engage them armed with this powerful knowledge. It happens with someone they nicknamed "hyena", which can be traced to the way that he seems to prey on the weak and derive enjoyment from doing so. According to what I read from the caption, "he was unusually happy after having beat someone". It was also important for the struggling threesome to catch notice of the way that someone might play a run of some matches. If their wanted man happened to use an alternate game, then he was the one to fit their description of someone who relied on balance to win.

Looks like Ken Master has a debt-ridden cousin.

They wound up wracking up two more stars. It also bears mentioning that Kaiji is the brains of the group, but Furuhata occasionally contributes with some welcome nuggets of knowledge. His intervening comments often prevent Kaiji doing something hasty, which would otherwise ruin his whole scheme. Andou is of no help at all. An unaware viewer could even think that he's just in for the free ride. Oh well....

Behold the mighty Hiodo- the man behind the system Kaiji has been put through.

Kaiji's third episode

Walking away on a victim is fine and not even unheard-of  in serious competitions.

By now it's pretty easy for the average viewer to have some idea formed in their head about the main point to be driven home by this series. It has been established beyond the pint of doubt that Kaiji is a standard have-not of irrelevant background whose sole thoughts are wrapped about the idea of hitting it big some day, though he is clueless as to how. Some might have even got a bit prone to despise this protagonist because of his witnessed pranks on the first episode. Nevertheless, all of that was just a veneer for this series's major draw card: the suffering and pain born by the destitute of society, those who have grown so used to pecuniary binds that physical luxury in life has assumed an ethereal characters, out of reach for lower-tier people. Those very objects of pity and sorrow for not being part of the lavish taste of life also have dreams that they wish to see fulfilled some day. This alone is a strong reason for the viewer to identify with Kaiji (or any other character of similar social height for this matter). Chances are you have dreams that as of now are unfulfilled and you would like your endeavour bear fruit some day. Also, chances are that your dreams are nothing short of difficult, else they wouldn't be dreams, but simply objectives you have set for yourself which are entirely attainable without great stretches on your part.

But again, what makes Kaiji so likeable as a character? For one thing, it's the fact that he's someone not easy to define just by watching the anime series. One really needs to delve into this universe in order to have a better grasp of the complexity imbued in this character. In fact, Kaiji as a character is so complex for an animated entity that it might even be possible that his personality is made up of layers of complexity which could dwarf those part of the human constitution. His personality and inner nature warrant new dimensions of character definition, surpassing the symbolic three dimensional model used for the best developed personas in fiction.

What was Kaiji doing on a huge company sponsored ship? He's earned a hall ticket to compete against other debtors for a chance to start over in life, ridden of his previous debts. As it is, Kaiji procured his current debt thanks to his former senpai, Furuhata. It's all too easy now to state that Kaiji is just a dope, isn't it? The problem with Kaiji is that he still has hopes in mankind; he would practically trust just about anyone. Of course, getitng round Kaiji usually takes some bold cajoling, even if tears are to be shed in exchange of a favour on his part. That, or the doing of some excellent conman:

I tried to warn you men in yellow stripped brown jackets aren't reliable, but you wouldn't listen.

More novelty in Kaiji:cascading urinals are seldom seen in animes.

Turns out Kaiji is too easy a prey to be battling it out in a war zone. Kaiji has two of his star pendants scammed away from him with unbelievable ease. All this because he took Funai's word that both of them would be safely hauled out of the ship should they get twelve pushes (ties) in a row. Unsuspecting of the ulterior motives of his turncoat friend, Kaiji loses two in a row and resorts to random fits of anger, trying to take it out on Funai. Fortunately, one of the black suits interferes and lets Kaiji in on something which he should have realised long ago: backstabbing others and going on one's word is the norm when people are competing against each other with something huge at stake. Kaiji acquiesces and wanders off. He soon happens upon someone whom he would normally be willing to beat the living daylights of, but now there's no time for this.

It may not look like it, but this contented man was kaiji's bane in the past. And the reason of his current misery.

Somehow, the recipient of the goods owed to Kaiji's cosigned loan also ends up on the Espoir!

 

It's fine to talk while tinkling. Just don't make eye contact.

                     
 Whatever happened to contrive his ending up there is never disclosed in the course of the series. But his being there, glum-faced, is important for Kaiji to realise something can still be done to turn tables on these swindling goons surrounding them right now. Kaiji wants to join forces and decides they should combine their stars and cards.

Kaiji's innards are wriggling with disgust at the sight of another man being bamboozled so easily.

Nah, that was just a figment of his imagination. He doesn't look like a trickster at all....

They quickly realise that their resources aren't enough to scrape a joint victory, so they set off to find a third member to be admitted into their group: someone with no cards and two stars.
 

Another room packed with depressed people! However, here is where Kaiji will find some hope to charge ahead.

They wound up picking Ando, a fat bespeckled man. At first, all seems to be going well, but soon...

Hey, can't you see I'm busy stabbing you in the back?

Andou tried to backstab the group within minutes of its forming by making away with one of their combined cards and trying to beat some random opponent, which would render him the happiness of being off the hook, but he loses. Naturally Furuhata wants to punish him, but Kaiji has other plans for the stray sheep.

Resignation, misgivings and unbalance waft through the air.

He actually wants him to remain part of their joint effort to escape the ship. Now isn't it a perfect example of faith in humanity? The very man who had only his interests at heart despite being offered a chance to join a guild is now granted a second chance. Kaiji insists that "getting rid of the bad parts of a whole doesn't help matters.Andou quietly assents and off they go in their search to procure enough stars to survive, use up all of their gesture cards and realise by whatever means may be necessary that this world is ruled only by the wicked, and it's up to those who are just to somehow fit into this system.

Kaiji's second episode

Bad hair styles, pointy and hugely deformed noses and unlikely anime eyes. Those traits belong unmistakeably in the domain of drama and gamble gender inspired by Nobuyuki Fukumotto. On the first episode we got to be briefed on Kaiji's background and his uncalled-for features, namely being a major vagrant unable to walk life's road to success. Fortunately, our protagonist is presented with a heaven-sent call to take part in an unknown gamble to help himself out the rut he is in. Onward to episode 2:

Your fate is in the cards

  So Kaiji boards a liner on which a gamble takes place. The ship is freakin huge with all sorts of facilities! It even feels strange that deadbeat debtors get to travel on such a luxurious means of transportation. Problem is, they aren't supposed to appreciate the oceanic stroll. They'll be busy for the next four hours trying to figure a way out of their dire predicament.

A buttload of depressed people trying to look tough before the mighty hallmaster

The segment is richly illustrated and rekindles memories of  job interviews and applications, like the times when you join long queues to get a shot at whatever was at stake and you have to stand out above the rest of the pack in order to bag that one desired job. At first you are an anonymous figure, part of the unknown tide of humankind, in which not one in a thousand is attractive. But yet, you sure know that you need that coveted staff position that made you go out of your way and then your turn arrives to deliver. That's teh kind of feeling that tags along the viewer in many Kaiji episodes. Kaiji is very human and the viewer, having been exposed to the hero's limitations since day one of the series, knows full well that Kaiji has no puissant powers to get him above the common fold. Even worse, Kaiji seems incredibly unremarkable to content in the rat race. This is what makes the series a fantastical experience, because you can genuinely root for the main characters because not only it's easy to commiserate with him, but you're never sure of what is going to happen, even whether he is going to win. The plot in Kaiji branches off in many different directions and there's no way to anticipate it. This alone makes for a good portion of the built up sense of anxiety to get to the next episode...

Black suits are some of this show's staples

But now that Kaiji is in the heat of it, what gamble will pay his debt?

Attached to a stick-in velcro strip, star pendants will be used to keep track of the player's progress on a round of Restricted Rock-paper-scissors. Victory means an obtained star pendant, while defeat equates loss of one. A tie means that nothing happens, apart from the discarding of the used cards. Ah, players are supposed to use up all of their gesture cards (there are 12 of them) in order to finish the game. At the end of the game if a player still has some cards left, regardless of how many star pendants he has, he will be sent to the "dreaded other room". Apparently, the other room is a place where no-one wants to go. It's never made clear up to this point what the losers' den looks like, but Kaiji is so terrified at the thought of being sent there that his thought doesn't linger long on this prospect. All that matters for him is to get over this gamble as quickly as possible, and do the best thing that he can do- survive.

How low this whole gamble bullshit makes me!

Repent while you can! I may not be here long.

Although Kaiji is deep in debt, he is (along with all the other debtors) forced to accept a new loan, which will comprise their "war funds". The minimal amount to be borrowed is 1 million yen while the limit is 10 million. Kaiji goes for the upper limit after a peer confidently sails by to do the same, implying that it's necessary to ensure utter survival.It should also be explained that the hosts are willing to lend the money at an interest rate that compounds every 10 minutes. This is a very crippling twist added to the gamble, compelling the players to be all the more careful not to come off with an even bigger financial deficit, thus mounting on the pressure to end games quickly.

But who is the mysterious with the gall to strut with all that confidence at a time like this? What impact will he have for the remainder of Kaiji's stay? WHat did he mean when he stated that taking the upper limit was the only logical choice to make? It might not mean much by now, but this man will later turn out to be a very likeable and at the same time revoltingly swindling conman.For now he has a decent proposal to Kaiji and totes it accordingly:

Some of Kaiji's worst opponents come out as seemingly harmless creatures.

Turns out that Kaiji can wear out his fateful supply of cards by getting 12 draws in a row! How come isn't everyone thinking about the same?

Here's why people on this ship aren't cooperating to break it even without causing harm to others. It's all fine and dandy to trust your partner in order to escape danger, but once the prospect of earning easy resources dawn on one of the participants' minds, things take a turn for the worse. If you happen to be called Funai, this means to tune in to your more inner cravings for material advantage, which is about the most ambitious goal a man can have in his darkest hours. If you're the same Funai who borrowed the upper limit of 10 million yen and you've approached a desperate young man with a sweet offer for freedom, this means you're bound to resort to something that most ethically minded entities would frown upon, but nevertheless seems convenient to fulfill personal desires.

You'd also be issuing zawa zawa sounds if you were just backstabbed .

That's right. Funai backstabs Kaiji without the slightest tingle of regret and leaves him with only one star pendant, one gesture card and a hopeless situation. Will now Kaiji at last show his true colours and make a dignified escapade or will he have to squirm out of this plight by employing the most unimaginable tactics yet?

Tonegawa drives home some painful truths to his target audience.More on him will be evident later as the series progresses.

Kaiji First Episode- Departure.

I'm so glad you bothered to come over I want to treat you for lunch

This is an overdue review that I should have written about 5 years ago.This show has been imprinted in my brain since then and I feel ashamed I haven't been able to pay Nobuyuki Fukumoto my respect for his masterpiece that is Kaiji. I have watched both seasons 1 and 2 and I have to state with no shade of doubt the constituing episodes are the greatest features ever crafted by man. Little wonder considering they were devised by the same mind that gave life to Akagi, the inexplicable Mahjong legend manga which started in 1992 and is still ongoing. Now let's delve a little deeper into kaiji's ventures and cheer him on all the while...

Neglected laundry.

The beginning of a tale of woe, mindless gambles and torrents of manly tears. Actually, the much commented upon manly teary aspect of the show might come off as a motif for those who learnt about Kaiji from others' mouths, but their occurrence is mostly low key and set in poignant moments where even the viewer may be tempted to feel stirred up inside a little. The anime as a whole is comprised of run-of-the-mill themes that become highlighted under very heavy doses of humanity's darker sides. I construe that Kaiji is supposed to represent the average viewer, someone who has not amassed a huge wealth of material assets through years of hard work or by succumbing to the allure provided by corruption's shortcut, or even a combination of both. Despite coming from a humble background, Kaiji's body is little more than a vessel for desires purely cut out to be fulfilled by money and whatever money, and money alone can buy. he craves pretty much any material commodity that seems unattainable to those not wealthy enough to make the purchase. This by itself is enough for kaiji to set himself up as a loser even before leaves the house, because he regrets to be reminded of his poverty, which often brings him to tears.

Furthermore, Kaiji's life evolves around unhealthy habits. Smokes and alcoholic beverages are the only luxury items that provide him some form of relief from the depressing capitalist reality that besets his soul. He's tired of having nothing and even starts growing resentful of people other than him being in possession of coveted goods. He's obviously unhappy about his situation, so he vents his frustration by doing random acts of pilfering, mainly aimed at cars' emblems.

At this point it should be clear that Kaiji's life can summed up in three words: drinking, gambling and slacking off.

Of course, this goes on for a while, with Kaiji scraping by just enough to sustain his basic needs and carry on living. It's unclear where kaiji's income comes from, since he neither works nor wins enough in card games to pay the bills. Perhaps he wins some at those cheap gambles when faced with worst gamblers. He sticks to this strategy even though this is not yielding the desired financial return despite the efforts poured in to make the endeavour worthwhile. Eventually, something has to happen that will tickle the young man's hidden genius and make the show the fantastical series it has come to be.

Kaiji's home greyed out because he's debt bound.

What does happen is that he's paid a visit by Endou, the first of despicable people we will encounter in the series, though in Endou's case we will eventually grow to love him as a character. However, other greedy shades from the underground world will turn out to be not as likeable. Anyway, Endou has come over to kaiji's place (how did a deadbeat eccentric youngster manage to afford his own place considering the housing price in Tokyo? Nah.) collect on a debt owed in Kaiji's name because the original solicitor defaulted. It's implied that Kaiji co-signed that loan in a moment of weakness (darn weakness) in order to help a workmate: Furuhata.

Most accurate feedback ever.

 The neglectful co-worker pleaded badly for his equally broke mate to co-sign for him so he would be granted the loan. Kaiji's concerned look on his face is priceless, because he actually has feelings of his own to help his comrade despite his financial pinch. Of course, since he will be left with the full weight of the debt in case Furuhata defaults, Kaiji falters to sign his name. Well, he does, but giving in to that one moment of weakness taxed Kaiji for life as he now has to pay for his former senpai's mess.

Kaiji finding out about the most universal of laws

Long before, Endo convinces Kaiji to take part in a certain gamble in order to pay his debt and even make some money in the process. That was accomplished with incredible ease as Kaiji's everlasting desperation and money hungry ways saw in Endou's offer the opportunity of a lifetime. Still, Kaiji's doubts chafed at his adventurous side, so he had to appease them by asking what was going to happen should he come out a loser, as if he had nothing else to lose...

At Life's Crossroads

No other anime has a law-abiding contract with a character's fingerprint

He likes to insult and con people. Con combined with insult equals "consult".

Being the experienced loan shark that he is, Endou snaps at Kaiji and lays down the law in a rather corporate minded speech. He tells it plain to Kaiji that he wouldn't ever be able to repay his debt in any other way. The life he had thus far had only taken him further from the dreams he hoped to achieve. In order to get a piece of the pie Kaiji had to risk something, even if it was himself. He had to make a bold move to inch closer to the life he had always dreamt of achieving and there was no reason for him to wait. It was a testament to folly to wait to do the right things and Kaiji had right before him a golden chance to turn tables and wrack up his deserved money. Endo's way of wording things strikes Kaiji's fancy to such a degree that the gambling junkie becomes decided to follow destiny's call and goes on with the deal. However, Endo's job doesn't involve helping others. Nor does he have any intentions of helping Kaiji because he likes him and wishes to see him dart ahead of others in the rat race that our society has turned into. Endo is only in for the money his job pays for having Kaiji sign up on the dangerous undertaking that awaits....

This episode means too much to me.  The symbolism used in Kaiji is never out of place and helps convey the point being made by the narrator or a ranting character with utter class. The narrator is another important factor in this series. His overt enthusiasm sets a great tone as the described scene unfolds and makes it easy for anyone watching to quickly get lost in the metaphors mentioned and the imageries alluded to. The conflicts are all very common to what reality dishes out, which causes anyone watching to identify with virtually any scene that makes up any Kaiji episode. There's nothing fantastical about kaiji, all characters are very human and partake in our flesh-bound world, which makes any miscalculation in risk taking spell doom.
This makes the viewing experience all the more worthwhile as knowing that death is a constant companion to any of the character helps not only mount the tension, but it adds much to the anticipation factor as it's practically impossible to predict what's going to happen next and unpredictability is and will always be one of Kaiji's highest points.

ODBC explained

 You hear it all the time. Go to control panel, admin tools and odbc. Once in there, add a new database source so you can relate to a database sitting on a nearby computer. But what does ODBC mean?

ODBC (short for Open Database Connectivity) is a standard database application which uses SQL as its main query language. ODBC also offers a little API which allows programmers to make their application independent from having to use a Databank management system (DBMS) during the development stage(however, it's still necessary that they have the right version of the ODBC driver installed).

With ODBC it is also possible to access details of the database (credentials) such as the name of the database servers, port to access the network , the users' name and their password as well as other minor details of the targeted user. By employing the user's name a client application can establish a connection with the data source without having to know other details.

ODBC was originally used by Microsoft as the basis for the development of the Call Level Interface of X/Open and ISO/IEC, although this endeavour had also been undertaken by other software manufacturing companies. ODBC has also become a standard application in other areas.

ODBC-driver's diverse features:

- Core ( its basic functionality)

 -Level 1

- Level 2

Latter day programming environments allow access to it through access from very different management systems on prefabricated data sensitive controls. Access to data never ensues immediately from a table or database, but rather from the matching ODBC component. Through ODBC any local or remote data source can also be accessed.

For object-oriented programming languages (e.g.:C++, Java) in which classes are available, methods define the handling of different database systems' data. The programmer doesn't need to be concerned about the details specific to a particular database.

In Microsoft Foundation Classes the ODBC support is implemented through the classes CDDatabase, CRecordset, CRecordView, CFieldExchange and CDBExceptio.

Note: DAO (Data Access Objects) is also opmitised for Microsoft Jet Database Module which allows for indirect access to ODBC.

Since the inception of Windows 2000 ODBC has become part of the MDAC operating system. For earlier Windows versions the application can be later installed onto the system with no accompanying cost. Microsoft announced that the 2012 versions for their SQL servers will come with the then latest version of OLE-DB Provider, recommended for use with ODBC-Provider.

My persoanl take on Anger

At the most basic level, Anger is when hostility takes over. Its occurrence might be the result of a number of things, including frustration, inability to deal with an unruly person or just the witnessing of some hate-breeding event. It is revealed in facial expressions, body language, noticeable physiological reactions and overt acts meant to cause offence. Although it may be considered a natural and healthy response that has evolved to enable us to deal with threats, its unbridled form leads to a poor performance at whatever endeavour the angry individual has ventured to undertake.

Depiction of Anger by Austrian graphics artist Franz Miklis

Revenge is a common outcome of anger. This usually entails some carefully thought-out plan which somehow counterbalances the aggressive outbursts which are the initial reaction. By concocting a plot to make matters even, those on the afflicted side need to do set aside some of their craving to pursue justice. Otherwise, time spent in anger and the subsequent musing of how things should be is as good as wasted.

It is also little wonder that this is the most adverse emotion to the writing of poetry. Diminished mental faculties make for a hard time concentrating on anything. Rather, this temporary spell of insanity coerces the individual to seek a short term patch-up, even though taking a more time consuming approach may provide a better solution.