Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa - episodes 1 & 2

Here it is. A whole series dedicated to Tonegawa, Kaiji's nemesis in his first season. Kaiji was detailed extensively here in the archives (I'm too lazy to look it up, but it's there). Tonegawa was the man behind the gambles featured in Kaiji, playing the role of host and making sure that the rules were being followed.

One rule for Pariahs is that they should always be facing away from the camera while sending out a bright light

Eventually he was defeated in spectacular fashion and, strangely enough, no longer seen again. Maybe he was demoted or removed altogether from Teiai Corporations, but it's never made clear. He briefly appears in Kaiji season 2 (as a portrait, to be exact) as one of the two people who had beaten The Bog before Kaiji's fateful attempt. But nothing substantial about his whereabouts. His future might be left in the dark, but his past ha finally surfaced to anyone curious enough about the travails of the man suffering behind the shadow of the Chairman.

Ken Masters and Elisa. Fukumoto style.

In this, the first episode of Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa, we are introduced to a recap of the 1st season of Kaiji, then the real attraction soon starts dominating the screen: Tonegawa is middle manager who has to make an impression at Teiai, the company owned (either that or presided by) Hyodou, an elderly man worth several millions whose sole purpose in life is to not get bored. Someone hell bent on excitement might not look threatening at first. But displeasing the chair man usually results in harsh punishment. Displeasing him doesn't even need to be externalised by offensive gestures or language. Merely not agreeing with him strongly enough is liable to severe corporal punishment, with implied tougher sactions. His assumption that everyone is under him and must allow him to do as he pleases comes instinctively to him, and it doesn't seem to occur to him that it could be otherwise.

Almost makes you want to take a loan with them, doesn't it?

Tonegawa is at firsdt shown a moderately successful man, having established himself among the higher-ups of Teiai by being the ruthless supervisor to a group of debt collectors. The pursue their prey with deadly accuracy, and always manage to collect on them. Granted, they borrowed money knowing the terms imposed on them. Yet, not making payments on time gives rise to active pursuit by the men in black. They trace their target and proceed to extract the amount owed to their beloved company. Most people repay with little trouble. Only a failed business owner makes some difficulties, at which point Tonegawa steps in and shows his underlings how it should be done. Everyone stares in awe, including some random passers-through, but Tonegawa chalks up another personal victory as he nonchalantly walks off while contemplating his next move.

Things seem to be looking up to the protagonist. Until the chairman calls him in. Complaining about the flitting nature of life and how futile most forms of entertainment are, he asks Tonegawa to come up with a creative solution to brighten up the rest of his days as a mortal: concoct some entertaining idea that will draw him in, and that has to be something that brings to the fore the ugly side of humanity. He wants people degrading each other for his own amusement, while Tonegawa needs to think this up and present it to Hyodou. And hope he likes it.

Tonegawa gets down to work and his very first problem is to find a way to recall his underlings' names. They all look and dress alike. Yet, one needs to find out a way to tell them  apart and recall their names without mixing them up. It proves to be an unsurmountable hurdle when each one of them has a name that is similar to their adjoining peer. Tonegawa still wants to find some easy way to differentiate them from each other and tells them to mention their hobbies. After the fifth staff member cites his hobby as bowling as all of the previous four, Tonegawa is just about plomb fed-up and freaks out. The meeting is over and the dutiful Teiai solidiers are discharged for the day. They all arrange to go bowling after work while Tonegawa needs to think the whole situation through. At least they were consistent with their choice of leisure.

Even the Chairman can be in a flowery mood sometimes.

The next day Tonegawa sets off to being a popular project leader and tries to instill some humour in the otherwise serious professionals. At first it doesn't go as planned. He is caught off in two minds: should he try to say something silly to break the ice, thus risk sounding foolish or should he take the conservative road and just go by the book, thus ensuring that real work start right away but without much of the cohesion and personal warmth that should characterise a healthy organisational culture? He freezes, he hits a dead-end and there is no option in sight to make a U-turn and go back to instilling the team spirit that his underlings need. He eventually finds a working routine and soon people are pitching ideas for the chairman's desirable project like mad. In classic requirements stage, they have to brainstorm ideas for a game that will pique the chairman's interest. Of course, this being a work by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, Mahjong is soon listed as a potential option.

Nestfuls of black suits chirping for attention.

The amiable atmosphere soon dampens as Tonegawa's group momentum hits a snag though. The chairman steps in to check out on them. Tonegawa is overhwhelmed by a creeping form of dread that only those close to the Chairman know it. He tries to think of ways to make him withdraw, but one of the team naively offerd him a chair and tells him to sit down. Without none of the vim that had carried the project to its current stage, Tonegawa decides that they would have to start over from scratch as the ideas mentioned were too drab to actually be any fun to their tyrinical ruler. The latter had long fallen asleep though, and it's up to Tonegawa to carry him back to his quarters. On his own back and without disturbing his precious burden.

TOASTY!!