I have seen a lot of series similar to Akagi in the past. Though, Akagi manages to present a unique twist which isn’t in many other series within the same genre, and it does bring a sense of originality to the series. Which anyone knows isn’t common in anime nowadays. Akagi is a series about a boy who one night stumbles into a Mahjong parlor. Nangou is playing a game against the Yakuza in order to pay off a debt. If he loses Nangou will lose his life. With a stroke of bad luck and nothing else to lose he decides to give Akagi the chance to save his life.
Despite the fact Akagi knows nothing about Mahjong, Nangou has faith in him because of his intense personality and his fearless attitude, even when it comes to his own death. As the match progresses Akagi becomes a legend over night. The future Mahjong games Akagi plays become intense as he will only play if both sides are willing to gamble away their lives.
The series has a lot of potential but also has a lot of draw backs. The biggest issue I’ve seen throughout the series is that Akagi is like Dragonball Z on a Mahjong board! It just keeps dragging out forever! While the games are going on episode after episode, they do manage to keep the suspense high. Yet the series only has about 4 games! Not to mention the series leaves you on a major cliff hanger. While I can appreciate some series that end in a similar manner, such as Ranma ½, I cannot manage to find the ending satisfying in the least. With all of the anime series I’ve seen in the past, it’s somewhat obvious that the planning of the series was below par. It’s that or the producer cut the budget at the last second and decided to cancel the series. My money’s on the latter. From the looks of it they decided to drag out the last match only because they didn’t’ have time to start up another. So instead they dragged it out on and on, and didn’t even bother to give any idea of how it would end, and left a ton of plot holes.
I’m alright with cutting a series short, but at least make an attempt not to leave a ton of plot holes. The worst part if it’s not even obvious that the series is over. I had to double check and even do some research to make sure that I really was watching the last episode. Since it left you on a to be continued note, and not the open ended to be continued, but actually ending it just like every other episodes, with a slight hint that it was the last episode.
Overall the series isn’t too bad, but the ending was a major disappointment to me, and the fact it was just too short of a series. They should have shortened the matches to only 3 or 4 episodes each, or they should of kept it going to about 49 episodes. I wouldn’t of minded watching the entire series, if I knew they would offer a more in depth plot. The series gets a low B rating, and that’s only because I’m being generous and ignoring the fact the series was cut short and the matches dragged on. Is it worth watching this series? If you like Mahjong I would watch it. Otherwise, it’s nothing I would really tell you not to watch, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it.