For other possible meanings, see Akagi.

Akagi is a Japanese manga that started in 1993 written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto about the game Mahjong. It is featured in the weekly magazine "Modern Mahjong", and has even been adapted into a movie because of its popularity. In the fall of 2005, it began its run as an anime series on Japanese television for 26 weeks.

Story

The title "Akagi" comes from the name of the main character, Shigeru Akagi. Akagi is a young boy who is a very talented gambler and makes remarkable wins in the story. In the first story he starts to play mahjong against Japanese mafia (Yakuza) for the first time in his life, but learns the game quickly and wins. Mahjong is a game that involves huge amounts of money and the Yakuza gangs use it to earn money, so when Akagi first won, it was his first step into the underground business. Akagi shows incredible talent throughout the story, but he also is a heretic that makes him different from others - his playing style is characterised by extremely risky and far-reaching bluffing techniques, which excite and terrify experienced players, as does his cheating ability, which he uses rarely, but to great effect. In the end he becomes a legend in the underground world.

Characters

Shigeru Akagi

Shigeru Akagi （赤木しげる Akagi Shigeru, アカギ "Akagi"）is the main character. Having very narrowly survived and won a Game of chicken based on two cars racing towards a cliff, Akagi enters a mahjong parlor in hopes of getting a chance to dry off and rest. Knowing nothing about mahjong at the time, Akagi gives a risky, but effective advice to Nangou, who is playing (and losing) a game where his life insurance is part of his stake. This allows Nangou to win a round and narrowly avoid defeat, so he describes the basic rules of mahjong to Akagi and entrusts his game to him.

Being completely fearless and very manipulative and calculating, Akagi takes risks other high-ranked players aren't capable of, and in short order not only wins his first match, but moves up to even higher stakes games. With his talent for gambling, he defeats many professional mahjong players in various ways and becomes a legend.

Yasuoka

Yasuoka (安岡) is a dirty detective who has connections to the underground business. He plays mahjong and becomes the first person to realize Akagi's talents in mahjong. He also plays a role as a narrator in the comic.

Yagi

Yagi (矢木) is the first professional mah-jong player that Akagi plays and defeats. He uses techniques to cheat during the game but loses in front of Akagi's ability.

Ichikawa

Ichikawa (市川) is a blind professional Mah-Jong player. Ichikawa was a player that would play by the book, while Akagi played in various ways. He seems to be similar to Akagi, but Akagi denys this and proves it by defeating him.

Urabe

Urabe (浦部) was a player who represented a Yakuza's family. He and Akagi fought over thirty million yen. Urabe was the person responsible for rising the stakes, so when he was defeated, he was almost killed by the Yakuza.

Iwao Washizu

Iwao Washizu (鷲巣巌 Washizu Iwao) is an old man who had made a lot of money, and one of the strongest people who has power in the underground. The fact is that despite his power, he is human and so someday must die, and it angers him, making him kill people below his age. In the book, Washizu and Akagi played mahjong in an unusual way - they played with glass mahjong tiles that made the game different in many ways.

External links

• Nippon Television Network's Akagi website (Japanese)

Manga series | Anime series | Mahjong

アカギ (漫画)