Akagi: The Legend of Mahjong Special Edition: A thorough evaluation of the dark genius' new challenge

"If you die, you'll be saved..."
Those words came from the boy sitting on the sofa behind Nangou.
The boy is behind Nangou, so naturally, he can see his te.
"...Do you understand mahjong?"
「No, not at all... it's just that I felt a dead presence behind you just now.
I don't have the strength to win.
They're just trying to help, and they're scared."
Hearing the boy's words, Nangou plays a risky tile instead of a safe one. As a result, Nangou manages to turn the game around.
During the break, Nangou said to the boy.
"Can you hit it for me?"
"......?"
The boy said that he didn't know how to play mahjong. In other words, he was an amateur. In the "black market mahjong" against the Yakuza,
This is an act of reckless violence.
However, Nangou sensed it.
This boy has this feeling...
"You have come close to death..."
Perhaps it was precisely because Nango was currently on the brink of death that he was able to sense this.
The aura this boy has.
"You can overcome this brink of death..."
Nangou bet his own fate on this boy who was practically an amateur.
To win (to live)...
"What's your name, boy?"
After a moment the boy answered.
"Akagi... Akagi Shigeru."
This man was none other than the "legendary pinch-player, Akagi Shigeru" who would later shock the "underground mahjong world."

In 1958, a young boy appeared before the mahjong player Nango, who was about to lose a life-or-death match. Sensing something unusual, Nango asked the young boy to play in his place. That boy turned out to be Akagi Shigeru, the legendary mahjong player who would later reign over the underground mahjong world!
The film is based on the mahjong manga of the same name by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, and is directed by Yuzo Sato (Gokusen), with character design by Takahiro Umehara (Tenjo Tenge). Actor Masato Hagiwara, who is also famous for being a mahjong fan, provides the voice of the main character, Akagi.

*Quoted from Madhouse's official website

・Akagi/Masahito Hagiwara・Nangou/Rikiya Koyama・Yasuoka/Tetsuaki Genda・Ryuzaki/Koji Nakata・Yagi/Wataru Takagi・Ichikawa/Hideyuki Tanaka・Urabe/Morio Kazama・Narration/Toru Furuya

・Original story: Nobuyuki Fukumoto (Modern Mahjong Comics, Takeshobo)
・Planning / Masahiko Osawa, Mitsuru Oshima ・Producer / Toshio Nakatani, Manabu Tamura, Masao Maruyama ・Director / Yuzo Sato ・Series Composition / Hideo Takayashiki ・Character Design / Takahiro Umehara ・Art Director / Norihiko Yokomatsu ・Music / Hideki Taniuchi ・Editing / Satoshi Terauchi ・Director of Photography / Masayuki Narai, Jung, Hee-mok, Oh, Seong-ha
・Sound Director: Yasunori Honda ・Sound Recordist: Chika Abe (Tabac)
・Sound effects/Takuya Hasegawa (Soundbox)
・Recording studio: Tabak ・Sound production: Arts Pro ・Animation producer: Akira Shinohara ・Animation production: Madhouse ・Production copyright: Nippon Television Network, VAP, Forecast Communications

・Shigeru Akagi A "genius who descended into the darkness" who, despite being just a 13-year-old amateur, possesses the mahjong skills to beat a "professional substitute". In a life-threatening test of courage known as Chicken Run, he has "a mind beyond the ordinary" by stepping on the accelerator himself to survive. This mind-set is also fully displayed in mahjong. At first glance, he acts coolly and seems to have no meaning in life, but in fact he has magma hot enough to burst forth inside him.
Nango: A man who lost money on gambling and stocks one after another and ended up in debt. He was the first to sense Akagi's aura that "had been on the brink of death." This encounter with Nango would greatly change Akagi's fate.
Detective Yasuoka. A survivor of Chicken Run, he met Akagi while tracking down a missing boy. Like Nangou, he noticed Akagi's strange "talent." Although he is a detective, he also has a dark side, setting up an illegal mahjong match with the yakuza for Akagi and demanding money in return.
・Akagi Yagi's first match against a "professional pinch hitter." He saw through Akagi's talent, but he was underestimated as a junior high school student, which led to him letting his guard down and losing to Akagi.
・Ichikawa is the "blind" pinch-player. After Yagi was defeated by Akagi, Ryuzaki and his team sent him. He has excellent hearing due to being blind, and with his many years of experience, he can control the tiles with ease.
・Urabe is a seasoned strategist. He fakes losses to raise his rating.
・Cure
A co-worker of Akagi's at the factory where he worked when he turned 18. He was timid and was taken advantage of by his seniors at mahjong almost every day. However, Akagi saw through him and realized that he was a man who could play a decent game if he wasn't afraid of losing. He was impressed by Akagi's skill and courage and followed him.
After Akagi disappeared for a while after his match with Hirayama Ichikawa, detective Yasuoka created a "fake Akagi" to replace him. He bases his mahjong game on probability theory and always plays by logic. His skill is considerable, but in the end, his reliance on logic leads to his own downfall.
・Washizu is a former police executive who suddenly retires during World War II and starts a business. He is a shadow fixer who makes his business successful using the connections he cultivated during his time as a police officer and the blackmailing of others. While fearing the looming shadow of old age, he devises a terrifying form of underground mahjong. His opponents are forced to bet their own blood instead of money. Many young people fall victim to this game, and Yasuoka eventually pits Akagi against Akagi as his trump card in his quest to hunt down Washizu.

Akagi: The Genius Who Descended into Darkness