At 8 PM, the second episode of 'Kaiji' officially went live.
The Great Zhou drama market was still reeling from the emotional aftershock of '5 Centimeters per Second'. As a result, this new drama didn't make much of a splash with its first episode.
The main reason was that Jing Yu didn't act in it, and the protagonist's early characterization really wasn't likable.
But starting from the second episode, the show revealed a very different kind of charm.
Furuhata, Ando, and Kaiji — the desperate trio aboard the gambling ship — began their path of cooperation in adversity, fighting for a sliver of hope.
This episode marked the beginning of Kaiji's awakening.
After all, in Jing Yu's past life, the anime 'Kaiji' was known as 'Ultimate Survivor Kaiji'.
Even the name makes it clear what kind of person he is.
Put Kaiji into a normal life? He'd live his entire life as a nobody, possibly worse off than an average person.
But never corner someone like Kaiji. When driven to the edge, he'll risk everything for a comeback.
At the beginning of the second episode, the trio works together to analyze everyone's restricted rock-paper-scissors patterns aboard the gambling ship.
Currently, the three of them only hold four cards.
And they're all scissors.
As for stars, they only have three.
Because of a comment from one of his teammates about "balance", Kaiji has an epiphany.
Only clueless players would throw out cards at random, which is how they ended up with just four scissors.
Normal people would follow a "balance strategy" — maintaining roughly equal numbers of rock, paper, and scissors cards.
In a limited rock-paper-scissors match like this, if you're left with only one type of card, then victory doesn't depend on what you throw, but on what your opponent throws. And if others find out that the three of them are holding only scissors cards? The result would be disastrous.
Anyone playing against them would throw paper every time.
Kaiji tells Furuhata and Ando to find someone who has 9 cards left and has already used rock and scissors in their last 2 matches.
Simple — bet that the person is using the balance strategy. If they started with three of each type and already used rock and scissors, chances are their next card is paper.
Why?
If they started with four of each, they'd still have room to mix it up. But with only nine left, and rock and scissors already used, if they don't throw paper next, then they'll end up with something like:
3 paper, 2 rock, 1 scissors
or 3 paper, 1 rock, 2 scissors
People who follow the balance principle and have mild OCD wouldn't let their hands become that unbalanced. Those combinations are too chaotic.
Kaiji thinks of this and flips the opponent's logic into a trap.
By this point, a lot of viewers were already starting to feel the tension in their brains.
All pure psychological warfare.
Sure enough, the trio finds someone like that.
Kaiji pretends to be weak and challenges the opponent. The opponent plays paper, and Kaiji wins one star.
But this was just the beginning.
Kaiji challenges him to another round — and loses. This time, the opponent used rock.
But now, the opponent knows Kaiji has only four cards and already played two — only two remain.
As they say: Man plans, God laughs.
At that moment, Kaiji's opponent believes he's discovered a winning formula.
"Hey, coward, trying to run already? Come on, one more round!"
The opponent tries to provoke him.
Furuhata and Ando urge Kaiji not to fall for it — only to see Kaiji smirk like a hunter who's caught his prey.
"This game of rock-paper-scissors is oddly fun."
"Seriously. I never thought I'd get hyped watching rock-paper-scissors."
"That immersion is crazy!"
"Who knew rock-paper-scissors could have this many layers?"
"Why is Kaiji suddenly smiling like that? Isn't he scared his opponent will catch on that all his cards are scissors?"
"Wait a sec… I think I get it!"
"Same! The opponent's a balance-type player!"
"Kaiji figured him out — he did all of this on purpose!"
In the fan chat, a lot of people were still lost while a few had started to connect the dots — and then the drama gave the answer.
Since the opponent is a balance-type, what would they assume if someone with only four cards came to play?
They'd assume it's one rock, one paper, one scissors, and one unknown card.
But since Kaiji already played two scissors against them, they'd deduce the unknown card was scissors.
Meaning now Kaiji is left with only rock and paper.
So in a match now, if the opponent plays paper, they can't lose — and have a 50% chance to win.
But who would've thought — Kaiji's four cards were all scissors.
Just like how sweet tofu lovers can't believe salty tofu exists, balance-type players refuse to believe someone could hold four scissors.
There's risk — deduction is never 100% — but to gamblers neck-deep in debt, negative possibilities are zero, and favorable odds feel absolute.
It's the same mindset as people who don't believe persistent smoking can cause disease but believe persistent lottery playing will win a jackpot.
Kaiji predicted all of this.
If he won the first round, he could back off with two stars — nice and safe.
But if the opponent demanded a rematch — stuck in a mental loop — Kaiji might score a third.
Fourth round? Never go for it — the opponent would have no paper left, only rock and scissors.
If he lost the second round, it's neutral — two cards gone, nothing gained.
But if the opponent falls for the trap and insists on a third match, Kaiji has a high chance of winning two in a row.
In other words, his strategy could net two or three stars, and it was something he had already planned when sending Furuhata and Ando out scouting.
Kaiji's panicked expression hides a calm determination that pumps up viewers at home.
The opponent throws two papers in a row.
Third round — paper again — and loses. They fall into the gambler's fallacy:
"If it's been 'Big' ten times, surely the next one can't be 'Big' again!"
Fourth round — Kaiji plays another scissors.
All four of his cards are scissors.
The opponent's look of utter despair was insanely satisfying.
The more arrogant they were before, the more pathetic they looked now!
Only a balance-type would fall for a trap like this.
"I'm getting hyped — how is the main character this smart?! How did someone like that end up on a gambling ship in debt?!"
"It's not Kaiji who's smart — it's the screenwriter, Jing Yu!"
"Damn, this drama just got good! I hated the protagonist's loser attitude in episode one — but now? He's a different man!"
"But now they've got five stars and zero cards — that still sounds hopeless."
"Honestly, Kaiji has three stars. He could cash out his debt now — a million loan, pay ten percent interest, and get off the ship. Better than being seventy or eighty grand in debt!"
"Let's see what he does. The matches were his. The stars are on him. As long as he doesn't admit they're a team, the organizers won't allow star theft. Technically, he could save himself. Even if it means paying back ¥100,000 for a ¥30,000 loan — that's acceptable."
Jing Yu added this bit of introspection — not in the original. In the source, Kaiji wins three stars and immediately uses them to buy more cards, aiming to earn more stars, and maybe even sell excess stars to desperate losers before the limited rock-paper-scissors round ends, to repay their million-yen debt.
But here, Jing Yu adds Kaiji hesitating, considering ditching his teammates.
In the end, Kaiji decides not to abandon them.
Despite the risk, he chooses to keep fighting for Furuhata, who got him into debt, and Ando, whom he barely knows.
This small plot addition will make their future betrayal of Kaiji feel even more heartbreaking — and make viewers even angrier.
Then begins the second phase of limited rock-paper-scissors.
Kaiji notices the screen displaying the remaining cards: rock and scissors are highest.
So the idea: if they buy lots of rock cards and usage continues evenly, eventually only rock and scissors will remain. At that point, using rock = guaranteed win.
So Kaiji buys only rock cards — lots of them — and keeps the card-buying low-key.
But here's the brilliance of the show: the main character's plan is solid — but others are smart too.
Another group notices the hoarding of rock cards — and counter-hoards paper.
With both rock and paper being hoarded, the only ones still battling are those with scissors — leading to scissors being used up fastest.
By the end of episode two, the situation flips:
Scissors are rare. Rock and paper dominate.
Kaiji, holding dozens of rock cards, becomes the real sucker — the biggest "pig" on the field. Step into a match? It's paper city.
And now, the team that's been hoarding paper makes its move.
Episode two ends.
An hour of television that had viewers glued to their screens.
Compared to episode one — where Kaiji was an annoying freeloader who got conned into desperation — episode two is a transformation.
Whether his strategies work or not, viewers now see Kaiji as:
Smart.
And not just him — the supporting cast too.
Furuhata and Ando's actions perfectly embody what it means to be deadweight teammates.
So when the ending song for 'Kaiji' Episode two played, many fans only then realized:
They were sweating buckets without even noticing.
Because episode two?
Was that damn good.
Not a single minute of filler.