Akagi: Yami ni Oritatta Tensai

***Minor Spoilers Below*** Washizu Mahjong is; without exaggeration, one of the most monumental battles in all of animanga. Spanning 226 chapters and taking FKMT 2 decades to finish, this titanic death match between Iwao Washizu and Akagi Shigeru is the quintessential representation of everything FKMT excels at: psychological warfare, unbearable tension, expressive facial expressions, extravagant visual metaphors, and a relentless push-and-pull dynamic where victory is always just within reach yet feels impossible to seize. Washizu Mahjong isn’t just a mahjong match with titilating game theory - it’s life and death condensed into each draw of the tiles. Experience grappling with raw, unrelenting talent. Decaying wisdom versus a young,untethered genius. It’s the crumbling, paranoid madness of a man who wants to live forever against the terrifying, almost alien rationality of someone who embraces life without clinging to survival. With blood as the currency and mortality hanging by a thread, the stakes are crushing. FKMT doesn’t just tell you this. He makes you feel it - every agonizing second, every slow-motion discard, and every moment where the outcome teeters on the brink of catastrophe / catharsis. When Washizu collapses in desperation or Akagi flashes his cold, unreadable smirk, you don’t just see the characters. You become them. As someone who has brain-rotted over Mahjong Soul for several months, I became fully immersed in this story, and I could see a lot of myself reflected in both Akagi and ESPECIALLY Washizu. To put it simply, this is the kind of match where you stop questioning how long it will take to end and start dreading the moment it finally does. What makes this arc truly kino is how Washizu’s perspective dominates the arc. This is his story as much as it is Akagi’s, if not MUCH MUCH more so. Washizu starts as a caricature of greed and malice, a shadow king of the post-war era who tempts others to gamble their lives for his amusement. He’s loud, theatrical, and utterly convinced of his superiority. Yet FKMT peels back the layers of this man piece by piece, and what comes out is a deeply human portrait of someone grappling with mortality. Washizu doesn’t just want to win- he wants to cling to life itself, and defeat the greatest challenge he's ever been given. His ambition isn’t purely evil; it’s rooted in the universal fear of death and the desire to preserve his legacy, dignity, wealth, and principles. His dramatic monologues and inner spirals of paranoia are nothing short of mesmerising to read. He overthinks, sabotages himself repeatedly, berates his subordinates, and clings to hope in moments where there is none. I can’t help but see fragments of my own experiences in him - every strategic blunder I’ve made, every time I’ve doubted my own instincts, every moment where fear has led me to make the wrong move. Washizu’s mind becomes a theater of chaos where his insecurities, brilliance, and sheer desperation collide, and I found myself rooting for him even with Akagi as the "hero". The clash between these two characters is also a philosophical war as much as it is a battle of skill. Akagi represents living without fear - a figure so detached from the concerns of mortality that he can throw away blood; his very life, without hesitation. Washizu, in contrast - represents the terror of death and the lengths we’ll go to avoid it. Their dynamic creates a fascinating interplay where Akagi seems almost inhuman in his composure, while Washizu’s desperation makes him the more relatable of the two. Even when he loses his most pivotal rounds, Washizu commands my utmost respect. When his goons plead with Akagi to spare his life, Washizu insists on following through with the rules of the game, even if it means his death. There’s a dignity in his madness, a refusal to compromise his principles even as he’s brought to the brink. That pivotal 'hell revolt' mini-arc - where Washizu, in a near-death state, imagines himself fighting off demons to return to the living - epitomizes his character. It’s absurd, theatrical, and deeply moving all at once. Whether it’s a hallucination or a metaphor for his indomitable perseverance, it just makes his character that much more special and memorable to me. Washizu isn’t just a bum cheating loser like many of other FKMT's antagonists, he’s a well-rounded and well-written antagonistic force that serves as a mirror to reflect Akagi’s philosophy and is LITERALLY ME. While the pacing of this arc is undeniably slow, I’d argue that its deliberate nature is part of what makes it so impactful. Each draw, each discard, and each moment of hesitation is stretched to its absolute limit - immersing you - the reader in the suffocating tension of the match. Once again as I have repeated before, you will 1000% appreciate this more if you have AT LEAST a basic understanding of Mahjong. Knowing the stakes of each move, the significance of each hand, and the strategies at play elevates the experience to another level. Instead of simply watching the chaos unfold / "keikakudoori" BS, you become an active participant, analyzing the tiles and questioning each decision alongside the players. The shifting momentum between Akagi and Washizu, the escalating stakes, and the sheer audacity of the moves they pull create an experience that’s impossible to forget. What I REALLY LOVE is that minimal cheating was involved here. Washizu Mahjong's mix of transparent & opaque tiles, as well as, no walls for switching tiles, make it useless to cheat. The only possible way is a false riichi - which if found out, would result in your death. Basically the focus here is on raw strategy and nerve. It’s a game where both players are exposed, vulnerable, and forced to confront the inevitable: death. Ultimately, what makes Washizu Mahjong so unforgettable is its ability to explore the concept of mortality through the lens of a simple game. This isn’t just a match between two gamblers. It’s a meditation on what it means to live and what it means to die. Akagi and Washizu are two sides of the same coin - one embracing the fleeting nature of life, the other fighting tooth and nail to extend it. Their battle is one of contrasts: youth and age, light and darkness, courage and fear. Yet despite their differences, there’s a genuine respect and mutual understanding that develops between them. Washizu's words of praise towards Akagi and acknowledging him as an equal. Akagi willing to wait out that last "Pon" call. Both of them pushing each other to survive their blood extractions. All of this is an acknowledgment of the strange bond that has formed between them, a bond forged in blood, madness, and the unrelenting pursuit of victory. This arc may have taken 20 IRL years to finish, but every moment feels earned. Washizu Mahjong is a masterclass in tension, character building, and thematic storytelling, and once again displays FKMT’s genius that a simple game of Mahjong can carry so much emotional weight. I am literally Iwao Washizu.

AKAGI, THE GENIUS WHO DESCENDED INTO DARKNESS is a lot of fun. I used this manga while I was learning to play Riichi Mahjong. It is not at all helpful for any kind of actual play but it is extremely nice for familiarizing yourself with specific tiles and different Yaku. In turn, it was kind of cool to slowly be able to understand what the hell anyone was talking about at any given time. Learning what Yaku you can get becomes very important once you get passed the first steps of learning to play if you don't want to just blindly play into whatever worksloosely. I'm not saying you need to learn Mahjong to read this, but god it makes it a much better time. Beyond that Akagi is just really wild. Lot's of real intense gambling over alternate rules Mahjong games. Some cheating but also just a lot of insane luck and mind games. Biggest problem with it is once you get to the part with Washizu it drags on for wayyyyyy too long. This is a good time you can probably feel free to put down whenever or skim through large chunks of.

Akagi, a truly in depth world of mahjong. Akagi is a great read and well worth it for fans of gambling stories and very detailed psychological conflicts. Akagi is a great way to get into Mahjong or just enjoy a story centering on Mahjong's mechanics and techniques. Going into Akagi I had little exposure to mahjong. The little exposure I have includes Mahjong Solitaire online games I played when i was younger and scenes of it in different manga. Now, you do not really need exposure to enjoy this story, it explains some details and its relatively safe to figure it out as you readwith a bit of side research if you are actually interested in fully understanding the mechanics of Mahjong. Akagi is a very wordy very in depth detailed narrative of a young mans journey through his gambling addiction. The story is exciting and interesting with tons of great side characters. The art style is so unique and has a great feel to it. Some of the hypest moments come from the accounts of the observers during the Mahjong matches and such, since this story does include few other games. The last arc is one of the longest arcs I have ever read and includes so much detail narratively it can be overwhelming. This story is best suited for readers with great patience and interest in absorbing a psychological narrative. I personally was a bit annoyed by the repetitive nature of the narrative, however that does not mean it is poor writing. Some readers might love that aspect of the story. I am likely being impatient, the arc is a one verses one with so many ups and downs, the writing certainly does not take anything away from that. The way Fukumoto writes his climaxes makes my heart thump so fast, I do not even know what is going to happen. Finally, Akagi is an enjoyable read and worthwhile for those who love great characterizations and complex Mahjong battles.

STORY: 2 Meet Akagi, a youth gambler that is not afraid of death! And.. nothing. We have a title purely centered on a single character and he gets zero development. So Akagi is just some mysterious, disinterested figure that appears when gambling stakes are high. He gambles on Mahjong, that tile game you must have seen if you celebrate Lunar new year, and you are going to see a lot of tiles along 36 volumes. You would think that this title can be hard to read if you don't know the Japanese rule version of Mahjong. Well, actually, even if you knew the rules, the story isso boring, repetitive and predictable that you would still have a hard time. What is the point of having so many chapter if there no evolution, depth, or changes in the story? Akagi has the record of the slowest progression in the history of manga: one single night of Mahjong took twenty years to draw! That’s more than twenty volumes for a single game! You would think that, to be that long, this battle was the most epic of all time but it’s far from being the case. You could have kept the intensity of the game within one volume and it would work out great. If you think Usogui’s games drag on for too long, Akagi is pure torture! ART: 4 The typical cartoonish style from Fukumoto Nobuyuki: bodies are stiff, facial features are exaggerated, characters are easy to recognize. This art is usually pleasant in other works from the author, but here, with very few characters and everyone glued to chairs, you get quickly tired of seeing the same expressions and situations repeating non stop. POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4 The year is 1958 and what a waste, the period does not matter one bit in the story. When Akagi is introduced, he is 13 and has some obvious mental issues (he drove off a cliff for a bet). Does anyone care? No, they are just fascinated by a death-defying, emotionally-empty kid. Here, we have another example of toxic masculinity traits that impress the author enough to make Akagi the hero of the story. Kurosawa was about violence, Ichijou was about narcissism, Akagi is about addiction and risky behavior. FEMINISM: 3 Maybe we have another record here: except for one female passerby that may have said some words, there is not a single woman within the 306 chapters of Akagi! Fukumoto was apparently quoted as saying “there is no need for women to appear in a gambling comic”, which confirms that he cannot see women as normal human beings. His works mostly essentialize them in the usual sexist categories: object of desire or motherly presence. Oh wait! I found one woman that gets some page space! She is on the photo cover of the publishing magazine, Kindai Mahjong. Most photo covers of the magazine feature a man who's fully dressed, looks dark and focused on his Mahjong tiles. Once in a while, there's a girl on the cover, and they are all young, looking at the camera, and wearing bikinis. CONCLUSION: 3 I cannot even recommend this for fans of Mahjong or the author.