The AKAGI reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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AKAGI

Time you got around to sponsoring a child
AKAGI is a Japanese comic that started in 1993. It is about a game called "Mah Jong". The writer Nobuyuki Fukumoto is very clever and he creates very interesting storys that makes young and old people read this comic. He has also written Kaiji and Ten that both have a lot of readers. AKAGI is in the weekly magazine "Modern Mah-Jong". This comic has even been adapted into a movie because of it's popularity.

Warning: Plot details follow.

Table of contents
1 Story
2 Characters

Story

The title "AKAGI" comes from the name of the main character. He 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 mah-jong against Japanese mafia (Yakuza) for the first time in his life but quickly he understands how the game goes and win. Mah-Jong is a game that moves huge amount of money and Japanese Yakuza uses it to earn money. So when Akagi first won it was the first step in to the underground business. Akagi shows incredible talents through the story but he also is a heretic that makes him different from others. In the end he becomes a legend in the underground world.

Characters

Akagi

A young boy who survives from a chicken race. He is the main character. With his talent for gambling, he defeats many professional mah-jong players in various ways and becomes a legend.

Yasuoka

Yasuoka is a dirty detective who is connected to the underground business. He also plays mah-jong and is the first one who realizes Akagi's talent in mah-jong. He also plays a role as a narrator in the comic.

Yagi

Yagi 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 is a blind professional Mah-Jong player. He some how seems to be similar to Akagi but Akagi denys it and proves that by defeating him. Ichikawa was a player that would play by the book. Compared to him Akagi plays in all kinds of ways. Ichikawa couldn't stop Akagi's talent.

Urabe

Urabe was a player who represented a yakuza's family. He and Akagi fought over three million yen. Urabe was the one who made the money raise this high so when he was defeated he was almost killed by the yakuza.

Washizu

Washizu is a old man who had made a lot of money and one of the strongest people who has power in the underground. Even though he has power he is human so someday he must die. That makes Washizu angry and can't help him to kill younger people than him. Washizu and Akagi played mah-jong in a unusual way. They played with glass mah-jong tiles that made the game different in many ways.