Just finished reading Akagi yesterday, let's have a thread about it.What did you guys think about the ending? For me I'm not really a fan on how it ended. The fact they managed to revive Washizu just for him becoming a crazy old man chasing Akagi around the country as a gag felt bad, like it diminishes the seriousness of the whole match. Even Ohgi and Yasuoka were laughing at it. Also I didn't like how Akagi was carrying around that fag Osamu. I wish the manga ended with Washizu's definitive death, it would have been much cooler. Nobody dying from the so called death match that lasted 200 chapters is kind of lame.
He was already a crazy old man before the match, but now he had a purpose and goal that he will never reach again. I like the ending a lot.You could even say, Washizu died in a philosophical way rather than a physical. After meeting someone like Akagi, his status of the emperor of luck vanished. The last remaining luck he had, he used to survive. But that was all he had left, and so he could never find Akagi again.Now go read Ten
>>289870117agreed on Washizuhis death was beautiful instead we not only get a slapstick revival, we also learn that his subordinates follow him because they like being mistreated by himwtf, Fukumotooverall it was too occult for menot the underworld part, that was finebut the flow and wave of luck and all that spiritual force that happened over the mahjong tableI get that it works for some people, but I just fundamentally don't buy the idea of a persistent "flow" and it rather sours the whole story for mealso, I was a bit disappointed by WashizuI expected him to go full badass at some pointinstead he continued to play naively, trying spineless strategies like full defense and depended entirely on his luck"white" Washizu wasn't the change of gear I had hoped it would be
It's important to remember that FKMT is, at his core, a comedy author
>>289870584I liked all the luck and flow of game stuff but I'm also very supertitious myself so I guess I could relate. I play a lot of tcg so I kind of understand what they are talking about. >>289870574Yeah I'm planning on reading ten ever since I found out Akagi is originally from there so I am curious on how old Akagi is. Hope it's as enjoyable as Akagi.
>>289870117I think Washizu dying would've been extremely anticlimatic, it's strange, but after a while you go from wanting Akagi to beat him like all the pre-Washizu villains, to not really wanting to see either of them loose, even if a bit corny, both winning in a different way, but neither of them viewing it as a real victory is the best possible outcome.The fact Ten exists means that Akagi could never die during his own manga, this meta knowledge will always tell you that he survived and lived to see the events of Ten. This leaves you with a tie or Washizu loss as options, and what would be the point of the latter? "After 200 chapters, the only man to truly make Akagi struggle dies a dog's death", that'd be empty
>>289870960What do you mean planningread it right nowI recently reread it myself, the start is a bit rocky but once the east vs west match starts going it's amazing. And I don't even have the words to praise the ending properly
>>289870960>Hope it's as enjoyable as Akagi.Just know Ten starts out dogshit, it keeps getting better over time.
>>289871340aw come on, the christmas tree story is charming
>>289870574>>289870960>Now go read Tenmyself, I found Ten a bit of a slog, but then again it also goes heavy on the occult I struggled to keep readingbut damn, it was worth it just for the final three volumes
>>289871178Ah yeah I see what you mean, even though Washizu was kind of a retard for the whole match, relying entirely on his luck as the other anon pointed out. That part where he discarded pei three times in a row despite he almost figuring out the baiting after Yasuoka's chi just play himself like a fool made me lose all hope of washizu to become an actual threat to Akagi in the final round.Also on another note I was hoping on seeing Ohgi and Yasuoka being fucked over in some way at the end, they got away with everything while doing nothing besides bitch and moan and sometimes fucking it up during the game!
>>289871291>>289871340I know you can't really blame FKMT for this, but the thing I disliked the most about early Ten was how dogshit the scanlation up until around volume 5 or so is. The writing feels like whoever translated it had a poor grasp of both English and Japanese, and the scans themselves aren't great, featuring artifacts on page edges as well as bad spread splicing (which sours the reading experience more than usual, since it's hard to read hands).At about volume 3 I was annoyed enough at this that I looked up if FKMTkrazy picked it up eventually, and was concerned to find out he never did. Thankfully by the time the story gets better so does the scanlation, East/West and the final arc would lose so much impact if done like the early volumes>>289871622I can sort of see that, but as an earlier post said, Washizu was already a bit insane. I think the theme is meant to be the best luckshitter vs the best manipulator
credit where it's duethe part where Washizu hallucinated 1-sou morphing into a haku, with the bird flying away was kino of the highest ordergenerally FKMT has a lot of fun with haku tiles, since they represent emptiness, often psychological emptiness
>>289872074speaking of haku
>>289871340The yakuza arc is kino.
>>289872101Ok but how does that point Akagi is making get fixed in-cannon? Are they just that honest?
>>289872773It doesn't, so seemingly yes
>>289872773The gloves are really thick.
>>289871622Here's my takeEssentially, the theme of the match is not luck, manipulation, geniuses or anything of that sort. The theme is fear vs freedom.This is also a point that gets brought up during Ten later on, with a different character.Washizu, despite his luckshittery, is a man governed by fear. It hinders him again and again from winning each and every match. Even his perverted game of luring young men to this death game, is ultimately a projection of his own fear of mortality, a sort of macabre self-soothing ritual. His backstory has him abandoning japan at the end of WW2, and going right back to scamming and amassing wealth and power. His hallucinated flashback to that part is very telling, the man looks around a destroyed japan and then REFUSES to die like the rest of them. This is his source of power. His fear of death and failure, coupled with his intelligence and malice, created a powerful monster.Akagi stands in the face of that. He refuses to fear death, because it would sour the game. The game is the most important part, the series of exchanges between people, with one coming up one top over the other, that is what Akagi feels life is living for. Akagi does not care for power, money, family or women. He wants to be Akagi to the very last second, even if a gamble fails.This of course, is something that Washizu cannot comprehend. And strikes such fear in his heart, that he even lets the tiniest doubt manipulate him, any kind of quick and easy solution (i.e. kill akagi quickly) to finally flee this trap he himself set, he wants to take and run.Each and every match is ultimately lost by Washizu because he was afraid. And around the ending part, Washizu isn't even afraid of losing his own life, he becomes afraid of killing Akagi.
My favorite part of the epilogue is that even Akagi doesn't want a rematch.
>>289873042Washizu fucking won that match, Akagi survive just from sheer plot armor.
>>289871564I don't mind the occult stuff, but yeah it was a little difficult for me to get into Ten at first. I tried twice and just kinda lost interest. Once I did get through it though it was 100% worth, wonderful closure for the character.
