Akagi

Akagi: Yami ni Oritatta Tensai (アカギ 〜闇に降り立った天才〜) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. First published in 1992 in the weekly magazine Kindai Mahjong, it is a spin-off of the author's previous work, Ten. It revolves around Shigeru Akagi, a boy who defeats yakuza members well versed in mahjong at 13. He returns to the game six years later, carrying a mythical status and still impresses his opponents.

In Japan, Akagi has sold over 10 million copies. It was adapted as two V-Cinema live action films in 1995 and 1997. A 26-episode anime television series was produced by Madhouse and broadcast on Japanese television network Nippon Television from 2005 to 2006. A live-action television drama is set to start on July 17, 2015 on BS SKY PerfecTV!. The series has also spawned several companion books, spin-off manga, video games, and merchandise.

Plot
The story revolves around the mahjong gambling exploits of Shigeru Akagi (赤木しげる). After a death-defying game of chicken one evening in 1958, Akagi nonchalantly enters a yakuza mahjong parlor to shake the police's trail. Although he is unfamiliar with the rules of mahjong, his gambling intuition saves a small time gambler, Nangou (南郷), and grants him a seat at the gambling table. As the night progresses, the stakes are raised both within the game and for Akagi, who is under the suspicion of the local policeman, Yasuoka (安岡). However, Akagi manages to defeat Keiji Yagi (矢木圭次)—despite Yagi's cheating during the game—and impresses the members of the gambling house.

Yasuoka arranges a new match against other yakuza members, in which Akagi defeats Ichikawa (市川), a blind professional mahjong player with very accurate hearing. After defeating him, Akagi gains mythical status at 13 but then disappears, becoming a legendary figure all over Japan. Six years later, Yasuoka orders Yukio Hirayama (平山幸雄) to pretend to be Akagi to impress some yakuza bosses and make money. Meanwhile, Nangou finds the real Akagi, now aged 19. Akagi, however, does not need to play with Hirayama as Hirayama is defeated by Urabe (浦部), a professional mahjong player for another yakuza group who is later defeated by Akagi.

Akagi's ultimate rival is Iwao Washizu (鷲巣巌), an old man who has made a lot of money and become one of the most powerful people in the Japanese underworld. Having built up massive funds from shady dealings in Japan's post-war era, Washizu tempts people to bet their lives for the chance to win a large amount of money. Washizu and Akagi play mahjong in an unusual way that Washizu calls "Washizu Mahjong", in which glass tiles replace most of the tiles and make the game different in many ways.

Official

 * Nippon Television Network's Akagi website (Japanese)