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Episode 8 – The Sign of Rebirth
The year is now 1964. Normal people are all worked up about the Olympics, but down in the depths of the Japanese underworld, something else is stirring…
Yasuoka is having a chat with yakuza boss Kawada. It’s been six years, but the detective claims that he has finally unearthed the elusive Akagi Shigeru, who disappeared after the Ichikawa match. We see a profile of the man as he approaches the meeting place: white hair, exceptionally long nose… According to Yasuoka, Akagi Shigeru is going to create another legend, or so we are led to believe. Akagi steps into the room and everyone gets a good look at him. It seems that Akagi’s fashion sense has drastically changed since we last saw him. Gone are the basic shirt and pants, replaced with a neat white suit with grey stripes and a red shirt. The white hair is no longer in his face, but swept back with what looks like an entire jar’s worth of hair gel. He’s wearing reddish sunglasses, but you can still tell that the face is Akagi’s. Interesting how much people can change in six years.
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Ishikawa, Kawada’s underling (not to be confused with Ichikawa, the blind man), isn’t 100% sure of “Akagi’s” identity and goes about determining whether this is, in fact, the real Akagi. Apparently, he was one of the yakuza that saw the boy play six years ago. Akagi, Yasuoka, Ishikawa, and a small herd of random yakuza meet up in a Mahjong parlour to test this Akagi’s Mahjong skills. The table is set up, they play for a bit, and it becomes obvious that Akagi has something that the other players lack. He keeps winning from impossible Tsumo draws, again and again and again.
Ishikawa is baffled by Akagi’s stupid Tsumo luck, so Yasuoka decides to show Akagi off a little more by telling him to do his thing. Akagi obeys him without a word, taking a quick look at each set of seventeen Mahjong tiles before laying out all 136 tiles face-down and in random order in a big square on the table. Yasuoka then tells Ishikawa to name a hand, claiming that Akagi can make it while keeping the tiles face-down. Akagi’s memorised all 136 tiles. Ishikawa does so, and Akagi constructs it perfectly with style and grace, without hesitating or peeking at any of the tiles. Shocked, Ichikawa names two more, and Akagi builds each hand flawlessly while the yakuza gasp in amazement at this incredible feat of memorisation. Akagi smiles.
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Later that night, we find Ishikawa sitting in a bar, brooding. Akagi’s memorising ability is indeed very impressive, but it’s just not the same as what Ishikawa saw six years ago. Photographic memory was not what made Akagi such a scary bastard. Ishikawa leaves the bar and calls his boss, saying that Akagi has weakened. He’s not the person he was six years ago, though he’s still quite skilled at Mahjong. Kawada doesn’t mind, since it doesn’t matter as long as the man can still win.
Displeased, Ishikawa goes for a walk, still brooding over this second-rate Akagi. He’s quite disappointed about how Akagi’s degraded over time.
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He stumbles upon an uneven street fight and stands there, observing. Four guys armed with pipes and sticks are talking tough at another guy, surrounding and mocking him. One of the toughs lifts his big pipe and takes a swing at their victim. The “victim” neatly sidesteps, trips the guy, and smashes his face, glasses and all, with a sneakered foot.
Blood flies.
The second guy lunges at him with a big stick. The intended target sees him coming and breaks the guy’s nose with his left elbow. Not wasting any time, the victim-turned-aggressor finishes by whipping around and kicking the third guy in the head. The fourth guy loses his nerve, drops his pipe, and runs away, passing by Ishikawa.
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The victor of the skirmish turns around. Ishikawa gasps. Silver hair, deadpan expression… Akagi Shigeru?!
But wait, he’s nothing like Yasuoka’s Akagi! The attitude is different, the clothes are different… Does this mean that there are, in fact, two Akagi Shigerus running around? Ishikawa confronts him, asking him straight-out if he’s the same Akagi Shigeru that defeated Ichikawa six years ago. Ishikawa starts babbling, but the other Akagi stops listening and walks past him. Ishikawa tells him to wait, but Akagi breaks into a run and disappears into the night.
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Some time later, Ishikawa meets up with Nangou for a coffee and discussion on Akagi. He lays out the situation to Nangou. Ishikawa believes that Yasuoka’s Akagi is not Akagi at all, and that the violent, ass-kicking man he saw that night was the real Akagi.
The pair leave the shop and head out into the streets. Ishikawa wants Nangou to take a look at the other Akagi and confirm his identity once and for all. He’s asked around, and it seems that this particular Akagi goes around randomly beating up street punks and even yakuza. As a matter of fact, it’s unwise to make eye contact with the man if you’re with any less than five(!) people.
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Ishikawa leads Nangou to… a toy factory. This is where the vicious other Akagi works. He’s a factory worker, making toy monkeys. Nangou takes a peek through the window to see if that is the real Akagi. He looks, gasps, and hides as if his life depends on it.
His verdict? Nangou is sure that that is indeed Akagi Shigeru, though he never imagined him to be working at a toy monkey factory, of all places.
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It’s 5pm and Akagi’s shift is over. The supervisor is handing out the month’s paychecks to everyone. Yes, Akagi is working in a toy monkey factory for 12,000 yen per month, just like a normal person.
Three older co-workers approach Akagi and invite him over for a friendly payday Mahjong match. Akagi says he’s not interested, but the leader of the workgang grips him by the shoulder, telling him that it’ll be okay because they’ll leave him enough money to eat. It’s perfectly normal to lose a tuition fee’s worth of cash to them the first few times. Basically, these guys want to help him build social contacts by taking his pay. Akagi chuckles and says that they just want to hustle his money. The leader smiles and claims that it’s not hustling because Akagi could win, too. Akagi, still smiling, admits that he’s right. It seems that he’s about to take them up on their offer, but the supervisor interrupts. Akagi has a visitor. It’s Nangou.
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Akagi takes his hat off and seems pleasantly surprised. Nangou gawks at him, checking him out several times and being rather unsubtle about it. Yes, the man is indeed Akagi. Akagi breaks the silence, wondering what’s up. Nangou asks him if he’s free, and Akagi replies in the affirmative. He ditches his Mahjong-hustling coworkers, using Nangou as an excuse. Nangou wonders if it’s okay, but Akagi answers that he isn’t interrupting anything important.
The leader, Kawashima, is visibly angry. Kawashima turns and takes it out on a junior coworker, making him this month’s Mahjong sucker. Osamu, the poor kid, doesn’t want to do it since the gang already made him play twice in a row, but Kawashima tells him to blame Akagi for not playing.
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Osamu darts out of the factory after Akagi, practically begging the man to take his place. Akagi declines because he’s busy with something else, and tells Osamu to just say no to pushy coworkers. The kid tells him that it doesn’t work that way. Kawashima comes out and growls at him. See? Akagi sighs and, with his usual amount of tact, tells the bully to go to a Mahjong parlour instead of ganging up on kids’ cheap salaries. Enraged, Kawashima stalks up to Akagi and grabs him by the shirtfront. Akagi is enjoying the situation, but Nangou intervenes and breaks up the potential fight. Kawashima snarls, saying that he’ll remember this. Akagi just chuckles.
Nangou listens to Akagi talk as they walk down a street. Apparently, every place Akagi’s worked at has had two or three people that ganged up on others. Akagi wonders why they don’t live more freely, but his musings are interrupted when Ishikawa emerges from a side street. It was a setup. Nangou apologises to Akagi, saying that Ishikawa just wants to talk. Ishikawa basically asks Akagi what he’s doing, bumming around working like a normal person. Akagi says nothing.
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Ishikawa gets them all into his black yakuza car and starts driving. He tells Akagi all about Yasuoka and his fake Akagi. The real one chuckles. Yasuoka is as dirty as ever. Akagi inquires further about the fake and learns that, not only does he look like him, but he doesn’t suck at Mahjong, either. Fake Akagi doesn’t win by a huge margin, but he has a very stable playing style, and Boss Kawada really likes that for some reason. Akagi lights up a smoke and enjoys his cigarette while Ishikawa talks. Ishikawa is worried about his boss and Fake Akagi; the imposter’s skills are good, but still human. He’s a second-rate gambler, and the real players will eat him alive once they get around to it. Ishikawa is so worried that he misses a change in the traffic light and Akagi has to tell him that it’s turned green. The gangster continues, saying that only our hero, Akagi, can match these villains. Akagi responds by saying that he only came to see the fake, not to get involved.
They meet up with Boss Kawada, but the yakuza boss doesn’t need Akagi anymore. It doesn’t matter to him if his Akagi is fake or not; Kawada likes the fake’s style. The fake Akagi is reasonable and doesn’t play by instinct. Fake Akagi has stable winnings, and Kawada doesn’t need the guy to play godly games. He just has to do well on average. Kawada then waits for Ishikawa to agree with him. Ishikawa answers his boss with a half-hearted “Huh.”
Yasuoka comes into the room, his pet Akagi in tow. Nangou watches apprehensively as this other Akagi sits down behind Yasuoka. The two Akagis really do look alike, hairstyles and clothes aside. Kawada instructs Yasuoka to have the other Akagi “do that thing he always does.” They comply and the Mahjong tiles come out. Fake Akagi flips them all face-down, randomly gathers thirteen to form a hand, still face-down, and then opens the hand, saying “three” immediately afterwards. He gathers another thirteen, but says “two” this time. What is going on? Fake Akagi is saying the Shan Ten number, which is the number of tiles that need changing to get a Ten Pai (which is a hand that is one tile away from winning. You win on the fourteenth tile). Counting the Shan Ten number instantly the way Fake Akagi is doing it is very difficult because the tiles are disorganised and upside-down. Ishikawa orders him to organise the tiles so that he can see the Shan Ten number for himself. He does so. Fake Akagi is right. The fake continues forming hands and instantly counting the Shan Ten numbers.
Nangou is shocked. The fake Akagi is a different kind of genius from Akagi. His feat is superhuman.
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Fake Akagi gathers the last hand from the remaining nineteen tiles. He begins to open the hand, but a voice interrupts him.
“Three,” says Akagi, leaning comfortably against a wall. But the other Akagi hasn’t even revealed the hand yet! Fake Akagi’s eyebrows start twitching. He opens the hand. Ishikawa and Nangou desperately try to figure out the Shan Ten number, commanding the fake Akagi to organise it, while the real Akagi lights up another cigarette, completely at ease.
It’s 3 Shan Ten.
Ishikawa and Nangou stare at Akagi in astonishment. Kawada… looks thoughtful.
And so another legend begins.
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OPINION
This is the beginning of what I dub the Urabe Arc, though we haven’t even met the guy yet. It’s quite an interesting beginning, isn’t it? I know I never thought that Akagi could actually hold down a job, even though it seems to be a rather dull one. I’m surprised he could even stand it. Akagi plus assembly line work does not mix. Those boxes and boxes of identical toy monkeys are probably a metaphor about conformity and individuality. I barely recognised him with the hat on. Is he actually a college grad? The narrator seems to imply that he is, what with all that average salary for a new college graduate and tuition fee information, but it just doesn’t suit him. He seems the type who’d set something on fire simply out of boredom. The professor would be droning on, Akagi would start absent-mindedly playing with his lighter, and, well…
Kawada seems quite creepy. It’s the way he looks at people. What gross, unnameable depravity lurks in that round, hairless skull?
Ishikawa must’ve been one of those random yakuza from way back. I still can’t figure out which one, though. One yakuza in sunglasses looks like every other yakuza in sunglasses. They need nametags.
For a moment there, I really did mistake the fake Akagi for the real one when he was first introduced. The clothes didn’t give it away; for all I knew, Akagi liked to dress like that outside of school, now that he had the money. Then I realised how odd it was that he’d hooked up with Yasuoka and obeyed his commands like that, and figured it out from there. It’s probably not fair of me to call him Yasuoka’s pet Akagi. It implies a whole lot of things that have nothing to do with Mahjong. Yaoi rears its inevitable head, not that I mind. Not at all, bwahaha…
Akagi grew up rather nicely, didn’t he? Now that he’s legal, I guess it’s safe to say that he has a certain bad boy allure. He’s casually violent. He’s badass. He makes smoking look cool.
He’s… sexy? Huh, I guess that’s what happens when a straight female Akagi fan watches the show long enough.
I think I’ll call Fake Akagi “brush-head”. He should button up his shirt, since it’s a bit distracting. Or leave it like that, since it’s a bit distracting. For some reason, I feel that he needs a big gold medallion to complete the ensemble. This probably means that I’m spending too much time staring at his chest. Yes, I have a thing for good-looking geeks. Shut up.
Talking about distracting, I’m still wondering why Nangou was scanning Akagi’s full body instead of just his face. I mean, it’s been six years; of course his body won’t be the same! Puberty! Growth spurt!
Okay, time to get off this perverted tangent now.
It seems that Akagi prefers to hit people in the head whenever he rumbles. His opponents aim for intimidation and broken bones; Akagi aims for broken noses, concussions, and brain damage. Akagi plays for keeps. I guess he has to against four people with lead pipes, but I still pity the morons. At least Akagi got rid of the gun.
The Shan Ten Moment was great. Almost everyone is going, “Holy cow, that’s impossible! He didn’t even have to look!” but Akagi is just sitting there, enjoying his nicotine. Poor Fake Brush-Head Akagi. Akagi ruined his scene with just one word. Fake Akagi is merrily going about his business, showing off his photographic memory and superhuman calculating skills, but then the real thing just pops out of the ground after six years doing who-knows-what and wrecks everything. Damn Akagi and his freaky abnormal abilities. Spotlight-stealer.
Comments
Erik
20 Apr 2007, 15:02
Initially, I was surprised at Akagi’s fighting prowess. But staying level-headed and making the right calculations counts highly in both mahjong and hand-to-hand I guess, and not been afraid to get hurt and die helps. My curiosity at what Akagi does when he is not fighting, gambling or otherwise looking really cool has increased drastically.
ddraggy
21 Apr 2007, 20:11
My guess: Akagi would be practically disfunctional in any situation that doesn’t involve kicking ass.
He probably wouldn’t even make it to a grocery store without picking a fight with somebody along the way. After, he’d go into the shop, grab whatever edible was closest, dump the money, and leave without his change.
Erik
30 Apr 2007, 19:20
A very true and correct scenario. Just the image of Akagi doing something as mundane as grocery shopping is, well, scary…
He might just walk into a store, look around, drop a large amount of money on the counter and just retrieve whatever he likes. Clerks will be bewildered, security will intervene and Akagi just smile, as the amount of his gathered items will be (far) below the money dumped on the counter.
After which security will take offense and Akagi will kick ass.
ddraggy
01 May 2007, 14:22
And thus Akagi would be back in his element. Then he’d go home with his blood-splattered groceries, more money than he started out with, and a baton as a souvenir.
pie
27 Jun 2007, 08:20
i dont like the fake akagi
the hair just bothers me too much
and his clothing
its ruining akagi’s personality if he ever wore that ;~;
Ruby
22 Nov 2007, 13:42
Glad to see that I’m not the only one who finds Akagi distracting like that, heh.
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