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Episode 9 – The Authenticity of Genius
Everyone is amazed; Akagi got the Shan Ten number right without even seeing the hand! It’s an incredible, superhuman feat… or is it? Fake Akagi is not impressed and tells Boss Kawada that Akagi’s trick is nothing to be amazed about. The fake Akagi explains that Akagi’s guess had nothing to do with gut instinct, and everything to do with probability. Anyone could figure out the Shan Ten number given enough time. Since the other hands he made are still open, according to the fake, anyone could see what the remaining nineteen tiles would be. Any hand made from those nineteen tiles would be at the least 3 Shan Ten, and, at most, 5 Shan Ten. Since 5 Shan Ten would be unlikely, it would have to be either 3 or 4 Shan Ten.
Using probability, Akagi had a 65% chance of being right when he guessed it as 3 Shan Ten. Fake Akagi is sure that Akagi worked it all out in his head, just like he did, and that Akagi’s gut instinct is just basic probability. “You might be able to confuse people who don’t know anything about probability,” states the imposter with confidence, “but it won’t work on me, Akagi-san.”
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Akagi laughs softly and tells him that he really is second-rate. Aggravated, the fake asks Akagi if he’s saying that he got it by instinct rather than probability. Akagi brushes him off and moves to leave, but Fake Akagi stops him and demands that he prove it. The imposter angrily dismantles his last hand, gathers ten of the tiles, and tells Akagi to make it into a 4 Shan Ten hand using only the remaining nine. Fake Akagi flips the nine tiles face down and mixes them up. He then tells Akagi to draw three. If Akagi can make a 4 Shan Ten hand, then Fake Akagi will believe in Akagi’s gut instinct.
It’s a seemingly impossible task. The hand is already 4 Shan Ten, seriously reducing the number of “safe” tiles that Akagi can draw without changing the Shan Ten number. He must draw three particular tiles (1 Sou, 4 Sou, and 1 Man), and the chances of that happening are under 3%. “Well, what are you going to do?” mocks Fake Akagi.
“Sounds fun,” replies the true Akagi. He sits down opposite the fake. The imposter is Not Happy. He was not expecting Akagi to rise to his challenge. Akagi, however, is not done yet. Since Fake Akagi is the one who challenged him, the imposter can’t complain over what Akagi wants to bet on, no matter what.
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Akagi wants an arm.
Fake Akagi, understandably, completely flips out and refuses to go along with it. Akagi is seemingly baffled over his refusal. The imposter claims that it’s unnecessary, and Akagi asks him if that means he’s not confident. The fake slams a hand on the table, denying it. Akagi smiles while Fake Akagi launches into an explanatory rant. Since the probability isn’t zero, Fake Akagi will not bet something irreplaceable (such as, say, an arm) on a gamble. He’s not scared, insists the fake. The gamble is just stupid. He won’t bet his life on a game. He’s not afraid of dying; he just doesn’t want a meaningless death.
Akagi stops smiling at this. For Akagi, that’s the essence of gambling: meaningless death.
The imposter looks away. It just means that they’re different types.
Akagi disagrees. It’s not about types, says Akagi, it’s about the stages they’re on. Fake Akagi isn’t really “gambling”, and that’s why he’s playing by the numbers. According to Akagi, Fake Akagi is completely wrong. “It’s like saying you know everything about the ocean, when you’ve only gone out as deep as you can stand.”
Fake Akagi is extremely agitated by Akagi’s words, but then starts laughing. Ah ha, he sees what Akagi’s trying to do! Akagi never intended to go through with the challenge, so he betted something outrageous so that Fake Akagi would have to back off, and then started spouting philosophical garbage to distract everyone! Fake Akagi violently slams his hand down. Isn’t that right?!
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Boss Kawada butts in, disrupting their argument. Kawada tells Akagi that, though he understands what Akagi is talking about, the world revolves around money now. That’s why Kawada values the imposter: he’s skilled in statistics and has high averages. Kawada then offers two million yen in place of Fake Akagi’s arm. They could bet that against Akagi’s salary. How about it, Akagi?
Pacified, Akagi accepts the alternative bet. Fake Akagi is pissed, but Yasuoka, his manager, quietly tells him that he shouldn’t have done this, that Akagi is different. The fake doesn’t understand. Different? He looks at Akagi, trying to identify that “difference”.
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Akagi is staring creepily at the tiles. Fake Akagi jokingly asks him if he thinks he can see through the tiles, and Akagi answers in the affirmative. He wouldn’t have survived the last six years if he didn’t have senses like that. The fake is rendered speechless.
Akagi slowly draws out his three tiles, gathers them in his fist, smirks evilly, and drops them, one by one, on to the Mahjong table. They fall. 1 Sou, 4 Sou, and…
Akagi flips over the last one. 1 Man.
He’s done it.
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Fake Akagi can hardly believe it. The crowd is amazed. Akagi takes his two million yen and his salary, says goodbye to Kawada, and moves to leave, but Fake Akagi yells at him to stop. The fake Akagi was almost fooled, but “almost” isn’t good enough. He’s noticed that the side tiles still on the table look a little different from before, and is quite sure that, if he checked, they would be missing a 1 Sou, 4 Sou, and 1 Man from the set.
Akagi switched the tiles, and the real ones are still in his hand.
It was just a trick. Sleight of hand.
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Akagi is surprised that the fake noticed his little con job. He tosses the tiles in his hand. He did indeed switch the tiles. It’s a primitive, yet effective, trick, says Akagi, or at least more so than Fake Akagi’s stupid calculations. The imposter tells him to shut up and leave the money. Nangou is concerned, but Akagi laughs and tells him not to worry. He gives the tiles to Nangou and leaves.
Fake Akagi protests, but Nangou suddenly says that he got them! Akagi actually got the tiles and didn’t need to switch them. The fake refuses to believe it and checks the remaining tiles to settle the matter. He flips them over.
The three tiles aren’t there.
Yasuoka tells Fake Akagi to just leave that man alone. Akagi wanders off into the night.
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The scene shifts to Osamu and the Mahjong-hustling workgang, Akagi’s coworkers. They’re currently playing a game of Mahjong. Osamu’s just lost a round when the door creaks open. It’s Akagi. The hustlers take a look at the time and realise that it’s almost 5AM and getting rather late. They’ll call it a night after the next round.
Akagi takes a seat behind Osamu and asks him how he’s doing. Not good, according to Osamu. The gang has taken most of his pay. Akagi checks out the scoresheet. It seems that Osamu and Kawashima, the workgang leader, are losing. Of course, Kawashima is losing on purpose so that it doesn’t look like the table’s ganging up on Osamu. They’ll beat Osamu and split the winnings afterwards. Not only that, but they are also “tunnelling”, that is, they’re inserting code words into their sentences to indicate what tiles they need the predetermined “loser” to discard. Osamu doesn’t catch this, but Akagi does. However, he says nothing. If Osamu can’t figure out such a simple trick, then he deserves to get hustled.
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Osamu continues to lose. During the last round, Kawashima decides to cheat, switching two tiles in his hand with tiles from his section of the dead wall. For a moment, it seems that Akagi has caught him doing it, but he then looks away. Kawashima puts it down to just his imagination, and the game continues for a while.
The round ends and the workgang takes Osamu’s salary. Osamu looks like he’s about to cry. Akagi apologises, saying that if only he had played… but Osamu says it’s okay. He lost on his own. Akagi looks surprised, but then smiles.
He calls out to the gang and offers to play a game with them. Kawashima declines, saying that it’s late and they’re sleepy, but Akagi pulls out his recently-acquired two million yen and drops it on the table. That wakes them up. Kawashima demands to know where he got it from, but Akagi just says that it’s easy money and free for the taking… if they can beat him in a little bet. The gang is intrigued. Akagi reveals Osamu’s hand. It’s a closed wait on a 5 Man. The bet goes like this: Akagi will draw twice from the dead wall. If he can’t make a winning hand, then they can have the two million yen. If he does make a winning hand, though, then he wins not only Osamu’s salary and this month’s pay, but also all of the gang’s life savings, including bankbooks and signature seals.
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It’s a crazy gamble, but Kawashima grins and accepts. The rest of the workgang is appalled and they have a quick huddle. It’s not risky at all, explains Kawashima. Osamu’s hand needs a 5 Man. One is the Dora indicator, the other is in the pond, and the last two are in Kawashima’s hand. It’s easy money, so the gang goes for it, bringing in their life savings.
The gamble begins. Akagi draws the 5 Man Dora indicator. Kawashima sputters. He’s not allowed to draw a tile he can see! Akagi laughs and says he was just kidding. He puts the tile back into the wall and draws a different one two tiles away. It’s a 6 Man and Akagi discards the 4 Man from his hand. The gang is horrified, and Kawashima stutters that they didn’t say he could change the tiles like that. Akagi refuses to yield: when he said he would draw twice, that included change-ups. He also says that Kawashima probably had the two remaining 5 Man in his hand anyway, and that it’s rather shameless of them to try to win money with no risk.
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Kawashima looks at Osamu’s hand. It’s now waiting on a Xia or 6 Man. There’s a Xia left in the wall, but Akagi only has a 1-in-12 chance of drawing it. Kawashima allows the change-up. Akagi smiles and draws one last time, taking a tile from Kawashima’s wall. Kawashima comes to an awful realisation: Akagi did indeed see him switch the tiles.
Akagi slams the tile down. It’s a Xia. Akagi wins.
He thanks them for the money and leaves. Osamu looks on in wonder.
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The following day, Akagi meets up with Osamu and returns his salary envelope. Akagi says that it’s Osamu’s share of the winnings, since Akagi used his hand to win. He says his goodbyes and walks away while Osamu stands there, stunned. The boy recovers quickly and asks him where he’s going. Akagi tells him that he’s quit his job. Osamu is surprised, but runs after him.
He continues to follow Akagi down the street, asking him questions, wondering if the tiles Akagi drew were a coincidence. A coincidence? No way. Akagi had taken a 6 Man from the pond and switched it with the tile in the wall while he was drawing the 5 Man Dora indicator. And the Xia? Well, since Kawashima was switching his tiles for better ones, Akagi just had to count the word tiles in Kawashima’s pond. That, combined with Kawashima’s habit of putting his most useless tiles to the left, and the fact that he was the dealer for that round, made it easy for Akagi to figure out the location of the Xia. Akagi stops and looks past Osamu. “Isn’t that right, Kawashima-sempai?” he asks.
The very pissed-off workgang emerges from the shadows of a nearby building. Kawashima is not going to let Akagi get away with this.
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OPINION
The interaction between Akagi and his geeky double is quite fun to watch. If you locked those two into a room, they’d probably start beating each other up over philosophical differences. Akagi would, of course, wipe the floor with Brush-head in three seconds flat.
Fake Akagi was actually pretty smart to refuse the initial bet, even though it made him look like a white-haired chicken. Otherwise, he really would have lost his arm, and the blood would’ve ruined his suit. But really, Akagi, what the hell would you have done with the poor bastard’s amputated arm? And I do think that Yasuoka failed in his duty as Brush-head’s manager. You’re supposed to warn him about Akagi before he launches ill-advised challenges at the man, not after! Fake Akagi acted like Yasuoka never said a word about the real thing! The poor guy was left flailing around like a fool. Not gambler material, this one.
His math skills were really quite impressive. Fake Akagi may not have been a very good gambler, but he would’ve made a damn fine mathematician. He could’ve been a nineteen-year-old (assuming he’s the same age as Akagi) mathematical genius.
That moment when Akagi dropped those three tiles on to the table was incredible. Beautiful. Finding out that he cheated for those cheapened it a little, but then we learn that he cheated and drew the right tiles. Oh yeah, he’s the real thing, alright.
Aww, it looks like Akagi actually felt a little bad about abandoning Osamu to his hustling coworkers! Certainly, he was moved enough that he actually apologised for his bastardness; a rare thing, indeed. Then again, he would have to be one cold son of a bitch to refuse the kid’s Wobbly Eyes of Doom. And now he’s got Osamu trailing along after him like a lost puppy. Doesn’t this boy have somewhere else to be?
And easy money is never easy money. You would think that hustlers would know that.
Comments
Leviathean
05 Dec 2006, 13:04
I enjoyed reading your summaries (as well as your small image tooltip captions), even though I’ve watched the anime several times by now. I look forward to reading future episodes.
Erik
20 Apr 2007, 15:03
Akagi seemed very moved by Osamu’s admission of responsibility as well.
ddraggy
21 Apr 2007, 20:42
Indeed. Akagi left Osamu to the wolves when the kid explicitly asked for his help, but came to Osamu’s rescue after he took some responsibility. Trying to be bigbrotherly and teaching Osamu a life lesson, perhaps?
Erik
30 Apr 2007, 19:34
Taking responsibility seems to be one of Akagi’s main drives. Whether pressing Yasuoka into investing his proper monetary due against Ichikawa, Yagi’s fingers when challenged, or Fake Akagi’s arm…
Akagi made a great rescue, and I greatly admired Akagi for giving Osamu his complete salary back. Nangou was also willing to trust his life to Akagi (not much choice there, though…) and Akagi seems to hold him in some esteem.
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