Fukumoto : Zawa Zawa Harder

[Carbunkel]

HEY YOU
YES, YOU! The one reading the thread!

Do you like horrible artwork?
Do you like... Mahjong?
DO YOU LIKE BATSHIT CRAZY GAMBLES THAT OCCASIONALLY DON'T INVOLVE MAHJONG?

Well then FKMT might just be for you!

What's a FKMT?
FKMT is a shortened name for Fukumoto, the crazy fella who comes up with this stuff.

I will now list FKMT works with brief descriptions!

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji ("Ultimate Survivor Kaiji") :

This is generally the "gateway" FKMT work due to its accessibility. Part 1 of 4 has been animated. Manga translations are sporadic at best.

Summary: After stupidly cosigning a loan for a coworker, a total loser has suddenly found himself in a ridiculous amount of debt. How could he ever pay off such a large amount!? Fortunately, the loan shark Endou has a soft side to him and offers Kaiji several opportunities to gamble his debt away! Unfortunately, none of these opportunities are quite what they seem!

What you can expect:
*ICHIJOU (but not in the animated version)
*Dismemberment
*Rock paper scissors is serious business
*Rooms full of naked men
*Manly tears
*Crazy old people
*Not-so-manly tears

What you can't expect:
*A competent main character
*Things that aren't depressing (substitute hilarious for depressing if you're a bad person)

Mahjong Legend Akagi:

The polar opposite of Kaiji. This is another FKMT series used as a gateway, especially if people can't tolerate Kaiji's constant whining. The entire thing (well, basically) has been animated. It is a prequel to Ten. Manga translations have been sporadic.

Summary: A weird kid survives a game of chicken by driving off a cliff into the ocean and turns up in a Mahjong parlor where a poor guy who's down on his luck, Nangou, is gambling for his life. Akagi saves Nangou and meets up with a corrupt cop who sees the opportunity to exploit the boy for money by setting up crazy Mahjong matches with well known players. With his incredible instinct and skill in Mahjong, Akagi works his way up to legendary status.

What you can expect:
*Hot tile-on-tile Mahjong action
*Russian Roulette
*Crazy old people
*Insanity
*Weird murders
*Boring things made exciting

What you can't expect:
*Things that aren't Mahjong or Russian Roulette
*Logic to work
*A main character who's easy to relate to or otherwise emotional

Ten: The Nice Guy on the Path of Tenhou

Akagi is the prequel. This is one of the more lighthearted/heartwarming FKMT works, and also one of FKMT's earliest. Translation releases on this are consistent, ranging around two chapters a week. Current status is on volume 5 out of 18. Typically there are two chapters released every Thursday.

Summary: Ten is a friendly guy who happens to be good at Mahjong. Or, more appropriately, good at cheating at Mahjong. If someone is betting on a Mahjong game and ends up in a pinch, they call Ten to win for them. He always does, and because he understands how frustrating it is, always has the courtesy to give the people he cheats against a chance to beat him up. With his friends Hiroyuki, Ken, Akagi, and others, he eventually decides to take on something much bigger than cheating in small gambles.

What you can expect:
*People doing bad things with good intentions
*Incredibly heartwarming story
*Teamwork
*Crazy old people
*Hot tile-on-tile Mahjong action
*Sad, but not necessarily bad ending
*Lots of stabbings
*Cheating

What you can't expect:
*Honesty
*Everything to turn out perfectly

Gin to Kin ("Silver and Gold") :

Quite frankly the gayest thing since gay came to gay town. The translation group for this was going strong for a while, but a friend of mine who was involved with it said that it pretty much died.

Summary: An old man named Ginji needs a business partner and happens to track down a young man named Morita who he believes will make a suitable one. Ginji must break Morita's sense of justice and morality to turn him into the kind of associate he's looking for as the two of them will be participating in illicit and often questionable dealings.

What you can expect:
*They call it "Gay to Kin" for a reason.
*Lots of stabbings
*Worse art than usual somehow
*Badassery
*Crazy old people
*A good shooting every once in a while is fine too
*Financing

What you can't expect:
*Not-gay

Buraiden Gai ("Outcast Story Gai") :

A very serious FKMT work that is, for once, not about gambling at all. Translation releases are sporadic.

Summary: Gai is a pretty badass kid. His fighting skills are ridiculously good, and he himself is very independent. He has the misfortune, though, of being accused of the murder of a very influential person. He's determined to do whatever it takes to clear his name of the murder charges and get what he ultimately wants: to live peacefully on his own. It seems like fate's got it out for him though, especially after he hands himself over to the police and ends up in a mysterious correctional facility.

What you can expect:
*Martial arts
*Badassery
*Philosophy
*More corrupt police

What you can't expect:
*Gambling

Gambling Emperor Zero:

If you've seen Kaiji, think of Kaiji. Now think of Kaiji on crack, and with a main character who isn't a complete loser and who presumably sparkles I mean dang look at his eyelashes. That's what Zero is. Chapters are typically released every other day during the week and randomly during the weekends.

Summary: Zero makes a suicide pact with three other guys and shows up late, rescuing the other three. To make their lives worthwhile, he starts a group called "The Righteous Thieves" which robs gangsters and returns the money to rightful owners. The other three Thieves get caught by the mob, but Zero saves them by approaching with a recording of a police siren playing. Because of his cleverness, the Thieves get invited to "The Dream Kingdom," a contest of puzzle-solving to determine who is worthy to inherit an old man's fortune.

What you can expect:
*Puzzles that would give Professor Layton a migraine
*Math
*Bishounen getting stabbed with chisels
*Teamwork
*A competent main character
*Gangsters
*Crazy old people

What you can't expect:
*Easily solvable puzzles
*Sensible plot twists

Washizu: Lord of Mahjong Hell

A spinoff of Akagi, starring the last villain from the series. This has less to do with actual Mahjong than the title implies. This was not drawn by Fukumoto, but is a collaboration. Translations are sporadic.

Summary: Washizu fucks everyone up.

What you can expect:
*Gratuitous violence
*Insanity
*Mahjong tiles being used in ways that they were never intended to be used
*Washizu eats a live lizard what the hell
*Awesome
*Unintentional hilarity

What you can't expect:
*Honestly I can't think of anything to put here. Washizu's got it all. Except not really.