Last month, TOHO revealed that Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s legendary gambling manga Kaiji will receive a new live-action movie adaptation, titled Kaiji: Life Revenge Game. Scheduled to premiere in January 2027 in Japan, the film will be the fourth installment in the live-action Kaiji series, coming after a seven-year gap. While the announcement has been met with much excitement among fans, according to Tokyo Sports, the project faced headwinds at one point due to a series of domestic “online casino scandals.”
Most forms of gambling (with exceptions like horse race betting and pachinko) are illegal in Japan, including online gambling. Using online casinos operated offshore is likewise a crime, but last year, Japan saw several instances of idols and celebrities getting caught using them. With each such scandal being followed by public outrage, “cancellations,” and the reputations of affiliated persons and brands being damaged, the issue grew quite heated, particularly between February and June.
Incidentally, Kaiji: Life Revenge Game entered production right after this wave of gambling-related scandals, in the summer of 2025. According to a staff member interviewed by Tokyo Sports, these circumstances lead to the decision not to announce or advertise the start of filming at all. Due to Kaiji’s subject matter dealing with gambling, the climate on social media – where people had grown sensitive towards the issue of gambling addiction – made it difficult to announce the project. “Among the production staff, there was even concern about what would happen with the film’s release,” the respondent said.
Ultimately, the film’s announcement came the following year, on June 10, and did not encounter any significant friction, so this delay may have been for the better (although, it probably helps that Kaiji’s story is anything but encouraging of gambling in the first place).
Fans of the original live-action Kaiji films will be happy to know that Tatsuya Fujiwara will be reprising his role as protagonist Kaiji in the new film, with Toya Sato also returning as director. The scenario was written by series producer Masatoshi Yamaguchi with assistance from the manga’s original author Fukumoto.
Kaiji: Life Revenge Game is scheduled to premiere in Japan on January 29, 2027.
