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SPOILER WARNING, DON'T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ USOGUI

Well, this spin-off is still pretty recent, but since i haven't seen a lot of people talking about it (probably because people don't even talk much about the original Usogui anyways), I'm going to write a review for it.

Firstly, Usogui still has great art. Holy crap, Toshio is a genius when it comes to drawing, and his artwork only keeps on improving. Just like in Usogui (2006), some of the panels delivered here are awesome, I swear that every chapter has at least ... one page that is worthy of becoming a painting.

The story is focused on the past of referee #0, the old man Yakou Hikoichi. This short arc is set around Yakou's first ever gamble as a Kakerou referee, in which he and Baku (in the present) are betting over the past: Baku makes a risky wager in which he tries to guess the winner of that gamble, according to Yakou's memories of that time.

Honestly, that's all there is to say about "Usogui: Tachiainin Yakou Hikoichi". It is a fun little spin-off that gives a bit more of insight to Usogui's incredible lore. Thank you for reading my review, and I apologize for any grammatical errors that might appear here since I'm not a native speaker.

*I'm not a native speaker, thus I apologize for any grammatical errors that might appear in this review*

Usogui is a criminally underrated piece of work in the West, sadly. It was serialized in the popular seinen magazine Young Jump (Tokyo Ghoul, Kingdom, etc) throughout the time span of eleven years, and is nothing short of a masterpiece. I'd say that anyone with an interest in the world of gambling or in the psychological genre should absolutely read it.

Although Usogui's premise may not seem very creative at first, the manga actually delivers a masterwork in storytelling and world building. Gambling and fighting is just such an ... unexpectedly good mix, and the way both of these elements are implemented in the narrative is just perfect. With the exclusion of the first arc, I'd say that every arc is very well written, with the last ones being absolutely flawless. No overstatement here.

The characters are also really good and have a great sense of depth to them. Almost every single character gets proper attention and development from Toshio. Baku and Kaji's extravagant personality contradictions make up for a great MC duo, and all presented antagonists have real purposes and ambitions. I do need to say, though, that this is nothing like other psychological series such as Kaiji. This isn't a deep analysis of the human psyche, where gambling is used as a pretext in order to analyse the state of mind of people submitted to extreme circumstances. Sometimes Baku is way too perfect for his own good, but that makes sense from a storytelling standpoint and is also the factor that makes him unique (making another parallel with Kaiji, the thing that makes it's titular protagonist stand out are his glaring flaws. In Usogui, it is exactly the opposite).

As for the artwork, it's just godlike. Seriously. Well, I must admit that the early art style is really awful, but it's just for the first 50 or so chapters. It keeps on evolving from time to time, and each story arc features it's own, unique style, giving Usogui a sense of variety that's not usually seen in the media. The latter panels are INSANELY detailed.

In the end, I can't stress how much I love this piece of work, and I hate the fact that my man Toshio isn't getting the recognition he deserves, since he's an incredible writer and artist.