Holiday Review #21: TRILLION GAME

What happens when you combine the writer of Dr. Stone and the artist of Crying Freeman?  You get this, although I'd have to ask why anyone wanted this in the first place.

TRILLION GAME (Toririon Gemu), written by Riichiro Inagaki with art by Ryoichi Ikegami.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Haru is a fast talker with charisma to spare and a big dream: making a trillion dollars.  Gaku is talented with computers, but can't seem to catch a break otherwise.  Haru convinces Gaku to join him and make all their dreams come true, even if that means bullshitting their way into a start-up loan from a banking executive's daughter and competing in an international hacking contest.

STORY:

Trillion Game is weird. It's written with the same loud, earnest energy as Inagaki's previous works, but instead of celebrating the joys of sports or the power of science to save the world, it's a celebration of capitalism.  Maybe you could have gotten away with such a story during Japan's economic glory days in the 1980s, but now it couldn't feel more out of touch with the times if it tried.

Like Dr. Stone, Inagaki centers this manga around a duo of protagonists, but this pair is far, far less endearing than Senku and Taiji.  The big problem is Haru, who is a bullshit artist supreme.  He has no reasoning or cause behind his desire for a trillion dollars, he simply wants to do it.  He has no plans for what he wants to do with his business, no product to create or services to sell.  He just wants to use to it to get money from others, which he achieves by either spending money to win over (or trick) others or by talking his way into or out of situations.  He himself is the purest, most distilled form of capitalism, a hollow smiling shell that will do and say anything to obtain money.  He made a bad impression on me from the start, and I only grew to hate him more as the volume went on.

Like Taiji, Gaku is both the second banana and the viewpoint character (as this whole volume is presented as one long flashback on Gaku's part).  He's not a loud himbo, though, but instead a weary, socially awkward, constantly harried everyman.  When he's not called upon to do computer things, he's there to be the Speedwagon of the series: there to fret out loud about their problems and to boggle and shout at whatever audacious solution Haru comes up with for their problems.  There's not even much of a sense of friendship between them.  Sure, Haru does his best to make Gaku comfortable but you get the sense that it's not done out of kindness or sympathy but because he can get more value out of Gaku if he's comfortable.  

The only other character of note is Kirika, the aforementioned banker's daughter.  She's your standard haughty rival girl, who is smart enough to recognize Haru and Gaku's skills but more than willing to play her own games to gain control over them.  She makes a decent rival, but she would have more impact if Haru ever had to pause for a minute to really think about how to get around her.  Instead she seems to be getting set up to become either another follower or possibly a love interest for Haru (if not both!).  If only I could be bothered to care.

ART:

Inagaki's career has been built on him partnering with talented artists to bring his stories to life.  With Eyeshield 21 it was Yusuke Murata.  With Dr. Stone, it was Boichi.  With Trillion Game he partners with a Ryoichi Ikegami, a living legend of Showa-era seinen manga.  Ikegami's best qualities are on display here: his handsome, realistic character designs, his well-detailed backgrounds, his skillful use of dramatic lighting and perspective.  He even manages to restrain his well-documented tendency to strip his main cast (mostly the women) to better show off their beautiful bodies, doing so only once to Kirika when she's at the gym.

The problem is that Ikegami's art clashes with Inagaki's story.  The writing has the tone of a big dumb shonen, but Ikegami draws it with the same deadly serious tone he brought to Crying Freeman and Sanctuary back in the day.  He tries to adapt to Inagaki's tone by throwing in some wilder expressions, but they stick out like a sore thumb.  I don't know if I've ever seen a manga where the story and the art were so much at odds with one another.

RATING:

Who could have guessed that going from a manga celebrating science and its potential to help people to a series that about the pursuit of money at any cost would go badly?  Certainly not Riichiro Inagaki, or else he wouldn't have made something as repellent as Trillion Game.  It has no heart, no soul, and the art simply does not fit the story.  It's not even worth the cover price, much less a trillion.

This manga is published by Viz under its Signature imprint.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 9 volumes available.  2 volumes have been released and are currently in print.

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