Tonegawa: The Middle Management Chronicle is a spin-off of the Kaiji series, themed around the brutal gambling world of ruin and high-wire acts. It's a comedy about middle management in a black company, starring Kaiji's nemesis, Yukio Tonegawa. Unlike Kaiji, Tonegawa has plenty of funny scenes, so I've ranked my favorites based on my own personal opinions!
Funniest Scene #1: Tonegawa's Encounter with the Burning Prostration Machine
Chairman Hyodo bursts into a meeting, causing Tonegawa to lose his composure and become arrogant toward his subordinates, losing their trust. To regain the trust of his subordinate black suits, clear his name, and redeem his honor, Tonegawa plans a two-day, one-night company trip. At first, the black suits are dissatisfied, thinking that a company trip accompanied by their superiors is just a hassle, but they are moved by the barbecue of the highest quality Kobe beef that Tonegawa has prepared.
A Sudden Accident...!
However, despite all the effort, the grilling griddle is useless...! So the highest quality Kobe beef is just a pipe dream...! But Tonegawa finds an oversized grilled meat plate that serves as a hot plate. It's exactly the grilled dogeza machine that Tonegawa will ride later. Tonegawa never imagined it was a grilled dogeza machine, but he never imagined it would turn out like that. This scene is actually a fateful encounter.
Funniest Scene #2: Teiai Commercial
The Teiai commercial, featuring a beautiful woman dancing in a leotard, feels familiar. It's clearly a reference to the commercial of a certain company that inspired Teiai. A little research reveals that the real Teiai is an extremely shady company. Considering that Teiai was a real company, with harsh debt collection practices, exorbitant interest rates, and relentless employee quotas, this scene is an incredibly dark joke.
Funniest Scene #3: Landmines...! Claymores...!
A dinner meeting between Teiai's top executive, Chairman Hyodo, and Kurosaki, the man next in rank to Tonegawa. This Kurosaki man, despite not agreeing with the volatile chairman whose temperament is hard to pin down, somehow manages to avoid angering him. Talking to the chairman is like running through a minefield. Tonegawa almost tripped over one, as always, but he avoided it by jumping on Kurosaki's conversation.
Punishment...!
Tonegawa continued to avoid the mines by jumping on Kurosaki's comments, but when he got too involved in the conversation, he landed on one...! He angers the president and is punished with a cane.
Funniest Scene #4: How can I get it...?! Cat GIFs...!
Tonegawa began managing Teiai's Twitter account, but his follower numbers stagnated, and he was left far behind by the anti-Teiai accounts. The content of Tonegawa's Twitter account and that of its anti-Teiai counterparts are far more compelling than they are. But Tonegawa's story doesn't end there...! Tonegawa, a young man with a penchant for this sort of topic, approaches Saemon with a powerful expression and asks, "How can I get...? A cat GIF image...?" It's simply an unsuitable scene.
Funniest Scene #5: You got it...?! You can tell the difference...!
At Hyodo's command, Tonegawa plans a devilish game, and together with the assembled Black Suits, he plans the game. But before that, there's one thing he needs to do first: introduce himself...! Because, according to Teiai's rules, all the black-suited officers look the same...! They're so devoid of individuality...! There's no way they could tell them apart...! But Tonegawa has to remember their names. After all, he's a middle manager. This scene seems to point out the entirety of Fukumoto's work, which features such devoid of individuality.
Funniest Scene #6: From the Detention Center
Ebitani, the black-suited officer, possesses unrivaled enthusiasm and drive, but his thinking is fundamentally off. Ebitani's eccentric thinking angered Chairman Hyodo, resulting in his immediate dismissal. He continued to appear before Tonegawa, offering a lucrative business opportunity to take responsibility for his pay cut due to Ebitani's reckless behavior. However, it was clearly a multi-level marketing scheme. Tonegawa tried to persuade Ebitani, but it was too late...! He was deep in the quagmire...! Or rather, Ebitani wasn't smart enough to realize it was a quagmire.
Later, a letter arrived
A few days later, a letter arrived from Ebitani. The message was that he had woken up, and that the multi-level marketing group had been caught by the police. However, at the end, a word from the detention center said, "It's too late...!" It was too late to wake up...!
Funniest Scene #7: Because there's no evidence...!
Tonegawa is entertained by Ichijo, the person in charge, in order to retrieve the balls from the Numa pachinko machine, which appears later. However, his entertainment is poor...! What a farce...! The balls go in without any effort. However, the last stronghold, the Demonic Krunch, remains unbreakable.
The Phoenix System is activated...!
However, just then, Ichijo and his team activate the Phoenix System behind the scenes. It's a system that reverses the flow of any balls that escape the Kruun and revives them. Ichijo, demonstrating his shock, remains silent, saying, "There's nothing we can do...! Because we have no evidence...!" The height of farce...! Eventually, the ball enters, and the swamp begins to cry. The Phoenix System, which pokes fun at the original Kaiji, was a hilarious scene.
Funniest Scene #8: Unrecognizable...!
After successfully submitting their proposal for the limited-edition rock-paper-scissors game, Team Tonegawa celebrated and enjoyed bowling afterward. However, the Black Suits got carried away and were all late the next day. They knelt down before Tonegawa and shaved their heads to show their sincerity. However, once the already indistinguishable Black Suits all shaved their heads, they were completely indistinguishable...! The Matrix...! Tonegawa was right, but the Black Suits didn't know about the Matrix. Tonegawa shouted, "Watch it...! At least tell the Matrix...!"
Top 8 Funniest Scenes from The Middle Management Blues: Tonegawa
Compared to Kaiji, which focuses on life-threatening gambling, Tonegawa has many heartwarming and funny scenes. But it's not just funny; there are also episodes that could be useful in real business. This Kaiji spinoff has gone wild and reached new heights, and each episode is basically self-contained, making it the perfect anime for casual viewing!
