The Trillion Game manga is an easy sell. Planned-out, intricate storytelling from Eyeshield21 mangaka Riichiro Inagaki coupled with art from Ryoichi Ikegami? It’s a no brainer. Perhaps proof of their shared talent is that they made you enthralled and enthused by a story that essentially boils down to one man, Haru, trying to become a trillionaire in the most greed-fueled way possible. Just like real-world sociopathic billionaires, I guess, but that doesn’t mean I’d root for those billionaires like these two creators have successfully encouraged many to do with Haru in a story both thrilling and surprisingly emotional in equal verve.
Take the intricate artwork away, however, and does that story hold up? Turns out, quite well! As fellow scrmbl writer Jacob Parker-Dalton pointed out, while Trillion Game's anime adaptation leaves something to be desired in the flat, utilitarian approach to animating this story, the intricacies of the original story coupled with strong casting help its live-action adaptation to soar. This is almost certainly aided by bringing a charismatic actor into the lead role in dreamy Snow Man idol group member Meguro Ren, a person effortlessly able to bring the persuasive charm of Haru Tennouji to life.
Alongside Haru are his early partners in this money-making adventure to become a trillionaire and successful businessman, including former classmate-turned-programming business partner Gaku (Hayato Sano) and Kirika Kokuryu (Imada Mio). At this point, however, they've gone from bedroom businesspeople to running a hundreds-strong corporate empire.
Following a successful and entertaining TV drama that covers the early volumes and storylines of the series establishing Trillion Game (full disclosure: I feature in episode 2 of the series as an extra during the idol performance scenes), a new movie seeks to continue this storyline of the company’s growth on a larger screen to compliment the greater scope of this latest arc.
The series left off with Trillion Game having gone from a fake AI company launched in a bedroom to a multi-industry conglomerate looking to move into their next venture. This original story sees the company move beyond their current ventures to opening Japan’s first casino resort, in turn facing up with Kazuma Kokuryu, an older casino owner whose brash personality was an influence in making Haru more ruthless and motivated for success.
Original movies in the context of a broader narrative have always had their issues, torn between differing priorities of wanting to make a grander story to justify the big screen while being unable to rock the boat amidst the context of a broader franchise. You want to create a splash, but for an adaptation from another medium whose story proceeds forwards, you have to balance a grand adventure with one that can’t have an overbearing impact on the world or these characters lest it cause further problems down the line.
It’s a difficult balancing act, and one where Trillion Game isn’t entirely successful.
For all the TV series built up the movie with a brief teaser of the antagonist for the arc in its final episode, the film is unsure what to do with this original character. Kazuma is billed as an old rival being faced with the lessons and confidence learned from building Trillion Game into a grand venture. Again, though, Kazuma can’t be the tipping point in Haru’s backstory, as it would interfere with the rest of the story told so far and yet to be adapted in a seemingly-inevitable second TV season.
Yet without this. Kazuma is a somewhat-insignificant side note that otherwise barely factors into Haru’s casino-building exploits. He runs a casino in Montenegro that becomes the excuse for the film to take an international vacation on their grander budget with some exotic locales, but you never feel like the fact Kazuma runs this casino is an important reason behind their visit.
Haru knows who runs it and plays the casino by testing their capacity to prevent cheating, but if this old adversary wasn’t also in charge of the resort it would change little. It’s an excuse for some action and a cool setting, but feels insignificant, and this meandering through set pieces without a connecting tissue that makes these events feel important is a running problem for the film throughout its runtime.
The dying rural town is reluctant to host a brash and lavish casino on their island, as would any town of mostly-retired fishermen would feel about the idea of becoming host to Japan’s first such resort and tourist destination for the ultra-wealthy. As soon as it opens, though, they barely feature. Of course there’s complications with the casino that not only threaten Haru’s new operation but the fate of the entire organization from hostile takeover, but it, too, feels disconnected.
Unsurprisingly, Kazuma becomes resentful and tries to take things over. In the end, he’s pushed aside in ways that feel trivial when placed against his supposed prior importance. He should know better.
If there is one thing that ties the film together, however, it’s the film’s true star, Gaku. While the overarching plot may feel disjointed, more a story wearing influences from series like Kaiji on its sleeve than embracing its own strengths from the source material and TV drama, the film succeeds when it allows this secondary character a moment in the spotlight.
He’s the film’s emotional core by allowing simmering tensions from the series so far to take center stage. While Gaku is a childhood friend of Haru's and the first person brought on to help Haru in building up the Trillion Game empire, it’s clear who holds the power in the relationship. Haru is a smooth talker, a master negotiator, the man with the purse strings while Haku serves as an assistant. But beyond programming a website and some other tools along the way, what does he actually offer?
He shares these insecurities, as he gets whisked off to Montenegro and into roles at the casino more by request than personal initiative. It gnaws at him, until he’s left with no choice at stepping in to save Trillion Game when the future of the company is brought into doubt by controversies around the casino. I can’t say that the events are particularly surprising, but considering anyone stepping into the cinema for the film is likely already well-versed to these characters from the preceding hours of TV drama, it’s welcoming to see him address these insecurities in a leading role.
While there’s nothing here that’s going to convince new audiences to rock up to the cinema, nor does this film develop these characters and world in ways that make it feel like essential viewing, it’s far from a disappointment. When compared to a film like the recent Project Sekai movie which plays things insultingly safe amidst its franchise leanings, this is a film that at least trusts that fans love these characters enough to do something interesting, even if affairs must return to some sort of status quo.
For a few hours in the cinema, you could certainly do worse than the Trillion Game film’s surprisingly-action packed drama.
