#but whatever squid game yaoi for the win

[calpho]

it originally wasnt supposed to look gay as shit but oh well. squid game yaoi wooo

[olliepurples]

lot of people on here saying that 457 is comparable to hannigram, but imo it is far closer to kaiji itou and kazuya hyōdō's relationship.

i'd argue that hannigram is more personal, whereas 457 and whatever the hell you call kaiji and kazuya are more ideological. hannibal wants to destroy and create will, to see what he can become. in ho and kazuya want to destroy gi hun and kaiji's worldviews. hannibal's initial interest is in will as a person and how he can use him, whereas in ho and kazuya are primarily concerned with proving gi hun and kaiji wrong, the people themselves being redundant (i.e. hannibal would only be interested in will, whereas in ho and kazuya would have been equally interested in destroying anyone else with the same notability and a similar worldview).

this is why i think hannibal's worldview doesn't change majorly over the show, but in ho and kazuya's character development and everything they do is directly linked to how they see other people. accepting gi hun or kaiji means accepting that kindness exists, and that all people mean something, whereas being in love with will doesn't as much.

also this is propaganda to read kaiji. if you like squid game, you will love kaiji bc pretty much every piece of death game media in the last thirty years has been based on it in some way. squid game is very similar to kaiji in it's themes, most notably general anti-capitalism and an almost hopepunk belief in kindness. i think kaiji is better at portraying emotion and the psychological impacts of gambling addiction, kaiji is so mentally ill it's crazy and the way tears especially are drawn in kaiji is so expressive.

kaiji's gambles are also more complex. this is not a diss on squid game in any way, keeping the games so simple helped on delivering their message, but if you're into trying to work out mechanically how you win something, kaiji is for you.

the parts that kazuya are in are 3, 4, and 5. if you're more interested in gambling psychology and mechanically difficult games, i'd recommend reading all parts (parts 1 and 2 have been made into anime and they're good adaptations). if you're more interested in psychological toxic yaoi, i'd recommend reading from part 4, or even just 5. while kazuya is an important character in part 3, it isn't about him in the same way part 4 and 5 are. the only context you really need is kazuya gave kaiji an absurdly expensive golden toothpick at the end of part 3, as he didn't really care for it. this will come up in part 5, so just keep it in the back of your mind lmao.