The Manly Tears of Kaiji

Hey, Kaiji, I’ve got a bone to pick with you.

So I’ve been watching Kaiji off and on, and have found it to be strangely addictive… mainly because I’m a raging loser who likes watching guys cry. So shoot me, I know a ton of you love you moe-moe girls who cry, so let me have my crying guys.

I’ve also noticed that many dub Kaiji’s surfeit of tears as ‘manly’. While, certainly, some of Kaiji’s tears are manly, a lot of his crying is just straight-up sniveling. This is particularly so in the earlier episodes, such as when Kaiji gets smacked by one of the guards when he’s crying over getting swindled out of a few of his stars. Thankfully, Kaiji mans up a bit after this, but there are still instances of non-manly tears to follow.

I think that the dubbing of the early tears as ‘manly’ takes away a bit from Kaiji’s process of maturation as the show goes on. His earlier tears are simply on level with the tears shed by weaker characters such as Andou; to equate them with the tears of the determined, GAR Kaiji simply reduces the significance of the latter. Later instances of crying Kaiji accompany a sense of a necessity to strive with all one’s strength; these are the manly tears which have become so beloved amongst fans of the show.

So what’s the upshot? Don’t demean Kaiji’s manly tears by calling his whiny tears manly! Geez, if you love him so much, don’t you want to help emphasize how freaking awesome he is, not undermine it?