Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen (lost original scene from second episode of anime; 2011)

Still from the final version of the episode and the same scene in the original manga.

Status: Lost

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen is an anime TV series adaptation of the Japanese manga series Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. Near the end of the second episode of the series, which aired on April 12th, 2011, there is a scene where the main character Kaiji imagines himself being thrown around by strong gusts of wind as he gets more engrossed in the game of chance set up by his opponent. A month after the episode aired, a news article was published on MANTANWEB where the anime's producer Toshio Nakatani confirmed that the aforementioned scene was at one point much closer to the original manga where Kaiji is instead consumed by raging tides of water. Due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred a month before the episode aired, the waters were changed to wind despite the original scene already being adapted in the screenplay as well as voiced.

It is currently not known how much of the animation for the scene was finished before the earthquakes, and all consequent releases of the episode on DVDs, streaming services and reruns use the altered "gusts of wind" scene. Whether or not the original scene or its materials will ever see the light of day to the general public remains to be seen.