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Mr. TONEGAWA Middle Management Blues
Overview
Nobody knows what it's like to be the bad man… except the bad man's right-hand man, who has to take the boss' deranged ideas and turn them into functioning plans. So, when the sadistic president of the Teiai Group decides he's bored with the routine leg breaking and widow/orphan evicting, he assigns the task of coming up with something "special" to his ruthless Number Two, Yukio Tonegawa. But how do you amuse someone who destroys a dozen lives before breakfast? There's a huge pool of potential victims in the form of TFO's swollen roster of defaulting borrowers, but if Tonegawa and his team of nearly identical men in black look-alikes can't create a "game of death" that tickles the boss' demented funny bones, they may end up playing the game themselves!
Status
Ended
Network
Nippon TV
Seasons & Episodes
Season 1
Episodes
Initiative
In Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, he tormented the downtrodden and enticed them into playing games where their lives were wagered against incredible cash prizes. But even a cold blooded monster can't spend every moment of the day trampling others. And in the real world, death games require planning, funding, oversight, and execution. This is the story of a lone man who struggles between his employer, the president, and his own employees, the men in black...Tonegawa Yukio: Middle Manager!
Conjecture
The second meeting of the death game production team is held, and Tonegawa needs to make up for the bad first impression he gave his workers. But between the confusing names of his team members and their bizarre objective, can the executive make sure the conversation heads in a productive direction?
Surefire
After a vicious act of betrayal in the last meeting, Tonegawa arranges weekend trip to an all-expenses paid villa to repair the cracks in his relationship with the team... but will it be enough?
Adult
After three unproductive meetings and a company trip, Tonegawa's team still has essentially nothing to show in terms of progress on their death game project. But after a bolt of inspiration, the middle manager himself thinks he might have the answer.
Soul-Searching
With the proposal for Restricted Rock Paper Scissors finished, Tonegawa just needs to turn it in to President Hyoudou... The tyrannical, temperamental, explosively volatile President Hyoudou.
Self-Destruct
As the deadline for the design of the Restricted Rock Paper Scissors cards approaches, Ebitani feels insecure because of Saemon's repeated successes. Tonegawa tries to mentor the wayward employee, but will he listen?
Proliferation
As work begins to proceed on the first Restricted Rock Paper Scissors game, an unseen danger threatens to freeze the team's work to a standstill.
Shrimp
After being fired from Teiai and causing Tonegawa's salary to be cut, Ebitani returns hoping to make amends.
Cutlets
The annual round of hiring for Teiai has begun, with Tonegawa and Yamazaki interviewing potential new employees. Afterwards, Tonegawa goes out for lunch, but ends up getting a little more than he bargained for.
Rehearsal
It's finally time for the first rehearsal game of Restricted Rock Paper Scissors. But will difficulties with equipment and participants spell trouble for Tonegawa's big project?
Business Trip
Tonegawa hits the road, with business to attend to outside of Tokyo, and hopes to find a chance for relaxation while away from home.
Fake
When President Hyoudou decides that he wants a body double, Tonegawa and the men in black begin a search to find the perfect doppelganger for their boss.
Setting Sail
The day is finally here: Tonegawa and his team are going to host the first game of Restricted Rock Paper Scissors. It's all been leading up to this, but can they pull it off without a hitch?
Excursion
We've seen that the Teiai Group runs a ruthless business. But what happens when people with debt stacked beyond the ceiling fail to show any signs of paying off their loans? Witness a trip into the secret hell on Earth inhabited by the most hapless of debtors... and how one man manages to make the most of his otherwise dire situation.
Playing Hard
One of Ootsuki's regular excursions results in a clash of epic proportions, against an unexpected opponent...
Natural Enemies
Tonegawa is Teiai's number two man, but his position isn't exactly uncontested. When his rival, Kurosawa, steps into the picture even the battle hardened middle manager finds himself at a loss.
Unofficial Announcement
The time has come for personnel changes at Teiai. When everything is said and done, who will be left on Team Tonegawa?
Alignment
Tonegawa's annual check-up leads to some lifestyle changes that are accompanied by unwanted attention, while Ootsuki finds something he never expected to encounter on one of his excursions.
Newcomers
With the recent transfers leaving him short-manned, Tonegawa welcomes three new employees to his team, and doesn't take long for two of them to start making waves within the company.
Entertaining
The man-eating Bog is a pachinko machine that makes a ludicrous amount of money for one of Teiai's underground casinos. The time has come for Tonegawa to collect the winnings, which means a showdown between him, the diabolical device, and the man who responsible for it: Ichijou!
Defamation
Overseeing the Teiai corporate Twitter exposes Tonegawa to an account that seems to exist solely to hate on his company, triggering the middle manager's combative instincts. Meanwhile, Ootsuki's underground gambling games hit a snag when a rival foreman begins running his own entertainment scheme.
Conclusions
Two stories come to a conclusion, as Ootsuki concocts a scheme to usurp Odagiri's movie business, and Tonegawa tracks down the social media troll that has been flaming Teiai.
Premonition
Tonegawa attends a class reunion where he hopes to see what's become of the classmates he always held in contempt. Meanwhile, Ootsuki's latest excursion is threatened when he gets unexpectedly sick.
End of the Line
Hyoudou's latest craving for diabolical entertainment is so twisted, people are afraid to talk about it... even the narrator! And then, wedding bells begin to ring for one member of Team Tonegawa.
Top Cast
Toshiyuki Morikawa
Yukio Tonegawa (voice)
Masane Tsukayama
Kazutaka Hyoudou (voice)
Chiharu Sawashiro
Nagata (voice)
Takaya Aoyagi
Kikuchi (voice)
Takuya Eguchi
Kouji Doushita (voice)
Kengo Kawanishi
Jun'ichi Hagio (voice)
Akira Ishida
Keiichi Ogino (voice)
Koutaro Nishiyama
Toshimasa Kawasaki (voice)
Daiki Hamano
Nakata (voice)
Rikiya Koyama
Gonda (voice)
