This is it. Bottom of the barrel obscurity. A TV series about Japanese slot machines. I never would have thought it would make me experience so many different emotions. But it also feels like cheap addictive dirty drugs in the form of an anime. At first I just wanted to see what the hell the plot was like. It's not like slot machines are super complex; it's mostly luck as far as I know. They even question it many times during the anime, but they make it seem like you could actually win every time with enough skill. It will definitely remind you of Yugioh,but instead of cards it's just pressing 3 buttons on ordinary casino machines. The fact that they took the shonen formula of sports/cards anime and adapted it to this monstrosity is very surprising. Unlike Beyblade or Pokemon, they weren't trying to promote a toyline or TCG. A pachislot company actually sponsored it, so it's nothing but shameless gambling publicity. They didn't even use real-life machines, only "inspired" ones. Makes you wonder if the production cost was worth it (it wasn't).

Aired at night during the early 2000s, this show is like a low quality, almost Korean-bootleg standard, random soap opera, meant to be watched with no lights on, lots of beer cans lying around, and full ashtray. Truly a product of its time, and something that could never ever be done again for obvious reasons. It wasn't going to be released outside of Japan, and even then, it wasn't popular at all over there. Hardly any info about it besides the J-Wikipedia entry. Barely any Youtube videos, with low views, and very few comments. No videogame, merch of any kind (except for an OST CD, music is actually decent, love the OP), or attempts at growing the IP. There is a manga series though, which this anime is based on.

While the art and animation are at first sight very... bad, they make up for it with charming characters and everyday slice-of-life situations. I originally thought it was going to be like a parody series, but no. Boring at times, painfully funny due to the deadpan delivery while idolizing or romanticizing gamblers, and some emotional situations during the last few episodes. No mention of addiction or its consequences, naturally.

So, is it good or not? I don't really know, but an anime this obscure, mediocre and specific just presses all the right buttons for me. It's not meant to be binged. You'll get tired and forget about it. But you'll come back for another dose of it. I think I want to play pachislo now.