Aside from being a major loophole that lets people in Japan
gamble without breaking the law, Pachinko is also a great way for rights
holders to make a quick buck off of popular intellectual properties. Licensing
fees can be pretty lucrative and thus many popular anime and video games eventually
get a Pachinko game. Fist of the North Star, Gundam, Mario and even Phoenix
Wright have all gotten the Pachinko treatment. And now about a month after the
release of the latest Gantz adaptation, the CG anime film Gantz: O, it has been
announced that a Gantz Pachinko machine will be released early in 2017.
Although I’m not particularly interested in Pachinko, the commercial for this
Gantz Pachinko machine caught my attention. It certainly does a good job at
pumping you up and making you forget (for just a second) that in order to play
it you would have to endure the cigarette smoke and deafening noise that is
characteristic of most Pachiko parlors. The inclusion of the theme song of
Gantz: O is also a nice tough, not just because it’s a catchy song but also because
the band that plays the song has (in my opinion) such a great name, the
dresscodes.
part is all about Gantz sales figures and earnings. Enjoy.
