Kaiji Itou is a good-for-nothing loiterer who spends his days drinking beer and stealing hubcaps—that is, until he ends up being tricked by his former co-worker. Unable to suddenly repay his friend's huge debt all by himself, Kaiji is offered a shady deal to participate in an illegal underground gamble on a cruise ship. This turns out to be nothing more than the beginning of his new life of hell—thrown headlong into a life-threatening roller coaster of mind games, cheating, and deceit.
Several months after the events of the first season, Kaiji, with his appendages reattached and his debt now run up to 9.5 million yen, is still desperately seeking the elusive big score that will cancel all of his markers. Unbeknownst to him, Hyodo’s company, the Teiai Corporation, is actively searching for Kaiji, and have sent Kaiji’s old “friend” Endoh, who entered him in the high stakes games in the past, to find him.
The two meet when Kaiji chances to walk in front of Endoh’s car at a stop light, and thinking that he has found the answer to his prayers, Kaiji gets in the car with him. While Kaiji and Endoh are “happy” to see one another, and both want to see Kaiji’s debt repaid, their means to that goal couldn’t be more different.
Instead of leading Kaiji to the big score, Endoh delivers him drugged and docile to the Teiai Corporation’s secret underground labor camp where Kaiji will have an opportunity to repay his debt… with 15 years of hard labor.