Trillion Game

After socially awkward technology specialist Manabu "Gaku" Taira is saved from thugs by the outgoing Haru Tennouji, the two men find that they get along with each other well. Years later, Gaku, who is having a tough time getting a job due to his timidness, is convinced by Haru to apply for a position alongside him at Dragon Bank, one of Japan's largest IT companies.

During their interviews, the company's board director, Kirika Kokuryuu, takes an interest in Haru and Gaku's contrasting personalities. However, Gaku does not get hired by the company, leading Haru to quit the job on his first day in protest. Nevertheless, they decide to embark on an ambitious plan of making a trillion dollars.

In order for their scheme to come to fruition, Haru and Gaku start looking for potential investors, but everyone rejects their extravagant idea. In spite of that, the two soon find themselves getting an offer from Kirika—and with her investment, they might just be able to reach their goal.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tennouji, Haru Main

Ootsuka, Takeo Japanese

Taira, Manabu Main

Ishige, Shouya Japanese

Sakura Supporting

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Kokuryuu, Kirika Supporting

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Aragane, Kyoutarou Supporting

Uchida, Yuuya Japanese

Female Commentator Supporting

Mori, Nanako Japanese

Male Commentator Supporting

Yanagita, Junichi Japanese

Actress Supporting

Takeuchi, Emiko Japanese

Advertising Agency Man Supporting

Ban, Taito Japanese

Sumeragi's Subordinate Supporting

Maeda, Hiroki Japanese

Nishimae, Ayaka Producer

Yoshida, Yuuki Producer

Higa, Maiko Producer

Ishigami, Joutarou Producer

Reviews

Jul 7, 2025

Lachslan

Recommended

Trillion Game is one of those anime, that you really can't rate well. I thought about how to rate this series and under what categories you could rate this properly. It is nothing magnificent, yet it was an experience worth watching. It has many areas of improvement, which it compromises with great mind game moments and funny scenes to lighten up the mood in an intense situation. In the following review I will try to give a relatively clear picture of what I think and make sense out of this unusually hard to rate piece of fiction.

Trillion game is an anime set in a more ... or less realistic depiction of the tech world and it's conglomerates. The viewer follows 2 main protagonists, Haru and Gaku, the two most greedy friends, that met under rather strange circumstances and later decided to form their own company trying to make 1 trillion Dollars. During the show they encounter various secondary characters, like Rinrin Takahashi, a rather stiff but dutiful lady, who helps the protagonists organize their plans, the childish but passionate game developer Sakura Shingo, who develops small games and supports Haru and Gaku to take over the Gacha industry and there is the financial backer Kazuki Kedoin, who believed in them and gave them a starter bonus to get their business going. Together Haru and Gaku form a strong connection, which leads to many exciting situations throughout.

I allways like to start with the plot, because it is the main focus of /almost/ every story.
If you were to analyze all the plot points you would quickly realize that most of them are filled with holes, yet still feel like they were thought through and made total sense and that is a really great feature of the show. Most plot twists or important scenes in the story revolve around either haru manipulating, blackmailing, or performing legal tightrope walks trying to make money, or around gaku showing of his computational skills to support any idea Haru comes up with. Those scenes are fun to watch, would fail horribly in the real world though. The story is based in a realistic setting, which does not mean it can't be unrealistic. Most people forget this is still an anime not a documentation. Not everything has to be sensical in the means of "would it be waterproof in the real world". The fun of this anime, as I had it throughout the show, lies in the intrigues and not knowing what the both of them would pull of next.
What let me down a bit was the all perfect world they live in. They graduate Uni, create a business and skyrocket their profits without any real setbacks. The house allways wins aah business. If this would be a great story they would send the viewer on an emotional rollercoaster. The antagonist allways loses and if it was that alone that would not be a problem but this happens in matter of episodes (in the later ones even in 1 episode). No menacing counterattacks on the antagonists side, which lets the viewer shiver and wonder if this is the moment in which the rise has it's end.
I really think the time or the money of the production weren't enough to live up to this expectation of me.
Even though, it is a bit like in their game "Puchi Puchi Land", it is satisfying to watch your empire growing. That's the best way to describe the feeling I got from the plot. A bit more on this feeling later down the road.

Let's talk a bit more about the characters.
A big part in this regard played the comedic aspect of all the main and supporting characters. Every character had their trope. In a AAA production Anime this would be a problem. You would want to have character growth and development, but this is a small anime related not as much to the characters as to it's story it wants to tell. But Anyways, Haru is charismatic and deceitful, yet had his moments caring for his friend, Gaku is shy and can't talk to women, which lead to many funny scenes. Also he is kinda homeless (no pun intended). Then there is Rinrin, stiff, yet compassionate and a bit in love with Gaku xD. Maybe an unpopular take but she is the most well written character in the show, because of the depth of her actions and always caring for the company, as well as both Haru and Gaku. Sakura is a passionate gamer and is unusually fast to be influenced by other people, which creates really funny and charming moments. Imo he is the "comedy punching bag" of the show. Always good for a small joke to lift up an intense situation in the anime.
I don't want to continue with the character traits because else I might get you guys reading this tired. All in all I can say the comedic effect of a joke in an unfitting situation or as a random transition to another scene really lifts up the spirit of the viewer and at times really made me laugh out loud and even if the characters don't have the depth you might expect from a drama they still more than suffice.

The biggest problem this anime has with attracting the average anime enjoyer is it's art style.
It really takes a few episodes to get used to. The faces don't have the common found shape or facial features, the background is bland, with not much going on and details in walls, objects (also close up shots) and background characters are pretty much non existant. Still not worse than TBATE, but it's pretty bad. Though It is to say, that the quality stays consistent throughout the show and the characters are modeled after the manga depictions, which maybe creates the unusual look. that barely is enough of a defence though. Not to speak of the absolute garbage CGI that was used EVERYWHERE from cars to crowds to background characters or even singled out people. I really thought I would never see CGI as bad as in "I got a cheat skill in another world" again, yet here we are. I don't know why many people in the other reviews don't see a big problem with that. These budget cuts were really ruining the experience for me at certain moments throughout the show (for example the Idol concert). By no means would I think that CGI as a whole is bad for the industry, it just needs to be done right or else it will look horrid and scare viewers away from watching a solid anime, which definitely happened here.

A topic which I didn't mention yet is music and that is because I really can't decide on what to do with this.
The first OP was great I loved the rather unusual music choice and the animation was presentable. It wasn't great considering, it was the characters just staring at the sky of tokyo looking down from a skyscraper, but it was enjoyable. The ED of cour 1 fell a bit flat which didn't bother me much, bc I always skip them if I am invested. As I didn't reeeeaally look out for details here I won't judge. OP and ED of cour 2 were really bad, animation quality of the OP was similar to cour 1 but the song was not enjoyable and tbh hurt my ears a bit. The ED fell flat again on animation (again skipped it in later episodes xD). The background music was fine, It just accompanied the story and brought some life to the situations. It was nothing special, nothing outstandingly beautiful like in "A silent voice" or outstandingly pushing like in "AoT", it was just underlining the experience. A bit like elevator music. Not noticable but still making the experience better.

A lot of negative things I said here..., still I don't want to end this review on a negative note, because I really enjoyed the anime, so here is my personal opinion without judging the anime on facts alone.
I enjoyed watching it because it was a breath of fresh air under all the piles of generic anime trying to push certain tropes, like power fantasy, fantasy or the typical shonen. It was set in a realistic environment but still managed to get me thinking "no way this works out" or "I really didn't expect that" The comedy made me laugh and the episodes didn't feel like they were dragged out in any way. Yes, sometimes the dialogue was a bit boring but for a fun watch this was perfect. For me it wasn't about how realistic the conversations with antagonists or financial backers were. It was about how 2 normal dudes try to buy the whole world. Even though I knew they would win I was still intrigued on how they would accomplish their goals. No deep storyline, no character development that shocks you or makes you cry, no epic battles, just a fun relaxed watch to be remembered as a niche gem.
Im gonna list how many points out of 10 I would award to each category I just talked about + a few bonus points, just because of personal preference.

- Plot [8/10]

- Characters [7/10]

- Animation [4/10]

- Music [6/10]

- Everything (+ Personal bonus) [8/10] Recommended watch!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 6, 2025

jdodd91

Recommended

TL;DR Overall a very fun ride with interesting characters and unique story. Although it does stumble a little in its pacing and character growth it seems like it was criminally underrated when it premiered. I think if you are willing to get past it's odd animation style and enjoy (social engineering, hacking, or politics) you should definitely give this a shot!


Pros:
-Interesting characters (Primarily in the two lead characters ....Haru/Gaku)
-Story is both informative and unpredictable/entertaining (especially if you hacking, politics, social engineering)

Cons:
-Animation takes some getting used to (def drops off later in quality)
-Pacing (The first half seems like everything takes at least a few ... episodes but the back half of the season everything is solved in an episode. Characters will say I don't know how to do that then instantly figure it out! Kind of takes away most of the drama or intrigue that was in the first half. )
-Minor gripe is character development( Characters such as Gaku grow over time for sure but it seems to be one step forward two steps back.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 28, 2025

kiyo_seibah

Mixed Feelings

Start off doubtful, gradually interesting and enjoyed it, and finished it off well.
The main plot is economy and business, which is pretty niche. Through this anime i get some insight about business especially game developer, media corporation, etc. Showing you how tricky to run a company and being a successful businessman. Of course it's picturized way easier than the real life situation, but u kinda get the grasp of it.
It's also remind me a bit of "great pretender" bcs the main character is a witty guy and they tricked the rich and powerful people.
Story wise, it was niche and interesting. For characters, ... well there's no development or something, but the dynamic between haru and gaku as they're polar opposite, are what makes it interesting.
Scoring and graphic are decent, but CGI is very bad ahaha
Well, it wasn't bad but not amazed me enough. Still a good watch tho especially if u want some business themed anime

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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	Poll: Trillion Game Episode 26 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 27, 2025	42 replies	by Paituwin »» Dec 24, 2025 11:46 AM
	Poll: Same author as Dr. Stone DeityNyxCiara-_- - Sep 27, 2025	5 replies	by wildhood »» Nov 3, 2025 8:18 AM
	Poll: Trillion Game Episode 20 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 20, 2025	25 replies	by different »» Aug 30, 2025 4:23 PM
	Poll: Trillion Game Episode 16 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 23, 2025	15 replies	by BigC_-69420 »» Aug 14, 2025 6:43 AM
	Poll: Trillion Game Episode 17 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 30, 2025	13 replies	by romzanalimohon »» Aug 5, 2025 2:47 AM