Anime 34933 Kakegurui Reviews Filter Check 2

A word of caution before getting into this review: There will be minor spoilers.

I thought that overall, Kakegurui was pretty damn fun and enjoyable. 6 may seem like a bad score, but I think it's fair. I scored it based on what it says by it, and it means "Fine". Perfectly how I would describe this when I look at this as objectively as possible in my review, and not out of pure enjoyment (else it'd be a 7 or 8, to be honest). Now with that out of the way, into the review.

CHARACTERS

Let's start out with the characters. The majority of ... the notable characters are female. I find this rather unique in a gambling anime since this very rarely happens. The majority of characters also show a crazy side, most of them being female since, as I've said before, most of the notable characters are female. While this isn't anything new, it's understandable since this is gambling themed and gambling can make people go nuts, and this sort of side can add to the excitement or fun of the series, it can also understandably get either dull or ridiculous at times, more likely than not being ridiculous since it often displays most of the characters' crazy side in an exaggerated fashion. There's also one who is just insane all-around, which is the one with the eye-patch, as you probably already would have expected when judging sorely on her appearance in the opening. With how she is, I sometimes wonder to myself why she is even allowed to attend the school. Even when this trait often comes in with the characters, there's quite a good number of characters who either have character development or depth. This even includes Ryouta Suzui, the male main character and one of the most "normal" notable characters of the series. Despite the fact that he mostly sits around and watch the games that the main character (Yumeko) participates in while asking and answering questions, even he will gain bits of a type of character development over the course of the series.

However, there is one thing I noticed about the characters, and that all you pretty much ever see are teenagers. Not really any adults. That's not to say that there aren't any in the series, because there are, but with the exception of the one and only teacher you'll ever see that appeared for a very short time and practically the only time in the very first episode, the few that appear in flashbacks, and a few of them talking a little bit to a character in one episode, there's practically no adults shown to be present. I find this very weird. Who is running the school? Is that person or are those group of people running it indirectly? If they are, do they even care much as to what is going on around the school, like what the student council president making such a system for every student in it to follow? We never know these answers.

Now let's move onto the main character, Yumeko. She is your typical character in gambling series that is very good or intelligent that rarely loses. In fact, Yumeko is the usual "mysterious transfer student that is surprising good at what is essential to this series" general trope. She's also the usual crazy girl trope when it comes to gambling, having traits like being aroused in a few of them. So you can see that she's quite the typical character in numerous ways. Despite being crazy in gambles, she has likable qualities, the main thing being that she's very kind and actually cares about her friends. There are quite a number of things that I find about her that is more unique or enjoyable to me as the main character. One thing is the fact that she doesn't mainly gamble for the sake of others, because if she did, she would have aimed to defeat the student council in order to stop the sort of corrupted system and to put an end to the corrupted student council. As it usually goes with mysterious main characters, you will learn more about Yumeko as the series progresses and understand even more about her character. The series will unwrap more and more about her personality, which is what the ending theme of this series symbolizes. You will learn things like how she enjoys both herself and her opponent feeling the same pain while both having the chances of winning or losing, and since she likes to risk as much as she could, she'll make sure that her opponent does the same, which would bring great worry to them. The way she feels and witnesses pain in the gambles is full of pleasure. Pretty much a type of hedonist, in short. With these types of numerous aspects of her character, you will understand why many other characters who has a crazy side and are in such a crazy environment will even deem her as being insane, which includes the one who is pretty much completely insane all-around.

However, you will only learn the mysteries of her personality. You will not learn much when it comes to her background. It'll unravel a little bit of it at one point in the series, but nothing more than that, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to get anymore than that in the anime series due to how the series ends with it's own, anime-original ending (so it looks like there won't be a second season, though I could be wrong on this). You'll have to go through the original source of it all, the manga of this series (which is still on-going by the time I've made this review) if you want to possibly know more about her background.

STORY AND SETTING

Next, I talk about the story and setting. The story is simple to follow and know what is going on. Nothing really complicated. The premise, the general setting's rules and what they need to do in order to survive around the school, and even the games themselves are easy to follow. As the anime progresses, you will learn more and more about the school and some things behind the main character. The pacing, for the most part, is also fine. The roller coaster keeps on going nonstop without anything feeling slow-paced, and, for most of what is going on, not rushed at all. Surprisingly, even though this series is filled with pretty looking high-school girls, there's not that much fanservice, or at least anything as strong as the ones in the opening and ending. That's pretty much the most you'll get when it comes to fanservice. There's quite a number of teases, and there are a few scenes like bouncing boobs and boob grabs, but they are very minor in numbers. In fact, as far as I remember, the manga of this has a lot more fanservice than this adaption of it.

Despite all of this however, when you think about it, the story is pretty basic and average. Not really much special, even though there are some nice twists here and there, this in a gambling high school, and the main character doesn't gamble for justice. The usual mysterious transfer student who turns out to be good at what is essential to the series is gambling and defeating anyone standing in the main character's way while aiming to challenge the big-bad is what you can pretty much say about what is going on the whole time. There's also the fact that the setting is literally only in high school. There is almost nowhere else they go. Nearly everything that happens in this series happens only at that exact same school. So if you're expecting them to go literally anywhere else outside of the school grounds even a decent amount of times, then you'll be disappointed. In fact, you would very rarely even see them even going outside of school. You will never see any of the characters' homes. It's pretty weird, as if it wasn't weird enough that you don't really see any adults.

The tone of the series is quite dark, but not that serious, to be honest. It is marked as a drama series and definitely does have some serious moments, along with very dangerous and risky elements, but still not that serious overall. I would say that despite how dark it clearly is, it mainly portrays itself as being lively and fun, so if you are expecting this to be something pretty serious, you might be disappointed.

As an adaption of the manga, it has done pretty well for the most part. It has been extremely faithful to the manga while doing a few things in it's own styles, although they did skip a notable amount of things, and the final episode went into it's own original direction to end things instead of continuing to being faithful to the manga, which is odd when this suddenly happened. To be honest, I find the way it decided to end things in the final episode to be disappointing, and that it just gave me even more of a feeling that this really should have had a couple more episodes in order to adapt the next event that would have been a worthy stopping point to the series in my opinion.

GAMES

I would now like to talk about the games. Pretty much all of them are simplistic, straightforward, and pretty much basic plays. This also includes most of the strategies being used. You'll probably quickly understand what's going on throughout. While these aren't necessarily bad things since there's actually not really anything wrong with the gambles themselves, apparently it makes certain others want more from the games, if not much more since it doesn't help that, much like other gambling anime/manga series, the pattern of how the games basically go as are pretty similar (and it's in a basic shounen way), the outcomes of the overall games are mostly very predictable, and that this series focuses a lot on cheaters. Despite all of this, I find that the games can still be enjoyable. Why? The characters themselves and how they exaggeratedly bring out their various emotions and personalities in the different situations of whatever games with the great or ridiculous looking art. This is probably the main aspects in what makes it fun for me to watch through. Seeing the ridiculous reactions from the characters never really gets old for me, but if you're expecting depth in the games from this series, then this will disappoint you.

ART AND ANIMATIONS

Now for the art and animations. I think MAPPA did pretty good in the art department. They make the cards and poker pieces look very well done at times, and there is a lot of impressive visual moments and effects in this series. While the character designs themselves mostly look pretty standard, the amount of details they put on certain aspects of the close-up faces impressive to me. This especially goes for their eyes. Not often do I see such beautiful looking eyes nearly everywhere in an anime series, with some of them having nice-looking visual effects. They also added little extra details on different parts on the faces at times, most noticeably on the insane faces, such as bits of wrinkles on the lips and making the nose drawn to look a bit more realistic. This is helpful for the type of faces since it helps give you that ridiculous, shocked, or cringing feeling to the viewers like most were purposely made and presented to be as, and it can even help add into the excitement and feeling of whatever is going on, but the insane faces are understandably not for everyone. Due to the amount of details they often put on them, they can look over-the-top, even when ti comes to anime usually making things over-the-top. There have been a few to some faces that look absolutely hilarious to me, and I unfortunately mean that in a bad way since I'm not talking about the ridiculous ones that were clearly made purposely to look funny, which are also hilarious looking. As for the animations, they're mostly standard and decent, but there have been a fair number of very good ones. The opening itself is just filled with great animations.

SOUND AND VOICE ACTING

Last I will talk about is the music and voice acting. Starting with the opening and ending, it's honestly a couple of my most favorite songs of the whole season. They're very good and I find them perfectly emphasizing how energetic and upbeat the anime portrays itself as despite how dangerous and dark it is. The opening will take a bit of getting used to, but still great and very stylish. As for the overall soundtrack of the series, I would say it's decent to above average. There's a few weird and questionable tunes, but overall everything else has either been fine or enjoyable, and they fit well in the situations present. The crazier tunes help add to the fun and insanity of the situations the type of songs it's used in. There's not really much to comment on the voice acting to me, but I think they did fine. I think Saori did very well as the main character, Yumeko.

And on that note, I think that wraps up the review. If I would have to score and summarize each aspect I've talked about,

Characters - 7/10. A lot of the characters are your typical anime characters, but a good number of notable characters have depth or character development.

Story and Setting - 5/10. Not really anything special when you think about it, and nearly everything only happens in the school. Not to mention with the way they've ended it at the final episode is pretty disappointing.

Games - 5/10. Not really bad since it didn't do anything wrong, but will probably leave you wanting more from them.

Art and animations - 6.5/10. Great details and sometimes visual effects on numerous things such as the items and certain parts of the faces, especially the eyes, but the insane looking ones are a major hit-or-miss.

Sound and voice acting - 7/10. Fantastic opening and endings with a lot of decent to enjoyable tunes in the overall background music, but there are a few questionable or weird tunes. The voice acting is fine to me.

Overall - 6/10. A very stylish and lively series overall, but it could leave much to be desired, since it's pretty basic when you think about it. As long as you don't expect too much or have very high standards, then I think you'll be fine. I highly suggest watching through the PVs first in order to know what you'll pretty much be getting into throughout if you're still interested.

It where two reasons that I started to watch Kakegurui (Compulsive Gambler) this season. The first where that I´m planning to read the manga, and was curious about it. And the second and more important one, is that Kakegurui is produced by studio MAPPA. Which happens to be one of my favourite studios after seen what magic they created with the “Shingeki no Bahamut”-series. Their animation quality is nothing but as close to flawless as you can get, and they do have a brilliant way of bringing forth the specific design of the show they produce – they surely know how to place the effects ... for maximum output. And that applies to what they have done with Kakegurui as well. Stunning work indeed.

But as we all know, that great animation quality is just a factor to the whole experience of an anime. Other factors such as how the story appeal to us, how it´s narrated, it´s pacing, and how coherent it is, are also very important to us viewers. For not to speak of the characters. They have to intrigue us, make us feel with them, and feel like real life like persons to capture our interests. But you aren´t reading this review for a philosophical discussion of what makes up a great anime, you are reading this because you want to know if Kakegurui is a show for you, and/or maybe to see what opinion I have on it. So, let´s get to the point.

Do you like stunning art and animation? Do you find gambling interesting? Do you find an exclusive high school setting with an almighty student council interesting? Do you find slightly insane gamble addicts, that gets off on high stakes games as entertaining characters? Do you find it exciting to watch people outsmart each other in various games, by the means of reading their opponent? Do you find an almost female only cast appealing? And yes, it´s sexual innuendos between many of those said female characters, if you were wondering.

If your answer is yes on most of those questions, you will probably love Kakegurui. Because that´s what´s it´s all about. Nothing more, nothing less – it´s very straight forward. But it´s done in a very fluent and fashionable way, Kakegurui oozes of class and quality. Everything from the characters body language, facial expression, to the conversations they have, fills out what otherwise is pretty flat story perfectly. Grinding teeth’s, sweat that trickles down the forehead, insane glowing eyes, and the thought process the gambler has is all details that are nicely highlighted.

As mentioned before, the animation quality is excellent, studio MAPPPA have really out done themselves again, in their way of capture the core of the story and characters, and brilliantly bring them to life in their unique style. The psycho faces, cards or dices that are thrown in glee on the table, or the excited eyes of a gambler, they captured it all. The colours are strong and vivid, with a fancy for sinful red.

The pacing of the story is very even, not to slow, and not to rushing. And even if Kakegurui has an episodic feeling to it, and that each episode is build up in the same pattern, it feels coherent, and not reparative or to predictable. Because just when you think you figured the whole show out, it does a double take and does something that you weren´t prepared for. But at the same time, it still follows the same episode pattern. Easily put, in each episode the new student Yumeko Jambai, faces new opponents in different games, and works her way towards the top by very conventional means. Our protagonist isn´t gambling for power, money or glory, just for the pure rush of the game. That characteristic makes her a very hard opponent to both read and predict, which she uses to climbs up the schools gambling latter.

The voice actors are really doing a great job to portray their characters, so props to the cast. They all feel very well matched, except the vice president, but I guess that´s intentional. And when speaking of sounds, the sound effects are the little extra spice in the Kakegurui stew. The sound of grinding teeth´s, a pulse speeding up, or a sweat drop finding its path down someone’s face to splash on the gamble table, it´s all very effectual and pronounced. It´s gives the scene life and feeling, and combined with the great visuals the result it masterly done.

Did I enjoy my time with Kakegurui? Sure, to a certain extent. The story itself isn´t one of my usual cup of tea, with such a narrow story line and lack of personal growth- and interacting of the characters. The choice to only focus on gambling was risky, either that will appeal to you or it won’t. I fall a bit to the second category, I can absolutely appreciate gambling, or competitions as an element in a story, but to have a whole show around it didn´t capture my full interest. Had they combined it with more elements, such as character development and relationships a bit more, the final product would´ve appealed to me much more. But the stunning animation with those little extra sound effects made this a visual feast for me, and the reason that I watched it to the end. The story and its characters I find mildly entertaining, absolutely not boring, just not deep-heart-and-soul-catching, which I highly appreciate in a show.

So, to come to some sort of conclusion, I would recommend you to watch Kakegurui purely based on the amazing animation, if not the plot seems like your thing, it´s worth it. But if you indeed find this type of show appealing, then you are in for a treat.

So, I decided to drop it after episode 7. Not for any particular reason; it was actually a pretty enjoyable episode but I felt that it was a natural end to a mini arc (which I consider to be one for each member of the student council) so it felt like an okay place to stop.

The artwork is great - loved all the different facial expressions. Not just the crazy ones, but ones used for comedic purposes, or simply to highlight how beautiful some of the girls are. This, for me, was the highlight of the entire show - the music is pretty good but ... nothing outstanding and the characters I find to be just above average.

Leading in from that last point: the array of characters, on the surface, are pretty cool and diverse in both personality and design but I never felt it go anywhere. This show is pretty shallow on character development, save for perhaps Jabami and Mary, but even with them it felt like painfully slow baby steps watching them develop...

Overall, my enjoyment was just slightly above middle of the road. I could have continued with the last 5 episodes left to air, but as I mentioned before, this felt like a comfortable places top stop. I can't see any kind of "plot twist" beyond this point that would shake up the show enough to keep my interest, and I feel like I can completely predict how the last 5 episodes are going to play out. I might be interested in picking this series back up in the future though, if I find out that the plot gets some kind of shake up down the road. If it's more of the same though I'll have to pass.

I'd say give this show a try if you've already blown through all the great stuff because it's not TERRIBLE. But don't expect anything life changing either.

Welcome to Hyakkaou Private Academy, a gambling paradise where success is rewarded with wealth and prestige and those who fail are punished with massive debt and dehumanization. In this twisted establishment, taking big risks and cheating profusely are a commonality amongst the school's student body. While many may be turned off by these extreme conditions, protagonist Jabami Yumeko, a major gambling addict, finds herself right at home when she transfers to the academy. She doesn't have any elaborate plans or aspirations and only desires one thing; the ecstatic feeling she derives from gambling.

WARNING: The plethora of psychotic lesbians in this anime may be too much ... for the weak of heart to handle. Proceed with caution.

The male protagonist in the show is Ryouta Suzui. He's basically your average guy and falls under the "I'm useless and have to rely on the heroine to do everything" trope. His primary purpose is to serve as the juxtaposition to Yumeko's character so that her damaged psyche and general insanity is made more apparent. And not just her, but practically every other member of the cast as well, who all seem to add their own little bit of crazy to the show. Seriously, some of these characters make the infamous yandere Yuno Gasai look like a domesticated housewife in comparison.

Kakegurui's plot is really quite simple. There's no intricate story at play and characters (with the exception of the twintailed blonde Meari) don't receive much development. This anime instead focuses on a multitude of unique games played by the characters. Now these aren't fun family matches. They are games with high stakes played by demented yet intelligent characters, and it's just a thrill to watch.

Of course, these games are incredibly exaggerated in order to engross the show's audience. The producers are even able to make a basic game of rock-paper-scissors intense. Now while I'm sure this approach didn't work on everyone, it was enough to entertain me personally and keep me invested in the anime, so I'd say that Kakegurui's presentation was a success. The highlight of these gambling matches was when Yumeko managed to turn the tables on her foes with her amazing analytical skills and luck. It was so fun watching her completely own her opponents.

I just love the distorted faces made by the characters in this anime. Whenever they're experiencing a high or a low during a match, the characters always seem to have amazingly detailed and demented expressions. Their visages often made watching them gamble even more enjoyable and managed to make them seem crazier than they already were. The rest of the animation was often high in quality as well, and it assimilated with the soundtrack quite nicely.

I was really tempted to give Kakegurui a lower score. The story is quite simplistic (bordering the nonexistent range) and there really isn't an explanation on why the school is so fixated on gambling. Also, I found myself constantly wondering things like where the heck are the teachers? I guess they were massacred by the student council. I wouldn't put it past that group of psychos. The fact that only one character had any marginal development while the rest remained generally stagnant was also a negative factor against Kakegurui. But the show is just so damn entertaining. It's honestly one of the most enjoyable seasonal anime that I've seen in awhile. And while the characters aren't that developed, they make up for it with their eccentric personalities. Yumeko commanded my attention every time she appeared on screen, and the majority of her gambling matches were intense and fun to watch, even if they were over dramatized and often served no significant purpose.

Kakegurui is clearly not for everyone. In fact, from a technical standpoint, the anime is actually quite poor. But unlike many other shows that I've seen, Kakegurui was able to make me not completely focus on its shortcomings thanks to its its explosive cast and atmosphere. If you're into the game and/or physiological genre, then I'd recommend giving Kakegurui a chance. And if you have a thing for crazy women, then you don't want to miss out on this anime. Trust me.

Plot:
Obsession, repression, insanity, and thrill-seeking, these are all topics primarily emphasized in Kakegurui. What was interesting in the show was that gambling, for me, was really just a tool to deliver a message; because if we are to judge Kakegurui simply as a gambling show it would be plain awful. The setting is rather generic as the show occurs in a school, although to be fair it is a rather “special” school that is built on gambling. The hierarchy is constructed based on who has the most money, which the general rule of thumb anywhere, and who is the most competent gambler, meaning who is ... the most adept in psychological warfare. Consequently, fortunes can be overturned since practically all students are engaged in gambling their assets away with hopes of securing their immediate and long-term futures; giving those who are financially disadvantaged a chance at a better life, or so it would seem. The first few episodes were very intriguing as we are introduced to how the organizational construct within the school functions. The school employs a system similar to the one demonstrated in Assassination Classroom, where a specific class (a social class in the case of Kakegurui) is designed for those at the bottom of the pile; who are naturally repressed, ridiculed, and discriminated against by their peers. Individuals who accumulate large amounts of debt sink into the lowest tier possible within the hierarchy, a social class known as “house pets” whose job is to basically be used to increase the morale of other students. The system would incentivize students to continuously enhance their gambling skills by showing them what would happen if they are to fail, a message conveyed by the misery that house pets usually suffer. On the other end of the spectrum, you would have the student council who sit on top of the food chain and basically dictate everything that goes on in the school and are the ones responsible for implementing and maintaining the contemporary structure.

All was working just fine until our main character, Jabami Yumeko, arrives and turns the system on its head, as is expected. Now, this all sounds nice and interesting, but things start to turn south as the show progresses and the world building rather comes to a halt. Many things in the show seem illogical or perhaps unexplored, we were never shown what the role of instructors or even adults was in general, which is very odd since they are within a school. The show depicted the school as being an independent organization functioning with minimal interference from the principal or teachers, as the only ones who actually wielded any form of power and were in charge of basically everything were the student council. This becomes more apparent as the show progresses since members of the council seemed to have the ability to do anything including having interrogation rooms or even weaponry. We do not really know how the council came to hold so much power or who granted a student council so much authority. The show justifies the extensive jurisdiction of student council members by stating that they hail from prestigious families whom are highly influential and are the root cause for students have such vast authority. Furthermore, even if we are to overlook such elements the show grows to become rather repetitive and formulaic, unfortunately, as Jabami Yumeko battles a new villain each week in order to reach the top; defeating each opponent in rather similar and predictable means.

Animations:
The animations in the series were just fine meaning that they were not bad nor special, but rather represent the standard you would expect of a modern day anime. Although, I must say that two things stood out while watching; the facial expressions of students and the fanservice. I must admit, I was not a fan of either. The facial expressions that were displayed by many of the characters were rather disturbing, especially at the beginning of the show, though luckily they tuned things down towards the end. Meanwhile, the fanservice was rather distasteful to say the least; as characters would normally become increasing aroused as the stakes would go higher. Though their heightened “sensations” were depicted in a rather disconcerting manner as characters would exhibit suicidal tendencies rather than pleasurable emotions, which was a turn-off for me. Though on a positive note their uniforms looked really good.

Music:
The ending for the series was the one musical piece that stood out for me, I really enjoyed its rather “hip” style. I did not enjoy the opening so much, though I was interested in the images it was showcasing which displayed and foreshadowed some of the events in the anime. I do not recall paying much regard to the music that was playing during the show, as no single track attracted my attention through the anime; which rather means that it was neither bad nor good.

Characters:
I think this is the dimension that the series suffered the most. I honestly did not care for any of the characters, including Yumeko, Suzui, and Saotome, even though they are considered to be the main cast. In fact, asides from Yumeko whose name was brought up 100 times each episode, I had trouble memorizing the names of any of the characters. I felt disconnected from all of them, especially that the show did not explore their backgrounds, motives, and experiences; despite the presence of adequate material to go on. A fine example of this would be not displaying the relationship of Yumeko and her sister, who is supposedly bedridden in a hospital. The show simply does not explore issues that are considered essential for the progress of a solid plotline. Another seemingly important issue that was not explored in-depth was what were the true motives for students who are apparently poor to join such a prestigious school, aside from money? Plus what prevents them from leaving immediately once they become house pets? Issues that could have easily been explored if the spotlight was given to Suzui for an episode or two. Moreover, I truly wished that the show had focused on the morality of having such an oppressive system, showing the life that house pets have to endure; something that, again, could have been focused upon if Saotome was given some screen time off the gambling table.
Though on a more positive note I did enjoy the political game that was played between students, where alliances would constantly shift depending on who is in power and what certain situations require.

Overall:
Nonetheless, despite all the downsides of the show I still found it entertaining at the very the least. I came back to watch it every week even though I knew what the outcome was going to be, and that is where the show’s value lies, entertainment. It never really attempts to do anything more than being an episodic anime that gives its viewers an injection of adrenaline week in week out. Although, question marks will be raised as to whether the show will be given a chance to rectify its errors in a second season since the series received an anime exclusive ending. Either way, I can recommend the show for those who want a spike of adrenaline from a series that relies on the psychological aspects of stress in general, and gambling in particular, to thrill its audience. Though be prepared for an anime that goes directly into its main themes, without giving much thought to any other sideline or underlying concepts.

Thank you for reading

(Introduction)

A show about rich high school student, stupidly gambling there lives away for kicks but everything changes a little bit when compulsive Psycho Gambler with Red-Eyes Black Hair Jabami Yumeko enter the scene. To literally give the student council, who doesn’t do anything but sit around all day, an intense facial workout. Get ready to be amazed by Studio MAPPA's artistry, for almost every single character in this show have the ability to make ridiculously funny faces that will give Reddit some temporary memes to play with.

Get mind-blown to the intensely good animated atmosphere of Kakegurui Gambling, which are the few things I found ... respecting in this show. And If you ever get lost what the heck is going on during the middle of the gameplay, don’t worry, after every match, Jabami and the gang will explain everything in front of your face. So sit back and relax, don't think much. Which is kind of a shame because some games in the anime look original enough in my eyes that they seem like a very fun party game to crush your friends with.

(Story/Plot/Writing) (4/10 Mediocre) (W/ Light Spoiler)

When I read the anime synopsis for the first time, I found it kind of fresh. I barely see any high school anime that heavily focus on gambling and then after I finish it. I found it no different from any “Cliché Highschool” Tropes and I see it more stupid than your average high school anime. The show's main story in summary is about a new student that will rebel against the antagonistic “’ Student Council Hierarchy”. Our insanely daring protagonist will cross obstacles to reach the top to have a chance to rival the Big Fish of the school, this is not Kill La Kill Right?

While actual School stuff is non-existent in this show. The majority of the time I only see students gambling around the school. And why would they even bother to study or do sport that will benefit their future if the school has a shitty ranking system that will only measure student performance base on their gambling skills? The school being a setting has lost its meaning. You can replace the school with a casino or a gambling den that requires its attendees to wear high school uniforms and you will not find any difference.

The thing I found this anime stupid is the school is too dumb to exist. On all accounts, it’s a facility that raises scammers than potential elites that will benefit the country or the world. Yeah, you heard me right! 100 percent of the student who wins their gambling games cheat their way to win, just like in real life. A school that makes rich people lose their hard earn fortune because of their dumb spoil rich brats gambling away their money. Is that Legal? It's ridiculously funny and unreal. It made me remember an incident related to kids spending on their parents’ credit cards on microtransaction on videogames then eventually incurring massive debts in the process. This is literally what this pea brain student currently doing in the school. Lots of students get a quick buck sure but a lot of them lose a lot of money that they didn’t even own or earn by themselves.

To me, if these students came from influential families or rich corporate bodies. Then in one way or another, the school gambling shenanigans can actually affect the economy. Imagine a large company supplying products, services, and jobs suddenly got bankrupt not because of natural economics but because their child accidentally bet 90 to 100 percent of the company stocks because why not! That will be hilarious to see.

It also feels like a shounen anime where the protagonist gets friends along the way by savagely beating them up first. But in this anime instead of using brute force as a normal person will do to get what they want. Every conflict in this show is resolved by gambling. I can also say it’s similar to Yugioh but instead of stakes is getting vanish in the shadow realm when you lose. The person loses their dignity and tons of money. And sometimes block their freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives.

If you are watching this show to learn how gambling works or to educate yourself on the pro and cons. Hoping to get the edge you needed to win big in your local casino or make a fortune in Las Vegas. I am sorry to tell you that’s not going to happen. The games they used in the gambling itself are not that even smart or impressively complex either in my opinion. I didn’t learn anything in this show because the game itself is so lazily written. The show has the balls to explain everything at the last minute just to say they didn’t magically win because the author showed them the script. I find it dull, boring, and uninteresting for the most part.

(Characters Only Main to Talk About) (5/10 Average but Entertaining) (W/ Light Spoiler)

Honestly, I don’t like any single character in this show. The only thing I find joy watching them, aside from the funny faces they make. Is the lunacy when they discover they did a lot of dumb things or realize they are incompetent people tend to: Overestimate their own skill levels, bunch idiots. A lot of people here have serious cases of the Dunner-Krueger Effect except for Jabami Yumeko, she is a mary sue in this show. She is never been wrong even though her behavior and motives are questionable on many levels.

Side Characters on this show are more like archetypes in my eyes. They have personality but they don’t have any significant depth or identity of their own for me to care but they are entertaining to watch. Like for example, Jabami is the Marysue, Mary is a lesser Jabami, Ryouta is a walking mouthpiece, Midari is a bitch, Kirari is your typical Edgelord Student Council President, Runa is a Loli, Yume is a Pop Idol, Itsuki is a lesser bitch, and Kaede is your glasses guy. And to take account. What I said is not a pure spoiler by the way.

If you watch the Opening of the show "Deal with the devil" by Tia or the very first episode. This will be definitely your first impression of them and if it is, congratulation they remain like that for the duration of 12 episodes. Don’t expect significant character development or changes. We do get some itsy-bitsy background story but that is what you have for putting some levels of depth on your characters. And Personally, that is not enough to make them memorable or stand out. It exposed how poorly written they are.

(Technical Stuff) (Art & Animation 8/10 Very Good)( Music and Sound Design 6/10 It's Ok)

I am going to compress all my opinion on the technical stuff here. My final verdict for the animation and music on this show is that it's good and very good in fact for a TV series. I think MAPPA did a good job in making the atmosphere of the gambling more enjoyable to watch and bonus points for the funny faces too. OP song is fun to watch but definitely not the music I want to listen to or kept in my music files. ED song is fine, fun to watch for 1 to 3 episodes and after that, I no longer care. Background music is also good in adding substances to the gambling vibes. And that’s the only positive I can say in the show if only the characters and scriptwriting were the same quality then it will be truly an enjoyable experience.

(Enjoyment/ Bias Personal Opinion) (6/10 I still Enjoy even I have issues with it)

I think I said everything why I found it enjoyable and annoyingly bad

(Final Thoughts) (Overall 5.2/10 just an average flavor of the season type of show)

I like anime when the stakes are high and the risk is very outrageous. Especially it is batshit insane at times. But in this anime, I really don’t see any heavy risk involve. It loves to use BIG NUMBERS! To show the audience how extreme the situation is but the problem, it really doesn’t properly demonstrate that you will take the situation seriously. It gives the illusion that a simple game has BIG consequences but in reality, it's not. It tries hard to become serious by hyper exaggerating a lot of stuff which ended up becoming funny than grim.

Characters don’t serve as people in this world but are similar to crazy cartoon characters that are there to add aesthetic value to the show. Ever wonder why they look extremely slutty because that is their purpose in the first place. “Sex Appeal”.

Ever wonder how casinos bait people into gambling even though people know in nature they might lose?

Simple,” Money, Bright Light, and Colors and Sex”

That is more than enough to hook a Man to Gamble

In Kakegurui Case, that’s how it establishes its audience in the first place

One of the oldest tricks in the book.

And you got Scam!

Kakegurui is a high school comedy anime disguised as a gambling anime. Filled with eccentric and psychotic characters, one notable aspect is how the show sexualizes its characters, depicting them experiencing intense pleasure akin to orgasms during gambling moments. Even the show's outro doesn't shy away from this boldness, featuring closeups of the main character's ass and boobs, which seem to be for comedic effect. In essence, Kakegurui is more akin to Prison School's unrealistic premise than a gambling anime with high stakes.

However, Kakegurui is nowhere near as funny as Prison School, and worse yet, its gambling aspects have zero stakes. The main character, Yumeko, ... is overpowered and wins almost every gambling match, practically making the stakes zero. Yumeko only ever loses if they want to lose. Overpowered characters and winning with asspulls are entertaining in other anime, but in Kakegurui, it's lame because the story is too repetitive. They never add in slice-of-life, school, or romance-centered episodes. Every single episode is a gambling match. By the second season, the story starts getting too repetitive and predictable.

Still, even with Kakegurui's flaws, I did enjoy the first season of Kakegurui - enough so - that I gave it an 8. I say it's worth checking out, but expect the story to get repetitive. Also, the second season is worse because they stop showing Ryouta and instead introduce bland, one-note characters, which is why I'm giving this "Mixed Feelings," even though the first season is an 8.

*No Spoiler Concise Review*
TL;DR: If Kaiji and Shokugeki no Soma had a forbidden love child, you get Kakegurui: a show that throws all realism out of the window and the female MC orgasms every time she whispers "Kakegurui" or "Let's Gamble."
[Story: 3/10 , Characters: 5/10, Art: 8/10, Sound: 6/10, Enjoyment: 5/10]

What is Kakegurui? It's a psychological mystery anime where the MC, Jabami Yumeko, a transfer student, starts attending Hyakkaou Private Academy, a normal school by day & a gambling heaven/hell by night, whose sole purpose is to teach their rich spoiled brats in the art of dealing with money & manipulating people. This show throws ... all realism out of the window and declares that the best gamblers are those who are addicted to gambling, not those who stay calm. This show is both sexy and risky. It's always fun to watch a naïve sexy self destructive intelligent gambler destroy and toy with the school government because she finds it fun and stimulating. Viewers will soon realize that the outcome will always be the same, yet it's the 'how' that makes this show great. If you are into gambling and you love psychopaths yet cute characters then this anime is for you!

The premise is very straightforward. It's your run-of-the-mill high-school anime where the MC wants to throw a wrench at the flawed school council system. This time the entire school council are epic/loaded Boss Gamblers. How do you get to the top? Through boss battles of course. Here's a fun fact, they are all cheaters, except the MC of course. She just wants to get her fix of orgasms through the thrill of gambling. The show revolves around Yumeko and Suzui, both archetypal foils of one another, trying to unearth the "system" and win the boss battles to reach the top, aka face the Student Council President. Although the start of the show was amazing, mid-way the story takes a huge nose dive of boredom and it barely comes back up with the anime having an original ending instead of staying true to the manga. Guess, MAPPA isn't fully sold on the success yet for second season despite going all out by bringing together director Hayashi Yuichiro (Garo: Divine Flame) alongside writer Kobayashi Yuichiro (Attack on Titan) and Akita Manabu (Fullmetal Alchemist ) as character designer.

Though the story is very predictable, aside from figuring out how each gambler is cheating, it's the characters that really fuels the fun in the show. The MC, Yumeko, is a naive beautiful kawaii girl on the outside but inside she's an intelligent yuri obsessed psychopath who needs to gamble to quench her compulsive gambling addiction. Juxtapose her with Suzui, her partner in crime, who is just there to make viewers feel smart because all the other characters in the show are psychopathic gambling geniuses. The members of the student council, despite being one-dimensional, are all unique from one another as seen through their gambling personality and the type of games they like to play. The epic Boss, President and Yumeko, if looked at closely, are just same psychotic characters on the inside except their outer characteristics are inverted from each other. Moreover, what really accentuates the characters in this show are the voice actors. The voice actor for Yumeko, played by Saori Hayami, just steals the show. Who knew the calm lady like seiyuu from AnoHana could portray the role of a horny psychopathic addict.

Aside from its predictable story and one-dimensional characters, the show does a phenomenal job in the art, animation & sound department. Nothing short to be expected from studio MAPPA. The OP, Deal with the Devil, is actually a refreshing change from usual Jpop to classy jazz for that smooth chill vibe. The background score really heightens every tense mood in the anime and just overhypes every little reveals. The ED song is alright but not as good as the OP song. The character designs were toned down to reflect better on screen compared to the actual manga. However, the crazy psychopathic facial expression of each characters and the shrills that captures every thrills really hammers down the central slogan of "Let's Gamble." Hands down, the show has great camera working, much like Edgar Wright with its cut scenes that adds a lot to the plot. Moreover, the blended CGI animation with bold vibrant colours really brings out the inner psychopath that exists not only in the characters in this show but in our hearts.

Overall, Kakegurui is just one of those crazy psychotic animes you want to watch because you love going on a thrill ride fully knowing the end destination. Though the anime will have an original ending the show is a faithful adaptation of the manga. If you love gambling and you love cute characters having earth-shattering pseudo orgasms while getting their gambling fix, give this show a watch. It's different yet same as other game related shows like Kaiji and NGNL. Anyways, give it a watch and tell me later how fast you caught on how the Boss Gamblers were cheating.

P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

In a school where a bet could decide your future, Jabami Yumeko defies the current system by simply not worrying about the consequences. The thrill of the game is what matters. She’s a compulsive gambler, after all.

Hyakkaou Private Academy is a place that only the children of the richest can go. It’s an institution with a very peculiar curriculum: it isn’t based on the regular school matters, neither on athletic prowess of the students. Rather, it is based on making the rich richer. So, what ability is revered when it comes to business? Reading your adversary. That’s the pillar of stock market bets. Then, what ... does Hyakkaou have that is so special it creates this competitive ambience of betting? They revolve around gambling.

Blackjack, poker, roulette or even rock-paper-scissors, everything can be made profitable, everything can be made payable. Here, one starts drowning in debt before university – or swimming in money. In this academy, the winners and losers are very separated. If one loses a match, they got attached to the person who won, like a slave, having a chain collar with a plate written “loser” so everyone can see their condition. The Student Council isn’t better, in fact, it’s harsher on gambles, with more than the financial debt as a problem; they often put more consequences on the games, such as arranging marriages and forcing people to not live their lives as they want, everything according to their “Life Plan” designed to the students who lose by playing against them.

But this oppressive system isn’t the only problem: many of the students -- and that includes the ones from the Council --, are what they call “corrupted”, or, in other words, a compulsive gambler. Some drown in debt by not thinking before playing, some are intelligent and get better, and some don’t care about money, life plans, or any other consequences at all -- including death --, and that is what makes Jabami Yumeko so special, because no one can manipulate her through games, making her a challenge to the current system – the only thing someone can trick her into is to feel the frisson of the games.

To counterbalance her impulsiveness, hesitant Suzui Ryōta becomes “the voice of reason” (or sanity) in this place filled with craziness. But, of course, he’s never listened to. And that’s what makes him an important character because he finds himself needing to work around difficult situations in which sanity or wisdom don’t help.

To finish the main pack of characters, Saotome Meari is the not compulsive, but greedy gambler. Greedy in a way that she feeds off this system, loving the power that it offers to the winners. Living like a queen, she is the blueprint student of her academy, until important events make her reconsider how she plays in this jungle of cheaters, enablers, kings and slaves.

The anime revolves around this trio, either combining them to make unthinkable plays or simply to put both extremes of taking risks and being afraid to test. The trio starts relating, not aware of that, but drawing the attention of other students, from common ones to higher-ups – including the head of the Student Council, Kirari Momobami --, but not without reason: Jabami Yumeko is a new animal in this jungle, bringing new habits and spreading havoc by her compulsive yet mastermind plays. And something about the plays must be said.

On the beginning of a game, Yumeko is like an unarmed kitten, knowing nothing, but by the end of the day, the kitten has manipulated everyone to bring it food. That’s how Jabami sucks all that is near to her, as a hurricane of madness, to the point of completely changing her complexion, from her normal, round, dreamy eyes to slanted, cold calculating globes, turning them into igneous rubies, and her face into a crooked inhuman grimace, sending the signal of the definite presence of her madness and her control of any game that she’s in.

Besides her eyes, another mark of the visuals of the anime is distorted facial expressions. They generally appear on people who are humiliating others, either by game or socially. The distorted complexions give a unique touch to Kakegurui, pinching the viewer’s and defining the atmosphere of the Academy, its hostility carved in the faces of the students.

Furthermore, the things are not so black and white – although one can define “to gamble or not to gamble” as a dilemma --: the motives for gamble are varied, they can range from people trying to save their families’ debts to lunatics rebelling against the world for no reason, and this variety is shown on the multitude of characters. Each personality, each resolve, each way of playing, everything becomes a web of interests. Not without a main tone, however. The cast always strives to the most common desires of the human nature: power, status and, of course, money, everything as the underlying cause, and, evidently, under the Hyakkaou Academy ruthless structure.

Kakegurui is a work of psychological thriller that uses gambling as a stage to play its overarching theme: human corruption and mind games, not in the superficial, petty sense, but in the grim, wicked and limitless ways that only money and power can create the drive for. The viewer might appreciate the “last straw”, “twist” moments in the anime, when the tables can (and will) be turned at right (or wrong) moments, rapidly, a mismatched look or a misplaced arrogance and maybe wishful thinking, but always with a daunting psychological strategy. The key here is to use the characters as wells and bring viscerally everything from them, pouring them on the table, on the games, showing all wickedness and desires that can only be shown when despair occurs. After all, the thrill of the game is all that matters.

Kakegurui is a series that can only be defined as a thriller that centres are students who basically do one thing at Hyakkaou Private Academy - gamble. A suspenseful series about gambling is definitely not something that I've seen before. But does it pay off?

Story: Kakegurui starts us our with Ryouta Suzui, who is currently so far in debt that he gains the title of a "house pet" - one so far it debt that the students must comply with those up the food chain. He is eventually released from this title when a new student, Yumeko Jabami, enters the scene and ... beats his "captor" in a gambling match. Yumeko gives Ryouta enough of her winnings that he is no longer so far in debt to the student that he previous lost to. This teases you with what to expect of the story the series. It's certainly unique, but unfortunately, there's only so much you can do when your series is only about gambling.

Kakegurui takes place at an academy, but the school elements are completely absent. You don't really see any teachers, but instead, just the students. The student council oversees academy operations - you have your typical positions like president and treasurer - and also play gambling games against other students. Those on the council are expected to win. Failure to do so results in losing out on your prestigious position. One such problem is that the series doesn't really explain why those positions are so sought after. It sort of just implies it comes with a lot of regulatory power. I thought it was a little silly, and the series just makes those on the council come off as those that are willing to bet the biggest pot.

So the question comes off - is this series really a thriller? I would say it definitely tries, with mixed results. During the course of the series, Yumeko challenges student after student to their own gambling game. It's of their own creation and she mostly plays by their rules. The nature of these matches almost makes it feel like a survival series, where if you don't win your next game, you could be "out". Yumeko's tactics are far from perfect, but that adds another tense layer to the series. Yes, she's not flawless.

For all the hype, Kakegurui just didn't have enough high points for me. The series tries really hard to make every scene seem meaningful, but there were definitely times where I went "well this is getting just a little too silly". Midari's game was one that could have had a high to it, but completely flopped when all was said and done. Yumemi's never felt like it could get going. And then the final game felt entirely too predictable. There's potential in all of them, but each episode simple does not deliver from a story aspect. (6/10)

Characters: Kakegurui's characters aren't the deepest for sure, but there are some winners that can be found. Yumeko was one that I actually didn't mind. She gets off on gambling so much that she starts to throb and make weird poses, but is extremely intelligent. She observes the situation before her, and effortlessly finds the gap in her opponent's plans. She's extremely unstable, but when not in a gambling environment, seems like a decent person in general. Ryouta is basically the observer after the first few episodes, filling in gaps that the audience might not otherwise notice. His role is very clear here and the fact that he didn't point out needless garbage prevents his role from really sinking. I really enjoyed his inclusion here. Mary Saotome hangs around Ryouta and Yumeko really early on, but I didn't really catch what her role was. She seems like an okay character, but other than her predictable reactions to Yumeko, I didn't think she added enough.

Kirari Momobami is the student president and we don't get a ton of insight into her. The ultimate game is said to be had by facing her, but while she does seem intimidating, is there anything she does that the rest of the council doesn't? This makes them all kind of meld together in your mind, as their objectives are all the same, and they go about their business in the same manner. Sure, I thought as a group, they seemed threatening, but once you've seen one, you've really seen them all. Sure, each council member had their own game, and clear strengths, but they were always just okay. (5/10)

Art: MAPPA, has a knack for creating amazing looking series and Kakegurui is no different. This series looked really good, down to the darkest times that this series had to show. The only thing I could live without were the weird character poses - especially from Yumeko. (9/10)

Sound: While Netflix series in general leaves more to be desired from a story standpoint, they really do tend to come through on the VO cast. This series sports an incredible cast with big names up and down the list - and they were all amazing. This is an extremely impressive performance by Erika Harlacher-Stone (Yumeko) and Sarah Williams (Midari). They were easily the best here, and really bring it to the series. Griffin Burns (Ryouta), Erica Mendez (Itsuki), Erica Lindbeck (Sayaka), Chris Niosi (Kaede) and Kira Buckland (Mary) are also very impressive. Netflix series always have the top VOs, credit to the VO directors (John Swasey & Steve Staley), a reoccurring pattern with the former. I didn't much care for either theme songs, but they fit into the series well enough that it wasn't an issue. The music seemed fine with some standout tracks, but overall was just kind of there. (9/10)

Overall: Kakegurui is a very different series, but I just didn't think it had enough high points to it's colourful, though predictable, cast and settings. It feels like the moments that it had should have been better than they were, and the shallow cast of characters didn't help it either. Still, it had some okay moments that makes this series and okay watch if you really like seeing a thriller with a gambling theme to it. (6/10)

If there's one thing Kakegurui did right, it's how it perfectly demonstrated how to not do a gambling anime. In fact, if you have not yet seen Kakegurui, I would recommend you to not think of it too much as a gambling anime at all when you do so. Otherwise you will most likely only end up reducing your enjoyment of the show in the process. I learned that lesson the hard way.

As someone who absolutely loves anime about games, gambling, battle of wits and similar in general, I was really looking forward to Kakegurui, and I was hoping it could provide the same fix ... as series like Kaiji, Akagi, Liar Game and One Outs for example did so well in the past. But as I quite quickly found out, Kakegurui is not really about gambling per se, but rather about gambling addiction and the people playing. However, even with that taken into account there are still numerous problems at work here, and as a result what was initially my most anticipated anime of the Summer season eventually ended up becoming one of its weaker shows instead.

Kakegurui takes place in Hyakkaou Private Academy: a high school for ultra-rich students which has turned into a sort of gambling den after school hours where the students play each other in various games with huge amounts of money at stake, and whoever manages to manipulate the others the most and gain control of the most amount of money will quickly gain power within the society. This is where we find Jabami Yumeko: a complete nutcase addicted to the adrenaline rush of high-stakes gambles who enters the school and rapidly starts gaining recognition throughout it during the post-class activities. Kakegurui follows her blaze of glory across the academy.

So why did I suggest that this is not a very good gambling anime then? Well if you've seen any of the shows I mentioned earlier then the differences should be rather noticeable, but I'll try to explain for those of you haven't. There are numerous reasons really. The first problem with the gambles in Kakegurui is the bets. Most of the time the stakes consist of nothing but enormous sums of money put on the line. However, it's pretty clear from the start that Yumeko doesn't really care about this at all. She's more than willing to put every single yen that she owns on the line just for the thrill, and even if she ends up losing it all, the only thing that will happen is that she'll go into debt and become a so-called house pet, in which case she can just win it back the next time. It basically feels like the outcome of the game barely even matters to her, and in that case why should it matter to us as the viewers either?

Furthermore, during the rare occasions where some other bet is made, things aren't a whole lot better either, for example there's one game of Russian roulette where Yumeko and her opponent literally bets their lives, which is terrible from a writing standpoint because there's 0% chance of Yumeko getting killed since she's the protagonist and the story would just end if she did. Even if she were to lose the game, you already know the plot will somehow change the stakes at the end so that she would survive because the story demands it. In other words it's pointless to even have that kind of bet in the first place, because it utterly fails at creating the kind of tension which the author is looking for. That's probably the key word here: tension. Kakegurui lacks it entirely as the games always either feel predictable or unimportant. You never really have a reason to desire any particular outcome of a game without already knowing who will win. If you're going to have games where you always know who is going to win beforehand then the games themselves need to be so entertaining that you don't really care about the outcome regardless (best example of that is probably No Game No Life), but unfortunately Kakegurui doesn't have that either.

This is because the second problem actually lies with the games themselves. In my opinion, part of what makes a gambling anime like Kaiji so good is how many additional layers of complexity it creates throughout its games when one side starts cheating somehow and the other side tries to find a way to one-up their opponent's cheat without them noticing, then the first side does the same in return, and the chain continues. What might seem like a simple game at first ends up becoming an incredible mental game of chess with tons of variables in play, and it's super interesting to watch. But the games in Kakegurui never really do this as they always remain very simple. Whereas Kaiji can dedicate a whole season to just one extraordinary game, Kakegurui never has more than 1-2 episodes per gamble, and as a result they never have the time or opportunity to go very far beyond their basic rules. In addition, there's also the problem that since Yumeko is such a gambling addict, she isn't actually trying to outsmart her opponent very much at all, because she's actually okay with just letting fate decide the winner as she desires the thrill that comes from taking risks. In other words instead of bending the rules and completely outthinking her opponent to achieve victory, sometimes she just relies on plain luck to decide the winner in the end. The problem is nothing is ever truly random in fiction, so letting a game be decided by RNG is really cheap writing to me, because in reality it basically just means that one side arbitrarily wins because the author said so; nothing more, nothing less. It's extremely unsatisfying to watch.

There are also some occasions where I feel like it was left annoyingly vague whether or not something was decided by luck or skill, for example there's one episode where Yumeko has to roll a pair of dice where she effectively has a 1/100 chance of winning, and of course she gets the roll she needed. Now, if this is actually nothing but fortune then that's just ridiculous writing for the aforementioned reason, but if Yumeko actually knew how to rig die rolls—in other words how many times the die will roll on the ground by flicking your wrist properly to get the number you want—as has been showcased in other gambling anime like Shoubushi Densetsu Tetsuya in the past, then it'd be perfectly logical that she could win that bet without any dumb luck involved. But did she? I don't know; we never get to find out. Either way, I firmly believe that luck should never be a big factor in gambling anime, because the concept of randomness doesn't really work in the same way in fiction as it does in real life, but Kakegurui doesn't seem to understand this.

Perhaps the worst of all is one of the games towards the end of the anime where Yumeko is playing a customized version of Poker with someone, where whoever bets the most money gets to decide if the player with the stronger hand or the weaker hand wins when the cards are revealed. In this game both sides just keep on throwing unbelievable amounts of money onto the table until Yumeko eventually can't raise the stakes anymore and her opponent who then has the largest bet gets to pick the victory condition. This is stupid for multiple reasons: first of all they try to somehow make the game feel more hype by adding more money into the mixture, but as I've already said Yumeko doesn't care about cash so it doesn't really increase the tension for the viewers at all, and the specific size of the stakes doesn't change how the game works in practicality either, all that matters is that someone bets more than the other. And then in the end it is still a game of imperfect information, in other words the author gets to arbitrarily decide the cards in the players' hands and thus choose the winner, regardless of which victory condition was picked. Oh and did I mention that on top of the money, Yumeko also put her life on the line here again here (albeit in a different sense) so that she basically had a 100% chance of winning regardless? I was honestly shocked to see so many things done so poorly in such a short amount of time for such a simple game.

Thirdly, I also think the characters don't really fit the premise of a gambling anime at all. Almost every single character in Kakegurui is seemingly a psychopath to some extent. Yumeko herself is addicted to the adrenaline rush of gambling as mentioned, but she's far from the only crazy person in this school—for example there's a girl who's basically a suicidal freak who orgasms on screen from the thrill of perhaps getting killed in Russian roulette. Everyone seems to be an asshole with some sort of messed up ulterior motive for their actions, and the show seems to do everything it possibly can to help emphasize the girls' craziness with highly exaggerated close-up reaction faces, maniacal speeches and similar. Unfortunately, the mind games which gambling anime normally generates are supposed to be both quite serious and intellectual in nature, so when the girls are simultaneously getting drunk off their own insanity while playing... it's basically impossible to take the show seriously anymore. And that is why I say that you should not think of Kakegurui as a gambling anime: the emphasis is on how messed up all the girls are, not the games they play and how they do so. In other words despite the gambling premise, in reality Kakegurui is mostly an anime about crazy girls doing crazy things, plain and simple. And honestly I don't dislike the idea of crazy anime girls at all, in fact I'd say I rather like yanderes, yangires and just plain insane characters in general. Whether it's certain insane characters from Mirai Nikki, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni or Prison School we're talking about, they all have different types of craziness but I enjoyed them all (though there are certainly some insufferable cases such as Love-pon from Mayoiga too). However, in this case I just feel like they don't fit the setting of the show itself whatsoever. If the whole purpose was to show off crazy characters competing against each other for money or other bets, why even have this game-based academy premise in the first place? They could just as well have been playing football, fought each other, competed over grades or something. It's like the method of competition itself doesn't matter; only the fact that they are actually competing somehow and that there is a bet involved. Hell if all that's needed is a bet then they don't even need to participate directly; they might as well have been in the peanut gallery betting on horse racing instead and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The only seemingly normal character in the whole anime is the male lead Suzui Ryouta, however in practice this guy adds absolutely nothing of value to the series at all as he's basically just a spectator to the gambles week in and week out. His sole purpose in the show is to be someone for Yumeko to show off to (kind of like Shoutarou in Sakurako-san), and I don't really think he can be considered a main character in the first place.

So ultimately I can't help but find Kakegurui to be a rather unsatisfying series in general. If you're looking for a good gambling anime, there are way better alternatives. If you're looking for a good anime about crazy characters, there are *also* way better alternatives. Regardless of which side you decide to watch this anime for, it ends up feeling like something of fairly low priority either way. I guess the best way to watch Kakegurui is to just turn your brain off as they say and don't take it seriously at all. In that case the sheer stupidity of it all might be enough to transform into a sort of twisted comedy instead which you might be able to get some enjoyment value out of. Maybe if I had known about all of this from the start, that's what I would have done. I don't know. But either way, I personally found Kakegurui rather frustrating to watch more often than not, and while I don't hate the show I truly expected so much more from it than what I got, so I don't really think I can recommend it in the end.

How do you make a story about gambling interesting? Make every character absolutely insane.
This is the story (comedy?) of Kakegurui.

The show started out with promise. The characters had a bit of a... uniqueness about them. The main heroine is completely crazy, as you'll find out in like episode 2, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself. It's fine to have an unhinged character to shake up the story a bit.

However, at some point a writer needs to realize when they've gone too far. There's a point where the story just becomes way too unrealistic and overly dramatic. The problem with Kakegurui, ... is a typical problem you actually see in Shonen anime or whatnot. As the stories go on, battles need to get bigger and more dramatic. You go from fun, realistic battles, to battles where suddenly two characters have the powers of gods who just go at it and do all sorts of weird stuff.

A similar situation comes up in this show. The bets become larger, and the insanity also becomes larger somehow. The writers feel a need to make the characters more and more insane as the series goes on, as if it's going to shock the viewer. And how do they convey a message of insanity? You have characters who touch they faces a lot. I'm pretty sure in every single episode someone's eyes have glowed up and their hands have molested their own faces.

As if that wasn't enough, you also have the protagonist (?) (he doesn't really do much the whole story) whose only purpose is to make comments on how crazy everything is. He's always freaking out about the heroine and how crazy her bets are, too, which is funny because the main heroine has superhuman luck so I don't see why he'd ever be concerned.

Oh, speaking of which, this show isn't really about strategy. Like, yeah, they act as if there's a strategy to it all, but really it comes down to the fact that a character was lucky enough to actually carry out that strategy in the first place.

Everything is over-hyped in this show. At some point it kinda becomes funny. You got characters that masturbate over life or death situations, and characters that mutilate their own bodies for SEEMINGLY NO REASON (see episode 11). Also, people's hair changes color after bets now, apparently. I honestly have no idea what the writers are thinking. It's possible that, while trying to make their characters increasingly more unhinged, they have also become insane themselves. Prayers go out to them tonight, my friends.

So yeah, this series is becoming worse and worse as it goes on. Don't let the promise of the first half of the series fool you. It's managed to accomplish in 13 episodes what it usually takes shounens hundreds of episodes to do - become completely ridiculous.

Additional elements:
Art: is good
Sound: is okay (OP and ED are very fun)
Character: worst part of the series. There is absolutely no character development or even personality besides 'insane' or 'freaked out' throughout the entire series.
Story: bland and linear - absolutely unsurprising.
enjoyment: ehhhh fair, it really just took the biggest dive in the final couple episodes
overall rating: 5/10 and that's MERCIFUL imo

So to be honest, I watched this anime because of the thirst for the “crazy” hot girls. But after a few episodes, I already knew what I was in for.

I feel like Kakegurui is just one of those shows that’s too predictable. Yumeko is the main focus of the show, and she is so good at gambling that all tension is lost. I guess watching to see how to manipulates and tricks her opponents is entertaining, but I never found myself at the edge of my seat. I knew from a mile away Yumeko was never going to fail anything. And if she did loose, ... she’d find a way to rebound. And I felt like her “crazy” personality was pretty cliche. And that’s coming from someone who loves unhinged characters. She just doesn’t feel that compelling to me.

There isn’t much plot since each episode just focuses on Yumeko and how she ranks up within the high school. So as every episode went on, I got more and more bored. I think the most entertaining character had to be Midari but she wasn’t good enough for me to like the show that much more.

One of the best aspects of this show is definitely the artwork and animation. There are so many close-up scenes that are just disturbing - pulsating eyeballs, stretching mouths, distraught/lusty expressions. That at least made the show more bearable but yet again, it wasn’t enough.

So overall I don’t think the show is trash. It’s just meh, imo. I don’t think it’s my thing, but that doesn’t mean others won’t like it either. Just don’t expect anything mind blowing.

TL;DR: Okay story premise, but bland characters and meh overall. Not bad for a casual watch that was enough to keep me interested but not really invested.

Story seemed interesting enough at first, sorta classic high-school tropes but GAMBLING, at least that should be interesting...eh not too bad.

Art style was unique, the psychological-ish scenes were nice and freaky.

Sound was fine, I have no complainents about that.

Characters were so bland, the main girl seemed interesting enough for a protagonist that you know is oops gonna be really good at gambling but they never explained anything about her or her motivations other then she...loves the thrill of gambling ... so nothing had any stakes, like the amounts of money they were gambling kept increasing and it literally felt how superhero films where they now have to fight to save the universe becasue just saving the earth would be too boring.
The main dude was a plain Gary Stu, he was literally there to say "yOU CANT DO THAT IT'S TOO DANGEROUS-" oops she's doing it anyways aaaaand she either wins or loses but she doesn't seem to care either way so does it matter?
All of the "villians"/student council members were literal gimmicks, or they just never explained anything, guess it can't be helped about a short series like this.

Enjoyment was okay, I wanted to watch an okay gamblng anime, it was good enough for me but nothing stellar.

Overall it was just fine, nothing great but not that bad, nothing offensively bad anyways.

If I had to describe Kakegurui in simple worlds, I would say it is an monotone anime that loops constantly with the next features: Yumeko wants to gamble + she makes crazy faces + she starts to gamble + she makes crazy faces + she somehow always knows that her opponent is cheating + she makes crazy faces + she drives her opponent crazy + she either win or lose but will surely make a crazy face = repeat

TL;DR: Overall Section

Its a shame that Kakegurui became so monotone and boring withing time, it had a nice potential because In my opinion was a pretty unique ... setting that I haven't seen before (I'm watching Kaiji at the moment and its pretty good so far) But leaving all that aside... What IS Kagegurui, and what it has to offer?

The story is way too simple to begin with, there is no depth and it is full of plot conveniences. There is a high school that allows students to gamble huge amounts of money that they get off from their asses. If one of the students lose and then, get itself into a large debt, it will become a "pet" or maybe an slave. When you are a pet, everyone will make crazy faces against you and will treat you like shit, also if you can't repay your debt you may be forced to have a "life plan" that includes marrying someone and have kids. About how is such a school possible and how the heck did the parents approve such a behavior that may end ruining the life and reputation of their children is unknown. That's pretty much what I can tell you about Kakegurui's plot, there is no world building, there isn't a significant plot that add details to the story, the main thing that this show has to offer is fanservice of Yumeko and the detailed monotone looping that I stated before. 3/10

The art is a very interesting addition that helps the show to have that "dark" atmosphere that also works well with the several crazy faces that the characters constantly do. From my POV this is a plot convenience to keep the viewer hooked while they get them to drink their low-tier milk, it might taste bad depending on how hooked you are into this anime. The character designs are quite generic, some of them look all right, some of them look pretty dull and soulless, and some of them look uninteresting. On the other hand, the crazy faces are very detailed on a very disturbing way, its possibly the best feature of this anime. I admit, that I were attracted to this faces at first, but after the constantly monotone looping this show fell on, it feels pretty boring, uninteresting and even disgusting (I'm watching you, crazy finger nail girl) 7/10

The sound department does a decent job portraying the insane personalities of the characters while they are lost in gambling, the voice acting feels nice at first, it adds tension alongside the animation when it comes to settle a gamble, but after a while you may find better to turn off the sound... I certainly wouldn't want to hear 6 hours straight of random noises, insane noises or even a girl that mentally (and also physically) masturbates while having the most intense session of death on her mind.

The Soundtrack also fits well when it comes to add tension and the OP is fancy and catchy. 7/10

Now, alongside with the poor story, comes the poor characters that this show has. They are not only uninteresting, they are also 1 dimensional and will probably never develop. The male "main character" only serves as a plot device to describe what the gambles are about, otherwise his presence wouldn't even matter. Yumeko's role (*cough cough* plot armor *cough cough*) is basically breaking the mind of her opponents while doing crazy faces. Aside of the main duo and the insane suicide girl that has mental boners each time she has a "chance" to kill herself, there is nothing else from the character cast that is interesting or meaningful. 3/10

Now, as for enjoyment, if you like to see some crazy faces and bitches getting owned for 12 episodes, you will probably like this show. Otherwise you will probably find it boring and repetitive 5/10

Overall 5/10: Crazy faces, monotone and looping story line, uninteresting characters, plot holes, plot devices, plot conveniences, plot armors, 1 dimensional characters for a premise that could have worked better if there were an actual sense of danger from the gambles and a proper development and buildup for the characters.

NOTE: 1. This is a spoiler free review.
2. This review covers some bits of s2 too (without giving out much about it)

A “compulsive” anime standing up to its name.

I had to watch a “psychological – ecchi” anime(I have no idea why this anime has no ecchi tag on MAL). So I gambled and choose Kakegurui over Monotagari. Well that explains how my first gamble went down the ditch.

I personally enjoyed Kakegurui because I like psychological and mind games. But this is a complete absurd anime. There are so many things wrong and so few things right; and so many questions unanswered. I completed s1 and ... s2. And s2 is more weird than s1.

As most anime do, even this defies logic. I’m sure most of us would have thought, “Which parent can be so irresponsible as to send their kids to a school where they spend money like water for gambling?” And that is just the beginning of the bizarre questions I got from watching this anime.
Time to break the anime down.

OP:
I like how the aquarium imagery was used in s1's OP. About why it is used, we’ll know in the later episodes of s1. The song is okay-ish but actually suits the anime. So that is a plus.
I liked s2's OP more than s1’s OP. It was really good.

ED:
The video of s1's ed creeped me out, ngl. I don’t like ecchi, but I can tolerate it. This ed made me question myself. WHY THE HELL DID I NOT SKIP IT????(I did skip after watching it twice-thrice)
And EP 9 has a special ED - "Koi no Russian Roulette". That was cute to watch. I wished it were permanent ed xd

Rest of the OST:
They were good. Though the music around the ahegao expressions were just too much for me to handle, I think anyone who watched ecchi will have no trouble with it.

Animation:
Since the studio is MAPPA, the animation is on par with their standards. But, Ahegao expressions disturbed me a lot. Like A LOT.

But what I did like are the male lead’s expressions. What happens when a normie is lost between crazies?
Our Male MC happens.

Characters:
The anime starts with Saotome Mary and Suzui Ryouta. We get to see a crazy right off the bat. Each character is more crazier, more weirder and more disgusting that the other. None of the characters are actually either lovable imo or relatable. Some may like Yumeko Jabami for Yandere reasons, but there is actually no development. Each character is a gamble addict. Some smart, some dumb, some stupid and some just disgusting. There is actually nothing more to say. They are just gamble addicts with some goals, but each is more repulsive than the other.

When it comes to s2, we see some development into the “Bami” family. We get new characters that are again as eerie as those in s1, if not more.

Overall, this anime doesn’t have a proper character development so highly not recommended for people who want to see character development.

Voice Actors:
We are very familiar with Saori Hayami. And I am not particularly aware of other VAs, but I think everyone has really done their job great.

And Finally,
The so-called “Plot”:
Yes, it is so-called because I barely find anything in it.
A school where people receive their social standing through gambling. Well many want to be on top of the social circle, so we see power-hungry, money-hungry crazies making their go for it.
I said that the anime is pretty “compulsive” like its name. Why? Because it is. The entire anime depends on Yumeko’s irresistible urge to gamble and social hierarchy being decided on gambling. That’s it. Nothing else. There is nothing else driving this anime. And the more I watch, the more questions cross my head which shows just how ridiculous this anime is.
I won’t state all my questions as they’ll be spoilers. But I’ll share some of them:
1. How can Ikishima carry a gun in a school?
2. Gambling as hobby is fine. But they are ruining lives and bullying people. What is management doing about it?
3. Which parents send their children to a school where they spend money without any responsibility?
And the rest fall under spoilers. But I’m sure many of you must have thought about them too.

Entertainment:
As someone who likes psychological, I’ll say this anime has some perks here and there that impressed me. I even enjoyed some of the gambles. But overall, it wasn’t interesting to me. Entertaining, but not interesting.

Final Opinion:
An anime good for psychology-thriller lovers, who wouldn’t mind absurdity. It doesn’t have a lot of promising stuff, but it can keep one entertaining if one doesn’t get too creeped out.

This was one of the first anime I watched when I came back to watching. I saw it on Netflix and the art is what caught my eye at first. I thought it was really pretty, and that stayed true. Although one of the most off putting things in the anime to me, is the weird moments where the art goes from very anime and pleasing to a scary close up realistic. Which to me was not very pleasant but I could excuse it overall. The story line seems sort of lost, while it is a really interesting concept with the whole gambling ... thing, it felt kind of plot-less. Not that it doesn't have one but it is messy and a little strange in the arrangement.

However! I think that the overall gambling was so interesting to watch. I did stick through until the end even if I took a break from watching it for a few weeks, the gambling was cool. I never saw an anime like that before and it was very intriguing and fun to watch.

6/10 for the gambling and art. The story line is meh.

Thanks for reading sorry for repeat words etc <3

Now this anime isn't the best I have seen but its not the worst.

The characters were interesting but they needed to be more expanded , the plot is good but every episode seems to go on the same pattern that the other was going on . Now the thing which made this show decent is the very horrifying yet amazing art style and animation . It can be very cute and nice one moment the next it will be horrifying and scarcely entertaining .

If you really enjoy creepy animation and gory scenes this will be a decent anime to watch but If ... you don't like that you might dislike this anime

I thought I would right this review well it is still fresh in my mind I am writing this before hand since all of mal features are not up yet so I cant post the review right now but lets begin the review when I was reading the reviews for this anime I mostly saw 2 camps of people people ether loved it 8-10 or people that hated it 1-4 I found myself enjoying this anime giving it a 6/10 but this anime can be sum up into the word Ok it wasn't bad but it wasn't good I think you will enjoy this anime ... if you have your expectations in order if your expecting something great your going to be very disappointed in this anime but if you expect something average or something a little above average and just casual watching it I think you will enjoy this anime. the story sounds interesting but its not really great the story follows this school that is known for gambling the rich and elite of society goes to this school one of the things I enjoy in this anime is the characters there not great but a little above average then why is the characters one of my favorite things about this anime they are all extremely crazy and I like that. next is the predictable of this anime and for me this anime was so predicable I already guessed what was going to happen at the end of the anime from the first episode and I got it right. and I really wouldn't consider this a gambling anime I know there is gambling in it but this anime is more of taking down the student council and bumping down a few pegs so to speak so if your looking for a gambling anime do not watch this you will be disappointed the main characters seemed to be in no danger when gambling when I was watching that being said it was still enjoyable to see the main characters bump them down a peg or 2 the art and sound were good so overall I think you will enjoy this anime as long as your expecting something a little above average and not great I think you will enjoy it.

The show has some very good aesthetic appeal and the characters and animation are very well done in my opinion. However this anime falls flat as a gambling anime. You never get the feeling that the main characters are ever in any real danger or that she even cares if she loses. It kind of gives you that boring repetative yu-gi-oh feeling where you can predict the outcome of every duel based on the protagonist's lack of fear. She did lose once, but that's only because the antagonist student council president cheated and even then, that one loss doesn't really mean much or add any ... fear to the show. I mean, what does she lose? She has to marry a rich guy and live happily ever after with her friends and family? Again, there's no real loss or fear regarding the gambles in this show.

It's almost like they had a premise of a bunch of neurotic and crazy girls in a slice of life anime and decided to add the gambling for suspense or something. But that brings me to what I actually like about the show.

The girls in this show resembles Konosuba in my opinion, the best worst girls. Gambling addicts, manipulators, and overall terrible human beings, but that's what makes the girls in this show interesting and the show fun.

Let's be honest, the boring badass girls who love the main character and will do anything to protect him is kind of overdone and boring. It's nice to see some girls that actually have their own goals and motivation outside of the main male protagonist and to see them as 3-d dimensional characters and not generic waifu simulations.