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Kakegurui
Gamble Your Life Away
The Series in a Sentence
Yumeko Jabami transfers to the high school of Hyakkaou, a private academy where your status as a human being relates directly to how well you can gamble in an everyday struggle ruled by an elite student council that are political offspring master gamblers, looking to control much more than the high school.
What I Liked
Yumeko and a mostly female cast surrounding her in this high school are all enjoyable to watch in a pacing that’s pretty consistent. The analysis that they all use to best decide their bets, moves and otherwise in the games are extremely entertaining to watch and I found myself on the edge of my seat at times. Character motivations are decently explained in a 12 episode span as well with each episode bringing something fun to the table. Similar to a shounen anime, the stakes get higher and higher until you wonder how it’s going to work out for Yumeko and friends when the amount of zeroes gets longer than Yumeko’s hair. And boy are the stakes raised at absurd levels that make you google what the conversion between yen and dollars is. Although, the animation of the anime is what gives Kakegurui the biggest boost. Playing cards on this show can look like angels versus demons because of the tension, movements and the awesome facial expressions. Agony, ecstasy, regret, depression, and desperation are drawn on the faces of these characters making it easy to relate or understand in an instant. The setup of how the system works through the student council and the overall effect they have in the world even addsa sense of weight that I didn’t necessarily expect.
What I Didn’t Like
The biggest negative for me was character improvement. Not development. Each character matured in their own way throughout the series of events and most got the time to explain why they were shooting for a goal. However, there is a lack of training/improvement phases in this show partly due to the fact that the big-ballers are already gambling juggernauts. In a way, the factor of chance kind of bridges that gap but it doesn’t always feel satisfying. About halfway through the series, I could predict how it would turn out due to the fact of the formulaic approach that it started to have in each of the different games. In reality you can say that about most anime or stories and watching to see how that resolution is reached is the real draw. Just a fair warning...the students of Hyakkaou aren’t afraid to get turned-on by gambling so don’t expect to watch this with people who aren’t normally used to that kind of thing. It’s not a negative but keep it on your radar.
Overall Feelings
Kakegurui is an enjoyable quick watch that you can catch if you have some downtime and are looking for something to draw you into mental battles with characters that will show you exactly how they’re feeling, right up to and after the last card is flipped over. I didn’t know about it myself, but beware if you’re not into fanservice and erotic themes because this show has more than you would think. If the anime gets more installments, then I would come back and watch the second season. Also with it on Netflix, it makes it that much easier to watch. The difference between ordinary games and gambling is what you’re willing to risk to win.