Kakegurui

Unlike many schools, attending Hyakkaou Private Academy prepares students for their time in the real world. Since many of the students are the children of the richest people in the world, the academy has its quirks that separate it from all the others. By day, it is a normal school, educating its pupils in history, languages, and the like. But at night, it turns into a gambling den, educating them in the art of dealing with money and manipulating people. Money is power; those who come out on top in the games stand at the top of the school.

Yumeko Jabami, a seemingly naive and beautiful transfer student, is ready to try her hand at Hyakkaou's special curriculum. Unlike the rest, she doesn't play to win, but for the thrill of the gamble, and her borderline insane way of gambling might just bring too many new cards to the table.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jabami, Yumeko Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Saotome, Mary Main

Tanaka, Minami Japanese

Suzui, Ryouta Main

Tokutake, Tatsuya Japanese

Ikishima, Midari Supporting

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Momobami, Kirari Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yomozuki, Runa Supporting

Udono, Mayu Japanese

Momobami, Ririka Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yumemite, Yumemi Supporting

Serizawa, Yuu Japanese

Manyuda, Kaede Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Sumeragi, Itsuki Supporting

Wakai, Yuuki Japanese

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Momoda, Hideo Producer

Hotta, Shouichi Producer

Nabeiwa, Akiko Producer

Reviews

Sep 23, 2017

Zaber_san

Recommended

For over the past few years in the anime industry, they brought as so many ''Game'' genre animes like SAO, Accel World, Log Horizon, Btooom! and other ''Game'' animes out there. But the thing is, most of them or should I say ''Almost'' of the anime with a ''Game'' genre are about going into a video game itself and it's getting boring tbh. Summer 2017 season is going to end along with one of its unique ''Game'' anime which is very different to other animes this season because not only it excels to the ''Game'' genre with being different to other animes out there but ... also it excels on the psychological part of it. Welcome to Kakegurui. A 12-episodes anime that offers both the craziness of gambling and mechanism of it.

Story: 8/10
Kakegurui brought as a simple story where a student (Jabami Yumeko) just wants to gamble even further, exceeding the expectations of a normal human being like her subordinate Suzui Ryouta.
Gambling for her is like soft drinks which has a very good feeling to the body. Not only she's crazy but also she's competitive that from the beginning of the anime (Episode 1 - 3) she has taken an interest to gamble every member of the school's Student Council. The story focuses about competition and power through gambling. If one is a failure, he/she is automatically dropped on this anime's atmosphere. If one is successful, he/she will be consider as an elite on this school. Kakegurui is unique itself from its setup of the school. Normally, school animes are about high school life, romance and other stuffs, but here, competition is a must.
That's what makes Kakegurui a worth-to-watch anime this season because of its characters focusing on one goal. To be the best. But of course Yumeko is an exception. She just loves gambling.

Art: 9/10
What makes this anime famous this season is the art of the anime. Mostly, it's about the facial expression of each characters whenever they are thinking, devastated, or confident on winning. Some actually see it as a disturbing one but on my opinion, it reflects the character's attitude and thats the reason it's excellent.
Though it's not only the facial expression. The normal sketches of the anime is already good you know. Though sometimes you think that the normal face is lacking something but when the expression changes drastically, you are quite shocked.

Sound: 9/10
Do you ever get the feeling that something is going to happen when the sound changes? Or something feel ''uneasy'', well there are parts on Kakegurui that will offer you some a little bit of suspense. Just a little because if it goes high, well this will be a horror anime. Speaking of sound, the opening is excellent with the jazz and music on it. Then followed up by a change of music with the ending.

Character: 8/10
To be honest, from episode 1 - 12, we have seen all the character's traits and development because of the good plot that Kakegurui brought as, though some are lacking history while others are rich of it. As for the MC she's an exception though we can see her development pretty quickly along with some other characters as well.

Enjoyment: 8/10
My enjoyment for this anime is pretty simple. To see how the character's react, think and make decisions on every game and the anime did it on a splendid well. With gambling as the main core, they derived their strategies and make it simple for the audience to understand like us. I don't know any rules about any gambling games but I understand it a little because of this anime.

Overall.. I rate this anime as 8.5/10 or 8/10 for the fact that it focuses on its genre more, character development and the craziness it offers to us this Summer 2017 season.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 23, 2017

Raggadish

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 23, 2017

AndoCommando

Not Recommended

“Part of it went on gambling, and part of it went on women. The rest I spent foolishly.” – George Raft.

To those of you who have watched Kakegurui I ask: Why did you watch this anime? Were you intrigued by the aesthetic look of the show? Or maybe what drew you to Kakegurui was the concept; gambling! The latter was what caught my eye, as past experiences with gambling anime have proven that they hold some of the most entertaining and exhilarating moments I have ever seen. These shows have given me goose bumps from sheer awe and admiration while watching psychological battles of wits ... and strategy between people willing to risk their very lives on even the simplest of games. Unfortunately, these kinds of anime are extremely rare to come by, as nearly all of them are practically unknown to most of the anime community and nearly impossible to watch any of them legally. So when I saw that Kakegurui was airing this season and also happened to be the most popular show of Summer 2017, I was pretty excited. I had heard good things about the manga and it was being produced by Studio MAPPA, a studio that I have high hopes for despite not being impressed with any of their previous works. All that was left for me to do was watch it, and this is where the hype for this show died for me. I was disappointed with Kakegurui from episode 1, because even after just one episode, it is obvious to see that Kakegurui is a terrible gambling anime.

Kakegurui takes place in Hyakkaou Private Academy, a prestigious school where the student are the most wealthy and privileged students in all of Japan. I use the term school lightly because there seems to be no actual classes or learning happening, instead the school is more like a gambling den, where every student partakes in gambling. They bet their fortunes against one another regularly, and those who become in debt are practically slaves to the holders of their wealth. The show focuses of Yumeko Jabami, a new student who gambles for the fun of it and is really good at it; too good, in fact. Her actions end up disrupting the student hierarchy of Hyakkaou Academy, causing the Student Council to come up with ways to stop her. Throughout the show, Yumeko befriends beta cuck bitch-boy Ryouta Suzui and fellow gambling gal Meari Saotome who help her as she gambles to her heart’s content. Ironically, Yumeko’s first gamble at the academy is against Meari, and it is here where the first major problem of the show lies.

The game Yumeko and Meari play is a card-game variation of rock-paper-scissors where the crowd of people watching them write the symbol of “rock”, “paper” or “scissors” on cards, where they are collected and put into a box for both players to draw three cards and play the game. Meari manipulates the majority of the class’ votes to her advantage, however Yumeko still wins decisively and reveals exactly how Meari cheated. Throughout the entire game, the audience is given no insight into what Yumeko is thinking or even a hint as to how she was able to figure out Meari’s scheme until it is given through exposition after she has already won. As such, viewers are forced to believe Yumeko was able to piece everything together without fault. Doing this is lazy of the writers as it solely relies on having to tell the audience what happened, rather than show it as it is happening. This problem is apparent in every gamble in the show and kills the opportunity for viewers to engage with the gambling games and the characters playing said games. The games themselves are also poorly constructed; some come off as unnecessarily complex, others are just too simple and easy to beat. Being marketed as a gambling anime makes the show look incredibly dumb and stupid, taking away the chance to get excited for how these games play out. And that leads to what I feel is the 2nd biggest issue with this anime: no thrills.

As you watch Kakagurui, you begin to notice a couple patterns with each gamble: High-stakes are never fully realised, every female character is bat-shit insane and “Yumeko wins LOL”. Seriously, even when Yumeko loses like in episode 3, she has no repercussions from losing. Because the audience is always watching from the perspective of either a mere onlooker or one of Yumeko’s opponents, she always comes across as too good for every situation she is placed in. Because of this she rids the show of any tension it could have had. And when you figure out that most of the time Yumeko gambles, she barely even uses a complete strategy, relying on pure luck to win at random times, which feels like a slap in the face to anyone expecting consistency and/or intelligence from this show. The fact that there are no actual punishments fulfilled from losing a high-stakes gamble also hinders the joy and excitement viewers get from watching. Now while there are consequences for being in an extreme amount of debt (e.g. house pet, Meari’s “Life Schedule”), you never actually see the show go through with these consequences and even then, the punishment for losing rarely ever matches the reward for winning. And in Yumeko’s case, the money she wins never really matters to her at all. She is the kind of sadomasochist that would throw countless amounts of money away to feel satisfied with how high the risk of losing a gamble is. Yet the show never goes through with these risks. So I’m left here after watching each gamble asking myself “What’s the point?”. A lot of fans of the show have been saying that Kakegurui is not a gambling anime, but a great thriller, and I just cannot agree with that statement at all. It is a mediocre thriller at best and that is only if you turn your brain off.

Speaking of which, this show stretches one’s suspension of disbelief so much that you would think this has the quality of fanfiction-level writing. Not just with the gambling aspect of it, but the entire setting is fucking stupid. From the very start I was always curious why there were so many students at Hyakkaou Academy and why they would all gamble. But as I continued watching, the curiosity turned into frustration because it became apparent that there is no proper reason why so many students would stay there or continue to engage in gambling than to make Yumeko even more perfect than what she already is. Yumeko exposes a lot of the games played in gambles as cheat ways to get other in debt, yet that never changes the amount of gambling that takes place within the academy, and that is because most of the students in the background are ignorant buffoons. I would also like to know why only one adult to my memory has appeared in the entire 12 episodes. ONE! I cannot imagine such a prestigious academy to only have one adult working at the academy, but it makes sense with the amount of betting that takes place so regularly. And how in the world are guns and kidnapping allowed? And why does being in extreme debt eventually lead to a life sentence that dictates you to a wealthy future? So many questions that are never explained because this show is not about logic. It tries to look smart but just comes off as a dumb piece of shit. Calling this show psychological is pure lunacy; if anything, it is psycho-sexual because any real sense of logic got thrown out the fucking window!

Nearly every character in this show pissed me off. I have already stated how Yumeko is convoluted out her own ass and is like a vacuum sucking all the excitement away from the show, but she seems like God’s gift to this show when compared to every other character. Meari, who seemed like she had potential, starting off as a cocky bitch that is humbled by Yumeko before being humiliated by the student council. Sadly, she turned out to be a weaker clone of Yumeko by episode 4 and is only used as a way to explain other games Yumeko plays as the story goes on. Literal waste of potential. Ryouta is their other friend, but honestly he does nothing in this show. He just reacts to shit happening around him and nods in response and is a waste of space. Fuck him. The only other characters that matter are the one-note members of the student council that only matter for the one episode they are in before getting pushed to the side. Dishonourable mention to eyepatch-girl with the revolver fetish and a chronic masturbation habit, edgy bitch. And I would love to talk about the one guy whose sole purpose here is to sexually assault the protagonist, but I won't bother trying to match the show when it comes to edge. All you need to know is that these characters are terrible, both in their construction and as people, making the show even more of a pain while watching.

Regarding the production, from a company like Studio MAPPA I was really disappointed. The art style is not impressive, most of the female character designs are generic, backgrounds are fairly basic and visual effect are for the most part impressive. The most controversial feature of the animation has to be the facial expressions and I have mixed feelings about them. On one hand, they showcase how broken and mentally unstable these characters get at times, but these faces just do not fit the visual look of the show and come off as cringe-inducing to me. The fan-service used is also off-putting to me, seemingly thrown in at random intervals in each episode. Yumeko pretending to be a cat was a definite low point for my enjoyment and did more to prove to me that it cares more about sex appeal than anything of substance. The music used was fine to me, with the OP being perhaps the best part of the entire show, which is not a hard feat. The ED however, was nice to listen to once but afterwards was always skipped, as I don’t see how Yumeko walking for 90 seconds as her breasts bounce constantly is worth seeing more than once. The voice acting was fine until characters went into their crazy stage and felt artificial and forced, but I suppose that fits the show unintentionally.

In conclusion, Kakegurui was pretty awful, filled with formulaic, villain-of-the-week gambling matches that felt like a waste of time once it was all over. In the end it was only trying to entertaining on a superficial level; it was never attempting to have a real identity, besides being yuri fapbait. Now I have no problem with anyone who liked the show; you are free to like and enjoy whatever anime you want to, but if someone were to ask me if I enjoyed it? HELL NAW. Lemme put it this way: If you liked Mirai Nikki and Akame ga Kill, you’ll probably enjoy this. But if you are anything like myself and thought those two shows were terrible, Kakegurui ain’t gonna be worth your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch something that is actually worth my time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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