Kakegurui××

SHORT SPOILER FREE REVIEW!

I personally found the first season of Kakegurui quite enjoyable, and I also enjoyed this season, but in the end, both seasons are basically the exact same thing and follow the exact same concept. If you are expecting something different and unique for this season, I'm afraid you might end up disappointed. Kakegurui is all about gambling, nothing more and nothing less. I'm a huge fan of gambling, and seeing an anime all about gambling is something I personally quite interesting, but even if you aren't a fan of gambling, this second season of Kakegurui has some pretty fun moments.

I gotta admit ... that the story wasn't as great as the first season. We already knew that th¡s second season was all going to be about gambling just like the first one, and sadly it doesn't introduce anything as "phenomenal" and doesn't make you feel the same way as watching the first season. (This was in my case.) Overall it's still really enjoyable, but don't go into it having high expectancies (at least story wise).

I enjoyed the Art Style quite a lot, even though it didn't really change after the, you gotta love those absurd and ridiculous faces that some of these characters put up while gambling.

The sound and soundtrack is also pretty good, and once again, not much different from the first season. I personally enjoyed the songs for this OP and ED way more than the previous ones.

We got introduced some new characters in this season, and I really came to like pretty much all of them. I still prefer the original character cast, but nothing is wrong with the new one either.

Overall, Kakegurui×× is an enjoyable anime, but I don't believe it's as great as the first season. If you are into the art of "gambling", this second season has some really interesting new gambles that I really enjoyed watching and discovering. In the end, I'm giving it a solid 8/10. <3

"What is life, if not a Gamble?" - F.E. Higgings

You should do all kinds of things in your life, go on an adventure, waste your time on a crazy idea that you know is not gonna succeed but do it anyway because your mind desires it. But, if there's one thing you must not do is to waste your time on this piece of trash.

Plot: 2/10

This has to be one of the most banal anime I've ever seen. The story, whatever it is, revolves around a crazy compulsive gambler named Jabami Yumeko who transfers to (insert generic Japanese High School Name here) and gambles ... with the students there. Also, the school has no faculty members so students are free to do whatever they please, which includes but is not limited to, sexual harassment, discrimination, physical and mental torture. Oh boy, do I want to go to this school.

There is some kind of stupid clan this season out there on a mission to choose the next in line to rule their clan. To whom do you give this incredibly important responsibility to you ask? Well, of course you give it to some school students because all the adults in this world are either extinct or are too retarded and asinine to carry out their jobs. This just adds to the realism with which the show progresses. Did I mention there are no teachers in the school? Because there isn’t even one goddamn hint that there exists such an entity as a teacher.

But who cares about the plot because we’re all here for the gambling. The tension that builds up in your body as you lay transfixed on your couch hoping that the character you want to win, actually wins. We’re all here for the thrill and the excitement we feel as adrenaline rushes through our veins, of which we get absolutely nothing. Not even a scintilla of zeal is to be found when watching the matches. The “gambling” feels like two monkeys fiddling around with torture equipment they just discovered. There is no sense of dread as Jabami is probably going to come up with a BS strategy and win anyway. The only good gambling match was the very first match all the way at the start of the series, all the matches that come afterwards are full of crap. There’s a gamble in this season in which one wrong move can end up slicing one of your fingers, but the fear of losing one of your fingers is shitted into oblivion as all the characters are psychopaths with no regards to their own or other’s safety. What a great way to set the atmosphere! Also, how the hell do these shitty teens get so much money to spend on the gambles? Do they collect garbage? Or maybe they prostitute themselves. This would be a much better plot than whatever pretentious shit we have been given.

People, apparently can do anything in this school and not face any repercussions. One of the challengers’ poisons Jabami and the students act like this is a regular occurrence in their school. People go jail for this shit, but the characters just laugh it off as if it was the same as stubbing your toe. The school students also employ what is basically slavery with extra steps. The students who have “lost it all”, which usually means losing a large sum of money against someone, become the prerogative of the winners. How the hell is this school still up and running is beyond me. And, the student council are like the Gods of the world or something with enough power to put the Chinese army to shame. Those annoying shits can apparently plan out your whole life, literally.

Yeah, the writing and plot are absolute balderdash with enough volume of crap to fill 20 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Characters: 1/10

The characters in this show: if it’s a girl, then she’s either psychotic and hot or psychotic and grotesque; if it’s a boy, he’s either the biggest cunt or a pathetic forlorn beta cuck. You would think in a gambling anime the characters’ personalities and their motivations would be deftly woven into their characteristic disposition, but instead you get a high school girl who has a hobby of collecting human nails. A hobby that is very fitting of a girl that age and is not out of character at all.
Also, for some equivocal reason, the girls start fiddling with their tiddies in between matches. For some reason, which is definitely not to hide the trite writing and woo in audience by employing fanservice, girls get orgasms if they win a match… or even if they lose them? The apocryphal “G-spot” was gambling all along? Wish I knew that earlier.

The character writing is cursory and all over the place with characters doing a 180-degree personality change in mere seconds. The ephemeral enjoyment you get thinking, “finally, a normal character”, is stuffed inside a box and thrown deep into the Mariana Trench never to be found again, as you find out they are basically Jabami with a different face.

You can replace the entire cast of characters with baboons and it wouldn’t change a thing. On second thought, the baboons would probably impart some sense of enjoyment to the show.

Art and Animation: 7/10

The animation is awesome but the characters’ faces make me puke. They make these grotesque faces sometimes which looks so out of place. One moment the character is happily discussing the rules of the gambling match and the next moment they turn into a monster from Courage the Cowardly Dog. They look more like caricatures than faces.

Enjoyment: 3/10

I’m still gonna finish this show because according to my girlfriend “it gets better” and I’m too deep into it to drop it.

Ever thought of taking a risk, a risk that’d even put your freedom, life into jeopardy just for the sake of THRILL? Well, anyone who’s sane enough wouldn’t do such a thing, that’s what the majority of people would think/say. BUT what if the word sanity itself didn’t exist among the most privileged/rich/ruling families of the world? And everything was just decided on a single game of chance?

Kakegurui features a similar setting in the form of a unique school that prepares its students for such upcoming reality they’d face in their world, that is gambling, while also teaching basic education like normal schools.

However, ... this isn’t it! Kakegurui undoubtedly has one of the best “realistic” facial expressions that normally people wouldn’t make in front of you, and you know precisely why ;). But this show is honest, straightforward and amusing. Plus, those expressions completely add to the mood and make the series more enjoyable. Moreover, it has an impressive execution, and the soundtracks totally enhance the experience! The details included to the expressions like the visual effects in the eyes, etc. further contribute to the experience. And the facial expressions of the characters are very well expressed. Furthermore, the show is very innovative when it comes to the games played during a match. And the mind games and cheatings performed during those matches are very enjoyable. And the games played are pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

Alright, now to the important events that took place prior to this season...

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS

Jabami Yumeko, the main protagonist, transfers to the Hyakkao Academy, a school that prides itself on tradition and prestige, being more than 100 years old is a school where money and your gambling skills are all that matter. And once you’re down on money, you instantly cease being a human and are taken as a “housepet” according to the school rules. And once you’ve plunged to these depths, you can never climb up again and remain the same for the rest of your life. And on her first day, she is challenged by Saotome Mary, the best gambler in her class, to a “friendly” gambling game. Who is later defeated by Jabami, after she figures out the whole scheme behind the game and becomes a housepet after being indebted to her for about 9 million yen. And later she frees Ryouta Suzui, Saotome’s housepet and who helped Saotome during the whole game as to make her win against Jabami, as a slight token of gratitude for making that game stimulating for her.

Now the system of the school works like this, that is... all of the student body donates money to the student council which regulates the gambling throughout the school. The amount you contribute determines your rank, and the rankings are typically announced on an irregular basis. And if you’re in the bottom 100 of the 3,000 student body, you become a housepet. Hence, why the skilled gamblers are the most popular and those who aren’t become the object of oppression. And this all began two years prior to the transfer of Jabami, when Kirari Momobami, the current student council president, took office after transferring to the school and defeating the previous president by gambling for the position. All the elite gamblers were taken into the student council. And by pushing through reforms, the donation and the housepet systems were created. Thus, explaining as to why and how Ryouta and Saotome became house pets. While Saotome’s case being severe, since she was defeated by Jabami on the same day as the donation deadlines.

Itsuki Sumeragi, the only first-year member of the student council and the daughter of one of Japan’s biggest toy makers, who contributed a lot of money to the student council to become a member, takes notice of Jabami after her win against Saotome right after transferring to the school. And challenges Jabami to a card game with the stakes being 20 million yen. But Jabami is defeated and had to pay 20 million yen to her which was impossible for her to and so she again challenges Sumeragi. However, this time the stakes being all of her fingernails and toenails! Nonetheless, Jabami wins this time and also exposes her trickery.

Now with the defeat of Sumeragi, the student council takes notice of Jabami and begins to see her as a threat. And shortly, Jabami challenges Yuriko Nishinotoin, one of the members of the student council and also the president of Traditional Culture Research Club, to a game. But in the end, Jabami losses the game due to an alteration caused by the student council president. And now having a debt of 300 million yen she becomes a house pet. Noting how she was intentionally defeated, Jabami decides to gamble with the mighty president.

And soon after, all of the housepets are given their life plans by the student council. However, they’re once again given an opportunity to repay their debt by participating in the “Debt Swap Game”. For the game Jabami gets paired with Saotome, who had been further debted to 49.6 million yen after her defeat against Yuriko in the same game which took place right before Jabami’s match with Yuriko. Sayaka Igarashi, the secretary of the student council, becomes the judge for their match. Jabami and Saotome play against Kiwatari, who had assaulted Jabami earlier as she was a housepet, and Tsubomi, another housepet, who also used to get bullied by Kiwatari. After an intense mind game, Kiwatari losses and gets 310 million yen in debt to the student council. Which he has no choice but to pay or become a housepet. After receiving the money they had won from the Debt Settlement Party, Saotome becomes a “human” again, however, holds a grudge against the student council for what they had done to her. Meanwhile, Jabami doesn’t repay the debt and decides to remain as a housepet.

Midari Ikishima, one of the members of the student council and who somewhat saved Jabami from getting raped by Kiwatari, challenges Jabami to a gamble before she could challenge the student council president, which ends up in a tie. Meanwhile, we also see the student council president trying to persuade Saotome to join the student council. Which she outrightly refuses to accept.

After the match between Ikishima and Jabami, Kirari leaves the school for the time being to resolve some matters among her family. Acknowledging Jabami as a huge threat to the current student council and the whole school system, and due to the disappearance of Kirari, Yumemi Yumemite, one of the members of the student council and who also works as an idol, takes on the task to crush Jabami with Manyuda Kaede’s assistance, the accountant of the student council. And she soon sends Jabami a letter of challenge… After the dismissal of Itsuki Sumeragi from the student council due to her loss against Jabami, she joins Jabami after hearing the rumors that she was going to challenge Kirari Momobami and asks her to let her be a member of the student council after she becomes the president due to her own personal reasons. After the meeting between Yumemite and Jabami, the stakes are decided that is, if Yumemite won Jabami would’ve had to become an idol while if Jabami won she’d reveal Yumemite’s true personality towards her fans by making them listen to her conversation between both of them, which would end her career as an idol. After a close match Jabami defeats Yumemite and reveals her true personality towards her fans. However, the fans accept her... And then Jabami asks the culprit, who had delivered her the things to threaten Yumemite, to show up. For which Yumemite accuses Manyuda. To which he refuses and urges Jabami to prove it and stakes his position if proven guilty. And then Jabami demands Manyuda to settle it by gambling with the winner being the correct one, which he declines. However, Jabami, who had remained as a house pet, now challenges him to a formal match; a formal match is the one right given to a house pet. With this right, a pet can challenge anyone to a match once, which happens to be a tradition for members of the student council to accept. Manyuda accepts the offer, admitting he had underestimated her and would no longer make the same mistake. The vice president of the student council becomes the judge and decides on playing “Choice Poker”. A game similar to the normal poker, but the one betting more money would get to choose the winning hand, the weaker or the stronger. And placing no limit to how much money one could bet.

After winning the first turn, Jabami loses all of her chips on the second turn. To continue the game, Jabami asks Sumeragi for help, since they were “friends”. After an intense betting to win the choosing decision, both Sumeragi and Manyuda end up betting their own lives, both for the game’s sake being worth 10 billion yen. Which is decided by Kirari herself, and it’s revealed that the vice president, the judge, was Kirari all along. Hence, Manyuda decides to choose the winning hand, but ends up falling into Jabami’s “manipulation” and loses. And thus, the match concludes with him being fired from the student council. And as a result of owing more than 10 billion yen, he becomes a house pet. And going through all of this, Jabami and Kirari finally end up gambling with the condition being that the one who loses leaves the academy. With Yomozuki Runa, the best loli in the whole series (and one of the best lolis in anime), being the judge. And the match ends up with a tie. After this Kirari dissolves the student council.

Now the second season directly picks up from where the first season ended…That is with the defeat of more than half of the members of the student council (5 members) and a tie between Jabami and Kirari. Kirari dissolves the student council and decides to conduct elections for the seat of the student council president, of course through the traditional way i.e. gambling. Moreover, the one becoming the student council president would also rule the Momobami, the chief family of the Momobami clan. And in this election, everyone’s offered an equal chance. Even the human pets can participate.

And since ruling the Hyakkao Academy also means ruling the nation, all of the heads of the -bami families that form the Momobami clan send representatives to take part in the battle. Thus, an all-out battle among all the students begins! In addition, we get to see more of Yomozuki Runa! What more could one ask for?! And we also get to know a bit more about the vice president <3. And the second season retains all of the elements of the first season which made it great to watch, and it even reassures its viewers by featuring Ikishima in the first episode. And the whole season only focuses on the elections.

And the show doesn’t forget about its characters from the previous season. However, some are in detail and for some we only get a glimpse of what they’re doing, which I do think is alright since it’d be unnecessary anyway. And the show tells us all the necessary details we need to know regarding the characters, new or the old ones, and the school. And doesn’t tell us anything which it deems irrelevant like the normal education system in the school, what the teachers do after teaching the students, the adults in this world, etc. And I do think there’s nothing wrong with this, since those details are rather unrequired and add nothing to the plot. So now is the plot the issue? I wouldn’t say so. Since, like I’ve said before, students from powerful families in the political and financial world attend this school and since Momobami Kirari’s family is the ruler of the nation, while she herself being the head of the clan. It’d make sense about the funds of the academy or the rules, etc. Not only this, in Hyakkao Academy students are evaluated through their social status, since studies and extracurriculars aren’t necessary for people who are destined to have power over others. For them it’s rather important to be well versed in tactics, reading an opponent, etc. which are abilities they have to prove and obtain through gambling. So such details are unnecessary and not needed, and criticizing the show because it doesn’t provide these details about something/someone is rather stupid and indicates you never paid attention to the show. Furthermore, the new characters are reasonably decent. And if you like the characters of Kakegurui, in general, you’ll certainly like the new characters as well. And the character development is also decent. It doesn’t leave any of the characters introduced previously behind, but doesn’t show them much either unless they’re involved with something which would somewhat have a significant impact on the plot.

Although the new characters are appealing, in general, they aren’t as good as compared to the previously introduced characters. Unlike them, most of these don’t leave any significant impact on you and are there just for the “sake of gambling”. And once they lose, it’s over, they become irrelevant as if they were never there. And despite having entertaining games the thrill factor has quite dropped compared to its prequel. Moreover, Jabami’s character has been reduced to a “gambling freak” which wasn’t the case in the first season. Despite her love for gambling she did have some other motives too which now have been completely ignored. There’s no depth to her character, and she’s there just so she can gamble and experience the “thrill” and nothing else.

The second season, just like its previous season, has impressive soundtracks and voice acting. Especially the voice acting, the way they instantly change their tones with respect to the situation and convey the character’s feelings is really remarkable and astounding. And if there’s something memorable from this show, it’s definitely the voice acting. Plus, the OSTs played during a gambling match or at any situation completely intensify and compliment the mood. Moreover, the opening and the ending of the show don’t disappoint either.

The animation of the show is of a decent quality and doesn’t have any negative effect on your enjoyment. However, the amounts of details on the faces and other such aspects are impressive. Like the extra little details they add on the faces to make them look more realistic like the nose, the wrinkles, the shading, etc. And this even goes for the eyes. And it’s not frequent when you see these aspects in an anime series. And such detailed faces really add to the excitement and the enjoyment of the viewers, and they can sometimes be really hilarious.

However, those insane faces are not for everyone. But simply discarding the show by using buzzwords like “edgy”, etc. is rather stupid and immature to some extent. And I’d recommend you to pay such people no mind unless they are able to explain how and why it’s bad, etc. I recommend watching Kakegurui to those who enjoy psychological thrillers. And to those who can handle savagery/sadism to some extent and as explained before, to the people who highly appreciate soundtracks, visual effects, etc. And if you liked the first season, you’ll definitely like this one too.

Do you think that this anime will carry a normal school theme. Have you ever thought that living in a school with gambling certainly doesn't think right? But this really happened, tells of a transfer student named Jabami Yumeko who moved to school in mid-semester.

Now that Kakegurui already has two series, the first series only focuses on character recognition while in the second series they focus more on the excitement of the story, as positive about this series, we have the character of chemistry and tense plots. This story is interesting and mysterious, but has a stain that enhances character interaction and links the audience ... with good pacing.

This series has three main characters, but their personalities are very different, so the contrast makes the character clearer. They are not high school students in general with the same generic background as most high school series. The male main character has a kind attitude. Furthermore, he is ironic, sarcastic and with a little sense of humor perfectly executed. The main female character alias is a famous gambler but with adult air that is not normal in this series. I found the background very interesting, but he will experience some unexpected events related to certain games.

Art is expensive. I was surprised by the quality and visual management effects. However, it is not perfect, and from a number of camera angles it can be fixed, but you will not see it. The opening theme they are stretching out is extraordinary. I think they have done a great job doing songs and choosing the right soundtrack.

GAMBLING ECSTASY CONTINUES...

So with the retconed first season's final episode, we continue on with Yumeko Jabami's gambling journey, but with the stakes even higher and a new threat that disrupts Hyakkaou Private Academy's student council, the Momobami clan. The price?, the throne to the whole school and everyone is vying for that spot....with Yumeko just wanting to gamble more of course.

The Momobami clan's inclusion to this second season does change this up a bit especially for the previously "fallen" student council members as they have a chance to redeem themselves to Kirari. So because of the Mombami clan, Kirari setup a voting election, but the ... votes are collected through what..of course gambling and the Momobami clan are mostly seen as the rivals in most of the gambles Yumeko partakes with one of the student council members joining in as it's their chance of showing Kirari their worth as well as taking down both Yumeko and the Momobami clan all at once to change things up a bit. Of course some fo the student council members are allies towards Yumeko, like Itsuki Sumeragi, Yumemi Yumemite and Midari Ikushima and they all have their reasoning in participating, like Midari trying to get back into Yumeko's good graces for instances.

If anything the second season greatly develops what happened to the student council members during the first season and fleshes out their motives of the election but also their personal problems and dilemmas if they lose...heck even the secretary of Kirari, Sayaka Igaarashi gets a whole episode to herself.

So LA talked ALOT about the characters, how are the gambling aspects?, well to say that the stakes are higher is an understatement but hell Yumeko's winning streak doesn't really come into play, it's pretty much the same as her beliefs about gambling in the first season but her motivations and lust for the gamble is somewhat amplified and solidified here in the second season, such as her utter disgust towards Midari during one of the games as it missed her chance for a 50/50 chance of "something amazing" yet Midari killed that chance. If the first season was to show the hierarchical society of the school can be slowly upheaved and broken down by Yumeko, then this second season gets more personal and the games Yumeko goes through, she wants to see the person in their entirety as they gamble their lives away, their motives, their aspirations into the game and apt as whoever wins, wins the entire school and governs it however they want.

The animation done once again by MAPPA, felt slightly like a downgrade in some aspects, LA doesn't know it seemed like the animation dipped at times, but then suddenly have the detailed amazing animation the next, however to say that this is Kakegurui, it still has the same flavour and the crazed faces it's soo well known for and that is mostly helped by...

The voice cast is back and has a new roster of voice actors from the Momobami clan and they have some veterans helping with the cast. For the most part the majority of the new voice cast did well from Yumi Uchiyama, Ayana Taketatsu, Romi Park and Megumi Han. Of course the most notable voice actor within this new extended cast, Saori Hayami still tops them with her crazed long monologues for gambling and add in Minami Tanaka as Mary and we have a pretty hammy voice cast anyways....again expected from Kakegurui. Great voice cast.

Kakegurui XX is what a sequel does well, escalation and development of it's cast and it did just that, LA was a fan of the first season so it's a no brainer that the second season would interest LA. As a sequel, it wasn't the best from Winter 2019, as another sequel absolutely dominated that title, but Kakegurui XX was nonetheless a gambling thrill ride with higher stakes, decent animation, hammy voice cast and progression of both plot and characters that the journey Yumeko went through was well worth it.

Thanks MAL for removing this at first btw 🙂

Orgasms and gambling, can't ask for much more lol

Art/Sound:
Once more, just like in my Dororo review, studio MAPPA is in control of kakegurui and thus it delivers exceptionally in the visual and sound departments! The tracks and voice acting are great; fitting the second season although I deeply miss the old OP! Orgasmic visuals (literally) are still present with tremendous facial details especially in "psychotic" moments, however it's general fluidity could use some improvement! I'd give both sound and art an 8/10!

Plot/Characters:
Alright, I'm not going to shit on the plot too much as the show isn't about ... how good the story is or how devoid of plot holes it is, which it clearly fucking isn't (including the first season!) The story this time is just an excuse to set up Jabami with some more OP, deranged lunatics to fuck around with and jizz in their faces upon winning at a simple game. However, the gambling still hasn't disappointed me personally and has greatly contributed to my enjoyment of this season although I believe the first season's were more intense! The characters remain great and enjoyable to watch, however, as previously stated the new group of characters seem basic and only pose as obstacles to confront the mc! But one character does stand out, that suspicions one with glasses that introduces the new characters to her. Not gonna lie, I'm intrigued! I'd give the story a generous 6 and the characters a 7!

Overall:
I came expecting tension and tits; ecchi shit and edgy shit; thus far, I'm not disappointed and have thoroughly enjoyed it despite its major flaws! I'm looking forward to what else it can bring to the table! It gets an enjoyment rating and overall score of 7!

may contain spoilers

All im going to say is... If you liked first season you are gonna like this one as well. Nothing much changed really. pretty much all of it stayed the same. Yumekos hunger for gambling looks worse than ever! You hate people that think way too much about anime? So do i. i dont like writing anything special so there is that.

Story: 7/10
plot was never the strongest side of Kakegurui. Still i think there is nothing to complain about since most people watch it because how entertaining it is.

Art: 8/10
Art looks way better than in season one imo! ... Its not overdone or underdone. i think it was perfectly balanced (Also i saw someone saying here in reviews something like *art is great but those faces are like so cringy sis i cant.* If you are reading this you realize ahegao faces are BIG thing in kakegurui right? If you dont like it you have no rights to call it out for that imo. those faces are like signature of kakegurui. If you cant sant it then dont watch it, but dont complain about it either. This stands for everyone)

Music/Sound: 9/10
i absolutely love this new opening and ending as well. OSTS are amazing so are voice actors that did great job with this.

Characters: 8/10 Nothing about characters really changed that much. they are still hella interesting and it will probably stay that way.

Overall: 9/10/Entertainment 10/10
i dont like thinking too much about anime. Entertainment should be honestly only fact that matters to you. Thinking too much when watching anime ruins experience. So 9/10 is final score for me.

I was off-handedly recommended this show last season and it quickly became one of my favorite series. Each gamble is an exquisite test of adaptability, awareness and psychological warfare punctuated by feverish lust and unexpectedly tender emotion. Its episodic nature is used to even better effect in this season. I never thought I could get so gutted by an idol episode but there you have it. OP and ED are absolute 10/10s.

But it's the characters that shine the most. Yumeko's perfect countenance is disfigured as you're slowly exposed to how actually crazy she might be. Mary is a sublime foil to her, cruel where ... Yumeko is gentle, determined while her rival is whimsical, the both of them showing how many different ways a girl can be hot and cold. My heart is still beating from Ikishima's bathroom scene from last season and her role as the turgid, suicidal representation of Yumeko's lust for risk is again some sublime characterization. The rest of the cast are just as poignant and make the most of their time in the spotlight.

I don't think the comparisons to Kaiji are at all warranted. Kaiji is insanely good and you could (uselessly) debate the quality of the gambles between the two, but they share very little else in common. This is a really beautiful show about girls with massive tits playing hilariously rigged games and deliriously triumphing, and it should be regarded on its own. If the first season wasn't your jam, this probably isn't going to change your mind, but for those of us in love with Hyakkaou Academy it couldn't have been a better continuation.

There are 3 major issues with Kakeuguri Season 2:
A:Most uninteresting gang of antagonists I have ever seen.
B:Irrelevant story
C:absurd of amount of plot armor on everyone

Starting with A:
Everything up until ending , Season 1 of Kakegurui was great, Show was new so You didn't know how far it would push gambling, characters were absolutely freaky, girl obsessed with human nails, Revolver lady, the idol, The president. Even if the they were not most developed characters, it was fun to watch them fall.
Now welcome to season 2, please choose between these amazing cast of villains: A edgy looking lady, edgy looking lady ... with buns, edgy looking lady but this one is in wheel chair and last but not least our most creative villains of them all edgy looking GUY with shark teeth.
I think you get the point, all the new characters are so pathetic and uninspired that you could prob take any semi edgy character from any show and there wouldn't be much of difference, highkey entire tokyo ghoul cast would be perfect for this show.

B:
This isn't helped by trash story.So instead of gambling for money they are gambling to see who will become new school president and leader of bami clan. But issue is since none of characters ever developed, showed any ambition or desire and fact that show does very little to explain what being leader of "bami" clan means, who becomes president is so irrelevant that it could just be decided by a single dice roll and where wouldn't be much of difference from viewers point of view.

C:
Plot armor was getting rather annoying in Season 1 especially in final gamble which ended in a tie.
But it becomes comically ridiculous in second season.
In Season 1 we had girl ripping her nails of, a guy going into a coma after losing. What does Season 2 have? nothing.... Stakes are made eather so ridiculous(I.E Yumeko will die) or everyone is conveniently bailed from getting harmed that every gambling game loses any sense of risk.
So now any risk is superficial, the crazy face expressions which suppose to making everything more intense turn into a glorified up-close face porn, which become so cliche and predictable that You can start playing a game with yourself trying to predict when next upclose face scene will be.


TL;DR Kakegurui is so afraid of taking risks that it padded the floor, walls , roof and locked it self in a room , so that nothing can ever harm it or go wrong.

final score: Plot armor/10

If you liked season 1, do not watch season 2, it is a waste of your time

In this second season Kakegurui gives us a much better developed story than the first, as expected. In this case, the characters and their particular stories are developed much more, and allow us to understand some of their crazy decisions in the early one. But despite this, the characters do not lose their mystery and unpredictability.

The art of this anime is excellent, its colors and expressions of the characters are very well done. They manage to transmit and cross the screen.

Like its first part, this second part does not disappoint at all, and even digs deeper into the story. I definitely recommend.

It is easy to call this season more of the same. If you liked the first season this is just more of it, so eat it up.
If you were to pick out a difference it would be the motivations of those outside of the main characters
The plot has become about the seat of student council president being up for grabs and the votes being able to be gambled.
In theory, whoever has the most votes become president. And the position of president matters because...(spoiler) Reasons.

Also to keep things interesting they added more high ranking characters that are as sadistic as everyone else. That may be exaggerating, ... but you get the point.
Once again, it is more of the same. Different versions of the same gimmick. It's not boring and it doesn't have an repetitive feel, but if you aren't a fan it isn't going to agree with you.

The music isn't as good as the first season's. And I don't mean because of the sound, but it's purpose. The first season did a better job of telling you what you are in for and how you should feel. It did it quite exceptionally, leaving this one to feel...Meh.

Overall, I'll give it a 7 or 8 out of ten. The animation is fine the waifus still look amazing. It also has a fair share of culture mixed. Not that the culture matters to enjoying it. It also introduces you to games that you kinda wanna play. Give it a watch if you like the first season and it's craziness.

I never expected a season 2 for Kakegurui to be honest but I’m glad there is one!

Kakegurui is what I’d call the epitome of expecting the unexpected. Well, that phrase itself contradicts its own meaning of course and Kakegurui perfectly fits the phrase.

Why does the phrase contradict? Well simply because expecting the unexpected would make the unexpected expected and basically the phrase itself throws you into a loop until the outcome is revealed.

Such is with Kakegurui. In the elite school, gambling is everything and losing a gamble can mean losing your life. Nothing matters anymore if you lose a large bet. What defines ‘large’?

Large can ... mean putting your entire life on the line.. and one single game could mean your life is no longer yours.


So with such large risks, the students of the school tend to cheat. It’s quite the most obvious and logical thing to do. With such large stakes, losing is not an option.

However, the main character as well as some major supporting characters are true to the word gambling. They are gambling addicts.

They do not cheat nor do they tolerate cheating.

Students of the elite school tend to choose their words very wisely and take advantage of even the slightest loophole in the rules of any game.

So, expecting the unexpected.

Our main character really throws us through a roller coaster of emotions.
Anticipation, excitement, pity, envy and many more.

How? Simply by gambling.

Our main character is a true gambler. She loves the adrenaline and the unexpected.

As viewers we experience what the character experiences because even though we have the feeling that everything will play out well in the end, there is also a chance things might not. We as viewers are also taking a gamble on whether things will turn out as we expect.

I’m also getting excited because of the fact that the outcome is really unpredictable. I as a viewer and I’m sure the spectators as well would be anticipating how our main character, Jabami Yumeko can turn the odds to her favour.

The games Jabami gambles in or even other characters gambling usually have the odds against the person invited to gamble and the odds are normally in favour of those that host the game.

But it is always very exciting to see how the odds turn against the hosts or the loopholes in game rules getting exploited back against them.

Some games aren’t even poker cards etc.

Anything goes, from spinning gun barrels and firing, that too counts as gambling.

Gambling is taken to the next level in this anime. Taken to the extreme.


And that’s what I love about Kakegurui.

Orgasms, Gambling, Torture, Drugs, Poison, Weapons and Money

The Essence of Kakegurui. And Kakegurui x x is literally the same thing.

But with much much more interesting characters, gambling games and intense -
Well, everything. Everything is intense. That is the essence of gambling

And well, Kakegurui takes it to a new level








Our voice actors did a great job. They performed the sadistic sides of all our characters perfectly. The sound and chosen music fit in just right.

The art remains decent. Nothing really changed as with the characters. Except that new characters were introduced. New dangerous characters that further reveal some untold truths.

The art is perfect at displaying all sides of the characters. Be it the sadistic side, the fearful side, the anger side and the many other sides.

Like seeing Yumeko turn from the cute harmless girl to a sadistic demonic witch that doesn’t care nor think about others suffering when she’s in a gambling match.
Dreadful but flawless.







This review was written on 03-04-19 and may be outdated. I may have changed my rating due to various reasons.

Gambling dasuki..............SAAAAA, SAAAAA, SAAAAAAA gamble DAYOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Oh shut your pie hole, Yumeko....ok so this is basically a repost since I just not happy as to how I did my review, and SOB, it only has 1 helpful hit. SHIT! So what we have here was the sequel of the previous "Kakeguri" anime, but unlike the previous season , this one adds an original anime character who goes by the name Rie Batsubami , who is called a "livestock" by the Momobami clan and lives the life of a servant, so basically I just don't know as to how her being an original anime character ... affect the manga raises question, cu'z it may not follow the manga at all, so how do I rate this anime as a whole?:

Story- fair 6

Fact:

It still has the same story plot setting in Hyakkaou Private Academy, a high-class elite school housing the children of Japan's most wealthy and influential people and with many future leaders and professionals among the student body, where instead of grades , it's gambling that decides a student's hierarchy, but in this sequel it has more to do with them "Bami's" headed by Terano Totobami who wants to unseat the current president Kirari Momobami ( or so we thought) through as usual in the game of gambling as to whosoever get's the most chip get's to be president.

The problem:

-Unlike the previous anime the some games here where just too complex to understand that one would find hard as to the rules of the game.

-The focus of the anime, wasn't much about the war of the "Bami's" it was more like Yemeko being put in part into a whole different situation where she doesn't just gamble by herself , but more like an indirect team effort where Mary is involve. Midari is involve, Suzu is involved, Sumeragi is involved, Kaede Manyūda got back into the action, Yumemi Yumemite get's to do her idol thing again and Yuriko Nishinotoin got into the action, so in other words the story plot was basically them playing the game that in most cases was devise by Terano.

-Thought it was good for the most part, there were just some episode that were too annoying , especially that Yumemi Yumemite arc and the Sayaka arc where I'd wish that she get's vanquished or dies from being Kirari's beyotch.


Art-Outstanding 10

Pros:
-It still has that intense facial expression , that one can feel the character's despair, anger and excitement, just like in the previous season.

Cons:
-Just don't be expecting to see any more of Midari's masturbation scene, in fact don't be expecting to see Yumeko pleasure herself as well, and definitely no Mary's panty flash.

Sound- Outstanding 10

Pros:
-The same seiyuus who did them characters voices, you can still feel the intonations and the inflections of the voices when they cry for despair, shout for excitement and moan for pleasure.

-The opening theme Kono Yubi Tomare by JUNNA and the closing theme AlegriA by D-selections both fit well to this anime.


Character- Poor 3

Cons:

-Too many antagonist, that were never utilized for the entire 12 episodes or weren't given the proper arc and I'm talking about them "Bami's ,"everything was more on Kirari, Terano, and Rei, a little bit for Miroslava, Miyo , Erini and Rin ... Also though Sayaka did entered into the gambling thing her role was more like that of diverting the plot of the anime from Yumeko and the election to her Vs Yumeko where she lost big time and , shit shit shit I would have preferred that she dies. But going back to them "Bami's" we got to know as to what kind of clan the Momobami's were, a clan that can be compared to that of the mafia, where everything is decide by wagering everything and anything, where it has it's own group of enforcers like that of the Honebami's , tough guys like the Obami's and assassins like the Inbami's, interrogators like Mushibami's, entertainers and talent like them Warukubami's and the higher ups like them Totobami's and Momobami's.

-We're led to believe that Terano pulls all the string about them "Bami's" transferring to Hyakkaou Private Academy, to unseat Kirari, but making a 380 degree turn of making Rei pull all the string was just too stupid of a train wreck, as to how a "Livestock" was able to outwit them "Bami's" in the first place, to me that's rather disgusting, since it would have been better of if another Bami does something outrageous to come up with a game that would get her more votes instead of Rei.

IMAO:

- Thought Rei Batsubami is an original anime character , her character would have been put to good used if she does Runa's role as a neutral judge of the election and just continue with them Bami's to unseat Kirari... I mean it would have been better that her clan the "Batsubami's" were a part of the Mombami clan were a family of neutral judges that oversee all manner were within the rules of the wager, instead of making her an antagonist who wish to unseat Kirari in order to get back in the Momobami clan.


Enjoyment- Good 7

Though, I did enjoy watching this 12 episode, i just can't help that this doesn't have the same vibe anymore , when , there where episodes that are seemly annoying, also, with all that "Bami's" around, I can't help that studio MAPPA and Director Hayashi, Yuuichirou has put too mach antagonist around that just adding them was waste.

Overall- Mediocre 5

Overall, this anime was still all about Yumeko's gambling addiction regardless of how one say it, so shoudl this have another season????? IMAO, no way Jose.

I really loved the story for this reason - I think it brought a really interesting concept in and was a good way to keep the series going. The first couple episodes were immaculate however despite enjoying it, I just felt it didn't live up to the first season.

The "gambles" in this season mostly felt more like games rather than actual gambles, the escape room could have been great but I just wasn't feeling it. Plus Yumemi and Sayaka take up half the season and they're just kind of shit characters really...

Overall, I can't fault the story, art or music but the choice of ... characters to focus on rather than the new interesting characters along with the shift from gambling to gaming meant I enjoyed it less than the first.

It's more of the same. If you felt the first season was great you'll likely find this season to be as good if not better. If you disliked the first season then Kakegurui×× isn't going to change your mind about the series. That said, if you saw 12 episodes of season 1 and hated it and then came back for more what does that say about you?

Season 2 is about an election taking place at the academy for Kirari's position as student council president. Winning the seat is based on accumulating the most votes from gambles, or from vote donations. A whole new cast of ... characters are introduced. They're really fun and interesting. The gambling was also fun to watch even though I had no idea how the games and/or strategizing worked 90% of the time. Again, it's more of the same.

The problem with this season is that the story has barely progressed after 12 episodes. There's no resolution to the election. Jabami hasn't gotten any closer to gambling with Kirari. That's a point that I feel is worthy of criticism, and one which I clearly acknowledge, but I personally couldn't have cared less. My value in the show comes from the over the top characters, scenarios, sexually suggestive poses, comedy, and great music. It's an incredibly fun show for me to watch. I was hooked into every episode despite seeing close to 0% story progression. So, if you loved Kakegurui (season 1) for those same reasons you'll likely love this season too.

Great OP and ED themes and animations too!

(I wrote it 3 years ago, my Eng was really bad back then. Now i edited.)

Story: 2

I gave 2 because of one big reason and a lot of little reasons. Big reason is: Jabami played every person in president's team in 1st season. And we all thought "oh finally, now c'mon big fish."
You know what's happened; more girl appeared as rivals. We turned back to that so called canon gamble episodes.

Little reasons:
>There is no teacher. Lol.
>Every episode is same and unfortunaly we are not watching Doreamon.
>There is no government (I hope so, cause it's worse if there is a government ... lol).
>Cringe moments.

Art: 8

Yeah, art is pretty good and solid. Opening fits the show well. Face expressions are hilarious. I'm glad MAPPA doing AoT S4.

Sound: 5

No, I won't talk about the OP and ED songs, I'm a soundtrack nerd.

Soundtrack is weak. I waited some cool tracks but...Kakegurui's soundtrack is just "fine", guys.

Characters: 4

Why the hell every character has the same personality? Can someone please explain this?
Jabami and President nice, Mary is the character that i hold onto for my mental health, f**k you Suzui, and Yomozuki...What can i say about Yomozuki? It's like animators said "Let's make a girl annoying as much as we can". She is really annoying so lets say Yomozuki is good. They wanted to make me irritated with her and they succeeded.
And others. Man, others are all the same. (ah- except that revolver girl lmao). (edit: Pff revolver girl hahahah) It gives me migraine.
*game starts*
*host tries to make cheats with a smiling poker face*
*Jabami predictes all the cheats, future moves and wins the game*
*host makes crazy expressions with a big ass mouth and lots of sweat*
*some R rated scenes*
*episode ends*

uh. *facepalm*

Enjoyment: 4

I want to commit suicide while watching this show most of the time. Plus i stilll want to see Jabami vs. Kirari (president.). Mary saves the show for now.

We are watching filler episodes, that's a fact. For 6 episodes, nothing changed. ı feel like, i would feel really bad if i work in MAPPA. All that good art, animation, interesting concept and hours of work...For nothing. I have to give a 4, i'm sorry. I'm just waiting the final versus, can't say 'i'm watching'.

Overall: 5

Almost everything is mediocre about this show. Soundtracks are mediocre. (Except 3-4 character) every character is same. And this makes them mediocre.
Even the art part, still using classic anime lines. MAPPA does not put anything new on the table, just draws flawless and adds some ahegao faces on it. So art is still...mediocre.)
Lastly, story...Story is...Well actually every episode is one independent story on it's own. So i can say there is concept rather than a story. But the anime itseltf shouts "this gamble maniac horny girl has a story!"; this is what makes things difficult; pulling the anime down.

5/10. Thanks for reading.

Kakegurui xx : Electric Boogaloo

Remember the first season of Kakegurui ? Sure it was no masterpiece by any means but it was a fun, stupid, crazy anime full of over the top characters, Jabami Yumeko was fun and they turned Mary into an interesting secondary character. In short, and despite being a bit repetitive at times at having some disappointing moments, it was good. Basically, the complete opposite of season 2.

Why season 2 sucks so bad ?

- First, 90 % of the first eight episodes (yes I’m dropping this crap before the end, sorry) is just a rehash of the first season. Without the originality. Or the fun. Or ... anything good. Even the crazy faces are boring here. Episode 5 and 6 are the carbon copies of episode 10 and 11 of the first season. So of course, this season gets quickly boring because you know how things are end from the start. No more suspense or surprise in this season 2. It’s also hurt the characters, especially Yumeko, because they are now devoted of personality : they only repeat the same old schtick over and over again. So they become annoying, fast.

- The gambling. Remember how exciting and risky it was in season 1 ? You could lose your dignity, become a slave for the rest of your life or even die. In this ? Well you can lose voices for an election… Yeah the stakes have never been lower. And special mention for the game of episode 7 and 8 who is not only boring (there is no stake or excitement) but is also the most incomprehensible game in all of Kakegurui. It’s almost like Jojo, except here they removed everything fun.

- Second season decide to spend an incredible amount of time on secondary characters (like Sumeragi or Idol-Lady), so much so that the main characters are sometimes barely there (especially poor Suzui who is now almost a background character). And those secondary characters ? They suck. BIG TIME. Idol-Lady was the most boring character in the first season already and still is in season 2. So of course she clearly deserve TWO FULL EPISODES solely dedicated on her. The same goes for Sumeragi : hateful and boring, get’s two episodes to have a romance with her slave. Why, oh why on Earth are they doing this ? Those characters have nothing interesting, are neither funny or likeable so why spending so much time with them ? Even Table-Kun from Code Geass is a more compelling character than those clowns ! But Kirari, the main antagonist of this season ? You see her for a total of not even 5 minutes in 8 episodes ! SHE IS BARELY THERE. And of course, they decided to throw at least 10 new characters in this season, each more boring than the other and are just here to be red-shirt (except for one who is maybe gonna get an arc. Maybe).

- So naturally, the plot never move or progress in any shape or form. Like 99 % of this second season is filler. In this 2h40m I spent watching this, only what, 10 minutes were actually relevant ? Fantastic work.

- And the icing on this ugly cake, the morals. The show tries to have some kind of moral is some episodes which is laughable : when you’re as stupid and badly written as this season, you don’t get to try that.

So in short, skip this season. This season is a complete waste of time. You want gambling ? Watch episode 34 or 35 of Jojo: Stardust Crusaders (or Kaji because apparently it’s pretty good). Want stupid crazy stuff with fanservice ? Watch Prison School. There is so much other shows that deserve your attention. Kakegurui XX just isn’t one of them.

TL;DR Review

Kakegurui xx, is a good anime, but a terrible gambling anime. Season two of "Compulsive Gambler" has the same problem with season one. Yumeko... Never... Loses... She never does. This is one problem in the anime where every single gamble is an all in; because the anime would have no where to go if she loses her life, the Kakegurui xx makes it so that she never loses. Another problem in this anime is that the so called "gambles" aren't even real gambles. When you think of gambling, you think of poker, roulette, and maybe even RUSSIAN roulette. However, gambling in Kakegurui xx is ... just mere competitions where they bet all they have. I mean seriously... Singing is not gambling... Please... Nonetheless, Kakegurui xx was pretty entertaining, because of its animation style, facial expressions, and voice acting. If you want a good gambling anime, watch Kaiji; if you want an entertaining anime, watch Kakegurui xx.

- Spacecraft555 UwU

Hello there fellow anime fans..It's been a while so let me begin with a warning..

This review contains profound language cause i'm old and bitter..Don't whatever you do keep on reading if you are a snowflake.

With that outta the way let's talk about Netflix's Kakegurui which coming from Netflix i assumed would be about underage girls twerking but SURPRISE SURPRISE..Ιt isn't. But if you want you some boobs and ass and crazy crazy stuff then this might be the one for you..

What is Kakegurui about then? It is about high school and gambling.. Now i'm not sure how this all works cause when i was in ... high school(granted it was ages ago)we were just going on about our day, not showing up at classes and smoking weed. But i guess kids these days just don't want to burn through their brain cells they want to gamble and rip people's fingernails off as a bet!

In Kakegurui we follow Yumeko-who has HUGE breasts-after she arrives at Hyakkaou..One would say that it was a normal day but no no no, that is for pussies. She,almost immediately gets acquainted with the gambling habits of this school. To help her through this deranged journey we become introduced to Ryota, her trusted side kick and for the next 24 episodes we see the two characters working together to battle Than...Nope that's not right, is it? I meant through gambling matches with different members of the student council until the fateful battle with the President which ends season 1.

The episodes breeze by for the most part despite being overly predictable. There’s a good amount and variety of games although at times the stakes don't feel like life and death situations, but there are many many interesting ideas thrown into the mix, portrayed as the dangers of gambling, debt and addiction and most importantly the “house pets” system. House pets are basically slaves to the student body until they can manage to bring themselves out of debt. That gives you a wee bit of chance to root for those poor souls..Then we have referees who are absolutely not biased towards any side and gives each player an equal winning chance.

The student council consists of many, let's say, interesting personalities but much to my dismay not all of them get a lot of screentime or even a hint of personality. Many characters after one episode fade to obscurity and you won't pretty much hear anything of what became of them after the facts. This becomes even worse with season 2 where we are introduced to many more characters in the form of Kirari Momobami’s(president of the council)extended family who came to win the seat of student council president. Sadly most of the antagonists were underused to say the least and there were some I couldn't give a fuck about. Most are dead and gone in a single episode and there just isn't an impact enough to make me care. The best example was Rei Batsubami who was supposed to be a big reveal and the main antagonist of the 2nd season. Now i've heard of gender reveal parties over at the US of A more interesting than this one. From start to finish it was as disappointing as sex with an 80 yr old.

Αs for Yumekο, she's quite interesting and dare i say a bit insane and enjoys gambling to the point where bodily fluids come out. One thing i certainly hated about this anime is that Yumeko wins no matter what and doesn’t really display any growth through the series and she doesn't really struggle. It was like watching Superman bouncing off bullets tbh.

As for the rest of her gang i can't for the life of me remember anyone besides Mary who is the most memorable of the bunch especially later on in the series..Ryota was like Casper the friendly ghost..Now you see him and now you don't. As transparent as air and just as interesting.

The games themselves are very interesting and certainly uniquely sick games to gamble on.he gambles are not always about money at all and you can cheat as long as you're not discovered. A nice example of what i'm on about was the finger guillotine device and the giant tower filled with puzzles. Again i was puking in my soup after watching Yumeko winning each and every single fucking time and after a while it became boring AF.

Animation-wise and musically this anime is very good indeed..Unlike other offerings from Netflix this didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out and stuff my ears with wasps to deafen my self.

So there it is folks..Once again my reviews were under the influence of brutal metal masters https://youtu.be/VaTl8YNXLtE

Honestly, the one thing that I'm more concerned about in this school more than anything is the validity of any kind of teacher or authority figure that's in this school.  Because there are none of them, and this place is run on what's essentially pure chaos.

Story:

Following the explosive introduction of Jabami Yumeko at Hyakkaou Private Academy, the story in this season begins with the student council president opening up elections for the position of student council president, which in this school means that you're the dictator of this entire educational establishment where everyone's vote is counted as a single betting chip to gamble. (Not that ... education really means much in this place.)  All the while, new students, members of the expansive 'Momobami family' come in desiring to snatch the throne for themselves, thus creating the interesting power struggle we witness here this season.

If nothing, Kakegurui is 'style over substance'.  Throughout the season, we're treated to various 'gambles' and games where each few episodes or so features a different game with the combatants in each game featuring some member(s) of the Momobami family, a past character we're introduced to from Season 1, and Yumeko because adding a bit of crazy to the mix is always how this show works.  This formula is pretty consistent throughout the show and is goes on till the end.  However because of this structure, a few rather unsightly narrative characteristics make themselves abundantly clear since everything more or less plays out the same.

First off, Yumeko is not the focus.  This season, Yumeko kind of takes a backseat to the insanity since she's already made her 'big character splash' in season 1, this time only acting as the crazed wild card that's "obligatory there" since she's supposed to be the protagonist and everyone sees her as this weird outlier whose only turn on is the risk of losing/gaining everything in a single instance.  As a result of this, the story mostly turns its focus on the sidecast, revealing backstories, character info, and growth in order to 'expand' on what's been established even though it doesn't matter in the long run due to their characters just being 'there' and disappearing once the battle is over.

Second, the gambles aren't REALLY gambles.  Due to the show being primarily 'style over substance', the show consistently tries to one up itself with bigger, riskier, and downright ludicrous settings and payouts in an attempt to make the plot seem like a grand spectacle worth watching because "She's literally putting her life/future on this ONE GAMBLE".  Because of this, everything from the election, the games, and even the character development/moments all ring REALLY hollow because nothing feels like it matters just due to how astronomically high the stakes are.  The show is undeniably fun because of other more stylistic reasons, but from the perspective of just the story, I found it extremely difficult for me to feel any kind of attachment for really anything in this story.  I almost want to ask what's even the point of the election anymore since I highly doubt the qualification of winning enough votes to get officially elected as per the rules of the story would warrant competency over 'ruling' an entire student body.  But I digress.

Because of these problems, Kakegurui××'s story ends up feeling like it doesn't matter and is honestly one of the weakest aspects of the show overall.  Because what kind of excitement or intrigue am I supposed to get out of a show that ends up having 'gambles' in a scale so large that I'm more concerned of other things like the legality or ramifications of how any of this is happening?  Seriously, the president commissioned a giant fucking tower for one kind of game.  ONE.  And where did they put that thing?  Dumb fun is dumb fun sure, but it gets pretty hard to do when that's ALL that happens.

Characters:

As mentioned before, Jabami Yumeko almost doesn't matter in this season.  She's still the compulsively insane gambler who touches herself at the sheer thought of losing everything, but that's pretty much all she is and always will be.  She acts more like a plot device because her mere existence is enough to annoy the crap out of a majority of the cast, so there's not really a lot of room dedicated to touching up on who she is and what she contributes overall.  Really she's just a 'major' obstacle to the Momobami family because her natural gambling tendencies lead them all to view her as a threat to their plans, which end up backfiring on most if not all of them because they can't get a read on her.  Similarly, Suzui is even more useless because despite being the 'layman' last season, he's shoved in such a minor role that any screen time he has boils down to him acting as a second hand of cards to someone else playing.  He has no agency of his own which while doesn't surprise me, is still disappointing to see given how lackluster his character was to begin with.  (Hell even Mary doesn't even get that much screentime, and she's actually the interesting one this season.)

To make up for this lack of protagonist, the show devotes a surprising amount of time to the show's original sidecast, featuring the entirety of the 'current' student council and their various intentions, struggles, motivations, and backstories depending on who you're talking about.  A lot of these are just one off "Here they are, their story, done" type of deals that pertain to each of the gamble.  It's an interesting change of pace that does well to expand on these members of the cast, but it doesn't really do the show a lot of favors since a lot of the ending growth goes by quick due to each arc only being 2-3 episodes, and they almost just disappear off the face of the earth once their finished with their section of the story.  Once the game's done, they're done, so it doesn't feel like it means a whole lot.

As for the new Momobami family cast members, a lot of what can be said about them can be boiled down to "Defeat Kiari and take the control of the school".  They're all just variations of that goal, each of them sporting different methods reach it since apparently the Momobami family has like 12 branches and they each specialize in a different profession that these kids can just exploit for one reason or another.  They're peculiar for sure due to their similarly insane character traits, but ultimately don't mean much since most of them function as a collective with minor character differences to make each member's approach different from the other.

Aesthetics:

While the aesthetics of the Kakegurui×× isn't really that much different from season 1, I'd be remised if I didn't give MAPPA credit for keeping up the same amount of effort and quality to keep the series's visual quality the same.  The majority black and red color scheme reminiscent of the colors on a roulette wheel make their comeback in spades in addition to the extreme close up shots with the cast which is used constantly to show off the little facial jitters that happen when Yumeko gets even remotely turned on.

I almost feel like MAPPA took extra effort to make these twisted faces the best they could be because they use it with EXTREME frequency with varying degrees of horror, pleasure, and any other kind of emotion in between.  It's the most striking thing about Kakgurui's artstyle, and I'm glad they didn't hold back on it even though it's undoubtedly my least favorite aspect of the artstyle due to how unsettling it is seeing someone like Yumeko act all cute and spunky in one scene in a faraway shot before closing up on her face as she's quite literally got her hand between her legs biting her lower lip with rectangular goat pupils because she's 'in the zone'.  The entire Momobami clan gets this treatment as well, so we're treated to a whole bunch of new subjects to this very twisted artstyle.

The music however feels like a bit of a downgrade this season.  The OP "Kono Yubi Tomare" by JUNNA, bears a lot of style similarities to the first season's "Deal with the Devil", however this time sporting much less energy despite having that high energy, jazzy feel.  It's an interesting track, but I feel it's nowhere near as interesting as what we got in the first season, which is a shame considering I expected a lot more energy given the 'higher stakes'.  Inversely, "AlegriA" by D-selections very much has that 'big energy' that I was looking for from its OP sister, though it's less jazzy and very much like the previous ED where it's got this big band feel made to flaunt glamour and the like.

Voice work is also worth praising again, as without Saori Hayami really bringing Yumeko's insane, gamble-driven personality to life, there really wouldn't be as much perceived excitement to be had in these scenes simple due to the fact that she gives Yumeko the kind of life that makes the show exciting even if half the time I can't decide whether or not what's being played at the moment can even be considered as a 'gamble'.

Final Thoughts:

I'm actually really disappointed with Kakegurui's second season.  Despite the intrigue of an entire school election being based around a giant game of gambling (which shouldn't really be that surprising given how this school encourages the place to become a massive gambling den after hours), the astronomical stakes that just kept climbing with each proceeding 'match' and victory pretty much made the entire series feel like a pointless tirade towards the end where they expected the audience to really buy into the whole thing because 'bigger is better'.  It's not.

A gamble works best when it's grounded in reality.  If I can't conceive the repercussions of the loss narrative-wise, then I don't really see how I can get attached to the show when the stakes of today's gamble involve deciding who's going to throw themselves off a 6 story building.  Obviously Yumeko's not going to die because she's the protagonist and an integral part of the story as the 'wild card', so really why even do it?  The Momobami clan is an interesting addition to the cast, but I feel like they're used so casually that they almost don't add anything significant to the narrative as a whole.  Their motivations are simple, but because none of them are ever at the forefront of the story, they at most feel like a minor obstacle to whatever side character of the week the show decides to put at the front in order to give them a 'character arc' for the sake of expanding on the cast without much lasting impact.  So again, what's the point?

Because of how lacking both the story and the characters feel this time around, I find it difficult to recommend this show to even the people who liked and enjoyed season 1.  The escalation is crazy to the extent that the definition of 'gamble' is more on the characters throwing caution to the wind instead of taking a calculated risk to achieve a desired outcome.  Not only that, but actually giving a damn about both past antagonists and new ones that are largely unsympathetic due to their high status and pride being their main attributes was a hard pill to swallow time and time again with each proceeding gamble.  The show is still fun to watch to an extent, but not as fun and enjoyable as I wish it was.