Reviews

What initially attracted me to Kakegurui (gambling addict) was the art. The eyes and facial expressions hinted at characters with over the top personalities with undertones of insanity. I decided to give it a go after reading the basic plot description and Kakegurui proved to be such an addictive read that I read 41 chapters in two days, which is a big deal if you consider that I'm not really into manga. This is the first manga I've ever properly gotten into. I've tried reading others but dropped them too quickly to bother adding them to my manga list.


Kakegurui's setup is very simple. It is basically a tournament-style manga with our protagonist gambling through increasingly elaborate games against increasingly skilled opponents with increasingly higher stakes, all set within a school with a hierarchical structure corresponding to the gambling ability of its student body. Despite the simplistic setup Kakegurui is extremely entertaining and a very easy read, and there are hints of a more elaborate story.

I like how, regarding its characters' personalities, Kakegurui walks the thin line of having them be over the top enough to be entertaining, but not too bombastic to be a detriment to the story. Too many stories do not treat their characters seriously enough (I'm looking at you, Danganronpa). Perhaps no better example for this is our protagonist, Yumeko Jyabami, the titular gambling addict, who is definitely one of the highlights of the manga.
The other main characters are also somewhat well written. The side-characters are one off stereotypes, and while I don't like that, that is pretty much par for the course. Some characters are set up to provide schadenfreude to the reader when they inevitably get taken down.

The art is pretty good. It really complements the story, and the characters' frame of mind.

Kakegurui isn't perfect though. It has quite a bit of injected homo-eroticism (between the female characters, obviously) for the purposes of emphasizing the deviancy of a certain character and for providing a subtler form of fanservice. There are other minor issues regarding the characterization of side characters as well; most of them come off as caricatures with very little semblance, if any, of depth.
But despite that, Kakegurui is incredibly entertaining. Would recommend it for fans of mysteries, thrillers and unconventional protagonists.

Regarding the upcoming anime adaptation in summer, for people looking to get into the manga, I would recommend waiting for the anime first, watching it, and then picking up where the anime leaves off. Kakegurui's story and setup would lend itself extremely well to animation (unless the anime just plain sucks), and your enjoyment of the anime will be reduced if you already know what is going to happen next.