Reviews

Aug 21, 2017
Preliminary (6/12 eps)
I've never reviewed something that has yet to finish. Although I'm seeing a lot of premature high scores given by other users. I feel those reviews are based off enjoyment as there is no substance in Kakegurui. I'm going to explain why this anime is not worth any of your time.

This is an in depth spoiler free (as much as I can be spoiler free) analysis of Kakegurui episodes 1-7.

I wanna start off in a weird place

Sound/Voice Acting: 4/10

All of the voice actors feel amateurish and don't have that much flair. Characters like Yameko and Ryouta are passable but there are two really bad voices for characters I want to address. I can tell Ms. Udono is trying but her voice for her character is just very unfitting and irritating. Now Udono doesn't have a lot of experience under her belt so I can't judge her too harshly but when making a big budget adaptation you should TRY not to get inexperienced voice actresses. Personally I blame the direction and irresponsibility of the studio over the low experienced actress.

And one other voice that is just so fake and atrocious is borderline unbelievable. Like I was legitimately disappointed when I saw the voice actress for Midari Ikishima. It was none other than Mariya Ise herself. The VA for Stocking Anarchy and Killua in 2011's HxH. She is incapable of voicing this character. Her crazy voice is just as fake and poor as her crazy laugh. I find her performance in this work to be incredibly bad. Her tone and acting is so forced. Every scene hearing her is tedious. Now she's not working with a good script and the direction probably sucks but she's so much better than this.

The music is good I guess. It's not perfect for every situation or memorable. The Op is good but it wouldn't find itself on any Top 100 openings. The low score on the sound is prominently due to the lack of solid actors.

Story: 1/10

They are in a school that allows gambling and that can decide your life for you if you get in too much debt. It's insane and there's been no good explanation. Midari is capable of carrying a weapon on campus and bullies try to rape other students in this high class school. The Student Body also are capable of inflicting bodily harm against the students without any repercussions. ( SPOILER example: Midari, who was threatened to have her eye taken out and took it out herself to prevent the shame and to get it over with. ) This show isn't like Prison School though. It wants us to take it seriously and adds no comic relief to the atmosphere. The author probably just didn't get the memo, that Prison School was a psychological comedy that didn't try to make you take its bizarre concept seriously but the dilemmas and punishments in Prison School gave a real sense of stakes and urgency. Prison School also had great characters, a lot of psychological elements, and was hilarious.

Why it fails as a gambling anime:

It stretches suspension of disbelief and doesn't give us insight on the reasoning behind the characters deductions. Yameko just tends to magically call out the cheating of her opponent with a contrived explanation that we never even get to see. Seeing Yameko's dissection of the cheat would actually add more depth to her character. Give you a sense of humanity and urgency in her. The thrills are also non existent. Every situation and stake is extremely low and since Yameko is the love child of a Gambling Mary Sue and Yuno Gasai (What an amazing combination) she will never lose that great of something. The most she'll lose is money but she throws that around so who cares? Even when she has a gun in her face we still know shes gonna be okay. She's perfect in every single way. Right? She never has really any human reaction. So we can't relate to her and put ourselves in her situation. Remember this.

Every episode is VERY formulaic. Like same thing every time with almost no difference. This makes the thrills and stakes nonexistent. The show is extremely unentertaining unless you have underdeveloped taste or have turned your brain off. After thorough dissection there is nothing necessarily redeemable or well executed about this story. Which is extremely unfortunate because I like gambling and cute girls.

Characters: 1/10

Dear god. No character in this anime is anything more than one dimensional. Yameko is a perfect gambler who wins without even having to work for it. We don't feel any humanity in her. And because of this we cannot relate to her whatsoever. As she is completely emotionless until she starts shit talking. She has no depth or layers as a character. She is so perfect. She finds out the villains way of cheating without us even hearing or seeing it. And the anime isn't smart enough to where we are given the opportunity to figure it out ourselves. The opponent who is cheating gives a nonsensical, not-foreshadowed scheme in their head like any bland shounen villain. It's so convoluted. Yameko's only character traits are she's crazy but acts like she's not and she's a sore winner when she magically finds out how the opponent is cheating.

A character I believed I would like's name was Meiri. As she is a cocky ass who contorts her face to bizarre, funny expressions in the first episode and acts like a boring shounen mustache twiddler until she is humbled by Yameko in that episode. I expected that by destroying Meiri in the first episode they were gonna build her character up through the entire season. Honestly, that's how you can make a cocky character like Meiri likable. Give them a taste of their own medicine. There is even a scene where Meiri is forced to clean up a mess, after being laughed at and left in the lunch room alone. I felt genuine sympathy because I felt like that would be a pivotal moment for her character. Then we see her accumulate EVEN MORE DEBT by the culture club representative and see that her pride is shattered and she is completely humiliated. But I clearly gave this show way too much credit. Now I thought this would lead to an arc where Meiri realizes she relies too much on cheating to gamble and gets too cocky before the cards are shown. And she'd blossom into this great, smart, analytic gambler. NOPE, SHES YAMEKO 2 BY EPISODE FUCKIN 4. She stays bland, stagnant and becomes another boring character.

The final lead is Ryouta Suzui. He just... reacts and sometimes helps Yameko. Literally could be written out so easily. He's one dimensional too. He feels like a side character. I actually forget he's there sometimes.

Everyone is one dimensional.

All the antagonists and side characters are JUST crazy. Some are a lil crazier than the others. Like some will cum while playing. And I guess you're supposed to get intimated or aroused when the crazy girl cums when she's winning or thrilled. That's it. The insanity is so over saturated in the anime it stops being unique, entertaining, or unexpected.

Which makes how everything plays out very boring and predictable.

Art: 7/10

The art is very reminiscent of Prison School but it doesn't go to the extent of Prison School or do it frequently enough. All the crude facial contortions happen on almost every character in the same situation with the same face so it's not well executed or unpredictable or entertaining or funny or intimidating, etc. The budget is very clear though and I can't say its not at least a 7/10 through aesthetic alone. As you kinda get the tone through the art even though the tone is super ridiculous in the story and scenario.

Enjoyment: 1/10

Now I don't mind anyone enjoying this but lets be real; this anime is horrible. Everyone is just enticed by the attractive character designs.

And I tend to repeat myself but often the most serious criticism of a show is usually the kind you hear and throw around the most.

It is a predictable, overly formulaic, shallow, boring, low thrills, poorly written, poorly executed, complete mess of an thriller anime with terrible characters who don't develop or evolve.

Right now this is without a doubt one of the worst anime of 2017. Up there with Berserk and World End. I really did wish I could like this show but almost everything it tries and does fails miserably.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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