At the same time i can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it. The viewers who prefer to have stories more grounded in reality and relatable will surely not be able to enjoy the bombastic, over the top stupidity of Kakegurui. The premise is nonsense, the characters are weird and outlandish, the setting is completely out there. You have to accept that this show is a lame-azing, fun trainwreck and allow yourself to simply enjoy it. But you can't turn your brain off! After all, games and gambling are the focus of this story, so it's wasteful not to try and play along inside your mind.
So Kakegurui is ridiculous, but it's ridiculous in all the right ways. First of all, the variety of fan service is very fresh. In this case it's not crappy accidental panty shots, it's girls getting aroused from gambling or other bizarre "fetishes". No pure maidens here, just real self-aware sluts. It's very different and much more effective. You also get a lot of yuri bait out of nowhere, but the tone is depravity, no hand-holding crap, so i can dig it.
The games themselves serve as a bit of intellectual stimulation, though they are not nearly as interesting as, for example, the ones in Liar Game. The real satisfaction comes from tables turning, and the strong crushing the weak. The exaggerated emotions, the despair, the sadistic satisfaction of the winners; it's very tantalizing. Don't expect a story-writing masterpiece here, this rapidly becomes predictable. Both the game's outcomes and the method. You know how you can predict the plot twist, just because you know they HAVE to try to make everything a plot twist? Characters just being consistently too-smart? Yeah it's that kind of thing but whatever.
The main contributor to the enjoyment of this anime is the very high production value. The characters are meticulously drawn with a very high level of detail, down to individual tooth shapes, lip shapes and reflections, iris textures, etc. Their facial expressions are vivid and complex, though almost higurashi levels of exaggerated sometimes. Still, I'll take this any day over bland sameface A1 Pictures pieces of shit. There are also moments of top quality animation, such as a character's lips properly mouthing a word rather than simply opening and closing. The sound also leaves nothing to be desired, with a top tier cast of voice actors, and here also a high level of attention to detail. You even have tooth grinding sounds when people get too frustrated!
Overall, Kakegurui is a very fun, exciting piece of work which just has to be watched for what it is. Yeah, it's not Shakespeare, but that's not what i watch anime for, and if you do, you're going to be disappointed pretty often. Watch this, and then watch Liar Game.
