Reviews

Feb 18, 2024
Mixed Feelings
I have a really REALLY hard time rating this one.

In terms of plot, the games themselves are actually super fun, intelligent, and interesting. It showcases the characters' personalities and how the game changes them. Dare I say it reminds me of the mind games in Death Note, which is a huge compliment. I almost wanted to give the plot a 7 for 'good', but.............. the setting in this anime is AWFUL. It makes no sense. Is the private academy enabling all these? The student council for gambling? The hierarchy thing? The rule of being awful to the slave? How did they even reach this kind of consensus? Was consent involved? Where are the adults? How could our main character join this school if he's not rich or powerful? And why, oh why, is it GAMBLING out of everything else? I cringed a lot, especially during the first few episodes coz the setup and characters are so CRINGE. This seems to me like the creator pulled shit out of their ass just because they couldn't come up with a more believable scenario on how to stage multiple, high-staked rounds of gambling. Lazy ass writing. 5 for 'average'.

And the characters................................ phew. Okay, I'll just say that I like Yumeko a LOT. I think she's the most interesting female character I've seen in a while and it's amazing how, despite how unchanging she is throughout the show, she has changed a lot of people around her. It's also nice to see the development of the other characters including our main character. Like the plot, I almost gave the characters a 7 for 'good'. But omg THEY ARE SO CLICHE AND STEROTYPED!!! Yes, I do support women's wrongs as much as I support women's rights, but a lot of female characters here seem to exist with the main purpose of fulfilling a certain tsundere/yandere/etc fantasy and I just... blegh. I am SO tired of male-catered fanservice as well as self-insert, boring male characters whose initial existence in the show is unwarranted (like, why tf was he even enrolled in that school?). This anime would've been SO much better if Ryouta was a girl tbh. This would've been an iconic lesbian anime about mind games and free will which only comes out once every blue moon and proves that whoever creates this has enough balls and is, therefore, should be critically praised but NOPE, this ends up becoming your seasonal mid af edgy anime which we should've gatekept from cishet men especially incels. 4 for 'bad'.

The animation and art are just fine tho, ngl. I really don't have a problem with it, but there's also nothing groundbreaking, so imma give it a 6 for 'fine'. BUT THE SOUND OMG. Anyone who as much as stands a few feet away from my bedroom would've thought I was watching porn because there is just so much moaning. It's fine at some point but... this is just too much. Plus, the OP and ED songs aren't that memorable, so imma give the sound a 4 for 'bad'.

Lastly: my overall enjoyment. Despite my complaints, I managed to finish Kakegurui relatively quickly and I kept wanting to know what's going to happen next coz every episode is paced relatively well and the cliffhangers are good. Having said that, I still cringed at times and even had to put the speed at 1.5x at some point due to my wanting to know what was going to happen next, but not really enjoying the story enough to soak everything in. But ig it does do its job of entertaining me. So, 7 for 'good'.

Overall: 5 for plot, 4 for characters, 6 for animation and art, 4 for sound, 7 for overall enjoyment.
5 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 7 = 26/5 = 5.2 rounded to 5
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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