The many genres of anime include some unexpected twists and turns as well. One such genre which many didn’t expect to go so far was the Gambling Genre.
And the most noteworthy series under Gambling is probably Kakegurui, which has become increasingly popular as of late.
Kakegurui-Compulsive Gambler was originally a manga series written by Homura Kawamoto sensei and illustrated by the masterful pens of Toru Naomura sensei.
The original publisher is none other than Square Enix and the English publisher is Yen Press in North America.
Imprinted by GC Joker in the Gangan Joker Magazine, it broadly falls under the Shonen demographic, which ran from March 2014 to this day. There are a total of 13 Volumes as of now.
A prequel spin-off manga was released in September 2015 titled Kakegurui Twin, which was also serialized in Gangan Joker.
Owing to the series success, anime television was released in September 2017 by Studio MAPPA. The live-action followed soon after in 2018 itself.
Season two for Kakegurui was not far off either as Kakegurui ×× was released in March 2019. Netflix took the initiative in-licensing and streaming the anime series outside Japan.
Plot
The setting for Kakegurui is set in a prestigious school named Hyakkaou Private Academy.
This is a high society school for the elite, housing the kids of Japan’s wealthiest and most influential people.
This includes the country’s future leaders and professionals in all sorts of fields as well.
In such a school, a student body hierarchy is a given, and would typically be based on academic performance or athletic capabilities.
Kakegurui, however, takes this and turns it around, as it is not so at all in this particular school.
The basis for the hierarchy is none other than Gambling itself.
Their ranking depends on their monetary contributions to the Student Council, which is in turn used to implement and maintain a gambling system where the students bet their money against each other as an after-class activity.
Winners earn more than just money and fortunes, they earn popularity, prestige, and favorable connections as well.
The losers lose a lot more than necessary as well, as some even fall into debt and end up becoming “house pets”, a type of slave to the rest of the student body.
They must obey the wishes and fancies of the other students and are nicknamed as “Doggy” or “Kitty” depending on one’s gender and are easily distinguished from others by the collars with tags around their necks.
These house pets must try to clear their debts by graduation or else they will receive “Life Schedules”, which has the terrible effect of dictating their whole futures for them as they must pay their debts with their lives.
The story thus follows second-year transfer student Yumeko Jabami’s thrilling scroll across the school.
Despite being beautiful, cheerful, and intelligent on the surface, she is actually an adept gambler who loves the sheer thrill of the game.
Without any other motives to drive her, she gambles compulsively for the sake of gambling itself and pays no heed to logic nor rules.
As such she starts uprooting the very foundations of the school and its culture in this epic thrill-ride of a series!
Sounds like your cup of tea, who enjoys a good gamble? Or has Yumeko stolen your heart already? Get on board this thrilling series today!
Thanks for Reading!!!
