Kakegurui, meaning compulsive gambler is set in the Hyakkou Private academy where the elite Japanese students go.
Everyone’s reputation is based on the type of game they play and the position given to them.
Those who manage to win get the money, popularity, and status at the academy whereas those who lose fall into debt and become house pets.
Midari Ikishima
Midari Ikishima, a part of the student council, is the head of the beautification committee.
She keeps a check if someone is crossing their limit in ethics.
Where other people bet against money and what’s dear to them, she goes for life and death bets.
She wants to feel the thrill of life and according to her only through pain and fear can one feel it.
She, in particular, enjoys playing Russian roulette.
She bets her life not because she wants her opponent to die but because she herself wants to die.
In my opinion, I think she is a person who takes pleasure in pain with suicidal tendencies.
Her levels of craziness made her take her own eye out in order to pay a gambling debt. But even if she is crazy, she is an iconic character.
Mary Saotome
Mary Saotome is a second-year student in the Hyakkou Private academy and is Yumeko Jabami and Ryota Suzuki’s classmate.
She was the first person to bet against Yumeko and lost. Her most iconic dialogue is, “I want your nails as my payment”.
A scene that gives you chills. She was the best player in the academy before Yumeko came.
The development of Yumeko, Ryota, and Mary’s friendship is truly commendable. She and Ryota were doomed to become house pets.
She used to cheat in her games, in fact, everyone at the academy did.
But she surely changed her ways of gaming and betting when she became friends with Yumeko.
I loved how she was not manipulated by anyone at the academy.
And when Kirari, the president of the student council tried to manipulate and control her, she made it her life’s mission to bring the council down.
However, no matter what her dedication and how she always took a stand for her friends is something of note here.
Ririka Momobami
Ririka Momobami, the vice president of the student council and the twin sister of Kirari Momobami.
Ririka’s face is hidden throughout the series by a white mask.
She is seen doing nothing in the first season besides attending the council meetings.
Kirari and Ririka trick Sayaka and everyone else at the academy when Ririka leaves the academy pretending she is Kirari for some work.
Ririka’s truth is revealed when Mary bumps into her causing her mask falls off.
Mary Saotome is the first one to find out that Kirari has an identical twin.
Yumeko jabami
Yumeko Jabami’s family aligns with the Momobami clan.
Ever since she came to the Hayakkou Private academy, everything changed.
She is the main character of the series. Gambling lives within her.
She seeks the thrill of life through gambling. She takes people to her level of madness.
She makes every game way more interesting.
She is an excellent gambler, so if someone cheats in the game, she finds a way to turn it against them.
Even if she is the perfect gambler, she doesn’t always win.
At one point she even became a house pet and her life was controlled by the student council.
The student council made her whole life into a book which included whom she was going to marry and when.
Yumeko makes the whole show come to life and is interesting to watch.
She loves gambling and loves when people gamble with her.
She makes the whole game filled with craziness and rope other students in, with her.
Kirari Momobami
Kirari Momobami is the president of the student council and the head of the Momobami clan.
She is the absolute ruler at the Hyakkou private academy.
She has her own personal aquarium where she can admire the beauty of the aquatic aspect of nature.
She made the academy into her own gambling house. By defeating the previous president, she made gambling a necessity.
She became the foundation of the academy. Unlike Yumeko who plays for fun, Kirari plays to win. Winning is her sole purpose.
Kirari has the most iconic scenes including when she asks Ikishima to pay her eye as the gambling debt when Ririka and Kirari make a fool of everyone by switching their places and out of nowhere Kirari appeared in the match where Manyuda and Yumeko were playing.
She never loses and ropes everyone into her web.
Kakegurui: In Conclusion?
Besides, the crazy faces and the iconic games, Kakegurui is so much more than that because of these characters.
Sometimes, losing can give you much more satisfaction than winning.
Every character in Kakegurui is full of pride that they’ll take any high amount of bet against them yet they put friendship first to save each other.
