「拒絶する女たち拒絶する女たち」 (Kyozetsu-suru Onna-tachi)
“Refusing Women”

Well, that was nuts. I think we knew Midari was insane, but not the orgasm all over the table at the thought of being murdered variety. No matter the questionability of some of Kakegurui’s gambling setups, there’s no denying the show does its best when taking the insanity to its limit. The only unknown is how far the show can keep this carnival of crazy going.

While Midari’s shameless depravity was the spectacle this week, the real intrigue for me lay in the dichotomy of mindsets between masochist and cutie pie. I’m surprised it took me this long to realize, but Midari is correct, Yumeko is a schemer at heart. Our miss crazy doesn’t get off on thought of victory and its winnings like nearly all her previous opponents, she instead enjoys the process of winning. For Yumeko it’s about the plotting a path in the face of unfair odds and beating her opponent at their own game. This is why Midari’s cheating infuriates her because it takes away any satisfaction garnered from winning the game—what’s the point of being handed victory on a silver platter? Yumeko in effect seeks the “perfect” game, where everything in the end comes down to pure, unaltered chance between players. No surprise then she found a smidgen of happiness in a coin toss with Suzui. In the end for Yumeko, it’s all about the game.

Where this mentality becomes important is in regards to the Student Council, specifically Kirari. The president is clearly in a league of her own when it comes to evil—eyeballs and all—but in a way she is similar to everyone else. Kirari wants to see her little microcosm of social Darwinism work, and for this she needs an obedient staff. Cue to poaching of people like Midari and Mary who break all preconceptions Kirari had regarding the fate of “lesser” beings. Anyone who breaks Kirari’s world is seemingly brought on board to better perfect the system, ensuring President’s entertainment is not cut short. At least until Yumeko turned up and screwed with things. Yumeko may not care about the results of her gambles, but they definitely impact others. Mary is the obvious example (and part of the reason for Mary’s notable change in mindset), but there’s also Suzui and, of all people, Midari. Remember that proclamation of Yumeko as her new dominatrix god? Yeah that will come roaring back later when Kirari tries using her promise to Midari as leverage against Yumeko. Considering how quickly Yumeko is making inroads into the Student Council psyche, it won’t be long before another member takes a swipe/stab/hefty bet at the gambling monster, if just to keep the other, equally deadly monster off their backs.

Considering the Midari games are played out though, the only question left for Kakegurui now is what comes next? After seeing just how far you can take masochism, it’s difficult imagining what could be done to top it, but you can be sure there’s something. After all there’s a lot of time left and quite a few characters yet to make Yumeko’s charming acquaintance.

 

Preview

10 Comments

  1. The amount of dedication that Midari has to her gambling proclivities is insane knowing she proudly gouged her own eye out to honor a bet. She looked adorable as a hopeful, but equally crazy underclassman with both eyes. Hopefully, she makes a return now that she’s built a much deeper admiration of Yumeko.

    Choya
  2. Oh boy, despite taking the appearance of just your average bubbly pop-idol, next weeks student council member I would have to say is one of the more better written opponents of Yumeko. You don’t actually know who to route for at this point because you want both to win. Maybe this will be a 3 part episode? I mean A LOT does happen in there, which would leave room for the final 2 eps for Yumeko’s final opponent of the 2nd season.

    SDFGS
  3. Geez, surprised Midari didn’t just start going full Hellraiser…

    “…where everything in the end comes down to pure, unaltered chance between players.”

    “It’s not about what I want, it’s about what’s fair! You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time! But you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced… fair.”

    …couldn’t resist. XD

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. Its for the thrill of everyone having a chance to win/lose. I would describe what pisses her off is not cheating (she could care less about that), its moreover when people end up taking away the probability of winning/losing a game (to the point where its completely rigged). Midari making it so that she would lose on purpose pisses her off because it basically forces Yumeko to play against the odds (as in not playing a winning hand) and totally throw probability out the window, which in turn defeats the purpose of gambling if there’s zero chance involved.

      So basically as long as the game can progress normally (you can tell she first started getting pissed at Midari when she force Suzui into hurrying up to deal his last set of cards, which in turn might affect his judgment, which in turn would affect the game) shes okay with whatever happens. Ironically she shows this side again (and even more anger lol) when Midari shows up and pulls a similar stunt later on in the manga.

      SDFGS

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