First Impressions / Kakegurui / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「コノユビトマレ」 (Kono Yubi Tomare) by JUNNA

「再ビ賭ケ狂ウ女タチ」 (Futatabi kakegurui onna-tachi)
“Gambling Women Again”

Oh Kakegurui how I’ve missed thee. While there was an good amount of apprehension going into this season considering how the last one ended (something something anime original ending copping out on things), I’d be hard pressed denying this show still knows how to put a smile on the face. And several of them at that. It’s immediate balls to the wall crazy in episode one and with the taste of even more to come—oh yeah, not even Netflix’s really—really—dumb sub delays can ruin the fun here.

As anyone who has seen Kakegurui’s first season can attest to (at least, I’m assuming you have), this show is relatively simple at heart. We have the school, the eclectic cast of social elite misfits, and the gambling structure which effectively controls every aspect of uber rich student life. It’s this latter bit however which is especially important as the act of gambling is essentially what Kakegurui is all about. Characters make bets, play increasingly over the top games, and through sheer mental fortitude or trickery wind up coming out on top—or ending up squarely at the bottom. It’s psychological thriller at its most potent, and you don’t need to watch more than five minutes to see why. Finger guillotines, jazz soundtrack, crazy faces, and no lack of seriously deranged characters; it’s nothing but insanity all the way down.

Beyond the fun of masochism gone wrong though, the sticking point of Kakegurui inevitably rests with its story. Our main girl disruptor Yumeko (Hayami Saori), through her love of all things gambling, winds up getting swept into various games of cheating-infused chance which she perseveres through in one form or another. It’s not to say Yumeko always wins (spoiler alert: she doesn’t), but every game more or less becomes a challenge in identifying how Yumeko winds up overpowering the competition before she does it. Admittedly this can grow boring after a while—the first season certainly fell flat at times—but when you’re dealing with games like this, do you really care? Considering we have resident nutcase Midari (Ise Mariya) involved in the latest display of gambling greatness, it doesn’t matter so much our poor little half-hearted emo loli is inevitably going to lose. When you’re dealing with insanity of this level, the experience is often satisfaction enough—and oh boy what an experience it is. Kakegurui may be skipping over the Tower arc and going straight into the election arc (as it unfortunately looks to be), but I’ll be damned if it’s not a sight to behold when pulling out all the psychological stops. We may have to wait a week or so to find out exactly what the hell is exactly going on here, but you can bet the fun and games haven’t even started.

There’s a whole new challenge awaiting our little gambling addict this season, and with a cast of equally crazy characters ready to make her acquaintance, quite a bit of chaos waiting in the wings. Best pepper thy angus boys and girls, darling Yumeko is back and she’s ready for more.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「AlegriA」by D-selections

Preview

14 Comments

  2. That episode was goodness so great. The ending theme when Yumeko might be kissing Mary waz great. This episode was damn great. And see our main heroines in the op and in the series! Show Spoiler ▼

    Anon
    Reply

  6. Why are the netflix subs delayed if i may ask?
    Tried seeing if the first episode was already on there and the first season had it on the day of release already back then from what i remember so why the delay this time?

    Anon
    Reply

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