First Impressions / Kakegurui

「Episode 03」

「糸目の女」 (Itome no Onna)
“Slit-eyed Woman”

「Episode 04」

「家畜になった女」 (Kachiku ni Natta Onna)
“The Woman Who Became Livestock”

I must admit I’m a simple man, I acquire a guilty pleasure and abuse it for all it’s worth. Thus my presence here blogging Kakegurui. We may have missed a week (Takkun apologizes!), but there’s certainly no less to talk about this time around as the show continues its strategy of one upping the crazy. Russian roulette, life plans, explaining modern economics in a classroom setting? By hell we have it all and more. Let’s get started.

Episode 3 Brief

If there’s one key part to focus on from last week it’s Yumeko’s victories. We again had a similar two round game strategy, but unlike the previous Yumeko detects cheating and wins, this time crazy acquired a defeat after taking steps to counteract her opponent’s machinations. And a serious defeat at that. I’d say the risk of Kakegurui turning into a one trick pony died with that final result, even if the show still largely depends on shock and upping the psychological ante to keep things riveting. Not like Kakegurui will have many problems dragging it out though, not when Yuneko keeps on proving why you don’t stick your dick in crazy too often. Lost a match after ripping the face right off a student council member? Who cares, let’s gamble again! We are a long way off from reaching boredom here.

The New Crazy

What makes Yumeko’s indifference to her status all the more amusing and surreal is how this week started expanding the consequences of defeat. Pet status and insurmountable debt? Well you won’t have to worry much about that once you follow your new student council approved life plan. It’s yet another play on the harsh realities of compulsive gambling, but this argument is starting to broach more into the concept of debt itself. Take the Debt Adjustment Assembly, it’s designed to give the student council public support by forgiving some debt, but it also (if I heard correctly) unifies all remaining debt under the student council. In other words, those who lose now solely owe the student council and are purely at the mercy of those tender loving individuals. Besides exemplifying the modern ability to buy and sell debt, this shift opens up a multitude of new ways for inducing pain, suffering, and psychological agony. Remember those life plans? Just the start, I imagine some more ingenious demands are coming down the pipeline soon. After all, the deliciously insane Midari needs a willing partner for some Russian Roulette.

As for our tailless cat, it seems we finally have a game where Yuneko won’t win simply through the usual one-two cheat detection punch. Yeah we still likely have cheating occurring—the student council all but encourages it—but it appears that Yumeko will only prevail this time with the help of Mary. Why? Placement. The mechanism of debt distribution (winner and loser swap debts) means you don’t want to be knocked out first in this game of Indian Poker—do so and you might wind up with more debt than you started with. This, at least initially, encourages teamwork to ensure you break even at a minimum, and is probably the reason why every player was paired at the start. Considering the student council is turning a blind eye to subtle cheating, playing honestly and foregoing assistance only handicaps in this situation. No guarantees of Yumeko (or Mary) coming out on top of course, but I kind of want to see our resident jock voyeur wind up with around x30000 his starting debt, if just for the karmic catharsis.

With our first multi-episode game upon us and a shakeup to the previous gambling formula, Kakegurui is, if anything, only getting started. Consider this one picked up for coverage boys and girls, with this level of crazy and all the accompanying reaction faces, it would be an insult to simply pass it over.

 

Preview

17 Comments

    1. I was more taken by the look the student council president gave Yumeko when she saw her. That expression was pretty much saying “Oh, there’s my new toy”.

      BlackBriar
      Reply

  3. https://randomc.net/image/Kakegurui/Kakegurui%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2013.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kakegurui/Kakegurui%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2031.jpg

    Am I the only one who loves the moment when Yumeko gets that grin?

    https://randomc.net/image/Kakegurui/Kakegurui%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2025.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kakegurui/Kakegurui%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2033.jpg

    Cause you just know that’s the signal for when the crazy is about to truly go down, lol.

    Also, on a random note, does anyone know if this was inspired by Gamble Fish (2007 – 2010)? Cause, from what I read, it’s somewhat similar though with some obvious differences too, but the crazy faces people make when gambling are there, lol.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. LOL, true. Nice choice, there, Pancakes. 😀
      I’m still a bit disturbed by how they’re displaying the girls masturbating in this anime. 😀

      And I admit not always understanding the rules of the games they’re playing. But their faces make up for it. 😀

      boingman
      Reply

  9. I ended up picking up the manga because Episode 3’s ending was driving me nuts. I’m glad 3 & 4 turned out to be good adaptations. I would’ve thought with the length of the Episode 4 gambling would be longer based on how long the chapters were, but I’m glad things resolved quickly.

    Yuriko’s entertaining as ever, but I was immediately won over by Midari. Love the amount of crazy she was showing with her Russian Roulette obsession and the similar gratification she gets from taking the stakes to their highest.

    Choya
    Reply

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