Kakegurui Season 1 Review

Okay, so let me set the scene for you. Imagine a high school—Hyakkaou Private Academy—where the curriculum has absolutely nothing to do with math, history, or basic human decency. Instead, the whole place is run like a shady underground casino. We’re talking about a school entirely dedicated to the art of losing money.

The student body? They aren't normal kids. They’re basically a hive-mind of rich, dumb, snobbish idiots who blindly follow the Student Council like sheep. Instead of rebelling against a system that encourages financial ruin, they just roll with it. Grades don’t matter here; your ability to cheat at poker does. If you lose and fall into debt, you become a "House Pet"—a "Fido" or a "Mittens." You get a tag around your neck, and you become a servant.

And here’s the kicker: adults are nowhere to be found. I’m serious. No teachers, no parents, no guidance counselors. It’s Lord of the Flies, but with better manicures and pleated skirts.

Into this mess walks Jabami Yumeko. Now, in a sane world, Yumeko would be in an intervention. She is a gambling addict who gets off on the risk of ruining her life. She doesn't want to win money; she wants the adrenaline of almost dying. But because this school is insane, instead of expelling her, everyone treats her like a celebrity, and the Student Council decides she’s public enemy number one.

What to Expect

Look, if you decide to watch this, know exactly what you’re signing up for. This show is, at its core, pretty girls gambling. That’s the whole elevator pitch.

Visually? It’s not bad at all. The colors are popping, and the animation budget is clearly spent entirely on two things: rendering sweat beads and creating terrifying facial expressions. Seriously, when these girls get excited, their faces distort into these demon-like masks of ecstasy and madness.

But don't expect a masterclass in poker strategy. Expect a fever dream where people scream the word "GAMBLE" every two sentences just to remind you what show you're watching. It’s loud, it’s aggressive, and it’s completely untethered from reality.

Rulebooks

Let’s talk about the actual games, because this is where the show really starts to grind my gears.

Kakegurui wants you to think it’s smart. It wants to be a battle of wits. But half the time, the games are so convoluted and difficult that the writers have to literally pause the episode to explain the rules to you in excruciating detail. I’m not kidding—sometimes it feels like half the runtime is just a tutorial. It kills the pacing. I’m here to watch a thriller, not listen to a lecture on the mechanics of "Choice Poker."

And when the game finally ends? The resolution is almost always lazy. Yumeko doesn't usually win because she outsmarted the opponent in the heat of the moment. She wins because she noticed some microscopic scratch on a card three episodes ago. It’s always, "Oh, I knew that rule from the beginning, eheh." It feels unearned. It’s not genius; it’s just the writers giving her the answer key.

Plus, the luck factor is absurd. For a show about "high-stakes gambling," the main crew has thicker plot armor than a shonen protagonist. Everything just magically works out for them. The season finale is the worst offender—it’s an anime-original ending where, after all that buildup, the final clash with the President comes down to... a tarot card draw. Literal pure luck. It makes you wonder why they bothered with the strategy talk at all.

Poor characters

The character writing is… weird. It feels like people in this universe catch "insanity" like it’s the flu. Perfectly normal characters will suddenly start foaming at the mouth and betting their fingernails just to push the plot forward.

Jabami Yumeko? She’s a flat line. She starts the show insane, and she ends the show insane. There’s no arc there. She’s just a force of nature that bulldozes through the school. Honestly, she shouldn’t be in a school; she should be in a facility.

Then you have the Student Council. They’re supposed to be these terrifying overlords, but they feel like a "Monster of the Week" lineup. We never really see their influence or power outside of the gambling table. Their power is mostly used to cheat, get caught by Yumeko, and then get defeated. It’s repetitive.

And don't even get me started on Suzui Ryouta. This guy… why does he exist? He is the most useless character I have ever seen. He’s basically a human reaction GIF. His only job is to stand in the background, gasp loudly, shout "Yumeko, no!", and have the rules explained to him so the audience understands what’s happening. You could cut him out of the anime entirely, and absolutely nothing would change.

ALL IN!

Finally, let’s talk about the "gambling" aspect again. There are some glaring issues here.

First off, you can only go "All In" so many times before it gets boring. In real poker, going all in is a heart-stopping moment. In Kakegurui, they do it every. Single. Episode. It becomes repetitive. You stop caring because you know they’re just going to do it again next time.

And what about the consequences? The show loves to tell us how bad it is to lose. "Oh, the Pet System is hell! Your life is over!" But is it? Really? We never actually see the long-term financial ruin. In the first few episodes, there’s one scene that shows the bad side of being a Pet, but it’s hastily shut down and we move on.

The Council threatens them with "Life Plans"—dictating their entire futures—but because Yumeko and Mary are the main characters, we never see those consequences play out. If you don't show the losing side—the grit, the poverty, the actual ruin—then the games are just games. They don't have weight.

At the end of the day, Kakegurui feels like an empty shell. It’s a shiny, pretty distractions with girls making scary faces, but scratch the surface, and there’s just nothing there but a deck of cards and a lot of shouting.

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