Kakegurui XX (Season 2) Review

So, you survived the first season of Kakegurui. You watched a girl bet her fingernails and thought, "Wow, surely it can’t get more ridiculous than this." Well, Season 2 (or Kakegurui XX, because apparently, we’re using Roman numerals now) is here to prove you wrong.

The plot picks up right where we left off, but instead of fixing the issues of the first season, the writers decided to double down on them. The Student Council President, Kirari Momobami, realizes things are getting a bit stale. Her solution? Dissolve the student council and hold a "General Election." But this isn't a normal election with ballots and speeches. No, this is Hyakkaou Academy. The presidency goes to whoever wins the most chips in 30 days.

To make matters worse, Kirari invites her entire extended family—the Momobami Clan—to school to compete. Suddenly, the cast list explodes with a dozen new characters who all look like they walked out of a quirky mini-boss factory. We have a poison girl, a torture girl, a scammer girl... it’s a mess.

The plot is supposedly about "fighting for the head of the clan," but since the show never explains why being the head of the clan matters or what power it holds, the stakes feel completely imaginary. Is it money? Political influence? A coupon for free therapy? We don't know, and the show doesn't care to tell us. It’s just a useless sub-problem created to give the new characters something to do. It’s just a lot of noise, a lot of new faces, and absolutely zero logic.

What to Expect

If you dive into Kakegurui XX, expect sensory overload. The "ugly-pretty" faces are back and more grotesque than ever. The sweat physics have been upgraded to 4K.

Expect the cast to double in size but the character development to shrink. You’re going to meet the Momobami clan, a group of villains who show up, act incredibly arrogant, and then get embarrassed by Yumeko in record time. Also, expect the games to stop making sense. In Season 1, you could sort of follow the rules. In Season 2, the games are so convoluted they feel like they were designed by a drunk mathematician. If you want coherent storytelling, turn back now. If you want to watch a train wreck that is oddly beautiful to look at, press play.

Everybody is here!

Let’s talk about this "Election Arc." On paper, a Battle Royale for the presidency sounds cool. In execution? It’s a bland attempt at shaking up an already stale cast.

The biggest issue is the Momobami clan. They are tossed at us like confetti. We don’t know them, we don’t care about them, yet we are supposed to be invested in their family drama. And then there’s the "Final Boss." I won’t spoil the name, but let’s just say it’s the quiet one in the back of the Momobami group. The reveal that he is actually a she—and a secret Momobami badass—was so predictable I almost rolled my eyes out of my head.

Of course, it’s a girl. There are too many guys in the room, so naturally, the secret villain has to be another girl.

The final confrontation with her feels like filler because, frankly, it is filler. She’s an anime-original character, and you can tell. She doesn't fit the vibe, and her motivation is weak at best.

Same old game

The gambling in Season 2 has gone from "high stakes poker" to "what were the writers smoking?"

The worst offender is the "Greater Good Game" (the talent show game). It is a structural disaster. They play this convoluted game involving coins and acting, and it goes on for rounds. Then, at the very end, they play a third mini-game to decide the winner. Even Suzui—poor, useless Suzui—looks at the camera and basically says, "Wait, so why did we play the first two games if the winner is decided by this last one?"

That line broke me in half. I think that specific line of dialogue was a sick joke from the authors, laughing at us for paying attention. The first two games were literal filler inside the episode itself.

And while we are on physics and logic: The Tower of Doors. This is the arc where the Secretary challenges Yumeko. At the end of it, she jumps from the fifth story of a rotating building. Because the bet on their life, of course.

In the real world, that’s a closed casket funeral. In Kakegurui? The other dumb bitch jumps and somehow grabs her. Mid air.

Finally they land on a "jumping mat" and are perfectly fine. Not a scratch.

It’s the moment I realized that consequences in this universe are a myth. And we are here just for the yuri.

Aaaand then the weirdness kicks in.

Of course. Thank you, Kakegurui. Thank you.

New characters, old problems

The character handling this season is baffling.

Take Mary Saotome. She’s easily one of the best characters. She teams up with Ririka Momobami (the masked Vice President), and it sets up this amazing dynamic. You think, "Yes! A power couple! They’re going to take down the election!" And then? They basically disappear for half the season. It feels like the writers forgot they were writing them. The payoff is flat, uninspired, and frankly, Mary deserved better. It feels like something great is happening off-screen, but we never get to see it.

Then there is Runa Yomozuki, the girl in the orange hoodie. She is insufferable. throughout the season, the show hints that she has this grand "Master Plan" regarding the election. She constantly preaches about "absolute neutrality" and acts like she is pulling the strings from the shadows. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to reveal some 4D chess move. But nope. It goes nowhere. She just sits there, eats lollipops, laughs annoyingly, and contributes nothing to the narrative. I would gladly take candy from a baby if that baby was Runa.

However, I have to give credit where it’s due: Midari Ikishima. She is the only person in this school who knows exactly what show she is in. She is crazy, 100% of the time, and she loves it. The subplot of her being obsessed with Yumeko, and Yumeko actively engaging in "bullying" her by ignoring her existence, is actually hilarious. It’s the only character dynamic that felt fresh and genuinely funny.

Better luck next time

And finally, we have to address the most useless character of all: Suzui.

In this season, there’s a moment where he "saves" Yumeko. But let’s be real—he didn’t save anyone. Mary told him exactly what cards to play and when to play them. He is a puppet. A gloriously dumb puppet. He cannot do anything by himself. If Mary hadn't been there to remote-control him, he would have folded immediately. The show tries to give him a moment, but it just highlights how utterly useless he is without a stronger woman telling him what to do.

Kakegurui XX feels like it doubles down on everything that made the first season bad. It’s a shiny, screaming, sweaty mess. It’s fun to look at, but if you stop to think about the plot for even a second, the whole house of cards collapses.

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