Kakegurui

The title states most of it. If you loved Yugioh as a kid, you'll love this. If not, it's probably not the show for you.

On the technical side of things, this show is absolutely gorgeous. The animation, the designs, the backgrounds are all incredible. The voice acting is phenomenal (both the sub and the dub, which is amazing). And the music is so good that I actually downloaded the soundtracks for both seasons.

The actual gambling is flashy, but it won't take you long to realize there aren't many stakes (much like Yugioh). But while the gambling aspects could be handled better (it is a gambling anime after all), most of the fun comes from watching these insane characters bounce off each other. They all have wildly different and entertaining personalities, and the writers and actors do an excellent job at selling their interactions.

As a gambling anime, it fails. But as a messed up school-comedy, it's amazing.

I don't know why, but this series reminds me, at least to a certain extent, of the video game series "Ace Attorney", in the sense that the protagonist has to get to the truth through very, very intelligent logical deductions, or in this case, discover the cheat in the bet, at least in the first season. And speaking of the first season, this is by far the best. Not only do they introduce us to the protagonist in a spectacular way, being very manipulative, intelligent and willing to bet at any cost, but they also show us how she is climbing positions and gaining more and more respect. I like when a series, video game or movie does that, as it encourages progress and advancement of the character. And I also liked a lot how in the last two episodes he basically faces the most important people of the academy, the treasurer Manyuda and finally the president. I also liked how one of the characters (Ryota Suzuik) is basically presented as a normal student, oblivious (or almost oblivious) to all this gambling, and he befriends Yumeko, which gives a good clash between both personalities in many occasions. However, from the second season all this is lost. We no longer have Yumeko climbing positions or earning more and more respect. I mean, to a certain extent it is present, but it is not the main thing. But now the whole season is about who is going to be the president of the school, and we are introduced to several families who have zero charisma. In addition, their past is not entirely clear and sometimes these "sub stories" that they tell us become confusing. And the end of this season ends very lazy, there are so many questions to answer to end the series like this... In summary, Kakegurui is an anime with unique ideas, but that should have explained several things before ending (at least for the moment), as well as maintaining the basis of the first season which was to win bets through pure logic, with a Yumeko with a more manipulative than friendly personality, climbing positions and encountering powerful rivals.

Lovely show. Yes it is great for passing time but it's nothing close to amazing. I would say watch it if you have time to spare but dont give it a second thought if not.

Okay. So let's get straight into it. This anime is not normal. it's not supposed to be. You can't expect an anime about a woman who finds risk exciting, to be rational (at least most people shouldn't). It's all about the madness of the characters as they struggle on high stake gambling, just for the thrills of it. Money really doesn't matter to most of them. That being said, I don't really get why some people criticise the anime for its crazy moments, when that's one of the reasons its so much fun. I mean, given my last point, you should've expected it'd be like that. If you didn't find all that madness appealing, you shouldn't have watched it in the first place. I read a little about the irrationality of the charachters and the show's overall madness before watching it, and got instantly thrilled by it. I watched it afterwards, and didn't regret it at all. So, my point is, that it's not for everyone. But that doesn't mean you should hate on it because it's not your kind of show. Just skip it. On the other hand, if you're like me and find madness and unpredictable characters appealing, definitely give it a try. It'll be a fun watch.

Just watching it made my heart beat faster in some situations, amazing animation and design.