Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler’s Popularity Leads to Second Season on Netflix

Anime has a way of tackling in-depth social issues through its medium, often boasting harsh realities through thrilling build-up. Of all of the anime that you should be watching, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler is one of the most striking due to its theme and reflection of elements of society.

What is Kakegurui?

The official release trailer of Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler on Netflix in 2017.

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler is the anime series based on the manga by Homura Kawamoto and Toru Naomura. Published by Square Enix, with serialisation commencing in 2014, Kakegurui’s popularity led to it getting an anime adaptation in 2017.

The series follows the events at the Hyakkaou Private Academy, where wealthy children and future leaders in society are among the students. Here, the hierarchy is dictated by the results of an intricate schedule of gambling events and contests which sees the students wager their vast fortunes for more power on the student council.

Kakegurui focuses on the story of Yumeko Jabami, who is new to the school, who starts to compete in the gambling games for the thrill of it rather than to enhance her for social or financial standing. She discovers an ability to recognise and dismantle scams and cheating in the gambling games – of which there are many employed by the existing student council – to wriggle up the hierarchy.

The manga series and the 12-episode Netflix anime series have proven to be very popular, which has led to the announcement of a second series being made. Yuichiro Hayashi and Kiyoshi Matsuda will direct the new season, with Manabu Akita and Yasuko Kobayashi designing the characters and writing the series. Kakegurui XX, as it has been titled, will be available in January 2019.

Using gambling games to reveal character traits

i have a boyfriend, but Yumeko Jabami gets my heart jumping in some kinda way
ugh look at my girl right here pic.twitter.com/1oGgYEOszJ

— sib (@sibabh) August 20, 2018

Anime art of Kakegurui protagonist Yumeko Jabami with signature glowing red eyes – which indicate her excitement and maniacal passion for gambling huge fortunes. Source: Sib, via Twitter

The story lines of Kakegurui are centred around the gambling games that the students play to enhance their social standing and bank balance. Here, the two are intertwined, and those indebted to other students become their ‘pets’, with their futures – if they can’t clear their debts by the end of their time at the school – decided by those that they are indebted to.

It’s through the discoveries made by the protagonist, Yumeko, and the overwhelming wins of the more powerful student council members that present a “harsh microcosm of life in a capitalist society”. It’s the battle in games like roulette, two-card Indian poker, hardcore poker, and tarot that decide prestige and failure, with the powerful adding to their power by degrading the losers – who have often been cheated by those with more power on the student council.

One of the reasons why the series is so intriguing is because it reveals character traits and the personalities of the players through their actions within the games like poker, roulette, and concentration (finding pairs of cards on a table). Some characters make decisions based on the strength of their bankroll, whereas others opt to use different strategies to overcome skulduggery employed by their opponent – as Yumeko does on several occasions. The characters employ many different strategies seen in real-world games such as poker and roulette, all of which reveal their traits.

It is in the two-episode-long poker match between Kaede and Yumeko that perfectly shows how players aim to take on their opposition as well as how mental endurance ultimately prevails. Kaede decides to battle Yumeko at a modified version of poker, where players can’t fold or call and can play for weak or strong hands, convinced that Yumeko is just an addict. With this, he manages to employ a shrewd strategy of luring her to go all-in by showing his hand and allowing her to bet. But he then raises by a single chip to decide if the weak or strong hand wins.

However, in this game of poker, Yumeko is allowed to buy back in, with the financial aid of her friend Sumeragi. The game of poker continues, with Yumeko needing to show strong mental endurance, later on, to recover from a tailored loss and attempt to win back her money and keep Sumeragi’s fortune. Training mental endurance is one of the key poker tips for beginners as it’s needed to keep the player sharp in the late game where the stakes are high, be it in Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, or the Kakegurui game of poker, but it applies to all player-vs-player forms of gambling games if the player wishes to win it all. Using her knowledge of the game despite suffering much fatigue during the tough game of poker, Yumeko bets Sumeragi’s life – worth around 10 billion – knowing that she can best her foe. She uses the desperation of Sumeragi to trick Kaede to bet his life and choose strong. Despite having three-of-a-kind eights, Yumeko wins with three-of-a-kind jacks.

Contests like this throughout the series offer a unique way to show the viewer how the characters think and operate, allowing them to try and make predictions on the games of poker, heads or tails, and idol skill tests as to how much will be bet and who has the mental endurance and opponent manipulation skills to come out on top. This has led to the anime series and manga series becoming very popular.

Kakegurui XX is coming

#Kakegurui Anime’s 2nd Season 2nd key visual. Man #Thewaiting for January to see #bestgirl again #OtakusUnited pic.twitter.com/wdxrDkrnbb

— Xknight360 (@xknight360) August 23, 2018

The announcement visual for the second season of Kakegurui, to be named Kakegurui XX, which will be released on Netflix in January 2019. Source: Xknight360, via Twitter

The immense popularity of Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler has allowed it to create a second season, with the crew of the first season returning. The second season is said to centre on Kirari Momobami bringing in a general election and dissolving the existing student council. Every student has a chance to run for the top placing in the school, and each student gets one vote, with proceedings leading to an Ultimate Election Battle Royale.

Season one of Kakegurui will have fans of the show familiarized with the strategies of the characters at the school, lending some as fan-favourites as this upcoming battle royale of gambling unfolds in Kakegurui XX. The games themselves will provide plenty of suspense and intrigue as the characters battle for the ultimate standing at the school.

Kakegurui’s immense popularity and novel storytelling method through games like poker and liar’s dice show that anime has huge range and that there is a market for poker and gambling related anime shows. High-stakes gambling certainly reveals character, manipulation skills, and mental endurance, which creates intriguing character arcs and titillating storylines. The success of Kakegurui on Netflix could lead to more series of its ilk.