Even before the advent of film, Japan had a rich tradition in animation dating back to magic lantern shows popular in the 19th century that likely got inspired by similar phantasmagoric performances originating from Europe. However, undoubtedly, when cartoons and Japan get mentioned in the same sentence, Anime is the first thing that comes to mind.
While many hard-core fans get offended by Anime getting referenced as a type of cartoon, believing it is something entirely different, its definition encompasses all forms of animated work coming out of Japan, regardless of their style. It is an entertainment form that rose to prominence in the 1980s and attained international notoriety following the success of the feature film version of the manga Akira in 1988. Sadly, there aren’t many blackjack or real money slots shows in this genre, except for Kakegurui and a few others.
What Is the Kakegurui Anime?
It is a lesser-known series produced by the studio MAPPA, which aired its first season in Japan in 2017. It is an adaptation of the Homura Kawamoto manga, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler, illustrated by Toru Naomour, which tells the story of a private academy run by a student council. There have been several spin-offs of the original manga, including Kakegurui Twin, Kakegurui Midari, and Kakegurui Yorozu.
The unique thing about this school is that it features a frightening hierarchy determined by gambling. Those enrolled in this academy, named Hyakkaou, earn money, authority, and popularity points by playing unique games and ones akin to those hosted by online gambling sites. Hence, it is not book-smarts or athletic prowess that keeps students ahead at Hyakkaou, but their luck and skill at gambling games.
Yumeko Jabami is the protagonist of Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler
The main characters of this show are Yumeko Jabami, Mary Saotome, and Ryota Suzi. Jabami is a mysterious transfer student with a maniacal passion for high-stakes betting. Saotome is another high-roller, and Ryota Suzui, is a class president who is not very good at real money online casino games or any other type.
Below, we rattle off the five most memorable ones from this series, which aired its second season in 2019.
5) Debt Exchange Game
In episode four of season one of Kakegurui, Mary and Yumeko get what the Hyakkaou’s student council calls their life schedules. These dictate who they will marry, the number of children they will bear, and what their careers will be if they do not clear their debts.
Later on, the council announces the introduction of a Debt Reassignment contest. That is a competition where groups of four battle it out at Indian poker, a game found at very few USA online casinos. The end goal of these contests is for players to exchange their accumulated debts, while the overall winner loses his completely plus attains a cash prize.
Mary and Yumeko work together in the episode and cheat in the contest, secretly supplying each other with information. Mary winds up bluffing Jun Kiwatari, a violent male student, into victory. The Debt Reassignment contest continues into episode five of the season, where Yumeko obtains Mary’s 50 million debt, and Mary’s debt gets cleared.
4) Manyuda Loses Badly at Choice Poker
Kaede Manyuda is a manipulative and ambitious former Treasurer of the Student Council who is a supporting character in the series. He is a pale-skinned, tall student who wears black-framed glasses. Famous for his calculating personality and ruthlessness, Manyuda is an observant gambler who always looks to take the high road and seeks to become President.
In season one, episode eleven, titled The Woman Who Bets Her Life, a contest made two episodes ago spills over this one, where Yumeko challenges Manyuda to an official contest he cannot refuse. The game in question is a modified version of poker, and as the game grows longer, Manyuda winds up betting heavily and risking his life schedule. However, he loses the hand in question, which results in him giving up his council seat and accumulating billions in debt. Poker is widely available at many safe online casinos.
The incident causes Kaede Manyuda’s hair to turn white from the shock. He gets struck by the so-called Marie Antoinette syndrome, where a person’s hair color can change seemingly overnight. The name alludes to the 1700s French queen, whose hair allegedly turned white the night before her stroll to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
3) Life or Death
In episode three of the series, Yumeko gets challenged to a game of Life or Death by Yuriko NishinotĹŤin, a president of the Culture Club and a student council member. The dare gets made after the third-year student in Hyakkaou academy had just beaten Mary in a high-stakes bet at the Traditional Culture Research Society’s VIP clubroom.
Life or Death is more or less a deadly version of roulette where players wager on which side miniature swords will land in a cup. If they fall blade down, a gambler will win 30x their stake. Yet, if they land blade up, they will lose 30x their bet. Since Yumeko is a compulsive bettor who cannot resist high-stakes action, she gladly accepts the proposed challenge.
The first game ends in a draw, and then Yuriko wins. However, Yumeko has an itching suspicion that gets proven accurate that Yuriko used an elaborate cheating method that involved magnets that stopped Yumeko from triumphing.
2) Murder Russian Roulette
Midari Ikishima is a mentally unstable beautician who is a student council member that challenges Yumeko to a variation of Russian roulette in episode six of the series titled Inviting Woman.
The game these two play features two revolvers on a table. Each player gets to load one of the guns with as many bullets as they desire and put it in a box. The winner of each round gets to choose one of the revolvers and shoot it at their opponent. The game only lasts three rounds, and Yumeko demands that the loser must pay one billion yen.
The game ends in episode seven, with Midari eventually losing after various twists and turns. She begs Yumeko to shoot her, but Yumeko refuses.
1) The Tower of Doors
The Tower of Doors is a five-story building designed for betting races.
Created and owned by Kirari Momobami, the 105th student council President, the Towers of Doors is a five-story building that Sayaka Igarashi and Yumeko use for a bet. It is a structure that houses many mechanisms that allow it to get used in specific gambles. Sayaka Igarashi is the secretary of the student council and the Assistant of Kirari Momobami.
The Tower of Doors gets introduced in the second season of the show. Each one of its floors has multiple doors that can only get opened if a player correctly answers a presented question. The stakes of the contest between Sayaka and Yumeko involved that if Yumeko loses, she will stop betting forever, while Sayaka must cut all ties with Kirari Momobami.
During the competition, Yumeko discovers that the tower rotates sixty degrees every turn and that it takes six rotations for its central door to become accessible again. Yumeko uses this information and the mentioned door to climb from the first to the last floor before Sayaka, thereby winning their bet.
This race offered viewers heart-racing action that they are unlikely to find at real-world gambling establishments. The only option is if modern-day internet gamblers utilize a hefty casino bonus on novel titles that introduce a skill-based element for added excitement.
