Kakegurui’s fans toast a decade of drama, chills, and high stakes that have had them sitting at the edges of their seats. In 2014, the audience first met Kakegurui. It was an instant hit, attracting massive viewership for its unique cocktail of psychological thrillers, gambling, and dynamic relationships between the characters. The series is based on life-threatening gambling matches within Hyakkaou Private Academy, where students’ ranks are determined by their ability to gamble their way through a bad hand. Let’s take a look at what awaits us in this crazy school where gambling is legal.
The Journey of Kakegurui: A Decade of Success
Now, it has set the stage for the world of casino gambling, where online platforms bring thrilling bets and eccentric characters to life, reflecting the intense drama of the series. The main character is Yumeko Jabami, who enters the academy as a transfer student and has an unreasonable passion for gambling. Orphaned by the very first day, she does not gamble to win like the rest of the academy but rather for thrill, making her one of Hyakkaou’s most erratic gamblers.
The manga became popular and was eventually adapted into an anime in 2017 by MAPPA Studio, and it became an instant hit. The anime turned the high-stakes tension of the manga into a visceral feast of stunning visuals with suspenseful storytelling and energetic voice acting from the likes of Saori Hayami (Yumeko) and Minami Tanaka (Mary Saotome). The first season of Kakegurui mesmerized viewers as well as attracted new fans on a global scale. The success did not stop there. Another season was released in 2019, picking up the story with even more excessive and high-stake gambling games to further leave fans wanting more while upping the ante with power plays at Hyakkaou. The animation style of the series, bold and expressive in character designs, makes each episode not only a visual but emotional feast/rollercoaster.
Expanding Beyond the Anime: Spinoffs and Live-Action Adaptations
Kakegurui began to take off with spinoff manga such as Kakegurui Twin, which would tell the readers the story of how Mary Saotome was created, with streaks rising within Hyakkaou. The spinoff also had an anime adaptation of itself. It further extended the universe and revealed that there were many things in store for many characters beyond what journeyed in the main storyline. Two live-action adaptations were made in 2018 and 2019 after the series, bringing larger-than-life characters to reality. While keeping true to the core essence of the series, these live-action versions provide stellar performances that are equally gripping and charmingly mad.
Kakegurui Manga: New Arc and Return from Hiatus
In 2024, Kakegurui manga fans rejoiced at an end to its hiatus. After resting for long, the series will come back with a new arc to maybe give more of those psychological battles it has based its fans upon. Its relevance happens to be the 10th anniversary of the series, which is also viewed as a fresh beginning entering into its second decade. Information regarding what shall constitute the upcoming arc is not yet fully out. However, fans wait with bated breath for next steps in Yumeko’s journey and new challenges that await her in Hyakkaou Academy.
Celebrating a Legacy
Even though Kakegurui may have come to pass its tenth year, the impression it has left on the anime and manga community cannot be denied. It would not be wrong to say that almost every anime lover knows this name. All set in a world that intertwines an interesting exploration of human psychology and societal hierarchies with a cherry on top of gambling fever creates a specific viewer they find themselves attached to. Be it adrenaline-pumping anime or character-driven spinoffs and even captivating live-action adaptations, Kakegurui has left its mark in one way or another over the past decade. With teased new manga arcs on the horizon and its legacy standing strong, there can be no better time than now to return to this world of high-stakes gambling and unpredictable thrills. Fans certainly await more heart-pounding moments as Kakegurui manages to evolve further while retaining its captivating factor amongst audiences for years on end.
About Season 2
Schools do not typically teach you anything about the real world, and whatever little is learned is just at the time of leaving the school so that it can be applied in daily life. However, Hyakkaou Private Academy happens to be one that deviates from this general rule by providing its students with a sort of small appetizer platter comprising all challenges they might face in the future once out of school’s protective environment. Because money is power, and those who are unable to control wealth will eventually be consumed by it. This is an analogy upon which their ideology is based. It operates as a normal school during daylight hours but transforms into this horrendous casino at night.
The students are groomed on how to manage finances—and sometimes manipulate them—for which it has been assigned this particular task. It is not going to be quite worthy just being a good student here, and the one who reaches up somewhere at the beginning of all gambling games within the school shall be crowned as the best student at the academy.
Yumeko Jabami is another one of those students who appears to have been sheltered on how things are run. However, unlike everybody else in the academy, she is not in for that money on stake, and neither is she interested in becoming that best student. She only gambles for the fun of it; that gives her an added advantage over most students. Sooner or later, every person within the academy notices her presence since she introduces entirely new madness, which was never seen before on gambling tables. In addition to all profits behind gambling schemes within the academy is Yumeko.
