Kakegurui Twin

Her name is Mary Saotome—she is brazen, insolent, and defiant, yet highly intelligent. Upon transferring to Hyakkaou Private Academy, where a student's worth is determined by their wits through gambling, she seizes a glorious win against a classmate and immediately captures the attention of the devious student council members.

With the bottom of Hyakkaou's rigorous hierarchy determined by least gambling winnings, the future for Tsuzura Hanatemari looks grim. As Tsuzura's childhood friend, Mary resolves to rise through the ranks and secure enough money to free Tsuzura from the shackles of the unjust system. Mary's perseverance and refusal to lose drive her to surpass and humiliate even the strongest opponents, but certain student council members seem to have greater plans for her.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Saotome, Mary Main

Tanaka, Minami Japanese

Hanatemari, Tsuzura Main

Honizumi, Rina Japanese

Ikishima, Midari Supporting

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Momobami, Kirari Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yomozuki, Runa Supporting

Udono, Mayu Japanese

Momobami, Ririka Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Igarashi, Sayaka Supporting

Fukuhara, Ayaka Japanese

Juraku, Sachiko Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Sado, Mikura Supporting

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Mibuomi, Aoi Supporting

Yamashita, Seiichirou Japanese

Ogawa, Takahiro Producer

Hayashi, Yuuichirou Director, Storyboard

Makita, Kaori Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Fujita, Akiko Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 27, 2024

Supersonic_Pain

Recommended

imo this is actually the best Kakegurui gets

I think the first season of OG Kakegurui does some things better but Twin is overall a better product.

First, the protagonist.

Yumeko is... fine, but she feels more like a force of nature who loves ~gambling~. In a way, she feels like karmic justice in the form of a marketable waifu.

In Twin, our protagonist is a familiar face in Mary Saotome. This is a prequel (which I have mixed feelings on) so she's not 1:1 with her OG Kakegurui counterpart but she's still Mary Saotome and I just think she's a more dynamic and interesting character.

Speaking of which, she's ... given two buddies who actually contribute to the plot more than "sit here and commentate". Watching these 3 dorks start up a gambling den to help Mary's rise to power is actually pretty cute and fun, I enjoyed it.

I think the cast is overall better. A lot of the more annoying or underutilized characters from OG Kakegurui are gone. Runa's there but she's only really there for one scene and she's not the main focus of it, I like Kaede but he's only namedropped (I also like Itsuki but she's not there either), and Yumemi is gone altogether. Really, the only member of the student council from the OG series that gets any notable screentime is Midari which, based.

She's only really there for foreshadowing, both for her future and a later battle, but she does get a whole gamble to be a part of, which is a significant part when there's, like, 6 games the whole season.

The new characters are pretty intriguing. While I have some gripes with Sachiko and Mikura, I did enjoy their part in this series and I think her dynamic as well as Aoi and Sakura's are pretty interesting concepts.

However, speaking of Sachiko, I don't think she's that engaging of an antagonistic force? I feel like she lives in the shadow of Kirari which goes doubly so when Kirari is literally in the series (albeit as a cameo/shadowy antagonist). She's a bit of a sadist who has an obsessive fascination with the main protagonist and is part of the student council who has a servant who is also obsessively in love with her... this is just Kirari with a less healthy relationship dynamic.

I mean, I guess I liked watching Sachiko and Mikura so it wasn't that big a deal but it's just Kirari and Sayaka again.

How about the games?

I thought they were for the most part good. I think the first and last were the best, the first gave me real good flashbacks to peak Kakegurui and the treasure hunt had a really cool solution.

However, I didn't like the coupling game. It had good psychology behind it but I couldn't get behind it when the looming threat was "are our protagonists gonna have to spread their legs for dudes they don't know, including one who is fat, haha, get it, he's fat, nobody wants to sleep with a fat guy".

On one hand, it's uncomfortable. On the other, it goes back to one of Kakegurui's biggest problems which is they never commit to any significant physical damages. I'm not ASKING for someone to be shot or have their finger cut off or be forced into prostitution but you're the one who keeps making gambles with shit like that on the line and you have lost all credibility with me that you'll carry any of this out.

I also think the ending wasn't very satisfying. I think Kakegurui Twin the manga goes on for, like, 17 volumes and obviously, 6 episodes wouldn't cover that unless they either skipped over a ton of stuff and/or went for like 3 hours each. But, like, no one told you you had to make this. Kakegurui S2 ended on an open note/cliffhanger too, did OG Kakegurui not have enough material to adapt into a season, even a 6 episode one?

I mean, it's not really as cliffhangery as Kakegurui S2 but it just kind of ends with a "and the story continues!" ending which... okay. Part of this is at least handwaved away by it being a prequel but that just raises more questions.

There are 5 or 6 new characters introduced with significant parts to a character who is in OG Kakegurui and they just vanished into thin air? Not to mention one of them is gagging for Mary calling her her prince and Mary's dedicated to helping her escape being a housepet but iirc in S1, we meet Mary using and abusing a housepet?

I'm sure it'll make more sense if I read the manga but just watching Twin and going back to OG Kakegurui S1, it doesn't exactly flow easily into each other.

I think Kakegurui Twin has some glaring problems (weak antagonist, the coupling game, unsatisfying ending) but Twin gets a lot right. The cast is great, the games are fun, and it gives us a more engaging protagonist. Honestly, I kind of wish Twin was the original anime, I'd rather follow Mary and her buddies in OG Kakegurui too.

If you liked Kakegurui OG (particularly Mary) and want to see more, I think it's the best season of Kakegurui. If you didn't like Kakegurui, this probably won't change your mind.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 15, 2023

sliceofpi

Mixed Feelings

If you want to see if you will like Kakegurui, watch kakegurui twin! It is honestly a good prequel and shows what the show will be like, but is even better. It is also shorter, so if you don't want to commit to double the episodes, this is a good option.

Story - 6
There is more of a story to this than Kakegurui. In Kakegurui, Yumeko basically just goes from person to person gambling with them. But in Twin, Mary has more of a reason to gamble, and we see her develop a bit. We see her character do things other than gamble, which is ... nice to see compared to Kakegurui.
The gambles themselves are also better. There is some "cheating", but the cheats are less annoying and still have a bit of mind games to them. I didn't like the last cheat Mary used, though. I did find that the coupling game "cheat" was a bit hard to understand at first, overall the game could have been explained better so that you understand how the cheat works. But, the cheat for the coupling game was actually smart.
So, in short, the mind games are better in Twin, and there is more of a story instead of just episodic gambling.

Art - 7
I thought the art looked better in this season. Not as much hyper detail on the eyes, but generally more crisp art.

Sound - 4
I didn't like the opening or the ending, and the general soundtrack wasn't as good as the two seasons of Kakegurui, it was just okay.

Characters - 6
In my opinion, Mary is the best character in the whole series. She is smart, but not unrealistically able to solve everything and guess everything right like Yumeko. She also acts realistically and has a likeable personality. She is harsh, but it makes her character fun.
There are two main side characters that are basically Mary's friends. I like them as well, they have actual personality traits and are likeable. We also see how the trio becomes friends, and a part of how they met is used in one of the gambles, showing how this isn't just an episodic anime,

I didn't really like the girl who seems like she is the president and has a housepet on a leash, like what. Just more unrealistic and kind of annoying. But I did think some other side characters were good, like the two girls the trio works with for the coupling game.

Overall, we don't have any characters who are simply unbeatable and always have a trick up their sleeve, which is refreshing. It allows for more realness and more mind games.

Enjoyment - 6
The anime still wasn't amazing. There was still some unrealistic parts, like the fact that they even have a coupling game at this school, like who is paying for this and what the heck are these rules. But it is still kinda fun to watch, especially since the characters are better.

Overall - 6
Not perfect by any means, but it is the best out of the entire series. It actually has a story and some of the best gambling games.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 7, 2023

SethFromTheWest

Not Recommended

Kakegurui Twin, a shaved down version of Kakegurui.

It's the prequel to Kakegurui, but imo it does not add much new information/lore/plot/whatever you wanna call it to the anime show of Kakegurui. You follow Mary as a starting nobody in the gamble school, and just as with Kakegurui, she (and others) try to win games or gain advantages through some kind of scheme or cheating. This is the first shave down in my opinion. I might have different impressions, and I don't know if it is just the source material for this prequel, but the games and the schemes are really not interesting. Sometimes they are ... simple enough that the regular viewer figures it out if they think about it for a second, or the scheme/game is done at such a bullshit level that it doesn't even matter, the plot and story just move in favor of Mary by the power of bullshit.

The second shave down are the characters. Although they use the same or similar characters from Kakegurui, Mary feels very different(as it should since she is yet to experience everything), but she is at the level of a boring average character in the anime's world with a little bit more braincells and desire. Supporting characters that become her friends are medicore as well. One is just simping for her all the time without much reason, the other is also an average character which has little depth. I hate to say it, but I think the character I found so annoying and over the top in Kakegurui such as Yumeko, carried that show. If the voicing is less energetic and dramatic, it doesn't work. They need to be full on crazy.

The "crazy" shots are also shaved down. Where in Kakegurui you can see quite the number of dramatic close ups with sometimes glowing eyes and idiotic facial expressions, that is present in this prequel, but to a much lesser degree, and they are less dramatic. And that's a shame since those dramatic emotional moments went quite well with the ethically gray characters who would do anything to gain money when everything is on the line. Touching on that, that also slightly bothers me in this anime. Morals and ethics were almost nowhere to be found in Kakegurui. Yumeko was an addict that wants to satiate her lust for gambling, Mary was a bitch in it for herself most of the time, and you saw all that through the eyes of a wimpy MC. But in Kakegurui Twin, Mary has a feel of morality at times, a conscience for her friends, almost to wash her from the shit behaviour in Kakegurui. It's weird to see some good guys where first everyone had no moral compass, especially after you have seen regular Kakegurui. She and her one friend, maybe the other one too, for some reason have some kind of decency, but everyone else is just the worst, girls and boys, but especially the few boys in the show are just the scumbags of the earth.

Is this anime for you? This anime might have one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to please the cosplayers that overrated Kakegurui, and give them more material and characters to group cosplay as some pseudo lesbians with suggestive kinks. Otherwise, you are better of just watching Kakegurui, the Kakegurui in its full glory, rather than this shaved down version.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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