DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA DramaKakegurui Twin
ANIME DramaKakegurui

REVIEWS

• 

  R2R

  55/100
  "Hot-Crazy-Yurified chicks are cool" - Kakegurui Twin

  https://anilist.co/anime/141351/KAKEGURUI-TWIN/ *Before going into Review;* "Kakegurui Twin" is pretty stand alone. You don't really have to watch the main series to understand what's happening here. Also, it's incomplete.

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  Though Kakegurui only had 2 seasons, I didn't wanted to watch it, given the slightly mixed reception it got and scenes like this made me wonder if gambling was really the point of the show. But I was still curious to see what made Kakegurui one of the popular gambling anime as it is so I checked Twin first and.. I have some mixed opinions.

  The story follows "Saotame Mary" in Hyakkaou Academy where not a single day passes without someone in school loosing their shit. Money, virginity, dignity, anything can be a prize and nothing matters in this school, as long as it's an end result of gambling. What makes this is even more f-ked up is that "cheating is allowed", which is the biggest problem here.
  Because when you allow cheating, you're basically distinguishing the characters, not based how intelligent they are but based on how stupid they are. The moment you hear a character inner monoluging about their plan as an attempt to hook the viewer, it pretty much tells why the said character will end up ridiculed later down the game, and this basically what happens through out this Anime and so it does in many of these kind of Anime that have been lately popular.
  Now one would argue, "Well, Kaiji also does the same thing" for which I agree. Kaiji becomes predictable but there's an underlying theme in Kaiji, which what makes it a great psycological Anime, and one Twin didn't had. That is;

  Gambling is FUCKED

  Kaiji draws you into its gambles, mainly because it constantly reminds you why gambling is so fucked and it takes a realistic approach to do it. Kakegurui Twin doesn't have this. Most of the 'Gambling' part went into its mind games complexity which I applaud for but it doesn't work either because if you remember correctly, "Cheating is a-OK". The reason I repeat this is because the show repeats this too. "No one said [insert convenient loophole in rule], so you lose/win", that's the underlying structure of all explanations at the end of every game but it does have some interesting character antiques to look forward to. The underlying theme in Kakegurui Twin is just "Gambling is fun, and hot-crazy-yurified chicks are cool", that's basically it. But;

  Is Twin a bad show?

  With all my rambling about why Twin don't hold a candle towards my favourite Anime makes it seem like I'm hating the show, which I don't because "Kakegurui Twin" is definitely a fun show. As I said, its underlying theme is "Fun with crazy Anime girls" and it does that part great. As over the top as it is, it is confident in its mind game elements, and it does it with style. MAPPA's trademark visual flair can be found in it's Jazzy opening, absolutely bop of an ending and the over the top characters does their job to deliver the fun you want to see. I personally thought characters weren't bad, they're pretty one dimensional except Mary, who's two dimensional (Wow, who would've guessed your waifu is 2D xD) and the whole Yuri element is.. well, it is a bit charming, except that pet, if you know what I mean.

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  Conclusion

  Want to watch some CGDCG (Cute girls doing crazy gambling) with some Yuri in the mix?
  Well, this is for you.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  LiyuuSix

  68/100
  Your typical Kakegurui day at the office

  

  I've always followed Kakegurui with a great interest since the day it started airing because the world of gambling is something that I really like to study for how crazy and stupid it is, but more than that I love when an anime includes the gambles with great and massive strategies in order to take the win and probably this is where Kakegurui excels at : having a great and big strategy; but it hurts me to say that maybe it's the only thing I actually like about the show itself.

  But on its own TWINS is a good addition to the franchise because it directly aims to someone I always wanted to see more, Mary, because I always felt she never expressed her great talent and potential that I always saw in the anime, and I was truly happy to see her leading someone other to take the prize.
  

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  Kakegurui will never learn

  
  I've enjoyed these 6 episodes but sadly I felt them extremely wayyyy too long and boring at times, why? The beauty of an anime about gambling or games is when you have to create a good strategy, and until this point there is nothing wrong, but the explanation here as incredibly too long and boring at times and it makes the watch a little less enjoyable than what it should be. You see, I know that this anime has a lot of potential but I will always feel that the execution of it lacks enough for everything that is not about the games, or directly what we see and not what is going on behind it.

  Don't get me absolutely wrong I will make it clear : I loved every plan to win and I liked to foreshadowing of them, but I hate the extremely long sections where the characters explain everything; and you are right because this is a necessary part because we have to understand what happened, but I don't feel engaged in it as I should be. Kaiji did it, even if that is the gambling anime for title and excellence, and I always felt engaged in understanding what happened; or even worse in Kakegurui I often lost myself in the talks because they were getting too long or too fast or simply I couldn't understand what they were saying.

  Simply? It's at times too slow, and when it's like that it's really too slow sadly.

  Other than that I felt Tsuzura got a little wasted in terms of possible development, and yes I know this was intended to be a Mary anime but Tsuzura got shown as a literal main character and ended up as being the dog, which again isn't necessarily bad but I know that there was room for her to be something greater as a character rather than "Ok miss, I will execute". But she is really cute, man.
  

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  but it has also delivered when it mattered

  But the best piece of the show came, as usual, in the games thanks to their unpredictability and well executed plans. The climax and suspense here were really massive, especially in the games of the third-fourth episode and in the final one that really caught me off guard and surprised, I won't lie I even said "ahah you got outplayed".
  Kakegurui has to be praised at least for the action of the gambles and the games and how fast they are, they don't leave any room to rest to the viewer, and seeing each character getting crazy is absolutely fun, and it is full of plot twists as you would expect from this kind of anime.
  Off the games there wasn't too much action but the ending was able to make me do a little jump for how unexpected the outcome was.
  

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  Girls and gambles, what's better than this?

  Probably many other things because sadly I feel like Kakegurui is not able to shine at its best in order to make this work what it should be, sometimes it's either too fast or too slow, but knowing that this was a simple 6 episodes spin off I am satisfied; I even got my Mary content so I couldn't be happier.
  If a third season comes then I hope it will be able to learn because the potential is there but it is not used to the best.

  Personal scores
  Story : 6.8/10
  Characters : 6.5/10
  Music : 8/10
  Animations : 7.5/10
  Personal enjoyment : 6.8/10
  Final : 6.8/10
  Ehhhh, could've been better

  Continue on AniList
• 

  RebelPanda

  39/100
  At least the posters look cool...

  Kakegurui has always been known for two things: Mentally deranged high schoolers' gambling and outstanding opening/ending credits. The half-baked prequel series, Kakegurui Twin, only has one of those things.

  Unfortunately, the opening is a generic instrumental song with awkwardly lifeless visuals. If you enjoyed Kakegurui's first two seasons for its ridiculous characters, disturbing facial expressions, and idiotic games, Twin might scratch that itch. Instead of following Yumeko and her generic male companion (I do not remember his name), this short spin-off series focuses on Mary Saotome's origin at Hyakkou academy. Upon enrolling, a naiive Mary allies with Tsuzura, a friendly girl with no gambling skills. Both immediately become in debt, conned, and forced into the role of "House-pet" (AKA Kakegurui's bondage-inspired penalty for broke students). The dynamic duo leads a refreshing hybrid sitcom, "Gambling Apocalypse x 2 Broke Girls" as they attempt to rise in the school's ranking. It's a lazy rehash of the first season's plot.

  

  There's a handful of side characters—mostly girls only distinguishable by candy-colored hair and the number of times the camera zooms in on their breasts. The few male characters, one-dimensional perverts at best, are motivated by their desire to win against and/or date the girls. The guys bet for girls, like a more NTR version of Rent-a-Girlfriend, whereas the girls bet for cash. Each gamble is laced with the series' patented horniness—if that annoys you, don't even bother watching Twin because it's more like a fanservice OVA stretched thin rather than a standalone spin-off. Twin's most noticeable difference from the anime is its aesthetics. Over-saturated lighting and high-contrast color-grading make it feel like you're tripping on psychedelics. Those effects look fabulous in the colorful posters; in the anime, it's a cheap attempt at covering lackluster art and mediocre animation. MAPPA's entire production appears rushed, and with zero impressive animation cuts, it's clear the studio was on a time constraint.

  Twin sucks as a spin-off to Kakegurui because the author wrote the original manga with zero thought for a prequel. You could easily watch Twin without seeing the first two seasons. The original story, themes, and characters are irrelevant. Six episodes pass, and almost nothing new is learned about Mary (partially because that'd risk messing up the continuity). The new characters are gone and forgotten by the end. At least it makes no pretense of complex characters, unlike the main anime. The ending teased a sequel (which I'll watch like the fool I am), so perhaps they'll explain how dozens of characters disappeared. Even the mysterious student council is barely referenced—wasting the opportunity to develop the enigmatic members. However, there's not much you could do to fix the original's flaws. Almost every problem in the first two seasons—lack of logic, no stakes, shallow characterization, etc.—applies to this one, so go read AndoCommando's reviews if you want an in-depth analysis.

  

  Kakegurui was ironically entertaining in its own schlocky way. Twin was just phoned in Netflix fodder. The over-the-top personalities, unhinged mannerisms, and over-exaggerated voice acting of the first two seasons are nowhere to be found. It's as if someone fed Kakegurui to Netflix's algorithm and removed all the trashy charm. Thank god this was only a mere 6 episodes. I don't think I would've survived anymore.

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