In Kakegurui, Yumeko Jabami is a transfer student to the prestigious Hyakkaou Academy, a school where everything revolves around gambling. When Yumeko's compulsive gambling threatens to upset the social hierarchy, forces align to try to preserve the status quo.
Kakegurui has won praise for its focus on the concept of gambling as a taboo and has gained popularity due to its wild plot and even wilder gambling matches. With both seasons currently available on Netflix and no date announced for the release of season 3, fans will have to get by rewatching the best episodes of the anime to date.
"A Woman Named Yumeko Jabami" (S1, E1) - 7.7
"A Woman Named Yumeko Jabami," introduces fans to Hyakkaou Academy's method of ranking students according to their gambling proficiency and also sets the tone for the rest of the series. The episode opens with Class President Ryota Suzui showing Yumeko around the school, but Yumeko makes it clear that all she wants to do is gamble.
Later, Yumeko accepts Mary Saotome's challenge to play a modified version of Rock, Paper Scissors. Mary has rigged the game and quickly gains the advantage, but Yumeko sees through the trick and convinces Mary to accept a 10 million yen bet on one final hand, which Yumeko wins. The episode perfectly sets up Yumeko as an unpredictable and terrifying protagonist who will stop at nothing to satisfy her gambling addiction.
"A Boring Girl" (S1, E2) - 7.8
Yumeko continues her thrill-seeking behavior in "A Boring Girl." In this episode, Yumeko bets her fingernails in a game of memory against a student council member, Itsuki Sumeragi, the daughter of a toy company CEO who has never lost a game of cards.
One of the best tropes in Kakegurui involves Yumeko unraveling her opponent's deceptive tactics in a surprising plot twist for the anime. Yumeko's talents are once again on full display, as even though Itsuki uses cards with tiny markings that allow her to know the identity of each card, Yumeko discerns the meaning of each marking and leverages her amazing memory to defeat Itsuki in a single round.
"Slit-Eyed Woman" (S1, E3) - 7.8
Season 1, episode 3, "Slit-Eyed Woman," pits Yumeko against the president of the Culture Club, Yuriko Nishinotouin, with Yumeko betting all of her winnings that she earned from Mary and Itsuki. Despite knowing that the game involves a magnet that allows the dealer to rig the outcome in one player's favor, Yumeko continues to play for the thrill of gambling.
Just when it looks like Yuriko has bitten off more than she can chew, she ends up winning the match and Yumeko ends up 310 million yen in debt. This is the first time Yumeko is seen to lose, but the loss doesn't dampen her attitude and she leans into her newfound status as a housepet.
"The Women Of Momobami Clan" (S2, E2) - 7.8
"The Women of Momobami Clan" introduces fans to the rules of the election that will determine the next student council president of Hyakkaou Academy along with a host of new antagonists in the form of the Momobami branch family members. It sets up the events of the second season and the anime leaves fans with more questions than answers about Yumeko's past.
Despite Mary's entreaty to be careful, Yumeko ignores her friend's warming and agrees to play in Erimi Mushibami's guillotine game. However, Yumeko flips the script on Erimi and ends up toying with the young girl's nerves, which allows her to easily win the match.
"The Winning Woman" (S2, E8) - 7.8
"The Winning Woman" features one of the most mind-bending games of the series, as Yumeko and Itsuki play a game called The Greater Good with Kaede Manyuda, Miloslava Honebami, and Ibara Obami. With over 100 votes on the line, the game is a must-win for those seeking to become student council president, but that's not all the game has in store.
At first, Kaede is reluctant to play the game, but after some calculated prodding from Yumeko, he regains some of his old confidence. By the end of the game, Kaede reveals that Itsuki is using Miloslava to cheat, which prompts the others to vote her out of the game. Although Kaede regaining his gambling mojo means that Itsuki loses her votes in her side bet with Terano, she could care less, as she admits that she is just happy that he is back to his old self.
"The Woman Who Became Human" (S1, E5) - 7.9
After defeating Mary and forcing her to become a housepet in the first episode, Yumeko joins forces with her former rival in "The Woman Who Became Human." In this episode, the two of them work together to simultaneously defeat Jun in the Debt Exchange Game and raise their financial prospects.
Upon deducing that Jun is manipulating Nanami to cheat, Yumeko and Mary turn the game into an elaborate bluff. He begins to panic and tries to force Nanami to fold so he can win, but Yumeko provokes her into staying firm. Mary ends up winning and erasing her debt while Jun takes on Yumeko's debt, but most importantly, Yumeko manages to turn Mary from a villain into a hero.
"Gambling Woman" (S1, E12) - 7.9
For the majority of the first season, Yumeko's only desire is to gamble against Kirari and she finally gets her chance in the season finale. In "Gambling Woman," Yumeko and Kirari play a game called Tarot Cards of Fate, with the loser of the match agreeing to be expelled from the academy.
With Yumeko's and Kirari's future at Hyakkaou Academy at stake, Kakegurui's best-ranked gamblers face-off in a game that relies solely on luck but is also stacked heavily in Kirari's favor. In one of the best moments of the series, Ryota confesses his feelings for Yumeko and picks the final card of the game purely on instinct, which leads the match to end in a draw.
"The Women Who Lead" (S2, E4) - 8.0
In "The Women Who Lead," the second round of the Nym Type Zero game begins with Miri Youbami and Miyo Inbami reflecting on how they use a secret code to cheat in games. Despite this underhanded tactic, Mary once again steps up reminds everyone why she is a force to be reckoned with.
Upon Yumeko's instructions, Ryota follows Mary's every instruction, which leads them to win the second round. While Miyo and Miri are confident they can win the final round, Mary subverts their expectations again and reveals that she deduced the card order after watching the dealer use a special shuffle. The episode features some of Mary's best moments and cements her as one of the show's best gamblers.
"The Logical Woman" (S2, E10) - 8.2
Sayaka's and Kirari's friendship is one of the most complex relationships in the anime, which makes Sayaka's willingness to wage it in the Tower of Doors game all the more surprising. "The Logical Woman" follows Sayaka as she struggles to prove that her logic is superior to Yumeko's intuition.
For a moment, it appears that Sayaka will win, but by the time she reaches the top of the tower, Yumeko is already there, having deduced that the center of the tower is a staircase that she uses to win the game. Distraught, Sayaka jumps from one of the open doors but is saved after landing on a safety mat below the tower. In one of the sweetest moments of the series, Kirari asks Sayaka to be her secretary again, proving that she is still one of the hardest characters to read.
"The Woman Who Bets Her Life" (S1, E11) - 8.3
The penultimate episode of season 1 is also the best episode in Kakegurui to date. In "The Woman Who Bets Her Life," Yumeko and Kaede's high-stakes match comes to a head and everyone involved ends up betting more than they bargained for.
After Yumeko runs out of chips, Itsuki continues to bankroll her, but even their combined funds aren't enough to match Kaede's, which prompts Yumeko to suggest that Itsuki bet her life. While she initially refuses, Yumeko overwhelms her to the point that Itsuki rips out her own fingernails to goad Kaede to bet 10 billion yen on Itsuki's life. This proves to be his undoing, as he falls for their trap and loses everything.