Watching 'Kakegurui' Season 2 Episode 5

Right, so, the clan in white did not exactly make the grand appearance that I was expecting them to make. Instead they made a subtle entrance trying to recruit Mary for something or another. That being said Kiwatari making an appearance was quite welcome as he was one of my favourite characters in season one alongside Suzui. What’s more, by the end of this episode, during the gambling battles Suzui only does two things, yell in jubilation, or yell in lamentation. While this is all well and good for an episode or two, it feels like a waste of talent as some of my favourite moments of Suzui in the show is when he is interacting with the rest of the characters and dialogue is progressing as a hundred miles an hour.

This season, while having a definitive arc, or rather a beginning, middle, and an end, I do respect the fact that they were not too overt and very subtle in the way that the show introduced the characters and the foils for the film. With that being said it does leave a lot to be desired as it felt as if the new characters are nothing more than props in the ‘school’ than actual characters. I would actually be surprised if all of the new characters in the new faction had more than ten lines in total.

The most important piece of the battle this time round is the outcome for Kaede, and his transformation, which was done in the most over the top way one could imagine in the anime, in fact the only thing that tops it is the reveal of Rei in season two of the anime. I must say that the live action interpretation of the moment was better than I could have hoped for it to be, and had me laughing hard for the next couple of minutes. As such I really hope that there would be a third season so that I could witness the Rei reveal in all its live action glory. However as things stand, there has been no word at all about a third season, or any other continuation of the live action version, which in a way makes me feel a little disappointed. Now the thing that I am looking forward to is watching the live action film.

Interestingly enough, the reveal of the vice president in this episode went off without much disbelief at all. It was what I suspected that they would do, and they did it. It was alright, though if you have, for some unknown reason, only seen the live action version of the story then, the reveal would be more impactful. I do not know in what way it would be impactful, though I suspect some impact to be had there. Thankfully as it is with most of the most obvious reveals they do not linger on the point for too long and simply get on with things promptly without wasting any time whatsoever.

As far as the whole season goes, as far as entertainment value goes, it is rich. As far as quality goes, I maintain that the sets that the show uses are fantastic, the costuming is great and the actors seem to be having the time of their lives. In addition, the effects used in the show, such as the glowing eyes and the hair turning a different colour are done in a way that maintains the realism of the world that we are in. Ultimately, is this a good show? Not really, one needs to have very specific taste in order to enjoy this incarnation of pure madness, and is not a show that I would feel confident in recommending to anyone unless I actually know the person and his/her taste well.