Episode Guide
A Girl Named Mary Saotome is a targeted girl who has been betrayed by her friends. She is a traitorous girl who has confessed to her friends and is now a resisting girl. This review will be about A Girl Named Mary Saotome, specifically her Confession and Resistance.
If you enjoyed the anime or manga Kakegurui, chances are you’re going to enjoy this prequel spin-off. If you didn’t enjoy the anime or manga, you’re unlikely to find much to grab onto here. In its simplest form, Kakegurui is a brief 6 episode series that follows the character of Mary Saotome. We follow her one year before Yumeko’s arrival at Hyakkou and Mary has just enrolled at the gambling-addicted school herself. She’s immediately enamored by the surroundings and decides to jump head-first into this world, complete with numerous matches against different students. ..
Kakegurui is a retelling of the same story again, but this time dropping Mary into the newbie shoes. In doing so, Mary’s character is vastly different to that depicted in the original, which is going to irk some people. While you could argue that it allows time for character growth, I’m guessing there’s a pretty big shift that happens off-screen for that because what we get here is almost a completely different character.
The show has a pretty simple archetype - a “rags to riches” story for a character who gambles her way to the top. There are six episodes, each with a different game in it, culminating in a final showdown with Full Bloom (more on that in a second). While the ending does include some typical “gotcha!” twists along the way, there’s always an air of deja vu about watching this.
The original series had issues shaking its structure too often to be fair, with chapters relying on cheating and last-minute fake-outs to surprise audiences. While that’s good when used sparingly, Kakegurui has always gone a bit overboard with the way it uses these. ..
The mystery around Full Bloom is the real meat of the story and unfortunately these 6 episodes don’t quite do enough to bite into the tasty potential inside. With more episodes exploring this group, there may have been a much more intriguing move away from the original series, fleshing out parts of this world that have been left underdeveloped. A good example of this is the character of Mibuomi Aoi. He shows up in episode 2 and remains an integral part of the story, establishing himself as the antagonist but never quite showing his hand to see what he’s planning.
The show looks great and the main theme of the series is a decent instrumental all the same. Tying that into the unpredictability of jazz music is a nice touch.
The hand-drawn animation is largely on the money too, with the lighting and general aesthetic really reveling in the myriad of colors this show bursts out in every chapter. ..
Kakegurui Twin is a prequel series to an anime and manga that’s garnered a pretty healthy cult following over the years. It follows the story of Mary, who is reincarnated as a rabbit in order to save her family from being killed by a dragon. The series repeats familiar ground for better or worse, but it’s hard to shake off the feeling of Deja vu while watching. If you’re looking for more of the same, diehard fans should find enough to enjoy here. Everyone else will likely come away feeling a bit indifferent to this one.
