Saint Dominic’s Prep School is home to the next
generation of the most ruthless elite on the planet. The way ones standing is gauged isnt by
grades but by skill of the gamble. When
a beautiful new transfer student named Yumeko arrives, Saint Dominic’s finds itself
rocked by a seemingly unstoppable Gambling force of nature. But Yumeko’s not just here for the thrill of
the game. Behind her playful façade lies
a girl who’s been seeking revenge for years and now she’s going to get it
anyway she can, no matter how much money or blood must be spilled to get it.
Oh Netflix, you just had to push your luck didn’t you?
The streaming service somehow did the
impossible with One Piece, bringing to life one of Anime’s longest running
classics and adapting it in a way that struck a cord with fans and general audiences
alike.
While this seemingly wiped the
bad taste of their attempt at Cowboy Bebop away, there’s still a bit of time to
kill before One Piece Season 2 arrives.
And for some reason someone thought a sure fire win for Netflix would be
a live action American version of Kakegurui.
The first trailer infuriated me and after watching the first episode,
that fury has evolved.
So much so that I’m
breaking FIF’s seasonal hiatus to do a special report on this one.
Because my God…this is…this is beyond
bad.
The problem with Bet (stupid freaking name btw) is
immedieate within the first thirty seconds if youre a fan of the original
Kakegurui Manga or Anime.
It’s Yumeko’s
first line, “Sometimes you have to do a bad thing to make the world better and
right the wrongs that have gone unanswered.”
HARD STOP!!! WTF!!! That is NOT Yumeko Jabami.
She is a girl who is obsessed with gambling
to the point where it’s more than a way of life, it’s a religion.
Yumeko is a girl who thrives on the thrill of
the gamble, pushing the envelope to the point where an impossible bet is her
ultimate release (yes in that way too).
Here, Bet presents a Yumeko who has come to Saint Dominic’s Prep on a
mission of revenge.
She plans to gamble
her way into the Student Council and kill whoever she has to in order to enact
said revenge.
Why call this Kakegurui or
even use Yumeko as the lead if theyre not even going to get what makes her tick
correct?
From there, the rest of the premiere’s problems speak for
themselves.
From the low, would be
seductive whispered delivery of everyones dialogue, especially Yumeko herself,
to the reimagining of fan favorites, especially Kirari, er I mean, Kira, nothing
works and only serves to showcase how badly Netflix has missed the mark with
this one.
The production value even
feels like this was long ago meant to be a CW TV Series before they decided to
do their massive restructuring.
The Student
Council lacks the colorful whimsy and terror they instill in favor of Gen Z
Mean Girls knock offs who, I’ll give the show this, deserve every bit of embarrassing
punishment coming their way just for opening their mouths or appearing on
screen.
There’s also the strange
decision to split Yumeko’s bestie, Ryota, into two characters: Ryan and Michael.
One acts as her guide to the chaos of the
school and the other is in love with her (to be fair, the actress playing
Yumeko is as good looking as the legendary bad girl heroine).
I guess Bet also needs a love triangle for no
reason?
Every second of the Bet premiere pissed me off something
fierce.
The only reason to carry on with
the remaining 9 episodes is because curiosity could get the better of me and I
wanna see how badly Netflix botches the rest of this adaptation just like
Cowboy Bebop.
Hell this could be even
worse than Cowboy Bebop and that’s saying something.
Oh and did I mention that there’s an episode
based around a premise where student play “The Most Dangerous Game/The Hunger
Games”.
To quote Ed Helms from The Hangover
Part II, “WHAT THE F*** IS GOING ON!!!!!????”
Ahem, ok now that I’ve burst those blood vessels, First
Impression Friday will return properly in August right here at the Gundam Anime
Corner.
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