Well Bet (That F’ing title, I swear) dropped on Netflix
last weekend and if you need a refresher on my initial thoughts, you can check
out my special First Impression Friday episode right here:
http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/fif237-bet.html. And trust me, it didn’t get any better. In fact it got mind bogglingly worse with
each episode. Was there anything I liked
about Netflix’s horrendous American take on Kakegurui? Not much.
I liked Mary, that was kind of about it.
But what really pissed me off the most?
The characters. Oh sure they can
have the names and some visual similarities of Hyakkou’s demented and insane student
gamblers. When you miss the point of why
the characters are how they are and why fans love them so much? Why even adapt in the first place if you’re
not gonna stay true to the spirit of Kakegurui, which Bet definitely does
not. So, which Kakegurui character got
the worst translation in Bet? We’re here
to talk about that on today’s Top 5 Wednesday with the Top 5 Kakegurui
Characters Done Dirty in Bet (Care to wager who takes the #1 spot, double or
nothing if you think it’s Yumeko).
Minor Spoilers Ahead if you actually want to watch the
show.
#5-Ryan (Ryota, Part 1)Ok, cards on the table (no pun…no actually pun intended),
I like Ryan.
He’s one of the few decent
guys in the entire show and Ayo Solanke has some of the shows best moments (including
showing off some Magic Mike worthy moves to Haddaway’s legendary “What is Love?”).
Here’s the thing though, Ryan is basically
Yumeko’s bestie and Guide to Hyakkou Academy, Ryota.
For some bizarre reason, they split him into
two characters and I’ll talk about the other half momentarily.
Ryan is a good guy who is treated like crap
for most of the show (Mary does warm up to him though eventually).
His biggest sin is being a major simp for
Yumeko and his undeterred love for her makes him do some questionable things when
she only sees him as a stepping stone for her own agenda.
Ryan, you deserve better dude.
#4-Michael (Ryota Part 2)
While Ryan has charm and likeability to spare, Michael,
the other half of Ryota, is the exact opposite.
If Ryan is Ryota’s love for Yumeko (which isnt blatantly obvious as one
might think in the Anime or Manga, til recent chapters though), Michael is the
Guide side of Ryota.
He comes off more
as dull and one note, trying to dissuade Yumeko from her antics and more often
speaking any line in a panicked and naieve tone.
Michael also cant take the hint that he’ll
never stop Yumeko or anyone from pulling off whatever manic scheme they have in
mind.
He’s just boring and uninteresting
and if anything, this is the side of Ryota that could have been eliminated
entirely and everything given to Ryan instead.
#3-Yumeko (Yumeko)
As I said in my First Impression, everything wrong with
Yumeko can be summed up in the first line she narrarates, “Sometimes you have
to do a bad thing to make the world better and right the wrongs that have gone
unanswered.”
Yumeko in the Anime and Manga
is only ever about one thing: the thrill of the gamble and how far she can push
the envelope of intensity it brings her.
In the Netflix series, she’s only ever about one thing: REVENGE!!!!
It’s on her mind 24/7 and while they try to
keep in some of Yumeko’s signature excitable eccentricities when she gambles,
it feels forced and never natural.
Worst
of all (arguably too), Yumeko’s too emotional in the new series.
She freaks out when a plan doesn’t go her way
and doesn’t blame herself for any shortcomings, only others.
Plus she treats everyone around her like
pawns in her twisted game of revenge, even Mary and Ryan. The Anime/Manga
Yumeko wouldn’t just wipe the floor with this Yumeko in any game, Hell she’d
probably open up her heart to the true thrill of the gamble and make her forget
about vengeance…like Yumeko should always do.
#2-Dori (Midari)
Man this has got to piss off a lot of people.
Midari is a fan favorite from the Anime and
Manga: a psychotic Student Council rep with one eye and is obsessed with
violence and playing games with a high risk of danger or even death.
The Netflix series…well Dori has the
eyepatch.
But even then it’s not because
she gouged her own eye out in a gamble with Kirari.
No she needs the eyepatch for another reason…and
still has her eye intact underneath.
Oh
but it gets better.
No longer do we have
a psycho constantly wielding a gun that may or may not be loaded trying to get
Yumeko to gamble with her.
Instead we
have a video game obsessed agent of chaos who’s head over heels in love with
Michael (for some reason).
There are
attempts to show she is hurting from a less than ideal upbringing but that can
never hide the fact that Midari became the most neutered character of the bunch
in terms of her trademark characteristics and quirks.
So why isnt she #1?
Well that’s because we haven’t talked about…
#1-Kira (Kirari)
Kirari is arguably Kakegurui’s main antagonist.
She is an enigma, a puzzle no one can solve
wrapped up in icy blue lipstick and legs for days that only Yumeko can
rival.
Kirari rules the Student Council
with calm and calculation, never letting anyone in on her full plan.
Apparently that is way too complex for an
American adaptation because Kira is the exact opposite, almost as bad as
Yumeko.
She’s basically the Queen Bee a
clique of Mean Girls (aka the Student Council), who is less the ultimate
mastermind/gamemaster and more a spoiled brat who is jealous of anyone who wrecks
her little castle.
One of the scenes
that really had me groan is towards the end when Kira has a freak out so epic
that Kirari would just look at her and go, “Who are you again?”
When Kirari is sitting at the head of the
table, you have no idea how anyone can challenge the hierarchy of Hyakkou
Academy.
When Kira is sitting in the
same seat, you wonder how the schools leadership hasn’t changed multiple times
with how incompetent and whiny she is.
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