As one of the most successful manga-turned-anime adaptations in the last few years, Kakegurui has amassed a sizable fanbase who have been awaiting the release of season 3.
However, since the second season ended on a cliff-hanger in 2019, audiences have been waiting to hear when they can expect to see heroine Yumeko Jabami and crew back onscreen.
A Refresher on Kakegurui
Japan has long enjoyed featuring gambling in its manga and anime (recall the critically acclaimed 8-chapter Poker King manga from the 80s), but Kakegurui is, arguably, one of the best iterations of this.
Based on the manga written by Homura Kawamoto, Kakegurui marries themes of gambling, mystery, drama, class, and psychological manipulation in one enticing series.
In case, you haven’t caught up to Kakegurui yet, the story revolves around the students of the uber-exclusive Hyakkaou Private Academy.
Here, only the students of the very rich and powerful may attend and be trained to eventually be industry
leaders.
Instead of being evaluated on their academic performance, though, the entire school hierarchy depends on the students’ gambling ability. If you gamble well, you rise up the ranks.
Alternatively, if you lose, your status gets demoted to indentured “house
pet” or worse.
Thus far, the school has been ruled by a ruthless student council. That is until our heroine Yumeko transfers in.
The calculating compulsive gambler Yumeko is one of the smartest characters in anime. The brilliant Yumeko uses her top-notch critical thinking skills, strategies, and charm to breeze through high-stakes games.
Where Yumeko differs from rest of the show’s cast of characters, is that she doesn’t care about status or financial gain. She just wants to win—and that makes her a worthy threat.
Throughout the first two seasons, Yumeko destabilizes the academy’s social pyramids. Without giving out too many spoilers, let’s just say this gets messy and violent for everyone involved. Kakegurui is a tale that fans of gaming and anime thrillers will enjoy.
Within each arc, the characters carry out plots with different classic games as a pivotal tool. One of the most iconic examples of this is poker. The series uses well known poker terms like folding, bluffing, and going all in to push the plot forward. Most of the characters use these terms along with card hand rankings based on Texas Hold’em and Japanese poker rules.
Given that it’s an intense series, though, the pot is always a lot more twisted than just a few chips. For instance, in Kakegurui’s Choice Poker, former treasurer KadeManyuda even bets his life. Ultimately, though, what the students stand to truly win at the end of the stay is yet to be fully revealed in the series.
Kakagurui’s Newest Spin-offs
Now, while the anime series hasn’t heard much buzz lately, Kakegurui’s success has already spawned more content.
Due to audience demand, a live-action film was released in 2019. Allegedly, a sequel was in the works in 2021.
Since then, a live-action web drama based on the sister novel Kakegurui Twin has also been streaming on Amazon Prime.
The web drama’s cast featured familiar faces like actress AoiMorikawa, who reprised her role as Mary Saotome from the films.
Is Kakegurui Finally Coming Back?
Since the series has caught up on the manga source material itself, the delay in season 3’s release has been understandable.
That said, most fans were expecting a return in the fall of 2020, though obvious COVID restrictions reportedly caused production delays.
With this, most analysts predict Kakegurui season 3 to return in the fall of 2022 instead. Unfortunately, though, should the third season be released there’s no promise it’ll be English dubbed or available on Netflix like it previously was.
Thus far, all signs point to a more targeted Japanese release, if at all.
Neither anime studio Mappa nor Netflix have given any news on Kakegurui season 3’s release date.
However, neither party has released any statement regarding Kakegurui’s cancelation. So, fans will just have to wait and see.
