Hi hi. More live-action posts here.
This one took awhile, I think I didn’t write a real review back then is because I was waiting for the movie to drop, and it finally dropped.
If you are wondering, there are 2 medias, the drama and the movie. If you are lucky, check your Netflix and see if you have the Kakegurui drama.
The drama had 2 seasons, but only 15 episodes in total, kind of disappointed. The movie lasted for 2 hours. If you wondering about the timeline, the drama covered pretty much the whole of the first anime season. As for the movie, its an original story. But do watch the drama first, even though the movie felt like there isn’t much link to the drama.
Story
I loved it. This adaptation is EXTREMELY faithful to the anime, despite slight modifications. The modifications were probably to accommodate the live-action acting style.
Despite the drama taking 15 episodes to do an anime season, the pacing is actually decent, not too slow or fast. The story writing is pretty awesome. Hanabusa Tsutomu really knows how to make good adaptations. If you are wondering, he did Heroine Shikkaku, and he is going to direct Grand Blue as well, I can’t wait for the latter, its going to be crazy.
I don’t think I need to comment much on the drama since it’s a carbon copy of the anime and I enjoyed it.
As for the movie though, despite the original story, I feel like they managed to pull off the original style on the story. There always a worry since there are so many screw ups from live-actions with original stories, Hyouka for example.
The movie was 2 hours, but I feel like Tsutomu always have the ability to get the message across in under 2 hours. He did it again this time. The pacing is evenly spaced, the ending was a little quick.
Overall, this is really the benchmark of live-action adaptations.
Music
I think the music here is a lot better than the anime. Yes, I said it.
The OP just destroys everything, the ED was decent. BGMs were actually a lot more better than the anime.
Casts and Character Portrayals
The cast list is pretty nice.
| Characters | Actors/Actresses |
| Jabami Yumeko | Hamabe Minami |
| Suzui Ryota | Takasugi Mahiro |
| Saotome Mary | Morikawa Aoi |
| Sumuragi Itsuki | Matsuda Ruka |
| Igarashi Sayaka | Nakamura Yurika |
| Momobami Kirari Momobami Ririka (Unmasked) | Ikeda Elaiza |
| Manyuda Kaeda | Nakagawa Taishi |
| Yumemite Yumemi | Matsumura Sayuri |
| Ikishima Midari | Yanagi Miki |
| Nishinotoin Yuriko | Okamoto Natsumi |
| Yomozuki Runa | Natsume Mito |
| Kiwatari Jun | Yamato Yuma |
| Tsubomi Nanami | Matsumoto Kiyo |
| Arukibi Jueri | Fukuhara Haruka |
| Murasame Amane | Miyazawa Hio |
| Inuhachi Tomu | Ito Marika |
| Nitobe Kyu | Onodera Akira |
| Momobami Ririka (Masked) | Kimura Maiki |
Its a pretty lit cast list. The most surprising one is probably Fukuhara Haruka, the seiyuu, portraying Jueri. Her performance was incredible. She used her voice versatility to her advantage.
I cannot comment on the portrayal of the movie cast, but their makeup definitely fits the theme.
As for the rest of the cast, their makeup just fits. I was a little disappointed for some characters makeup though.
Like Mary, she didn’t went blonde with her hair. Kirari went into the silver hair already, was surprised that she didn’t went blonde. Or a wig at least. Just to keep things consistent.
As for character portrayals, I really have to give it to Hamabe Minami. I was a fan of her before the show, I am a bigger fan of her after this show. The CGI crimson eyes was a nice touch for her as well. The rest of the cast really did a good job adding up into the insanity.
Scores: Drama | Movie
Story: 8.5/10 | 8/10
Music: 9/10
Cast: 9/10 | 9.5/10
Extremely Highly Recommended. This show is literally the benchmark of how live-actions should be. A lot of live-actions had original stories, but it has been a hit or miss, mostly misses. The live-action may be a carbon copy of the anime, but at least the story had sense, the characters portrayed their roles nicely, making it an easy show to watch.
If you want to jump into the live-action realm as well, this is a good start. 3D can still do 2D things if they do it well.
That’s all for me today. I really enjoyed this show a lot, I’m gonna rewatch this someday. And also, forgot to mention, its only 15 episodes and a 2hour movie so it’s not time consuming at all.
More live-action posts inbound, next will be a rewatch review. I actually have a backlogs of live action shows to write up so I think I will pick up my pace with the posts so I think you guys don’t need to wait for too long.
I will see you guys then!
