Netflix is once again trying its hand at recreating another anime with BET. Based on the series Kakegurui, BET follows Yumeko as she transfers to a school full of rich and powerful people who love to gamble. Her mission is to find out who at this school murdered her parents.
Kakegurui: A Summary
Kakegurui follows Yumeko Jabami, a new transfer student to Hyakkaou Private Academy. At first glance, she seems as sweet as she is beautiful. However, we soon learn that she’s a compulsive gambler who is in it for the love of the game and not for money or status like the rest of the student body. Her unhinged behavior catches the attention of the school, but more importantly, the Student Council President, Kirari Momobami. As the series continues, we learn that many of the students are a part of the Momobami family tree and are competing against each other to earn enough power to replace Kirari as the next family head.
Kakegurui began as a manga in 2014 and received a two-season anime adaptation in 2017, a live-action drama in 2018, and two live-action films in 2019 and 2021. It also received a prequel series, Kakegurui Twin in 2015. Twin also received a live-action series in 2021 and an anime adaptation in 2022.
What Does BET Take From Kakegurui?
BET takes the easy things from Kakegururi. BET is set in a private school where gambling sets the social hierarchy. If you lose a bet, you become a slave. Slaves are marked by a tag hanging around their necks.
It also takes the overtly sexual nature of the show. The trailer opens with Yumeko introducing herself by saying she’s been bad. There are also shots of the slaves being forced to engage in some degradation as they’re used as footrests and forced to lick up liquids from the ground. While the original show focuses more on gambling as a sort of sexual release, the sexualized degradation is also par for the course.
The Changes?
Kakegurui is a show that centers women. The series begins using a male character, Ryota, to introduce Yumeko into the show, but after that, most people forget he exists. This isn’t something that only happens to Ryota. The entire male cast is thrown to the side once their plot relevance is over.
In the trailer, we see two male characters. One who is scared of Yumeko and one who is impressed by Yumeko. While there isn’t a confirmation, I am afraid that one of these characters is meant to replace Mary, one of Yumeko’s closest friends. Mary is the protagonist of the sequel series, Kakegurui Twin. She is a very important character in the series. If BET potentially replaces her with a potential male love interest, it shows that the people in charge of this series did not do their research into the show.
Character Assassinations
Another eyebrow-raising decision BET made was showing Yumeko as an avenger-type heroine. In the trailer, she’s training against a wooden dummy and doing backflips with swords. None of this happens in the original series. It’s also blatant character assassination. Yumeko is someone who is into gambling for the love of it. She does not care about good or bad. If she can’t gamble, she doesn’t care.
The character costumes from the series are all iconic. However, BET takes the laziest route and waters down the looks to appeal to a wider audience. For example, one of the characters, Ririka Momobami, wears a white theatrical comedy mask to hide the fact that she is Kirari’s twin sister. The character who I think is portraying her wears a face mask. While health and staying healthy are important, this is clear evidence that the people behind the series did not understand the purpose of the character designs they’re taking inspiration from.
Verdict
The trailer does not convince me that BET will be a decent watch. If anything, it’s a hollow imitation that does nothing but make fans of the original series loathe Netflix for not throwing the money that went into making BET at MAPPA for season 3. However, I will be watching to see how they butcher the original series.
BET will premiere on Netflix on May 15.
