Kakegurui XX Episode 6 Review: The Hollywood Woman

Hello and welcome to another episode of Kakegurui XX, and may I declare that to my absolute delight the battle against Kawaru includes no more cringy performances; just good old-fashioned gambling and bluffs.

Plot

Yumeko and Yumemi have just lost the first round to Kawaru, who has not only astonished everyone with her heart-warming performance, but has also bought the audience back from Yumemi, asking them to vote not for her, but for the best contender. I suppose that’s the fairest play anyone could have wished for under these circumstances. After that crushing defeat, Yumemi faces Kawaru in a game of performative endurance. They both eat three macarons, one of which is infused with hot sauce. The goal of the game is to guess which of the opponent’s macaron had hot sauce, without allowing them to read your own face. Yumemi makes a respectable effort, trying to pretend that it was the first macaron that burned her mouth to a crisp, and breaking her own finger trying to pull a convincing face. No comment. Kawaru still figures her out and commends her overwhelming dedication (WHAT IS THIS SHOW TEACHING TO OUR CHILDREN??), then Yumeko manages to guess which one Kawaru’s spicy macaron was. Without much to support her argument, she guesses right. The second round is a tie.

Right before the last round begins, Yumeko expresses her admiration towards Yumemi’s resolve to hurt herself in order to win, but Yumemi has mentally given up already and just wants to suffer the overwhelming defeat that she deserves and go home. Yumeko is not impressed. Sporting a behavior that reminds us that yes, she is a psycho, she explains to Yumemi that she finds her attitude repulsive, and does not collaborate to help her win the last round.

The three girls are playing a game of soixante-trois. Normally, given the nature of the game, if the two of them were to collaborate, that would be an easy win. Yumeko initially acts all bitchy towards Yumemi, but Yumemi has some sort of anime epiphany about being an idol which rather inexplicably leads to them winning.

Episode Highlights

A classy player: Kawaru fulfilled what my expectations were for Yumeko’s previous opponents. She played more that fair (she actually bribed people to vote with integrity!), she stood her ground with confidence, and suffered a classy loss, without sweating, spiting, setting her tits on fire, etc. Also, she picked a food match, so many kudos for that; you go, girl.

It’s casual: Yeah, breaking your own finger to win a gambling match is not in any way a sign of mental instability or complete failure in sorting out your life’s priorities. These kids really need to get a job.

An interesting change in style: One of the coolest moments of this season so far is Yumeko crawling up Yumemi’s shoulder drawn in the most BASIC way possible. Both refreshing and hilarious.

Yumemi’s backstory: If there was a concrete way to illustrate the very meaning of the phrase ‘first world problems’ that would be Yumemi’s backstory. Some talentless spoiled rich kid wants to be an actress then another talentless spoiled kid distracts her into being a pop idol because her dad has a production company, and for some reason we should all care about whatever meaning those two find in all this. Oh lord, give me patience.

Themes & Trivia

Habanero sauce: The habanero is a hot variety of chili pepper. It scores very high on the Scoville scale (for those of you who don’t know, that’s the spiciness scale, and just thinking about what consequences consuming anything on that list would have makes me very uncomfortable) and The habanero’s heat, flavor and floral aroma make it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and other spicy foods. Also, Runa, you can’t have water after having spicy food, don’t you know anything?

Why do I miss the first season

Because it was much, better, that’s why!

How did you find this Kakegurui XX episode? Let us know in the comment section. And don’t forget to check the rest of the Winter 2019 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!