What comes to mind when thinking about Kakegurui is people with crazy faces getting extremely aroused by gambling. However, the series is more than that below the surface.
In essence Kakegurui is revenge porn at the upper classes of the capitalist society.
Hyakkaou Private Academy - A hyperbolic parody of capitalist society
The way the school is created it's dividing pupils in two general classes. The "ordinary" pupils with all rights, and the house-pets. The latter are poor people who, aside from having to pay off their debt also have to serve the upper class without question. This servitude and constant abuse by the rich make it very unlikely for a house-pet to get out of their underprivileged status under normal circumstances.
Despite being technically part of a bigger society, the environment of Hyakkaou Private Academy is a closed microcosm of classist society in itself.
The rules extend to all pupils in the same way. On paper it's a fair system, however, some pupils come from more privileged background and can afford more than others to lose money, and money here is really everything. Your money decides your position in the class system and you need money to engage in the gambling activities.
The deciding power factor being money and influence instead of martial power and prowess make Kakegurui stand out as microcosm of a society driven by material wealth. The amount of money ones amasses equals their social status and the chances offered to them.
The Student Council - The Government Body
The closed ecosystem of the school is entirely controlled by the Student Council. There are no teachers or school administration. It is the council, it is Kirari Momobami, who control all aspects of the school. After all, she was the one that established the gambling system the school is running on.
The council is in theory a meritocracy. The president is initially a fixed point since she set up the system and owns the school, however, it is quite clear that she also possesses the ability to hold that post and is superior to every member of the council. This is also demonstrated by her offering the post in the election in the second season.where she also dismantles a number of minor gamblers, while the more able gamblers avoid her.
The laws of the school benefit the rich and powerful and enables them to amass more wealth, while making use of the middle class to keep down the lower class. This can be seen in the first gamble with Mary who is supported by her classmates to stack a game against Yumeko and other instances where Council members use their influence and wealth to influence games, like Yumemi and her fans.
Suzui - The Lower Class
Suzui and Tsubomi are two highlighted examples of the lower class. They became house-pets because they couldn't compete in the corrupt system and experience for themselves how the attitude of people changes just based on the class. People love to punch down, as is demonstrated by people who used to be friendly quickly turn against Suzui and Mary when they dropped from ordinary students to house-pets, as well to a minor degree with Yumeko. She didn't have a big status to begin with, as new student, but most people were respectful to her until she turned into a house-pet. Ordinary students are shown to be accepting of the lower status of house-pets. Everything is fine as long as you're not one yourself.
Both Suzui and Tsuboi were saved by Yumeko. Not just by removing their pet-status, but by giving them confidence that they are able to fight the upper class. That there is no reason to be content with being a slave forever. What Jabami is bringing to the lower class is not just freedom of pet status, but hope to generally escape the wretched system.
The issue that one faces when falling to house-pet is the vicious circle of debt. On one hand, you're indebted to the Student Council, on the other your ability to climb up again is limited as you lack resources to get new resources and recover from pet status. In turn, the Student Council holds power over your future and makes plans on how to use you and your future position.
The original content in episode 12 of the first season spelled this out quite explicitly with Suzui refusing to take the card the president marked, but rather to take fate into his own hands and take an uncertain, unknown path to his own "judgement" instead of chasing the "fool".
Mary - The Middle Class
The class system in Hyakkaou Private Academy is nominally binary. Either you are a normal student or you are a house-pet. However, not all normal students are equal. Most students don't have grand ambition, they are trying to survive and not become house-pets. They don't dare to defy the powerful because, due to their success in the system, defying them endangers the average student to lose everything.
And after all: opportunity is there. Poor students can theoretically become rich very quickly by winning a gamble against a wealthy person. Ultimately, the core theme of the school system is gambling. Just a bit of brain and a load of luck, right. However, as the series showcases frequently: the rich don't keep to the rules if they don't benefit them. Cheating is rampant in the school and the powerful pull every dirty trick legal and illegal to keep their wealth.
Most of the Council Members are incredible wealthy, but those outside are not. While they act arrogant towards their peers and especially the lower class, they buckle in front of the Student Council who hold not only legislative power but immense wealth individually. And this is a legitimate strategy to survive within the system. And who knows? Maybe one day you will belong to the rich and have others buckle to you? And everything is better than to be at the other end and buckle to everyone as a house-pet.
Students generally get angry at individuals who beat them, but rarely question the systematic problems that lead to their demise.
Council Members - The Upper Class
The Council members are a unit on the surface, managing the daily administration and enforcement of their own enacted laws in the Academy. However, as seen in the series, they are a fragile bunch that get busy with infighting and with their own selfish interests. They are serving the president, because it furthers their agenda and because they're scared of her and would rather work for her than fight.
In a way the ordinary students are split in three groups. The regular ones as the Middle Class that tries to stay above water, the Upper Class that has bigger ambitions, and means and the Student Council who hold the government, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary, as well as vast amounts of personal wealth. Above them again, is the president who is another level by herself.
Yumeko - Das Gespenst
Yumeko, while for the most part pretty silly and reserved, turns into something else once gambling is involved. Her depiction during games is demonic and otherworldly, her eyes shine crimson red, her aura is dark.
When she gambles against the rich and powerful she becomes a supernatural force. She values taking risks and doesn't value gambling for the sake of the materialistic profit, but for the sake of it. She defeats the rich and powerful in their own playing fields. It's always her opponent that picks the game and she goes with it, no matter how stacked it is.
Most of the wealthy people Yumeko gambles look decent - until they get pushed to their limits. Here is where the crazy faces come into play, showing the true nature of the gamblers. Their inward ugliness gets quite literally turned outside as they scheme in their superiority and get knocked down. When they look at Yumeko in her unhinged moments they see their own madness reflected in her crazy face.
Yumeko does not only defeat the rich, she dismantles them by showing them the other side of their own madness and where their unchecked gambling leads. She is what the ordinary student can't be: a vengeful spirit that does not care for her own well being and just relentlessly pursues the arrogant rich upper class successfully, regardless of the unbalanced system.
In conclusion - We live in a society
No, mom, I am not watching filth, I am watching a power fantasy about the dismantling of the upper class by taking their greed and lust for money ad absurdum.
Ecchi and the over-the-top crazy faces are the most visible elements of Kakegurui, but they are flavour to the actual content. When you strip away the flavour you will find in the narrative core a power fantasy about dismantling the rich elite and giving power to the diminished lower class by a supernatural force that overpowers the unjust system against odds
Someone successfully fighting the elite and uplifting the powerless is a common power fantasy, as the struggle for one's existence is relatable to many people and it makes for engaging storytelling, as it's satisfying when a protagonist wins against systematic odds.
Kakegurui stands out in so far as the class struggle is more explicit. The issues are not just some randomly evil people, but a system accepted by the common people. The strength of the exploiters is not physical strength, but the ability to game the system.
Kakegurui may be questionable if you're just looking for a gambling anime, however it makes a stand as a mockery of the capitalist system by showcasing the madness of chasing ever more wealth, of gambling away for the sake of more power. It shows the middle class as it claws upwards to not fall into the lower class. It's a specific kind of revenge porn that empowers the powerless in systematic equality stacked against them and encourages taking risks instead of accepting a safe, but downtrodden position, instead of just taking the bread crumbs the rich let fall off their tables.
