The continuation of gambling in the major decisions of these students' lives provides an appreciated consistency to the story.The gamble begins properly in chapter 19 as Yumemi makes her official challenge to Yumeko. However, her shrewdness will pay off in a big way if Yumeko is ultimately successful. If Yumeko loses, Sumeragi is certainly in a hopeless situation. Even though Sumeragi has been beaten and cast out in disgrace, hearing the rumblings of Yumeko's impending rebellion, she makes a bet to go "all in" with Yumeko as her leader. Not only that, it shows a good consistency in the attitudes and strategies of the students. While the plot-point was brief, it was well-timed as Kakegurui continues to build up to Yumeko's inevitable encounter with the President. Yumeko gladly agrees, leading Suzui to wonder if she's quite all there. Apparently she's given up on collecting human nails and wishes to secure a position on the student council if and when Yumeko successfully topples the current President. Who knows? Exciting to think about though.While the student council is at each other's throats, Yumeko makes odd bedfellows with former student council member and rival Itsuki Sumeragi. I might be off/reading a bit into it, but I will say this whole student council structure and plot is reminding me a lot of Kill la Kill. I'm wondering if after Yumeko defeats all of them and essentially recruits them to her side, including the president, that we'll actually get a peek behind the curtain at the real enemies of the series. As soon as this scene is over you realize that the power of the student council isn't nearly as stable as you originally thought. Up until this point you had this image of an intimidating and ruthless student council that was unified in its ambition/mission. I really appreciated this closer look at the student council. Power dynamics are organized by year, which is what's motivating 2nd year student Yumemi Yumemite to take the lead and try to take down Yumeko in order to consolidate more power for the 2nd year "faction", so to speak. In the vacuum of power left in her brief absence, the student council members all make their respective moves to either seize power, or help secure the President's position. Things are especially tense because at the end of chapter 17 the President of the student council abruptly left for a meeting following Midari's catastrophic loss to Yumeko at the end of volume 3. In short: "They only give oscars to white girls."Chapter 17 goes by pretty quickly, and lands us in chapter 18, as we get some great insight into the politics within the student council. I found it interesting that the manga actually touches upon a conversation that is pretty recent for us here in the states in terms of Oscars and race. Even though she treats her fans cordially in the spotlight, her real thoughts on her fanbase are laid bare early on: Yumemi is an interesting rival: while the "pop idol who actually hates her fans/is a terrible person" isn't an earth-shattering archetype, the story they flesh out regarding her childhood and how she was told that her dreams of winning an Oscar were pretty much impossible. A YouTube celebrity with millions of followers and dedicated, almost cult-like fans, her success following graduation is all but guaranteed. Much like the other characters we've met so far, however, she has ulterior motives and other goals beyond the path laid out for her. The chapters aren't organized into cohesive volumes just yet, but you can pick up these chapters on Amazon individually.Chapter 17 starts out by introducing the bubbly idol and student council member: Yumemi Yumemite. NOTE: Since the gambling obviously involves money changing hands, and the series uses Yen, I’ll be doing loose conversions to USD for the sake of comparison.While I wasn't completely sold on the first volume, after the impressive character development and compelling storylines in volumes 2 and 3, Kakegurui continues to impress with a strong 4th arc surrounding yet another member of the student council: Yumemi Yumemite.
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