Why Yumeko Jabami is Your Go-To Gambler Posted Oct 25, 2019

While gambling is sometimes portrayed in a negative light in the media, one Japanese series is taking a different spin on things and showing us, through a fun, cool character, what the true essence of gambling can actually be – pure entertainment.

Kakegurui is a Manga series that has as its central character Yumeko Jabami. Yumeko seems to be the stereotype of the compulsive gambler – the series name actually translates to ‘Compulsive Gambler’ – but actually isn’t.In fact, she could well be your go-to gambler, and for a number of reasons.

The Basic Premise of Kakegurui

Kakegurui is set in the elite school that is the Hyakkaou Private Academy. The school has as its students the children of Japan’s rich and famous and the influential, and the Student Council is a reflection of this. The Council ranks students in a hierarchy based on their ability to gamble. The students gamble freely once class is done, placing outrageous bets that could literally seal their future. Win and you get popularity and fame; lose and you become slaves or house pets to the Student Council members.

Into this setting walks in Yumeko Jabami, a bright and cheerful girl who has the admirable quality of being able to make friends easily. She is bubbly and everyone likes her. She is someone who loves to gamble. At first glance she may seem almost like a compulsive gambler, but there is method in the madness and she has a number of qualities that help her gamble away effortlessly, to the point that a billion-Yen wager is, well, just another wager.

Yumeko Jabami and the Ethics of Gambling

Gambling is fun, and most of us have wagered in some form or the other at some point in time in our lives. There are some of us who love betting on sports, and there are some who love playing pokies for real money, for instance. Yumeko Jabami loves gambling, period. But she has ethics and is someone who will never cheat.

Ethical gambling is at the core of a good gambling experience. Cheating could fetch you a win, but it takes away the excitement of battling the unknown and making the right call to score a win. Your reaction to a randomly dealt card hand is what gambling is about. Winning and losing are part of the experience, but cheating places you beyond the game, especially when you get caught. Ask any one of the countless cheats that have been booted out after getting caught.

Ruthlessness against Those Who Cheat

One of the reasons why Yumeko’s character is so popular and has been so well-received is the ruthless streak against someone she knows is trying to cheat. She is herself a person of total integrity and therefore just cannot stand someone who operates from a space of lack. You cheat because you lack the confidence to win and that Yumeko cannot take.

There is a transformation in her character whenever she notices someone cheating; she just can’t stop till she has not only won against that opponent but also destroyed and humiliated that person. There is physical transformation as well – her eyes turn blood red and she goes all out to get the better of her opponent. At that point her polite demeanor vanishes and she is focused on just winning.

The Ultimate High Roller

Yumeko could possibly be the ultimate high roller. She doesn’t seem to know or experience fear. A wager is a wager and that is all there is to it. She would not shy away from placing a multi-million-Yen bet against Mary Saotome, another of the central characters. When Mary challenges her to a round of gambling, with a ¥1 million wager, she politely accepts and in fact loses the first 2 rounds. She then asks for a third round and places a massive ¥10 million bet, which she means.

That is not all; she is also aware of her game environment, and that is such an important quality to have when you gamble. That is true regardless of where you are gambling, be it at an online casino or a land-based one. Knowing the workings of the casino, the fair gaming aspect – is it certified by a reputed testing agency like Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) or iTech Labs, for instance – and the terms and conditions of the bonuses is critical to ensure your experience becomes enjoyable instead of regrettable.

An Avid Card Counter

One of the traits that works really well for Yumeko in a gambling game of very high stakes is her ability to memorize each card. While that skill doesn’t hold much water if you are looking to play pokies online for real money, it will help you score big money wins in a skill-based game like blackjack.

The following instance from one of the episodes highlights what we are saying. Yumeko is invited to play Double Concentration against Itsuki Sumeragi and loses the ¥20 million she is given as trial money. She demands a rematch and gets it, and then wins on the very first turn: she is able to do this easily because she could memorize the patterns on the back of each card.

How it’s Meant to Be

Compulsive gambling is definitely something we do not strive for, but in the case of this character, she fights the good fight and shows her audience that this form of gambling is how it is meant to be – fair and fun.