Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Kakegurui XX: Season 2 continues the dark and gritty world of the anime series. The second season amps things up with even more thrills. Created by Homura Kawamoto and Tōru Naomura, the series streamed on Netflix. The production brings audiences back for another tale of card-playing dangers and big stakes. Who will emerge victorious?

Yumeko Jabami (Saori Hayami) continues to lead as one of the best card players at the Hyakkaou Private Academy. The transfer student became of the best players at the elite school (home only to students of wealthy backgrounds). Yet the school isn’t as prestigious as it might sound on paper. The school’s card games are sometimes deadly.

The stakes are on: the card-game losers can become slaves to the game winners. Yumeko is determined to win each game and be the best card player around. Yet she might find the task too great a challenge when the ruthless Momobami clan arrives at the school.

Can the Momobami clan be stopped? Yumeko must make new and unexpected allies in order to remain the greatest card player and avoid enslavement before its too late! The stage has been set for more thrilling chills.

As the central protagonist of the series, Yumeko leads the way. The character has a sense of epic determination to be the best of the best around. That bold sense of confidence is inspirational: something about the character simply “clicks” in to place and works wonders. As the stakes of her attending Hyakkaou Private Academy continue to expand, the stage is set for Yumeko to continue forward with the angst necessary to win.

The animation is excellent and one of the best components of the overarching production. The series has superb visuals and the aesthetic is achieved through the efforts of the team of animators. Art director Haruka Matsuda (Jujutsu Kaisen) and Masanobu Nomura (Hyperdimension Neptunia) do excellent work with the program and bring out great talent from the team of animators on the production.

The character designs by Manabu Akita (Garo: Vanishing Line, The God of High School) are excellent and seem to fit the production extremely well. The efforts are certainly commendable and manage to help showcase the artistry of the characters and their personalities – a strong effort from Akita. Good job.

The score composed by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND (Witch Craft Works, Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation) works well with the dark aesthetic of the production. The music fits the storytelling and is a nice backdrop to the series and its core concept. TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND certainly has fun with the techno-verse and makes the scale of the production even bigger and more impressive.

The cinematography by Takashi Yanagida (Samurai Warriors, Dusk maiden of Amnesia) works well with the series. The aesthetic showcases the horrors of the series concept and plays with the genre in an interesting way. These genre roots certainly are enhanced by the cinematographic style and it fits wonderfully.

Written by Yasuko Kobayashi (Casshern Sins, Attack on Titan), Kakegurui XX: Season 2 continues the series and its bold “high stakes” game. Kobayashi certainly enjoys exploring the lead character and provides the series with plenty of energy. A solid effort from Kobayashi and it works well for the production.

Directed by Yuichiro Hayashi (Garo: Divine Flame, Attack on Titan: The Final Season) and Kiyoshi Matsuda (Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul, Macross Frontier), Kakegurui XX: Season 2 expands the narrative visually. The series finds a balance of grittiness and excitement to push the envelope. Kakegurui XX: Season 2 will certainly appeal to fans of the first season.

Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Kakegurui XX: Season 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The high definition encode looks impressive. The artistic style of the series is excellent and the encode capably handles the art. Colors are impressively bold and well reproduced. The line art is well detailed in the encode. The production certainly benefits from the quality encoding by Sentai.

Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio quality on the release is top-notch and it makes a big impression with excellent high fidelity. Dialogue is crystal clear and sounds easy to understand. An effective sound mix (even despite being limited to stereo audio). While a surround sound mix might have improved some dynamics and expanded the score soundstage, the stereo audio design works.

Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, the release doesn't include much in the way of supplemental material. The release could have benefited some from the inclusion of audio commentaries, making-of documentaries, interviews, and other behind-the-scenes featurettes. The set is a bit sparse on the supplemental side. On disc supplements include:

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:32)

Clean Closing Animation (HD, 1:32)

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: Canaan (HD, 1:33), High School of the Dead (HD, 00:34), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III (HD, 1:36), and Alice in Borderland (HD, 1:32).

Kakegurui XX: Season Two Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kakegurui XX: Season 2 provides another round of excitement for fans of the anime series. The production has outstanding animation and this is one of the greatest strengths of the series. Yasuko Kobayashi (Attack on Titan) finds new ways to explore the story with the second season outing. Directors Yuichiro Hayashi (Attack on Titan: The Final Season) and Kiyoshi Matsuda (Macross Frontier) both provide the series with plenty of drama. The Blu-ray release features a strong video and audio presentation and a small selection of extras. Fans of the program will be pleased to own it. Recommended.