#anime: lesbian gambling simulator

[castleoflions]

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR CHAPTERS 107 + 108 OF KAKEGURUI In the omake (bonus comic) at the end of Kakegurui Volume 18, Mary laments about the cliffhanger awaiting us at the end of chapters 107 and 108!

If you like these translations and want to support them (I have lots of past Karis to get to and some potential future Lost In Translation posts), I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thanks!

[s3r3n44]

Every fandom I've ever been in

Creepy pasta (in)

Poppe the preformer (out)

Undertale (out)

Obey me (OUT)

Fanf (out)

Sailor Moon (out)

Danganronpa (out)

Cookie run kingdom (out)

Yandere simulator (out)

Aggresuko (out)

Sanrio (out)

Milky Way and the galaxy girls (out)

Hazbin hotel (OUT)

Hellva boss (DEF OUT)

Jammer lammy (out)

Bridge kids (in)

Postal dude (somewhat in)

Rocker horror picture show (out)

Doki doki literature club (out)

The eltingville club (in)

Mid 90s (out)

Clone high (out)

Deathlok (out)

TCC (in)

Wendell and wild (out)

Camp camp (out)

Super smash bros (out)

South Park (in)

FNF (out)

Mario (out)

Batim (out)

Little misfortune (out)

Sally face (out

Kakeguri (That lesbian gambling anime) (out)

GTA 5 (somewhat in)

Beavis and butthead (out)

Scott Pilgrim vs the world (out)

ICP (out)

Panty and stocking (not really into)

Kmfdm (in)

Siouxsie and the banshees (in)

Radiohead (in)

X ray spex (in)

Melanie Martinez (Don't like her anymore shes weird af 🙏)

Jack stauber (out)

Kittie (out)

Mindless self indulgence (out)

Sublime (out)

Vocaloid (out)

Type of negative (out)

Hole (out)

Daria (out)

Downtown (out)

Nightmare before Christmas (out)

Smile for me (out)

Cuphead (out)

Idk if that's all :(

Ima add favorite characters from each fandom soon lmao

[pathogenflock]

Name: Rafael

Age: 19

Pronouns: he

Interests: Nathan Pandit

adults, minors, employed people, unemployed people, chronically online people, acutely offline people, ai artists, traditional artists, digital artists, bots, real people, aspiring authors, published authors, starving artists, well-fed artists, nsfw accounts, sfw accounts, people who think in black and white, people who acknowledge nuance, neurotypical people, neurodivergent people, blond people in romantic relationships with other blond people, polyamorous, monogamous, polygamous, men, women, everyone between and outside of that, anyone to whom that spectrum as a whole does not apply, people in healthy relationships (mutually toxic ones are fine as long as you let me watch ^-^), allocishet people, aroace trans gay people, pregnant people of any gender at their late 2nd- early 3rd trimester, French people (Quebecois people are on thin ice, but the rest of Canada also DNI), my 5th grade english teacher, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, polysexuals, omnisexuals, police without a warrant, police with a warrant, drunk driving antis and neutrals, woke moralists, asleep degenerates, people with blue or green eyes, people with cavities, small business owners, megacorp CEOs, microorganisms that cannot breach the blood-brain barrier, vivisection antis, fandom elders, fandom middle-aged, fandom youths, people who dont read DNIs if theyre "too long," people with long DNIs cus im not reading that shit, people who send death threats, discord e-daters (i hope you break up), selfship haters bc why do you hate fun, medical malpractice lawyers, my ex-wife Miranda and her stupid fucking lawyer you can keep the house but you'll never have my dignity you stupid assholes 🖕🖕🖕🖕, my beloved son Eduardo except on weekends, flat earthers, globe earthers, earth "neutrals," people who hate on online relationships or think they dont "count," pro shippers, pro kayakers, and pro skaters, people who donate to ao3 (this one's for real), monolinguals, trilinguals, selfshippers lmaoo thats so cringe sorry, transphobes (homophobes are fine), anyone located within 50 kilometers of -57.40378, 118.63882, twinks, bears (person not the animal), activists, staticists, gambling addicts but if you send me $50 i may or may not take you off this list, autism moms, autism dads, autism parents who lost it all in the divorce (now demoted to neurotypical parent), autism not the step dads but the dads that stepped up, people who think women can get pregnant (only men do that), people who cant solve my riddles three, bears (the animal), The Bear (the show), people with "ironic" dni lists who are trying way too hard to be funny, debt collectors, toothpaste flag users, toothbrush flag users, "we live in a simulation" dumbasses, anyone whose high school mascot was that shitty bulldog png (you know the one), furries (scalies are fine). may add more

People with the first name "Nathan" and the last name "Pandit."

[transsexualhamlet]

Yea I don't trust anime studios. Anime studios have a habit of cutting out LGBTQ+ rep, disabled rep and darkskin rep from manga source material 🤔

One of the only animes I don't see that with is the lesbian gambling simulator because cutting out the gayness would cut out like 80% of the show XD

Yeah literally. Most of what I say is because I’m cautious of it getting cut out, especially since we don’t see bond in the s2 opening and there was no hint of it yet in episode 2. But I still hold out hope that it will happen, though I’m kind of worried they might twist his words because of course they would.

[castleoflions]

The final Kakegurui Kari Volume has been released!

This means I can finally start uploading past translated Karis up on MangaDex.

Life is hectic for me right now, so I'll be uploading those when I can – I'll make an announcement here when they're all uploaded.

I'm aiming to have most of them up over this weekend, though! Stay tuned.

[castleoflions]

I’ve actually been thinking about Kirari’s lack of regard for physical boundaries a bit lately. Aside from it being a quirk, I think part of it might have to do with her upbringing, which (spoilers for ch. 83) depicted caretakers physically fussing over her quite a bit. She might not have a decent grasp on personal bubbles because she was always being preened and prodded by the people around her. But that’s still a half-baked thought that’s been forming and may, ultimately, go nowhere.

As for Kirari’s speech pattern, Sin is right: Kirari speaks very eloquently, politely, and very femininely.

i love how ppl have a tendency to describe kirari as polite in fanfics even though she canonically skips school a lot and squishes ppls’ faces for fun

Let’s not forget that the way politeness is viewed in Japan is also heavily based on speech. I don’t work with Japanese translations, so @castleoflions might help you a bit more with that, but the way Kirari speaks in the original manga panels really points to the fact that she’s well-mannered and educated.

She doesn’t have Saotome’s coarse personality, she never spoke like Yumeko did with Yuriko, calling her “the human equivalent of shit”. She’s very soft spoken in general, we never hear Kirari raise her voice.

Also, since when is politeness connected to skipping school? You can be busy and still act like you have table manners. It’s a bit harder to justify the lack of personal space, but I think people forgive it because Kirari doesn’t seem to fully see why it’s wrong. I think she takes her liberties with those below her because if you think about it, as Head of a clan like the Momobami’s, no one can really be said to be her equal for now.

In the end though, as I said, I mainly consider her way of speaking to back up her politeness when I write her. I don’t head-canon the twins as someone who could curse on a regular basis, for an instance.

[castleoflions]

With the final chapter of Kakegurui Twin being released today, I got a request to translate the handful of pages that contained Sachiko and Mikura.

Enjoy!

[castleoflions]

I got a request to translate a few pages of Sachiko and Mikura's interaction in this month's release of Kakegurui Twin. Enjoy!

[castleoflions]

In the bonus comic at the end of Kakegurui Vol. 16, Mary tries to get Ririka to be more expressive by trying to freak her out with a scary movie, but it seems Ririka might like scary movies!

Also lmfao at the horror movie seemingly starring Kirari.

If you like these translations and want to support them, I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

Welcome back for another comparison of the original Japanese text against the official English translations! We’ll also be doing a bit of analysis too.

This month, Yumeko's opening speech was heavily sanitized in the English release, compared to the original Japanese. There are also some points of clarification for words used, tone, and things that just don't have a 1:1 in English.

This one will be a bit longer, so let’s get into it.

Right away, the title breaks convention a bit this month. Normally the title refers to one singular "woman" (or "girl," as Yen Press insists on translating 女 — literally "woman" — as for some reason). This month it's women, plural.

Specifically, it's "Kakegurui Women" / 賭け狂い女たち

Specifically, it's the proper kanji form of "kakegurui"/賭け狂い, as opposed to the title version (賭ケグルイ) we see regularly, which has kanji followed by a string of katakana, likely for emphasis.

In English, "kakegurui" has been translated as "compulsive gambler." This isn't necessarily wrong, but some nuance gets left out. Kakegurui / 賭け狂い literally translates to any of the following, based on context:

Betting madness/insanity

Betting deviant/irregularity

Betting fanatic/enthusiast

One could make the argument that Yumeko is overtaken with a gambling insanity (closer to a true compulsive gambler), whereas Kirari, while still technically a kakegurui as well, is more of a gambling enthusiast: she uses gambling as a means to achieve her goals. I say this because the main difference between Yumeko and Kirari appears to be restraint. Yumeko must gamble or she withers and/or goes stir crazy, but Kirari can refuse a gamble and, as far as we've seen, be no worse for wear.

All of this to say, I'm not sure I would've chosen "Compulsive Girls" as the title for this chapter. Had it been up to me, I likely would've left it as "Kakegurui Women," so that all the different meanings of the term "kakegurui" could remain for the reader to interpret its layered meaning.

Next up is just a point of clarification:

Kirari does indeed say "Sayaka, come here, please," with the implication being "Sayaka, you should move away from Yumeko." Kirari seems to know something terrible is coming, and Yumeko is the harbinger. We joke about Kirari bringing up Yumeko when Sayaka is expressing her adoration and loyalty for Kirari, and it's definitely funny in a terrible sort of way, but Kirari has been shown to be someone who keeps her eyes on her goals, even if she has to wait and be patient: she knows Yumeko is up to no good and she needs to keep tabs on her. It explains why she insisted on knowing Yumeko's vote count last chapter even with the election decided, and I bet she knew what was coming as soon as Runa told her Yumeko didn't have any left.

What really inspired me to do a write-up for this month's release is how heavily sanitized Yumeko's opening speech was. While it is technically not wrong, the original Japanese kanji provides layered meanings, especially when coupled with the visuals we get for this speech.

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: Why do so many religions make self-control one of their core tenets? They prohibit the emotion of desire...They prohibit venting your desires...They tell you to live as if desire doesn't even exist. I could never understand that. I've never done it before. I never even thought about doing it. But now I understand. The more I restrain my desires, the greater the thrill is! That must be why god has ordered me to hold them back!

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 何故数多の宗教がが禁欲を戒律とするのでしょうか？ 欲を抱くことを禁じ。欲を発散することも禁じ。さも欲ななど存在しないかのように生きよと。理解できませんでした。やったこともない。やろうとも思わなかったから。でも今なら解ります。禁欲するほど���快感が��すから、神は禁欲を命ぜられたのですね！

Why do so many religions have abstinence/self-control as a commandment? It is forbidden to have desire. It is forbidden to give vent to/radiate our desire. They want us to live as if desire does not exist. I couldn't understand it. I've never done it. I had never even thought of doing it. But now I understand. God commanded me to be celibate/have self-control because the more I abstain, the more pleasure I feel, don't I!?

I'm only going to touch on this briefly because I know this can be a point of contention with some of the fans of the series (and honestly because this topic could be an entire thesis on its own), but Yumeko's compulsion for gambling has, from the beginning, been visually and verbally portrayed as being an intrinsic and irresistible urge, synonymous with hunger, or — in Yumeko's case — sexual desire. The kanji being used fluctuates based on context, or exists as a way to convey multiple things at once.

For example, the kanji that was translated into "self-control" (禁欲) means "abstinence; self-control; celibacy; abnegation; asceticism."

The kanji for "desire" (欲) also means "greed; craving; desire; appetite; hunger; avarice; wants," and is the first half of the kanji used for "lust."

The English release says the more she can hold back, the bigger the thrill is, which can be interpreted in a few ways. The Japanese more explicitly says that her abstinence results in more pleasure / 快感.

The overall takeaway is this: Yumeko suppressed her irresistible desire and craving to gamble with Kirari until she found a way to circumvent it; by directing that energy into the destruction of the house pet system and, as such, Kirari's aquarium.

Which leads to minor, yet still scuffed translation...

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: President, you figured you could take me one after you took on everyone else. But Igarashi-san was with you as well.

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 生徒会長貴女は他の方��戦った後で、私の相手をすれば良いと考えた。しかしそこには五十嵐さんがいた。

Student council president, after fighting the others, you thought that then you could deal with me. However, there was Igarashi-san.

The English release is confusing, insinuating that Sayaka was acting on Kirari's behalf somehow, when we know she acted of her own volition, even if it was ultimately intended to be for Kirari's benefit. The original Japanese is clearer: Yumeko was spiraling, until she noticed that Sayaka was out in the open, making moves that were all but certainly to benefit Kirari, and that Yumeko could use that to her advantage.

As for this next part, I just want to provide the original Japanese for comparison purposes. Again, the English here isn't necessarily wrong, but the Japanese paints a clearer picture, specifically in how Kirari asks what Yumeko got up to once she was rejected.

In the official English release, Yumeko and Kirari say this: Yumeko: Then you misjudged Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yes, I did. Hee hee! It all works out. ...So? Once you realized that you cannot take me on... What did you do then?

What Yumeko and Kirari actually said in the original Japanese is: Yumeko: 見誤りましたね。五十嵐さんの愛を。 Kirari: そうね。フフ。だから良いのよ。。。。それで？私と戦えないと悟った貴女は、一体何をしたの？

Yumeko: You misjudged it, didn't you? Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yeah, I did. [chuckle] But it's fine/good. ...So? When you realized you couldn't fight me, what on earth did you do?

The "what on earth/what the hell did you" phrasing speaks volumes: Kirari knows Yumeko has done something terrible, she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop at this point.

Next up is after Sayaka has been mobbed by the house pets. I've seen some...uh, interesting, takes on Sayaka's state during this part. Everything ranging from trying to scrounge up a DSM diagnosis to trying to trying to fabricate any reason why her nose was bleeding other than "she got hit in the face with like a hundred bricks of cash thrown by pissed off students."

I mean this in the nicest way possible: just look at what happened on the pages.

Dozens if not hundreds of house pets just threw bricks of cash AT Sayaka, many of them with quite a bit of force – you can see several students winding their arms all the way back to pitch the cash at her like they're throwing a fastball. If you don't think that would cause some damage, imagine being pelted with hundreds of inch-thick, paperback novels from just a foot or two away. (Credit to LarkinUniverse for this comparison) You could probably come away unscathed from a few with nothing more than a few paper cuts, sure, but dozens? Hundreds? Thrown with force and vengeance? Aims at your head? She's shown actively taking cash bricks to the face. She's bleeding because she got slammed with solid objects moving with speed and force, just that simple.

Anyway. Let's keep moving, we only have a few more points of clarification to go.

There's a bit of nuance that gets lost when Kirari tells Sayaka she doesn't need to worry.

In the official English release, Kirari says this: Sayaka. It's nothing for you to fret over. I'm fine being the emperor with no clothes...as long as you're there with me.

What Kirari actually says in the original Japanese is: 清華気に病むことではないわ。私は裸の王様でもいいの。貴女が付いてきてくれるなら。

Sayaka. It's nothing to worry yourself sick about. I don't care if I'm the emperor with no clothes [literally: a naked king], as long as you're with me...

Kirari seems to know that Sayaka will go beyond her usual fretting and worrying over this. The kanji Kirari uses mentions "illness/sickness," so she knows that Sayaka is going to be so shaken by this it might make her ill. And she's unfortunately right, but it's beyond the degree she may have expected, judging by her shocked expression. Sayaka is bloodied, tear-stained, and in deep shock from the experience, explaining why she's drooling, staring off into space, and muttering an apology over and over. And when I say "shock" I don't mean the "oh she got super surprised," kind of shock, I mean the clinical term used for someone who just endured trauma and needs medical attention kind of "shock" that can happen to anyone who experiences a traumatic event. And make no mistake, this is very traumatic for Sayaka: she just inadvertently destroyed the very thing she moved heaven and earth to try and protect: Kirari's beloved aquarium. Kirari doesn't care, because her love is in Sayaka, but Sayaka doesn't seem to understand that just yet.

Also as a petty aside: Enormous Ls to any and everyone who has been saying Kirari doesn't care about Sayaka for years. It says a lot that one of the first things Kirari did when she was finally fully detached from Ririka is go to dote on Sayaka in front of everyone (credits go to RayDaug for that observation), let alone the fact that she's just freely admitted — again, in front of everyone! — that she doesn't care if she looks like a fool and is powerless, just so long as Sayaka is with her.

Which leads us into Yumeko's declaration. This is one of Yumeko's classic "Sa, kakegurui mashou!"/"Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" moments. However, in this instance, the official English translates it as "Now, let us give in to our compulsion!" instead of the usual "Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" it's been using for basically the rest of the series up until this point. For the same reason as the one I gave with the title of this chapter, I'm not sure I personally would've gone with that if for the simple reason that Kirari doesn't seem to have gambling as a true addiction or compulsion the way Yumeko does. If I personally had to choose a way to bring this over into English, I might err on the side of "Now, let's give in to our gambling madness!" instead.

And now for the final speech, which I'm including because some people were wondering about the phrasing used, and that's part of the reason why I do these – for comparison! The content is more or less fine, though "love confession," is never outright said, however "love letter" is.

In the official English release, the final speech goes like this: This is nothing short of a confession of love for her. A love letter the general public could never understand. Only its recipient would comprehend it. That...or perhaps she's forced to now? But either way, just one thing is clear. She...or they...they just aren't normal. They're completely obsessed. They're just compulsive gamblers.

In the original Japanese, the final speech goes like this: これは告白だ。公衆は誰一人として理解できないラブレター。解るのは相手だけ、それとも彼女が理解らせたのか！？いずれにせよ、ただひとつ明らかなこと。彼女はもしくは彼女らはまともじゃないギャンブル狂。賭ケグルイだ。

This is a confession. A love letter that none of the public could ever understand. Only the other person/recipient can understand it...Or did she make her understand it!? Either way, only one thing is clear. She, or they, are not sane – they're gamblers. They're kakegurui.

The implication of the English translation is that Kirari is the same as Yumeko – she's just a compulsive gambler with the same intrinsic, irresistible craving as Yumeko. Whereas with the original Japanese there's room for interpretation. So far in the series, Kirari has shown shades of that gambling madness, but it isn't quite the same. The text itself admits that perhaps Kirari didn't fully grasp the depths of Yumeko's madness until now, when Yumeko has taken advantage of Sayaka's recklessness and inability to see the forest for the trees as a way to get to Kirari. For me, personally, I see Kirari's surprise and weariness here as evidence that she isn't driven by the same compulsion that Yumeko is. They may both be kakegurui, but they aren't the same kind of kakegurui.

That's it for this chapter's Lost in Translation. Hope you enjoyed reading and comparing the texts, and — until next time — I'll keep chipping away at karis. :)

Thanks for reading!

[castleoflions]

In another Manga UP! exclusive, Yumeko is a witch who wants to gamble (lol surprise) with Mary! Mary isn't so sure...

If you like these translations and want to support them (especially   since Manga UP requires credits to view many of the chapters), I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

In Episode 206 from Manga UP!, Mary carelessly calls out Ririka’s name, and Itsuki catches them in the aftermath!

I’ve been seeing this one float around Twitter and Tumblr for a short bit with people asking for a translation, so here you go! Enjoy, Maeriri nation.

If you like these translations and want to support them, I have a tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

In EP. 85 of Kakegurui Kari from the September 2022 release of Gangan Joker (released August 22nd, 2021), Suzui happens upon Yumeko trying to complete a very painful gamble!

As for the text at the end of the chapter that says the next episode will be the last, yes, it appears the Kari that gets run in Gangan Joker next month will be the last one serialized by the magazine. I'm not sure just yet if that means no more new Karis, or if Karis will only be serialized via the MangaUP app going forward. We'll see!

Either way, I have a huge backlog of past Karis to do and these translations take a good bit of work. If you like them and want to support them, I have a tip jar here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

In EP. 80 of Kakegurui Kari from the April 2022 release of Gangan Joker (released March 22nd, 2021), Yumeko, Ririka, and Kirari try their hands at skinship...to very mixed results, including a misunderstanding with Sayaka.

These translations take a good bit of work. If you like them and want to support them, I have a tip jar here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

In another Manga UP! exclusive, Nozomi challenges Mary and Ririka to a gamble involving super spicy takoyaki and tries to use her dog, Innu, to gain an advantage.

Also very bold of Mary to be a stickler for cheating given her track record...

If you like these translations and want to support them (especially since Manga UP requires credits to view many of the chapters), I have a  tip jar on Ko-fi here! Thank you!

[castleoflions]

Please Joy, I'm desperate for your views on the last chapter! Is the official translation alright? How did you FEEL? I felt like my team had won the super bowl when I first saw the leaks ngl :P

It was a great chapter! Kirari really caressed Sayaka's face and told her she loved her on a livestream to the entire school.

I'm wary as to what Yumeko has up her sleeve, but we can worry about that later because Kirasaya came home from the war and immediately gave us a Tower of Doors parallel where Sayaka caught Kirari as she fell in the exact same way Kirari caught Sayaka after she jumped. It was [chef's kiss]

As for the translation, it's pretty accurate! There are some weird tonal things (like Kirari is more polite when she asks Sayaka for a cup of tea – she says something more along the lines of "Could I trouble you for a cup of tea?" and when she says "I can't refuse my secretary," it's actually a bit closer to "I can't turn down such a generous/kind offer from my secretary.") but overall, the content was accurate as far as I could tell!

One of my favorite subtle things is that Kirari seems a little disappointed or miffed that her and Sayaka aren't alone, that Runa is there. And when Sayaka reveals she wants to gamble, only then is Kirari like "Ohhhh, that's why you're here, Runa." A fun, subtle touch that does some character work for Kirari – she just wanted to be alone with Sayaka after a long day!

I will say this: Kirari doesn't use "daisuki/大好き," she uses "suki/好き" which can mean "like" or "love," depending on context. HOWEVER, she's emphasizing Sayaka as the receiver (she goes out of her way to be clear that it is "You, Sayaka,") and ends her statement in よ, which usually indicates that she's emphasizing her statement and telling Sayaka something she may not know already, and thus she should pay attention. With those two factors, it's more likely Kirari was using "love" since she was so specifically emphasizing SAYAKA in that sentence.