I meant to post this earlier but there was delays due due to the forum side thing, not that the forum thread are all up to date or anything like that as am still updating it. However I will try to do both at the same time, so whenever there is no post I will try to update forum with new threads and when there is new post that would meant no forum side updates.
Episode 1: Shiritsu Hyakkaou Academy is one of Japan's most prestigious schools, where only the rich can enter. However, unlike normal schools, this one is run entirely by the Student Council and possesses a frightening hierarchy determined by gambling. There, the best gamblers enjoy popularity, money, connections and authority, while those in debt are deemed as Pets and servants to the entire student body, recognisable with a chain and tag around their neck. Yumeko Jabami, a beautiful but mysterious second-year transfer student, arrives at Hyakkaou Academy and is introduced to the school by Ryota Suzui, a male student who has been classified as a bottom-ranked Pet after having lost a gamble to Mary Saotome, their class's best gambler, and hence accumulating a large debt. As Ryota warns Yumeko of the gambling system and discourages her from gambling, Mary challenges Yumeko to a modified Rock-Paper-Scissors game: (Jankenpon). Although Yumeko loses all her chips, she requests for a final bet worth 10 million yen in cash, revealing how Mary had manipulated the classmates' votes to allow her to determine the probability of Yumeko's cards and retaliate with her own, and ultimately winning the game. Afterwards, Ryota apologises to Yumeko for his major role in helping Mary cheat, but Yumeko gifts him some of her winnings as thanks for adding to the thrill of the game instead and considers him her friend.
Episode 2: Follow her loss, Mary becomes a Pet. Yumeko, whose name has been spread all over the school for having beat Mary on her first day after her transfer, is challenged to a Double Concentration game by Itsuki Sumeragi, the daughter of the CEO of Japan's top toy company and a first-year member of the Student Council, famed for having never lost at a card game before. For this gamble, Itsuki uses two decks of cards "Radcliffe" made by her father's company and wins 20 million yen from Yumeko in a close match. Despite Yumeko not having enough money and Itsuki having won already, Itsuki decides to accept a second round under the condition that if Yumeko loses she can have her fingernails and toenails removed to add to her already extensive nail collection. Once again, Itsuki deals from the same two decks, confident that her cheating style of using heat-activated patterns in the cards will help her win again. However, Yumeko reveals to have picked up on her scheme since the first game and used her intellect to memorise the cards and match them to their corresponding matching card, winning the game on her first turn and remarking that Itsuki would have won had she used cards with different markings.
Episode 3: Yumeko is invited to the Traditional Culture Research Society's clubroom just in time to witness Mary lose a high-stakes bet and adding 40 million yen to her debt. Yuriko Nishinotōin, Mary's opponent, a Student Council member and president of the Culture Club, then challenges Yumeko to the Life or Death game, introducing her to the only right of the Pets: to challenge anybody of their choosing to an "official match", which Mary had done just now. After the first game ends in a draw, Yumeko goes all in, deducing that Yuriko has been cheating by having the dealer wear magnets on her hand to affect the movement of the swords. Just as Yuriko becomes panicked over the thought of potentially losing over 2 billion yen, several Student Council members, including the Student Council President Kirari Momobami, step in suddenly to observe the game. When the swords are unveiled, it reveals Yuriko's win, which Yumeko suspects may have been the result of an elaborate cheating method the Student Council used specifically for their game, by heading directly to the room underneath and using magnets to prevent her from winning. Ending up 310 million yen in debt as a result of her loss, Yumeko ends up being classed as a Pet too.
Episode 4: In lieu of payment requests, both Yumeko and Mary receive "Life Schedules" from the Student Council, which rigorously dictate their entire futures including which career they will have, who they will eventually marry and even how many children they will have if they do not clear their debts. With the increasing numbers of Pets, the Student Council announces a Debt Exchange Game, in which groups of four students play a game of two-card Indian poker to try and exchange their debts, with the winner losing their debt completely and even standing a chance to win money. Yumeko and Mary end up in the same group with Jun Kiwatari, a delinquent male student infamous for his cruel treatment of Pets and another Pet named Nanami Tsubomi. Despite Jun not having any debts, he enters a relatively small 10 million yen debt to use the game to make a profit. As the game proceeds, Jun appears to deduce that Yumeko and Mary are working together, only to wind up landing into a bluff play by Mary.
Episode 5: Jun is put under further pressure as Yumeko and Mary deduce he is forcing Nanami to cheat for him. With the game now becoming a battle of bluffs, Jun becomes desperate as he stands to obtain a large debt if he doesn't end up in first. Finally, Jun manages to move up to first but becomes panicked again when it looks like Nanami will overtake him and tries to coerce her into folding. After some provocation by Yumeko, however, Nanami rebels against Jun's orders. At the end of the match, Mary ends up in first place while Jun ends up in last, as it is revealed that Yumeko and Mary had switched the debts they keyed in to the game with each other, making Yumeko's of least value instead. As a result, Jun ends up with Yumeko's 310 million debt, Yumeko obtains Jun's fake 10 million debt and Mary's debt is cleared, while Nanami is left with the same debt she started with, but with a new sense of freedom and self-esteem.
Episode 6: Despite having enough money, Yumeko still has not paid her debt, making the Student Council conclude that she wants to challenge Kirari to an official match. Midari Ikishima, a Student Council member and the chairwoman of the Beautification Committee, decides to challenge Yumeko to a guessing game to tell which card order played by the dealer, and the winner of each round gets to point one of two revolvers at the loser and pull the trigger with neither knowing which of the guns' 6 chambers contain a bullet. Despite the possibility of losing her life, Yumeko agrees but only under the conditions that the game only last 3 rounds, Ryota must be the dealer, and the loser must pay 1 billion yen. To feel and enjoy the pain, Midari also adds another rule that should the winner miss her shot on purpose the loser can fire a shot in return. Once the game begins, Ryota gives Yumeko meaningless signs to make Midari falsely believe Yumeko knew which cards he played and would win, but Midari fully loads her gun with 6 bullets anyway, winding up scoring higher. Yumeko warns Midari that pulling the trigger is a bad idea but Midari ignores her.
Episode 7: Seconds before Midari fires, Yumeko claims it as her gun and how she sabotaged it to backfire, but Midari doesn't hesitate to shoot, revealing how Midari doesn't fear getting hurt or killed. This information is all Yumeko wanted, though; it was a bluff and the gun is unloaded. When questioned about her reasons, Midari reveals she blinded her left eye as payment for losing against the President and now only gambles when the risk is pain or death. In the second round Yumeko correctly matches every card as Ryota simply uses Yumeko's card order from round one. She chooses a revolver and fires, having chosen the revolver that weighed less due to being unloaded. In the final round, Midari puts Ryota under pressure by reversing the screen and giving him ten seconds to deal the cards; he deals them in the same order again. Having figured out the cheating by mirroring the cameras (Ryota is right handed but was somehow dealing with his left) from the beginning as Midari predicted, both of them load two bullets. As Midari wants to be shot, she aims to get no matches, knowing that with a full match Yumeko has to pull the trigger five times, guaranteeing at least one shot, but Yumeko ruins her plan by getting no matches, too, resulting in a draw. Yumeko finds playing with no risk boring and despises Midari for it. Midari, realizing she has been totally defeated, begs Yumeko to shoot her just once, but Yumeko refuses. Meanwhile, Mary refuses to join the council and swears revenge on Kirari. At the end of the game, to let her experience the thrill she had failed to have in the game with Midari, Yumeko challenges Ryota to heads or tails and buys him sweets when she loses.
Episode 8: Kirari departs from the academy, leaving the rest of the Council unsure how to deal with Yumeko and letting the second-years Kaede Manyuda and Yumemi Yumemite take advantage of the situation to increase their authority. As Itsuki, who is in danger of being disowned by her father after her loss to Yumeko, offers to become loyal to her should she defeat Kirari, become the President and return her her place on the Council, a challenge letter from Yumemi arrives. As the head of PR and a YourTube Japanese idol, Yumemi bets Yumeko 50 million yen on the outcome of an on-stage idol championship competition where should Yumeko lose, Yumemi will alter her life schedule to force her into an idol duo with her, losing any hopes she has of a social life or meaningful relationships, much like Yumemi's own life. Yumeko tricks Yumemi into admitting her real thoughts that her fans are all disgusting pigs on a recording device and adds it to the bet. If Yumemi loses Yumeko will then release the tape and destroy her career along with her hopes for becoming a Hollywood actress.
Episode 9: Yumemi invites everyone to witness the gamble, which will take place after her in-school concert arranged by Kaede. Yumeko and Yumemi play games designed to test idol skills, such as dancing and singing, where Yumemi allows Yumeko to win several games so there appears to be a risk she will lose. For the final game they have to guess the birth month of members of the audience, and is crucial in that should Yumeko lose this game she loses the entire gamble. Yumemi, having memorised the birthdays of her entire fan club, is confident of her win, but panics when Yumeko manipulates dice and the audience member chosen is Mary. Yumeko tricks Yumemi into writing '9' on her card when she wrote '6', initially scaring her, but when Mary's birthday is revealed to be in March instead, Yumeko wins the game by her guess being 3 months closer, winning the entire game. The recording is played, but even so, Yumemi's fans still remain loyal to her. Yumeko, pleased at Yumemi's conviction, reveals that someone had attempted to sabotage Yumemi's career by sending her a ripped-up fan letter along with the challenge match prior. Yumemi then publicly accuses Kaede, who is the only plausible option for running the match with her. As Kaede denies any wrongdoing and announces his plans as the next President, Yumeko suggests they gamble to decide who is lying, declaring it an official match which he is not allowed to refuse.
Episode 10: Kirari attends a meeting with the heads of her extended family, all members of the Momobami clan. Back on stage, Kaede becomes convinced that Yumeko is simply a gambling addict who gambles for the thrill of it. The masked vice-president Ririka suggests a genre of modified Poker where no player is allowed to fold or call and the last player who raises can decide whether a stronger or weaker hand wins, meaning each round will have a winner, and insists on being the dealer. Like regular Poker, each player may discard and replace any number of cards once before betting. Yumeko uses her 310 million to 31 poker chips while Kaede buys a 100 for 1 billion. Yumeko wins the first round causing Kaede to factor in her love of risk-taking and uses his keen calculations and intellect to win the subsequent rounds. Yumeko is given the option to continue playing (rebuy) and calls out to Itsuki in the audience for money. Kaede insults her but offers her Council seat back, prompting Yumeko to defend Itsuki as her friend and urges her to take a risk for the sake of her ambitions, rather than accept her seat back from Kaede as the safe way. Mustering her resolve, Itsuki buys Yumeko 100 chips.
Episode 11: Kirari announces she will no longer support the other family heads, much to their horror. The next hand, Yumeko and Kaede keep betting until Yumeko runs out of chips again, however, the two continue to buy more chips until Kaede raises by 100 chips to force her to stop from lack of money. Yumeko suggests Itsuki bet her life, i.e. to receive a Life Schedule, and although she refuses at first but after seeing Yumeko’s cards she rips out her own fingernails and willingly bets her life. Based on Itsuki’s family wealth Ririka declares her Life Schedule to be worth 10 billion, prompting to Kaede challenge the decision. Ririka then removes her mask, revealing she is actually Kirari in disguise and that the two are twins. With Yumeko’s bet now totalling 12 billion Kaede desperately bets his own Life Schedule for 10 billion and chooses strong. However, Yumeko reveals Itsuki’s desperation was a plot to deceive Kaede into choosing strong and reveals she has three jacks, beating Kaede’s three eights. Kaede ends up billions in debt and loses his Council seat. Yumeko and Kirari sit down to discuss their reasons for gambling, with both of them appearing to have some sort of attraction to each other. The two finally face each other in a gambling match.
Episode 12: Council Member Runa Yomozuki acts as judge the match between Yumeko and Kirari, with the loser to be expelled. Kirari chooses the Tarot Cards of Fate game. Yumeko picks a card and gains 1 point. Kirari picks a 21 point card facing away from Yumeko, meaning Yumeko must score 20 points or that Ryota has to locate the Fool card facing Yumeko. Sumeragi and Mary believe a card with a lipstick smudge is the Fool. Although Yumeko says she is the only one with the risk of expulsion, Ryota vows to share her fate to be with her. Ryota is tempted to pick the marked card, but changes his mind at the last second suspecting that it is a ploy by Kirari, and eventually chooses totally at random, the risk factor arousing Yumeko intensely. The chosen card is worth 20 points, thus equalling Kirari's score. The game ends with Runa declares the match a draw and no one having to be expelled, but Kirari and Yumeko agree to gamble again in the future. In a closing dialogue, Ryota sums up how Yumeko has affected everybody she gambled with. Kirari decides to dissolve the student council and Yumeko continues to be a Compulsive Gambler.
Rating: 9/10 (Average)