Imagine a world where the world’s elite teenagers gather in one school, and go to a school run by students for the students. The only catch is that rather than a school that supports students for their academic achievements, it is a school that promotes students to the student council based on their gambling abilities. Well, imagine no further. Netflix’s Bet shows exactly what this world would look like.
St. Dominic’s prep school’s hierarchy is upturned when Yumeko, a mysterious transfer student, arrives from Japan with a dark secret and a gambling prowess that puts her in the crosshairs of the powerful Student Council. Ultimately, her revenge quest threatens to upend the school’s status quo entirely.
Unlike the rest of the students from St. Dominic’s who gamble for financial or social gain, Yumeko gambles for the fun and thrills of it. Where a lot of schools penalize students for falling below the school’s average or a standard academic score, St. Dominic’s determines penalties based on students’ debts—related to the underground gambling activities.
“Bet’s Yumeko is grounded in all the right ways.”
Students in debt have to become ‘house pets’ to the victor who put them in debt. House pets can be turned into human footstools, among other things, but not as dehumanizing as using humans as objects in the scene in A Clockwork Orange.
Netflix’s Bet is a live-action series developed for television by Canadian filmmaker Simon Barry (Warrior Nun). The psychological thriller series is inspired by Homura Kawamoto’s manga Kakegurui, which translates to ‘compulsive gambler’. The manga is iconic for Yumeko’s wild, borderline insane personality, due to her high-stakes gambling abilities. A fun fact: the series is primarily shot here in Toronto, Canada, using many local acting and production talent.
What stands out with Bet from Kakegurui is how much more real Yumeko feels as a human being. The manga heavily leans into sexualizing Yumeko’s gambling addiction, making her overly ecstatic to gamble more—emphasizing her gambling pleasure by making her blush, drenched in sweat, and making racy faces.
Bet’s Yumeko is grounded in all the right ways. Matineau brings a stellar performance to the character, still bringing Yumeko’s wild side. However, the show touches on Yumeko’s backstory a lot sooner than the manga. This allows the viewer to see why Yumeko is the way she is and why she decides to attend St. Dominic’s prep school.
One of the immediate cool parts of Bet is its in-camera shot compositions and editing. Cinematographers David A. Makin and James Klopko deserve praise for choosing certain lighting and framing of how the characters look in every scene. In one of the episodes, two characters confront each other, and a blue light shines through the glass-stained windows.
This is a cool way to play with lighting, like how Hirohiko Araki’s anime series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures or Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s Blue Period does. The colour adds to the dour mood, even though real-world natural lighting would never be that blue. Using blue or red light to set the imagined mood heightens the emotions of scenes like this one.
“As crazy as Bet’s concept is, its characters are just as crazy.”
Bet’s editors, Aren Hansen and Simone Smith, work well with the cinematographers’ compositions because they amplify the manga panelling feel. In addition to the editing, the visual effects department contributes to the comic/manga touches, too. There are also moments where video game-like graphics appear over characters—giving the Scott Pilgrim vs the World vibes when Scott fights Gideon. All these elements keep the pacing up for the ten 30-minute episodes.
As crazy as Bet’s concept is, its characters are just as crazy. The actors elevate them with their wacky caricatures. Ayo Solanke’s Ryan is arguably the most down-to-earth character, really playing up the endearing, naive supporting character. On the other side of the spectrum, Aviva Mongillo portrays Dori, one of the Student Council members who gambled their eye and lost it. Dori is another mentally unstable character who goes as far as licking other students.
At the end of a good day of school gambling, Bet delivers a great take on the Kakegurui world. The fandom might be torn on how Yumeko is a bit more humanized in this iteration, but it also adds depth to her character. For those looking for a fun weekend watch, this is an easy, entertaining binge. It is also an excellent gateway for those looking to get into the anime of the same name as the manga, also on Netflix.
