Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler is a popular Japanese manga series written by Homura Kawamoto and illustrated by Tōru Naomura that has sold over 5 million copies. In 2017, the series received an anime adaptation, and a live-action series adaptation the following year. This year, the anime received a second season entitled Kakegurui ×× as well as a second season of the live-action series.

On May 3 this year, Kakegurui will get a live-action film adaptation with an original story written by the manga’s author Kawamoto and directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa.

As Yumeko Jabami and the leader of the student council Kirari Momobami continue their fights a new group by the name of “Village” gains power and poses a threat to the student council. In an attempt to remove Village and Yumeko, the student council holds a compulsory gambling event that every student must participate in lest they face immediate exclusion. The event will have students voting for who should represent the students. The high-speed, high-tension story will see Yumeko vs. the student council vs. Village.

The film will feature returning cast from the live-action series including Minami Hamabe (Yumeko Jabami) and Mahiro Takasugi (Ryota Suzui) as well as new cast such as Hio Miyazawa and Haruka Fukuhara who will play original characters. Additionally, it has been announced that professional Japanese cosplayer Enako will join the cast.

Enako has over 600k followers on Twitter and popular both at home and overseas for her high quality cosplay and cute looks. She will play the part of a female student competing in the gambling competition.

Enako is a huge fan of the Kakegurui franchise. In 2017 she attended the Japan’s huge comic market Comiket where she dressed as Yumeko. Her cosplay of the character was commended so highly that she wore the actual outfit used in season one of the live-action series at an event for the series which was very well received.

She has expressed her like for all the characters’ unique personalities but favours Yumeko in particular. Speaking about featuring in her first ever movie, she said that she was deeply moved when she saw her name appear in the end credits. Enako also commented on what it was like to appear as a character in the world of Kakegurui, and said the shoot felt so real that she questioned whether Hyakkaou Private Academy was actually real or not, and if she had the chance she would like to commute to school wearing an outfit like that.

She also said that she pulled some faces people have probably never seen before and so she looks forward to people seeing them.

©2019 Homura Kawamoto・Tōru Naomura / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui: The Movie” Production Committee