Manga: Compulsive Gambler 8

Compulsive Gambler Vol 8 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

A mysterious invitation has brought Yumeko to her second gamble of the student council presidential election: a two-on-two card game with Suzui against yet more members of the Momobami family! Sisters Miyo and Miri come from a branch of the family specializing in poisons of all types. They hold life and death in their hands-sometimes quite literally. And in this game...VERY literally! With Yumeko's life on the line, will Suzui come out on top or perish with her?! 

I feel like I say this every volume, but things heat up this volume and Yumeko actually takes a bit of a backseat to Mary who rushes in to save the day! 

Yumeko is drawn in to a gambling match against Miyo and Miri, presided over by Runa the head of the election committee....and arranged by the Vice President. They're actually related to Yumeko, they're distant relatives but blood relatives all the same. Things immediately take an interesting turn when Suzui decides he wants to join in. If my memory serves me, it's been a while since we saw him bet, and I was proud of him for stepping up! 

Things were already off to a bad start by the fact there was talk of "vote debt" which would add an element of chaos to this election, no doubt. But things didn't seem right to me from the start, not the way Yumeko was acting, or Miyo, but I couldn't figure out what the deal was. Suzuki's narrating was interesting because obviously, he's not the hardened gambler Yumeko is and he doesn't have a clue what she's up to either. 

Meanwhile Mary is facing down the Vice President who wants to help her...win the election?! She seems quite sinister until Mary rips her mask off. She may be the President's twin but she's a lot more....unsure of herself. Not quite timid, but not as forceful or confident as the real President. I found it incredibly interesting that she wants to work with Mary for the election. She's an odd one because she has moments when she seems quite sinister, like forcing Mary to take her offer when she tries to refuse, then at others she seems....weak? 

This volume has plenty of twists, not least the VP wanting to work with Mary, but Yumeko genuinely being poisoned to force Mary to take the offer? I was losing my mind reading this volume! And you know what surprised me the most this volume? Runa is surprisingly reasonable and fair this volume. I kind of...liked her. I was actually on her side as well as Mary and rooting and cheering for the both of them! 

Either way, it's most definitely Mary's time to shine this volume! I love her scary gambling side in this volume as she and Suzui take on a card game with a literal deadly twist. I loved Suzui didn't wimp out or back down, and I loved the trust between he and Mary so you can see how far the friendship/alliance between the three of them has come since volume one. They're all willing to trust each other, and rely on each other which should make Mary's decision all the more interesting!