Manga: Kakegurui Twin

Kakegurui Twin Vol 1 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

As a first-year student of the renowned Hyakkaou Private Academy, Mary Saotome knows her future is set for a one-way cruise to the top...That is, until an encounter with an old-classmate-turned-housepet throws the newbie princess into the world of gambling! Can a normal girl like Mary make friends and survive debtless through only wit and luck? 

As you can probably tell from the synopsis, this prequel series starts from when Mary first joins the Academy and when we first meet her, she's a scholarship student and new to gambling. Plus she's not familiar entirely with how the school works which is quite the contrast between the Mary we know from the main series and met in the first volume of the main series. If you fancy reading this before diving in to the main series, don't worry, I don't see why you can't. There's even a refresher on the school's system for such an occasion. 

I was very interested in getting to see this slightly different Mary, but we also got some of her background, her childhood and some information on her family. I've warmed up to her character a lot in the main series, and become more intrigued by her so I was ready to get more information on her. I wasn't entirely expecting her to be how she is in this one though. I could see she was being messed with in the first chapter, and she was so naive to the school and gambling and it was so at odds with the Mary I know....which made me so excited for the coming volumes in this series to see her become the Mary we know from the main series. 

Mary spends this volume acclimatising to the school and gambling and she learns quite quickly. I have to say I felt more of a cheer for her wins than I did for Yumeko's in the beginning of the other series as I feel like Mary is a bit more of an underdog compared to Yumeko the gambling addict. Plus she comes across as such a regular person, I feel like Mary's a bit more relatable. 

We meet one of her childhood acquaintances, Tsuzura, which adds to the intrigue as I don't recall seeing her in the main series so I'm curious about what happens to her. We also meet a student council member who seems to have an issue and a plot against the President.....and now I need volume 2 asap! 

This volume hooked me in so fast, and as usual it had me on the edge of my seat with the high stakes and the twisted rules of certain card and dice games. We see a different, but no less determined, Mary from that we're used to, and we watch her start to build her way up to becoming a winner which is her ultimate goal.