Warning: This article contains multiple spoilers.
Bet (2025) is a Canadian Psychological thriller and teen drama series that was released on May 15th, 2025 and is currently streaming on Netflix. Developed by Simon Barry, the show is an adaptation of the Japanese manga and subsequent anime Kakegurui (Compulsive Gambler). It spans 1 season, 10 episodes, with a runtime of 30–37 minutes per episode.
Premise (Spoilers Ahead)
Set within the prestigious halls of St. Dominic’s, an elite private boarding school where underground gambling secretly governs status and influence, the series centers on Yumeko—a mysterious and fearless gambler. With unmatched skill and a taste for high-stakes risk, Yumeko disrupts the carefully maintained hierarchy, shaking the foundation of the school’s power structure and challenging those who have long manipulated the system to their advantage.
Episode 1
Expelled for gambling, Yumeko transfers to elite Saint Dominic’s, where student status is ruled by underground bets. Ryan, a house pet indebted to top-tier gambler Mary, shows her the ropes. She meets the powerful Student Council; Mary, Runa, Suki, Dori, Chad, Vice president RiRi, and President Kira, and Michael, a tech-savvy outsider. Yumeko boldly challenges Mary, wins $100,000, frees Ryan, and demotes Mary. A flashback reveals Yumeko’s parents died in a car bomb, hinting at her real motive.
Episode 2
Angry that Yumeko toppled a council member on day one, Kira sends Suki to challenge her in “Icebreaker,” a brutal game of digging up secrets. With Michael’s help, Yumeko plants fake intel and uncovers Suki’s own dirt. Suki steals Yumeko’s necklace, betting it against her real nails. Yumeko adds a school-wide side bet: Suki will lose all his followers at the end of the game. She wins and humiliates him, much to Kira’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Mary struggles as a shunned house pet. After a chilling confrontation with Kira, the episode ends with the sudden announcement of Suki’s death.
Episode 3
After Suki’s death, rumors swirl and side bets explode in popularity, a way for students to make off-the-book winnings and rise up in the rankings, further shaking the school’s order—much to Kira’s frustration. We also learn that RiRi and Kira are half sisters. Yumeko searches yearbooks for Raymond Rowe, whom she believes is tied to her parents’ murder. To bait her, Dori hoards the books, prompting a challenge: an arcade dance battle. Yumeko loses and is shunned, but trains with Ryan for a rematch. As the two bond, she uncovers that the game was rigged. Using that as leverage, she challenges Dori to a rematch, and wins back the yearbooks, but Dori steals Michael’s betting app, giving Kira control again. The episode ends with Blake, Yumeko’s roommate, introducing Yumeko to her father—Raymond Rowe.
Episode 4
Yumeko meets Raymond Rowe, believing him to be the “Ray” who caused her parents’ death, and plots to kill him during Blake’s recital. RiRi receives a gift from her father, leading to conversation with Kira and the difference in how he treats the both of them and their mothers.
Meanwhile, it’s Ryan’s birthday and a side bet on him losing his virginity by midnight spirals out of control, with even Mary spreading rumors to boost his appeal. Michael catches Yumeko building a bomb, and she confides in him and reveals everything. Though against violence, he helps her. Yumeko offers to sleep with Ryan, but he declines, wanting it to be real and not just for a bet. During the recital, Yumeko activates the bomb—but it fails. Michael had sabotaged it, doubting Raymond’s guilt. Later, however, Raymond and Blake die in a car explosion. Yumeko is shocked but pleased. RiRi watches the blast, holding the gift from her father—a detonator.
Episode 5
At Blake’s funeral, Yumeko and Kira trade suspicions, but Kira insists the bombing was tied to Raymond’s past. Michael again challenges Yumeko to prove Raymond’s innocence. To lift spirits, the annual House Wars begins—a capture-the-flag contest between the dorms. Yumeko joins Heart House with Ryan and Mary, while Michael and the Student Council represent Spade.
In addition to the grand prize for the winning house, the student who captures the winning flag also wins a bonus prize of $50,000 in betting chips. Mary sees a shot to clear her debt and enlists Yumeko and Ryan’s help. Amid the chaos, Kira’s mother pressures her to restore order. Despite Spade’s early lead, Heart House wins thanks to teamwork—and Michael’s betrayal. Kira admits defeat and accuses Yumeko of using the game to raid council archives. Later, Yumeko admits Michael was right: Raymond wasn’t her parents’ killer. But instead of stopping, she vows to find the real one—and kill them.
Within the next five episodes of the season’s second half, the story escalates rapidly; Yumeko becomes a house pet for the first time, a familiar face comes back from the dead, a new romance blooms between two unlikely characters, Ryan finds his courage, Yumeko comes face to face with her parents’ murder and makes a drastic choice, gaining new alliances… and new enemies.
Cast and Performances
Miku Martineau as Yumeko (Jabami) Kawamoto
Ayo Solanke as Ryan Adebayo
Eve Edwards as Mary Davis
Clara Alexandrova as Kira Timurov
Hunter Cardinal as Michael
Anwen O’Driscoll as Riri Timurov
Aviva Mongillo as Dori Ahlstrom
Ryan Sutherland as Suki Hennessey
Dorian Giordano as Chad White
And a cameo appearance by Seth Rollins as Himself
Yumeko:
Yumeko’s character draws very mixed emotions from me and I’m not ashamed to say that part of it comes from my bias as a huge fan of the source material, Kakegurui. In the manga/anime, Yumeko is a unique character even within the context of anime as a whole. She is the direct opposite of what you’d expect from the main character of a psychological thriller. She isn’t your clueless damsel, but she’s also not your calculated mastermind. While everyone at the school has some sort of hidden agenda or scheme of their own, Yumeko just… doesn’t. She’s addicted to the high, the thrill of a gamble, it’s Compulsive for her. She’s not trying to climb any social ladder, she’s in it purely for the literal and metaphorical love of the game.
In Bet, it’s not like that. Yumeko becomes this twisted, revenge-obsesssed, chosen one sort of character. And it’s easy to understand why such a change is frowned upon. It dims the uniqueness of her character, makes just like every other “rebel” main character who wants to “challenge the system” for her own agenda.
My problem is that, even within the context of Bet, Yumeko is a messy character. She lacks accountability and tends to go overboard with her plots, to the point where it becomes difficult to tell if she actually likes the people around her or if she’s just manipulative. And from the looks of it, other characters struggle with that too. Even after finding out the truth of her parents murders and the possible dire consequences of her actions, she still barrels on stubbornly, potentially ruining someone else’s life.
There’s a difference between complexity as a character and just being messy and inconsistent. In my opinion, Yumeko falls in the latter, especially towards the final episodes.
Ryan:
Ryan at the surface seems like a one-dimensional character–a lovesick puppy with a pathetic crush on Yumeko. But then as events progress, certain edges begin to make an appearance; at a point, a rumour circulates about him allegedly killing his father (complete with an “imagined” visual), and it’s easy to dismiss it as such but this comes right after he talks to Yumeko about his father being a hard man and possibly abusive.
That’s way too much foreshadowing for a “rumour”.
And towards the end, after truths are revealed and certain experiences with the most powerful people in the show’s current setting, he becomes a bit bolder, finding the courage to physically stand up for Yumeko and her goals.
Maybe someday, he’ll finally ask her out.
Kira:
Probably the character with the most development, but not in the way you might think. Kira is your stereotypical ruthless leader whose ruthlessness is a result of pressure to be perfect, and majority of the show just depicts her and her control falling apart at the seams with Yumeko’s constant interference. But after a critical decision by her father makes her realise that she will never get the validation she needs from them, she switches gears in a very interesting way. I genuinely look forward to watching her rise again.
However, like Yumeko, I am dissatisfied with the parallels between Kira and her source material counterpart, Kirari. Kirari is untouchable, even from an upstart like Yumeko. I was excited to see that play out in the live action, but was ultimately disappointed.
Mary:
Another character with significant development, and my favourite character after Kira. Mary starts off as vindictive and condescending, but overtime builds compassion, friendship and even love. Despite being the only main character that doesn’t get involved in Yumeko’s story, I’m very satisfied with how her character played out. And bonus: she doesn’t deviate too much from her source material counterpart.
Michael:
The only main character that doesn’t have a source material counterpart. He’s completely original, and he serves as Yumeko’s moral compass for majority of the series. And that’s all there is to say about his character…
… until halfway through the series.
Michael’s scales begin to tilt when he first makes the discovery that the “Ray” Yumeko has been searching for is none other than his own father. We see him struggle to come to terms with his father being a murderer. And despite their less than blissful relationship, we see him hide the truth from Yumeko to protect his father from her wrath.
And finally, after a string of events, we see him take on a darker side in anticipation for a potential season 2.
What I liked and didn’t like
I’ll admit, after seeing the various deviations from the source material, I was initially incredibly skeptical about the show (I even raised a heated debate with my friends about the concept of adaptations). But even then, I couldn’t deny how good the visuals were and how well the actors performed. And after I got over my disapproval, I was drawn in by the storytelling; the games, the psychology, the characters (no matter how annoying some of them were). And for a moment, it all seemed to be building up to something magnificent…
…then it fell flat right at the finale.
Seriously, tell me you’re gunning for a season 2 without telling me you’re gunning for a season 2. I don’t know, maybe shove several different cliffhangers and incomplete plot points into the finale and call it an ending? The finale was rushed, and chaotic, and quite frankly, really sloppy work. What was supposed to be a grand reveal and possibly a boss battle to finish the story ended up just being an absolute mess of character choices and insufferably random plot twists with the two main characters quite literally riding off into the sunset as if they’re not leaving behind a whole murder scene. It honestly left me with more questions than answers and while I understand that this might be the point, it completely ruined what was a really good buildup of the story.
Another peeve I had with it (alongside most Netflix productions), is what I like to call the “Diversity checkbox”. Where shows attempt to shove in as many minority groups as possible, not for actual representation, but to pander to trends and win brownie points in court of public opinion and morality high ground. The main character is Asian, there are a number of black characters, there’s a gay guy, a same sex female relationship, and the villain is Russian. While there are shows with true representation like Heartstopper and Euphoria, shows like this one just seem to be in the everlasting race of who can be the most politically correct. And some of these actually add something positive to the story (Ma-Riri forever), while others are unnecessary and honestly seem like they’re making fun of the community they represent (Good Riddance, “Free Range Cosmetics” Suki).
Final Thoughts
Bet was a surprisingly fun adventure that started going downhill and never really came back up, especially with an ending like that. But it is still a fairly good watch and believe it or not, I’m curious to see if the inevitable second season has something better to offer.
I rate Bet (2025): 3 out of 5.
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