The Detail That Has Kakegurui Fans Scratching Their Heads
Unless you were tutored exclusively in a casino, you probably haven't seen a school quite as unique as Hyakkaou Private Academy from the anime series, "Kakegurui." In this prestigious school, test scores are meaningless compared to one's level of wealth and influence within the strict social hierarchy, which they demonstrate through hardcore, high-stakes gambling. Gambling is undeniably the most popular pastime, and the stakes are so real that any unlucky or un-savvy student could end up wasting their family's fortunes (or even their freedom) on a simple game.
In "Kakegurui," the games these students play and bet on are depicted as tense battles of the will and mind, and it can be easy to get lost in the melodrama of it all. Plenty of care and detail is given to these sequences, and fans absolutely love it for that. That being said, there is one detail (or rather, a lack of detail) about this gambling-crazed school system that has "Kakegurui" fans scratching their heads.
Isn't Hyakkaou Academy supposed to be a school?
In general, the whole gambling system makes sense to most fans of "Kakegurui." Since one's social status is more important than their grades, the results of various wagers become the new equivalent to test scores. This system is enforced by the Student Council, which holds the highest authority when it comes to class ranking and ensuring students pay their debts. However, many fans on the internet have noticed that there doesn't seem to be any actual faculty in the school. Everything seems to be run by the students.
"I'm on about Episode 8. I have heard the setting repeatedly referred to as a school," wrote the author of one Reddit thread from 2020, u/TurtleKing0505. "But where are all the teachers? Why do students never seem to attend any classes?"
This has been noticed by fans across multiple Reddit threads, including a more recent one from February 2022. And while some fans have theories that they believe explain the utter lack of adult presence within the school, nothing official has confirmed their explanations. That being said, these explanations aren't totally implausible.
Most fans believe teachers are secondary to the gambling
While we rarely see them in the show, we do know that Hyakkaou Academy does have teachers to preside over things. Early on in the series, we are introduced to the teacher of the Hana class, who introduces Yumeko before practically disappearing (via Kakegurui Wiki). Plus, as one fan pointed out, we also occasionally see characters in classrooms. Because of this, many fans on Reddit are simply convinced that teachers and education just aren't the main focus of the story.
"It's based in a school but it's primarily about gambling so I guess the teachers aren't important," wrote a now-deleted Reddit user. "It would be nice to see a scene of the teachers casually gambling though."
"I guess the writer was thinking that since the story is not about them, they should get as little stage time as possible," wrote u/gggvandyk. "Also they would make [The Class President] Kirari look less powerful."
Because we already know that teachers and classes do exist at Hyakkaou Academy, the explanations do bear some weight. If the original author, Homura Kawamoto, wanted to include teachers, he probably would have. However, since Kawamoto has never provided a real explanation, this is one question that fans will probably never get a truly definitive answer to.