King’s Game: The Animation

Whether Battle Royale, Battle Game in 5 Seconds, or the Hunger Games novelizations, the idea of fighting for life and death is nothing new under the sun. A few years ago, the entertainment industry was bereft with numerous films pitting people in life-or-death situations. Many movies, books, anime, etc., featured students as the main cast. After all, one of the best to do it while inserting the frailty of humanity was the Lord of the Flies novel written in 1954 by William Golding. The book was adapted into two movies released in 1963 and 1990, with the former being better, in my opinion.

I’m sure if I did more digging, we’d find that these types of stories probably go back further, which brings us to the issue of mediocrity. Unfortunately, anime is chock full of low-bar entries, and like hungry fish, we gobble them up only to complain about them online. How droll. You name the anime; someone is griping about it. Foolish Mortal’s anime has its Western equivalent of B Movies; some are seriously comedic and over-the-top, mixing in numerous tropes to the illogical extreme.

King’s Game, known in Japan as Ōsama Gemu Ji Animēshon, is the latest entry into the life-or-death anime pool. King's Game mixes drama, gore, horror, mystery, school, and psychological genres. As an additional stroke of shock value, it tosses in a few ah-ha moments that come off as comedic shock value. Think Necrophilia, though not as bad as Talentless Nana.

Ousama Game The Animation, not to be confused with Ousama Game The Manga or the 2011 film, follows protagonist Nobuaki Kanazawa. Nobuaki arrives at a new school, one that he hopes will treat him as an outcast and he will remain friendless. Nobuaki hides a deadly secret. He and members of his last school were pulled into a deadly contest of life and death orchestrated by the mysterious King. The King sends his instructions via text; participants have 24 hours to complete the task or receive punishment.

What if you don’t have a phone, you say or decide to change your phone number, or mom and dad fail to pay the bill? Well, consider yourself dead!! Hopefully, one of your classmates is nearby to fill you in on the details. Like a game of truth or dare, the King’s game has a few rules, the most important being that no one can drop out in the middle of the game. Such actions lead to death, and the King doesn’t have to be present to administer punishment. These also come via text, with the most common being self-asphyxiation.

Nobuaki doesn’t get to keep his dark secret for long as once the texts start falling; the fingers start pointing at him. Some even accused him of being the King though ultimately, it remains unknown who or what the King is. After a period of disbelief and the students become believers, the finger-pointing begins along with the constant betrayal as minds start to break. As the finger-pointing begins, our resident protagonist does all he can to save his classmates, who, through the miracle of anime classmates, become friends expeditiously. If a confusing flashback is thrown in for good measure, this is a plus.

I can't front as gory as this anime pretends to be; it borders on the comedic vein of an old-school slasher film. There is Japanese censorship for some scenes but not enough to let us forget Studio Seven's roots. More on that later.

As Nobuaki is the resident protagonist, much of the character development centers on him. His story is told through the power flashbacks highlighting the events of the King’s Game from his former school. Nobuaki is determined to save his friends, especially his best friend, Naoya. You name me a better bromance, and I’ll wager these two as top tier.

If Nobuaki is the voice of reason much as Ralph was the voice of sanity in Lord of the Flies novel, then Natsuko Honda is our Jack. Natsuko is our resident antagonist playing the resident sex symbol and master manipulator. She is also a student at Nobuaki's current school and a past survivor of the King’s Game.

The two represent the extremes of selflessness and selfishness, while the supporting cast, in the constant flashbacks and actual stories, falls somewhere near the two or in the middle. This makes for a decent story, though, due to the tropes familiar in horror stories, especially B Grade ones, I found myself disconnected from the characters, only soldiering on to see this anime's conclusion.

That's not to say I wasn't rooting for anyone or yelling at the screen. I hoped Natsuko would get her comeuppance on many occasions but to no avail. There were multiple chances to end her, but the characters or writing were oblivious. Hell, I found myself rooting for the villain at one point. I can thank voice actress Yui Horie for that one.

A plus in this anime is the voice acting, which, while bland at times, has its standouts. As mentioned earlier, Yui Horie voiced Natsuko, and Mamoru Miyano voiced Nobuaki. Give Mamoru credit for his crying on screen. That man has talent!! Pile, who voiced Ria Iwamura, did excellent work in making her a likable character and building her as a workable anti-hero. I happen to like that monotone, quiet but intelligent girl trope.

Supporting the voice acting is the background music that adds to the suspense while not overbearing. The ending theme, "Lost Paradise performed by Pile, is good but eclipsed by the rock-infused banger intro, "FEED THE FIRE," performed by coldrain; if you like Babymetal, then coldrain may be worth checking out.

There isn't much to say regarding the animation. The character designs are standard, and there are few standouts. It’s atmospheric, and there is a bit of waifu material, and though Studio Seven does mainstream media, they stay true to their hentai roots. This anime is not for kids.

Ousama Game The Animation doesn't bring anything new to the table and may be off-putting for some. Honestly, I found this anime more comedic due to its ridiculousness which is why I stuck around until the end. I did not see the horror and gore over the top nor the psychological bent compelling. So is it worth a watch? Probably not, unless you like good meme material.