Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well after last week’s disappointing start to Aniween I’m hoping to turn things around this week with today’s anime. In Japan, they play a game called the Ousama Game or the King’s Game, it’s the equivalent of playing truth or dare. In the game the players each pull a stick or straw with one of them being the king. The king gives a command to one or more of the players and they have to do it because the king’s word is law. The game is wild, fun, and leads to a lot of funny moments with friends. Which makes it the perfect set up for a horror story. Yep, there was actually a light novel based off the game with a horror twist to it. In the novel a class of 32 students receive a message from a person known as King who sends them messages that the students must obey or they’ll die in a very horrific way. The novel was written by Nobuaki Kanazawa from 2009-2015 and was a decent read. The story was scary and there was a good air of mystery around who was behind this game and why they’re doing it. Sadly, the series kind of ended on a cliffhanger with us never getting answers into who was behind this and why it was happening. Well in 2017 Seven an anime studio that mostly deals with hentai decided to make an anime off the series saying it was going to be the sequel to the novel. With this good set up and story, it seemed like we were going to have a hit anime on hands, right? Right? Well the King’s word is law and I command you to read my review. This is the King’s Game.
Opening and Ending Theme
So the opening is “Feed the Fire” by Coldrain. It’s a heavy metal song that reminds me of the first opening of Death Note. This isn’t really my genre of music and I didn’t really like the song all that much. Even for a heavy metal song this feels slow.
The ending is “Lost Paradise” by Pile. Truth be told, I actually liked this ending and feel like it would have worked out better as opening. There’s an air of terror, sadness, and hope throughout that conveys the emotions of the characters who are suffering throughout the anime. You start to feel sad for the characters and keep asking yourself why they’re being forced to suffer like this.
Episodes 1-4
We start the anime at the school’s sports festival where our main character Nobuaki voiced by Mamoru Miyano (Ryuji from Persona 5), class wins. We then see in a series of flashbacks that he transferred from another school and at first he closed himself off from the class (he wanted to go for the gothic loner persona) but as time went on he started to open up to them and soon he became friends with everyone in his class. That night, a few seconds after midnight, Nobuaki receives a mysterious text message from a sender saying that he and his classmates are participants (or victims) in the King’s Game. They are required to do what the king commands them do within 24 hours or they’ll be killed in some horrific way. Quitting the game midway is not allowed and punishable by death (what if situations outside of my control stop me from performing the command? (Seras): You still die). The king orders Nobuaki to kiss his desk neighbor in class Natsuko (alright, the king is hooking you up Nobuaki) where it seems Nobuaki is familiar with the rules of the game and is very scared for his life and the life of his classmates. The next day in class Nobuaki tries to warn the class about the dangers of the game but they don’t take it seriously and laugh it off. Nobuaki not wanting to drag Natsuko into this crazy situation decides to forfeit his life to death and not kiss her but it turns out Natsuko likes him (guess she has a thing for the gothic loner type) and kisses him just mere seconds before the deadline (scene here: https://youtu.be/dKsb9543M9U). The other students didn’t have much luck as they were told not to sleep and since some of them did they got punished by hanging themselves in their rooms (oh~ this is going to be one hell of a front page article). The remaining students gather in the park where they demand answers from Nobuaki and he explains that at his old school he and his class were forced to play the king’s game as well where everyone but him died (guess the king has favorites). Once it gets revealed that he was planning on not fulfilling the request thus killing him and Natsuko as well the class turns on him and start to think he’s behind this. They beat him up until one of the students gets his punishment for not fulfilling his command which was to avoid doing anything unnecessary (in this case beating up Nobuaki aka the King’s favorite servant) and his punishment is death by bleeding out. Out of nowhere, blood literally starts pouring out from all over his body until he finally collapses and dies from blood loss (scene here: https://youtu.be/i5ufvk73YGU, damn).
Episode 2 picks up where episode 1 left off. Nobuaki pleads with everyone to work together with him if they want to survive the King’s Game. Throughout most of the episode we get a flashback to the manga where Nobuaki was still at his old school and just like his current classmates didn’t believe the King’s Game was real until two classmates hung themselves after they didn’t follow an order. Despite this, Nobuaki and his friends still thought it was all a coincidence (two people who had no thoughts of suicide hanging themselves on the same night in the same way is a coincidence? You sir, are an idiot) until finally his good friend Daisuke died for not following an order (scene here: https://youtu.be/hmETx343VpU). We return back to the present where Natsuko is ordered to have sex with a classmate she doesn’t like. The male student tries to force himself on her (in front of everyone in the middle of the park. What the hell man? You’ve got 24 hours, find a hotel) and something snaps inside of her. It’s here that Natsuko’s personality takes a 180 as the sweet and innocent girl we met in the first episode is now a straight up bitch who is selfish and willing to do anything to stay alive even if that means stabbing her friends in the back to do it. She drags Nobuaki off where he tries to talk some sense into her but she doesn’t listen and screams making everyone believe that Nobuaki tried to attack her and a few of the boys attack and beat him up (scene here: https://youtu.be/6D926f_mj44. Did you guys not see the bitch take her shirt off in front of everyone and openly try to reverse rape her classmate like 2 minutes ago? You guys are idiots. Also, why didn’t they die from the unnecessary actions?). Natsuko then tries to get another classmate named Mizuki to text die to Nobuaki believing that will kill him to end the episode as we see 10 students are already dead and 22 remain.
In episode 3 Nobuaki gets saved by Kenta who is kind of like the class leader and the only decent and smart guy in this anime so far (Nobuaki is decent but he’s an idiot). He quickly sees through Natsuko’s act and throws her to the ground followed by a slap to the face later on (thank you. You deserve to live just for that alone). He picks up Nobuaki and decides to take him to the hospital and Mizuki goes along with him where she’s scared because she didn’t send the death message to anyone because she can’t bring herself to kill someone, she accidently broke her phone, and now thinks she’ll die in the future. But Kenta promises to protect her and to keep that promise he announces it as his order. Kenta’s order was to give an order to anyone in his class and they have to follow it no matter what (basically, he has the power of the king) and he orders himself to protect Mizuki. As they head to the hospital Kenta gets filled in on what’s going on and we get another flashback to Nobuaki’s past. The flashback picks up where we left off as Nobuaki tells his class what happened to his friend and now the class has been ordered to do a popularity contest between a girl named Kana and Nobuaki’s other friend Naoya. Nobuaki urges the class to follow the order and since everyone believes that whoever loses will be killed it becomes a race to see who can sway the most votes. Kana whores herself out (you and Natsuko would be the best of friends) while Nobuaki tries to sway and beg his classmates to vote for Naoya. When it’s time to vote Naoya manages to win and out of fear Kana throws herself out the window (damn, that girl is strong) and dies instantly from the impact (scene here: https://youtu.be/JZzRqnKDQ08). The ironic part is the punishment wasn’t going to be her death. She just had to confess to the person she liked. While not his fault Nobuaki blamed himself for what happened to Kana revealing that he lied and tricked a few of classmates to vote for Naoya saying that if they did they could escape the King’s game with him and the evil part is the students who believed this can’t speak out against Nobuaki otherwise they’ll be seen as traitors to Kana (wow, that’s some evil thinking there). Nobuaki calls himself a monster (no, just an idiot) but Naoya says he’s not a monster since he did all of this to save her (I agree, she’s the one who jumped out the window like a lunatic). Later on, since Kana can’t fulfill her order (due to being dead) Naoya gets issued an order in her stead which is having sex with someone by the end of the day or he’ll be killed by self-immolation. With only 10 minutes till midnight (not enough time to find a prostitute) Nobuaki grabs Naoya and Chiemi (the girlfriend of Nobuaki), tosses them into a room, and tells them to have sex (this anime has more NTR scenes than a NTR hentai). Naoya can’t bring himself to betray his two best friends and Nobuaki can’t stand by and lose another friend so he knocks him out and begs Chiemi to have sex with him which she does saving his life (scene here: https://youtu.be/es7O8iZHQXA). We return to the present where Kenta after hearing all of this just can’t bring himself to see Nobuaki as a bad guy (same here, at worst he’s just an idiot). Back with the other students in the park we see Natsuko convince them to join her and do what she says if they want to live (why are you listening to this bitch she knows as much about this game as you do. If there’s anybody you should be listening to its Nobuaki. I know he comes across as an idiot, but I’ll take my chances with him rather than this crazy bitch).
Episode 4 goes by fast. Rather than go to the hospital, Nobuaki, Kenta, and Natsuki hop on the first morning train and are heading to a village where the first King’s Game happened hoping to find clues on how to end the game (uh question, where did you find this information?). While on the train Kenta asks Nobuaki if he knows who the king is and what he’s after (human suffering and breaking one boy). Nobuaki says he has no idea who the king is or what they’re after (I told you, human suffering and watching one boy suffer). In the past Nobuaki thought the king was one of his classmates but never had a way to prove it until one girl named Nami (who had a secret crush on Nobuaki) stepped up to test it. The king gave her the power of the king (much like Kenta) and gave herself the order to touch the king. Since she believed in Nobuaki’s theory that one of the classmates could be the king, she went to touch all of her classmates one by one and none of them were the king (you cannot touch the king because the king doesn’t exist). As punishment for failing to follow her order, she loses her eyesight and goes blind (not to worry, we have surgery for that). Nobuaki received his next order which is to lose something important to him. He hides this order from Nami in order not to worry her but Nami hears about it from Chiemi (how did she dial her phone?) and decides to take her life in order to save Nobuaki. She disappears on Nobuaki (she moves fast for a blind person) and in a state of panic he rushes home and destroys all of his valuable possessions in the hopes of fulfilling the order (they can all be replaced so they’re not that important) and even goes as far as trying to break up with Chiemi just to fulfill the order (you can get back together down the road) but it doesn’t work. He finally receives a call from Nami (again, how is she using her phone?) who is at the beach (how did she get there by herself? What train did she know to use? So many questions) saying that she can’t stand being blind and no longer has the courage to continue in the game (we have eye surgery. We can fix you) so she’s decided to take her life since her life is important to Nobuaki. Noubaki rushes to the beach and tries to stop her but it’s too late. She threw herself into the water and drowned but not before leaving a message written in the sand expressing her feelings (how did she write correctly? Goddamn it, this episode has more holes in it than swiss cheese).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 continues where episode 4 left off where Nobuaki gets approached by Ria a mysterious girl in his class (who was raped by her dad) who at first claims she’s the king (yeah, she’s lying) but says she was lying and calls Nobuaki weak saying he lacks the resolve to kill in order to stop the game. Later on, he receives a call from Yousuke who has been researching the King’s Game in order to stop it. In his investigation he discovered that all the victims received a text message with only one word ‘re’. They still have no idea what this is, but it gives them a possible clue. Everyone receives their next order which is don’t do anything unnecessary (please be more specific) and everyone starts dropping like flies and Nobuaki doesn’t know why. Naoya figures out that a few students tried to block the messages from the King which is against the rules because you can’t quit the game midway (you see it through to the end and become traumatized by it). But what about the other students all didn’t block the message and are dying? The answer, they cried (how can you not cry in a situation like this?). Yousuke also dies by decapitation not even getting the chance to talk to Kaori the girl he likes but before he dies he does tell Nobuaki about Yonaki Village which is where the first King’s Game happened (scene here: https://youtu.be/E4XV59GRC10, so that’s where he got it). He manages to find Kaori leaving out the part that Yousuke is dead (she’ll find out via social media) and tells her not to cry. He gets ready to head out to Yonaki Village but gets knocked out by Kaori (the fuck bitch?) and she drags him to the gym storage where she found out about Yousuke’s death (sorry for your loss) and accuses Nobuaki of being the king (no he isn’t. Nami proved that last episode). She now plans to kill him but Nobuaki uses his words to stop her and bring her back to reality (Nobuaki has the silver tongue). However, his relief is short lived as Kaori cries and dies right in front of him (scene here: https://youtu.be/c_biVwsbwZ4).
Episode 6 is the final flashback episode (thank God. If I wanted to read the manga I would have read the manga). The class is down to 10 students and their next order is to have one of them roll a die then have the roller type in the names of whatever number they rolled into their cellphone. Whoever the roller types in will be punished as will the roller (that means we have a possibility of watching 7 people die tonight and the roller has to die with the guilt that they killed their classmates). They all meet up to decide who’s going to roll but the classroom thug fearing for his life and knowing that his name will be written takes matters into his own hands. He grabs Chiemi and pulls out a knife threatening to kill her if his name gets written down. He orders Nobuaki to roll the die but Naoya knowing that the class needs him, grabs the die and rolls it where it lands on a 6 (well it is the number of the devil). Naoya now has 10 minutes to say or write the names of the people who will be punished with him. He accidently says the name of one classmate and he dies a gruesome death of decapitation where his head literally twists around until he finally dies and it comes off (that is disturbing). Noaya names everybody except for Nobuaki, Chiemi, and Ria. After Naoya’s death (scene here: https://youtu.be/0rlBSK0OsJk) Ria reveals how the King’s Game works (and it is beyond stupid). It’s a virus. It originated in Yonaki Village but then through the power of bullshit became a computer virus and has been continuing the game through text messages infecting people and killing them through the power of powerful suggestion which causes cells to break down and kill the body (you can just tell the author wrote himself into a hole and had no idea how to get out of it. Unfortunately, this was probably the best scenario. If the author said it was a curse then it would be even more stupid). Ria tries to eliminate the virus with the skills she learned from her father who was a genius programmer (I’m pretty sure he forcefully taught you other things) but it backfires and she gets punished for trying to end the game forcefully (punishment is of course death). She catches fire and is surprisingly calm and cool with this (ohhhhh~. No. Just. . .just no. *Chuckles* That is not how it works) as she types in a few other things on her computer and throws herself off a bridge all while remaining calm and talking to Nobuaki and Chiemi (scene here: https://youtu.be/fF-rC1cQSJE).
In episode 7 Nobuaki, Kenta, and Natsuki finally make it to Yonaki Village. The place has been sealed off for years but they manage to get inside through a missing stone (hey why isn’t this place guarded or being studied? Some kind of otherworldly disease came from this place. Shouldn’t we be studying it to find a way to stop it or guard the place to make sure nobody gets inside?). As they search the village they come across a house belonging to the Honda family which was the family name of Chiemi (oh shit, that girl cursed us all). Apparently, her dad lived in the village and Nobuaki theorizes that he might have some connection to the King’s Game and tried to save Chiemi but it was too late and out of guilt he committed suicide in the village (heavy stuff). But the real shocker is Chiemi has a sister and it’s that crazy bitch Natsuko (*laughter* that’s awesome! This twist almost makes up for the flashbacks). As midnight nears we see a few students already get killed off for breaking the rules and a few of them desperately try to stay alive. Like this one girl Tsubasa has to have this one classmate grope her but he’s dead and in the hospital’s morgue. So, she breaks into the hospital, finds his dead body, and makes him grope her (damn, borderline necrophilia. Thank God, she didn’t have to have sex with him or this would have been fucked up). Another girl has to lose something important to her so she literally kills her parents (which isn’t enough apparently) and is about to kill her dog but stops herself because that’s too much for her (what the hell!? Killing your parents is okay but the dog, that’s too much? What is with all the women in this anime being crazy at a young age?). As for Mizuki and Kenta, Mizuki decides for her order which was to text the word ‘die’ to two people, she sends one to Natsuko (she deserves it but with the revelation that she’s Chiemi’s sister I vote on keeping her around a little longer) and the other to herself that way she and Kenta can die and be together (truly a better romance story than Twilight). Kenta not wanting her to die, knocks her out and carries her to a place where they can get a signal (scene here: https://youtu.be/oxUrjguosQo). Once there he sends the texts on Mizuki’s phone to Natsuko and to himself that way Mizuki can keep on living (she’s not as strong as you, she’ll kill herself). For some reason it doesn’t work (most likely because it’s not her original cellphone. (Seras): Like I said, end result is death) which means she’s going to die and so is Kenta because he couldn’t follow his order which was to protect Mizuki. To the anime’s credit their death scene is pretty sad as the two are slowly suffering and desperately trying to reach out for each other only to be mere inches away from each other before dying. Nobuaki honoring his friends (the only ones with any bit of sanity left) sits them side by side with each other and has them hold hands (scene here: https://youtu.be/bjf9zpOeKMw, #togetherforever). The episode ends with Nobuaki receiving a call from Natsuko who is in the middle of riding the classmate (much to his displeasure) she was ordered to have sex with (oh she is going to be so entertaining in these last few episodes. I’m still looking forward to her death).
In episode 8 after Natsuko and Nobuaki get done talking (Nobuaki: Hate you bitch. (Natsuko): Coming to kill you, asshole), Nobuaki looks over the journal he found in the village where the only clue he has is the one single letter that comes from the king. This letter is a bug and that bug is the key to ending the game once and for all. He then receives a call from his classmate Riona (she’s not crazy but she’s pretty stuck up) who has been doing her own research on the King’s Game and wants to talk to Nobuaki. He arrives back in town where she reveals that Natsuko was also involved in a King’s Game as well in the past and was the only one who survived (now her backstory would have been interesting to follow). She also knows about the letters and wrote them all down for reference. Natsuko comes to get them so that they can do the next step in the game but before going Nobuaki tells Natsuko about his relationship with Chiemi and she doesn’t care (scene here: https://youtu.be/3UpXFtcrcpM, you can’t reason with a crazy bitch Nobuaki. You have a better chance negotiating with a terrorist). They go to a park for their next order which is confusing. They have to break their fingers where the points on the left hand are negative and go to the next player. If you wind up with a negative score at the end you’ll be punished (it’s hard to follow). You can pass your turn and do nothing which is what everyone does except for Teru (the one that got raped by Natsuko). After fixing up Nobuaki’s hair he proceeds to break one finger on his right hand and then breaks all the fingers on his left hand so all the negative points go to Natsuko (we find out from him Natsuko took everyone’s phone and is basically holding them all hostage so we can all assume this is payback).
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 starts with Teru going hardcore on his left hand with a rock and breaking all his fingers (check out the balls on this crazy SOB). He threatens to give all his negative points to Natsuko unless she gives them back their phones to which she complies but Teru pulls a fast one over her by giving her 4 negative points, 1 negative point to Aimi (Natsuko’s best friend), and his positive point to Nobuaki to keep him safe (man, Teru is my bro). Now Natsuko has to break 4 of her fingers to be safe or hope that the remaining 4 students will break at least one finger and give her a positive point (*chuckles* not on your life). Natsuko too afraid to break any of her fingers passes her turn (ha! Coward). The other 3 students pass leaving only Aimi to decide Natsuko’s fate. Natsuko pleads with Aimi to break her fingers giving her reasons why she should do it except saying the one reason that matters the most, they’re friends. Before all of this craziness went down Aimi asked Teru to give her one of his negative points because she wants to test her friendship with Natsuko (why she would want to do that is beyond me. Natsuko has clearly shown that things like friendship mean nothing to her. All that matters to her is surviving and she’ll do anything to survive even if it means killing her so called friends). Natsuko finally snaps and attacks Aimi breaking 4 of her fingers before Nobuaki pulls her away, and then stupidity takes over Aimi as she saves Natsuko from Nobuaki. Despite everything that Natsuko has done, Aimi still remains loyal to her and still thinks of her as a friend (scenes here: https://youtu.be/pJfCzKlBg9M and https://youtu.be/pEpqKreQCQQ, you cannot be serious!? What you have is an abusive relationship where you’re the abusee). Natsuko breaks Aimi’s last finger and she uses her positive points to save Natsuko and herself (you dumb bitch). Everyone receives a confirmation email saying they completed the order and meet up later where Natsuko tells everyone not to believe Nobuaki saying only one person can survive the King’s game (would somebody just kill this bitch already, she’s obviously not going to change and has even admitted that she wants everyone to drop dead. Keeping her alive is not good for your health or safety). She causes Teru’s death by blocking the King on his phone which violates the rules and he dies via decapitation. Aimi tries to kill herself as well but Natsuko stops her because she wants to keep her around so that she can keep using her in the game (yeah, everybody is slowly losing their grip on reality. Want to know how to get it back? Kill the bitch you can’t trust).
Episode 10 starts with everyone running (it is a lovely night for a jog). This is all a part of the King’s order which is for them to run to the summit of Nuegakubi where every 8 hours the person furthest from the summit will be punished and they can’t use transportation or equipment to reach the summit. From there nothing much really happens. We see Natsuko get a considerable lead on everyone all while leaving Aimi behind who decides she wants to die but Nobuaki won’t let her. He picks her up and runs with her on his back until she finally agrees to start running herself. They catch up to Riona who doesn’t have a lot of stamina because of her upbringing (spoiled girl) and run with her until she needs to stop and rest. Nobuaki and Aimi meet up with the others where he hands Aimi over to them (feed her 3 times a day and pat her on the head) and then goes back for Riona and runs with her where they run into Masatoshi who was pulled from behind and fell down a flight of stairs by another student (Mira: He has a concussion doesn’t he? (Nitsuj): Oh there’s no way he doesn’t have a concussion). They keep running where they stop for a break by the ocean where Masatoshi passes out and falls into the ocean (he fell down a flight of stairs, no doubt has a concussion, and ran what is essentially a marathon for 7 hours straight. I’m amazed he didn’t pass out sooner). Nobuaki tries to save him but he’s gone and Nobuaki decides he’s had enough and decides to drown as well until he sees the spirits of his friends telling him to keep on going (he’s losing it). He returns and continues to run with Riona where the 8 hours is almost up and sure enough Nobuaki believes he and Riona are the furthest behind so he decides to sacrifice himself to save Riona (scene here: https://youtu.be/5Kyb5Z3A_d8, did you not hear what the others said, keep going).
In episode 11 through the power of BS Nobuaki isn’t the one who got punished. Instead, it was Masatoshi who I can only assume was still alive and gets punished by drowning which he was already doing at the time of the punishment (well that was the most ironic death out of all the deaths so far). Nobuaki and Riona continue to run where she’s pissed at how Nobuaki was willing to sacrifice himself to keep her alive (she wants you to live you idiot. You are the key to stopping this madness not her. That and she’s obviously tsundere for you). Another 8 hours pass and once again Nobuaki tries to sacrifice himself to save Riona (okay what the hell is your problem Nobuaki? I think, deep down you crave death but not just any death you want a glorified death a death in which you think everybody is gonna be proud of and say ‘how noble of you’. You are a selfish human being). This time however Riona is on to him and tries to get the furthest behind but fails. Nobuaki gets saved again this time by Aimi who dies via decapitation (scene here: https://youtu.be/EmEpu_w3HWo, the king really loves decapitating his subjects. I’m starting to think he’s Vlad the Impaler). As Noubaki and Riona continue to run, Nobuaki tells her how his last king game ended which was him and Chiemi being ordered to kill each other within 5 minutes. Of course Nobuaki couldn’t bring himself to kill Chiemi so she did it for him (scene here: https://youtu.be/HxDKZprrNQQ) and gets declared the winner where he’s given a choice. Choose to be punished or continue the King’s Game (and if you’ve been watching the anime I think it’s safe to assume he choose the latter. Either him or Natsuko). Getting back to the race, we see that everyone is closing in on the finish line and Natsuko decides to take it upon herself and eliminate the competition (because she’s a crazy bitch and nobody has the guts to kill her when they’ve had so many chances to do so). She tricks some of them to go the wrong way which causes them to fall into a trap or fall off a cliff, tortures one classmate psychologically, and blocks the path for the others just as they’re closing in on the finish line.
In the final episode we start off with Nobuaki pushing down Natsuko so he can get by (yeah, what did you think was going to happen bitch?). Riona, Ryou, Nobuaki, and unconscious girl (forget her name) make it in time but the three students who got tricked by Natsuko get punished and killed off (I’m pretty sure two of them were already dead). This leaves us with only 5 students now and the next order is probably the most messed up order out of all of them so far (the king just keeps upping his game with each order. Too bad he’s not creative with the punishments). Their next order is to create a human shaped doll using their own body parts and if they don’t do it they’ll all be punished (you sick as fuck man). Ryou goes slightly insane and knocks out Nobuaki, Natsuko hands him a chainsaw (which was just lying around for some reason) and he starts to cut through his leg only to finish and die from massive blood loss (chop. Up. That. Bitch. God, out of all the tropes in a horror movie to go with why did you choose the dumb teenagers trope?). The one girl who was unconscious gets back up and tries to choke a bitch only for Natsuko to grab the chainsaw and kill her (oh great the crazy bitch has a chainsaw. This is not a good combination). Nobuaki regains consciousness and stops Natsuko by talking about the text letters everyone gets when they die (oh God this stupid shit again? We’re really doing this). Nobuaki and Riona combine their letters with the letters Natsuko has and they finally make out a sentence which tells them that the only way to end the game is for everyone to die. As long as one of them stays alive, the game will continue until all of humanity is destroyed (scene here: https://youtu.be/DVeXv_8sKFE). So Nobuaki tells them for the good of humanity they have to kill themselves but Natsuko says screw that and attacks Nobuaki finally fed up with his false savior attitude. As Natsuko strangles Nobuaki to death, Riona grabs the chainsaw (seriously, where did that come from? Out of everything in this anime that’s the one question I want an answer to) and cuts into her finally killing her (thank you. This was long overdue). Riona than tells Nobuaki he’s not a false savior and is about to confess to him when Natsuko somehow survived the chainsaw to the back and uses the last of her strength to get back up, grab the chainsaw, and kill Nobuaki that way she can die with the person she loves (you have a strange way of showing love). As she dies we find out in her last game one of her classmates actually killed her boyfriend and she never got over it until she met Nobuaki who reminded her of him. Nobuaki goes to the afterlife where he’s reunited with his old classmates and even Natsuko is there (oh bullshit, you belong in the other place). As for Riona, she drags the dead body of Nobuaki to the ocean and drowns herself with him bringing an end to the King’s Game once and for all. Or not, as we see another group of students get a text from the king restarting the game all over again (they’re trying to make a second season out of this crap?).
Final Thoughts
Well I’ll give King’s Game credit it’s better than Evil or Live, but it’s still a crappy anime. Half of the anime is done in flashbacks instead of focusing on the current students and getting a chance to know them. Nobuaki was a dumb character as he kept on needlessly trying to sacrifice himself to save the others when everyone around him says he has to survive because he’s their hope, but he keeps on trying to die out of so-called selflessness when really it just feels like he’s just looking for an excuse to die. The only character I found entertaining was Natsuko. She is a crazy bitch and she plays her role perfectly from beginning to end. Sacrificing her classmates, manipulating her so called friends, and still falling in love with the boy she hates the most. Her whole character was entertaining and made me laugh a little. Actually, there is some strange form of comedy to this anime as it is too ridiculous and silly to take seriously because of how the game works. An airborne virus turns into a computer virus and begins killing people through a game. It’s so asinine that you can’t help but laugh. As soon as they revealed this I couldn’t take this anime seriously anymore and continued to watch it just for a good laugh and to see how crazy Natsuko could get. The animation looks bad and dated. Again, anime 10 years older than this anime actually look better than this anime. I will say the deaths of the characters are pretty gruesome but that’s the only thing I can commend the animation on. The soundtrack is pretty decent too, but I don’t see this being memorable.
Final Score
The final score for the King’s Game is a 2.5/10. Another awful anime adaptation of what could have been a good anime. If you are interested in this series than I suggest checking out the light novels or mangas and skipping the anime altogether. God, that’s two weeks in a row where we have gotten a disappointing anime. I’ll make this up to you guys next week, I swear. What’s the next anime?
*A picture of Dorei-ku pops up*
Oh fuck!
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