King's Game - Reviews

Alt title: Ousama Game

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Ebonyslayer's avatar
Dec 24, 2017

I'm going to be honest, I got into this series expecting to find gold but instead found crap. I'm usually more merciful than most when an anime is trying to get its shit together in the first few episodes, but I don't think it ever happened. This has got to be one of the worst anime I have seen in a long time, if not the worst. I actually feel bad for Studio Seven, cause maybe they are trying to create some good anime but they just don't have anyone good on their staff. Anyway, the whole point of this review is to explain why this anime isn't worth watching, despite being only 12 episodes.

Story- The story of King's Game is a death game that is set in a high school where an entire class are suppose to fulfill these requests that show up on their phones every day or pay the consequences. I think what was a big mistake in the writing of this story was the fact of how much sex was used in the requests of the game. I get that the point was to destroy trust and bonds between people, but I think this wasn't the right way to handle it. And the studio thought it was such a great idea to adapt a novel that was written online by a person who was just getting experience as a writer. The author himelf Nobuaki even named the main character after himself. Not to say there's anything wrong with that but this was one of his first works. Talk about not trying to use your imagination. And the other thing is that where there are explanations in the story, there are parts where the author didn't explain enough, creating those annoying little plotholes. And if you somehow are able to it through the first 11 episodes, be prepared for a really bad ending, where everyone SPOILER dies. When it comes to endings for a series, I expect them to actually be pretty good wrap-ups for a series. This is definitely not one of them. If you think you can handle the ending, be my guest, just don't say I didn't warn you.

Animation- Easily one of the worse aspects of the show. It seems like the studio did just enough to make it look like passable, but this is a huge shame, even more so since animation has progressed so much up to 2017. Don't even get me going on the gore, cause they went overboard with that, reducing the deaths of the characters to a bloody syruppy mess. I get that a studio needs money to produce good animation, but this shouldn't excuse their mistakes. Manglobe did some really good animation for Deadman Wonderland, which should set a standard for all survival horror series. Not just that but the character designs look so generic, so if you're looking for good art for an anime, you should look elsewhere.

Sound- The sounds for this anime are very poor as well, from the awful blood effects to the complete bland soundtracks that will never leave impression on you after the anime is finished. Coldrain's Feed the Fire opening may actually be the only best thing about the anime, which is actually pretty sad. I'm under the impression that the better the opening, the more likely the studio is trying to rope in the audience, just a thought I wanted to share. People should be more careful if animes are being aimed like that, then again there have always been studios like that.

Characters- This is probably the worse part of the anime. When doing a survival horror series, you want more than 5 episodes for the viewer to get attached to a character, to have an idea of who they are and to even like them if possible. The characters of this series are nothing more than paper cutouts assigned a role until they are dead which happens rather quickly. I cannot get attached to a character if the show makes it very obvious that a character is going to die, like with this series. And it was also the same for Akame ga Kill, since the author has to make it so obvious that a character is going to die. It ruins one of the major reasons why I like survival horror. And during that said role for the character, they have to be as edgy and as melodramatic as possible which is something quite common not only for this show but for others as well. People say Attack on Titan is bad in that respect, but I think that show is way better at handling it than this one. Its a miracle I even made it through it subbed. Now let's focus on Nobuaki, one of the reasons why the show sucked. In order for a protagonist to leave an impression on the audience, they need to have a dream or a goal in mind, one that pushes them forward and to actively make choices. Nobuaki is passive to the point where he doesn't care if he dies in his 2nd King's Game, which spoiled the audience through with the constant flashbacks. What a good way to spoil the story for the audience Studio Seven. Nobuaki was so submissive that just didn't drive the show forward in any way. A show can be interesting even if the main character was not but this isn't the case. Why show that Natsuko was in a previous King's Game if it doesn't develop the story in any way? Regardless of what happened to her, Natsuko is still a bitch of a character to deal with during the story, although I gotta give her credit for being the only character who tries to have fun in that situation. The characters are so simple that it hurts, hurts the show too much to be enjoyable.

Overall- This show is very bad, so bad that it makes the other bad shows look better, if only slightly. Maybe the studio wanted to do a series that explored how a character would react realistically in a setting where they think about the choices in order to survive, although the characters still look stupid in the end. You're honestly better off looking for better survival horror series, because this is the worst.     

2/10 story
2/10 animation
2/10 sound
2/10 characters
2/10 overall
AlexHenretty's avatar
Jul 15, 2020

It all comes down to personal preference. This gave me HUGE Another vibes, and in the end, i actually really enjoyed the anime! Though I did wish it continued as there were still a few loose ends. Did the game end? is it really all over? Honestly, give the show a try. I really enjoyed the theme song as well! Defiantly making it one of my alarms in the morning  

9/10 story
10/10 animation
10/10 sound
8/10 characters
10/10 overall
Archert's avatar
Feb 2, 2020

Para mi ha sido una serie que me ha dejado sin aliento hasta el ultimo momento, realmente bizarra e interesante, siempre queriendo saber los 'porque' y los desenlaces de las pruebas. Lastima que a todo esto lo acompañe una animación nefasta que empaña la obra. Quitando la animación y varios haters de por aquí la considero una serie redonda, ofreciendo mucho para tan pocos capítulos y pese a que el final me dejo frío no lo considero malo sino diferente a lo que nos tienen acostumbrado aunque hubiese agradecido que se destaparan algunos secretos más.


Pd: He visto muchos comentarios que creen que esta serie esta "basada" en la Ballena Azul y pese que tienen una gran similitud sobra decir que el manga tuvo lugar antes que estos trágicos incidentes.

(La nota general aumenta debido a su entretenimiento).

9/10 story
4/10 animation
8.5/10 sound
6.5/10 characters
8/10 overall
Jujucat's avatar
Apr 26, 2021

Personally I liked it. I love gore and things so it appealed to me. 
sucks to see the reviews so low tbh , therefore here is my review 

10/10 story
8/10 animation
7/10 sound
8/10 characters
9/10 overall
Fluffs's avatar
Dec 22, 2017

Imagine a show with elements of Another, Mirai Nikki, Higurashi and your favorite harem anime. Now imagine if those 4 had a love child - that's what King's Game plot summary sounds like when you read it. But when you actually get around to watching it IT'S SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

A class is chosen to participate in a deadly game called King's Game, in which they have to do certain tasks or they die. Sounds creepy? Well it isn't really, cause the King's tasks are basically what you'd expect from a 12 year old boy. One of the students in the class, Nobuaki, is a transfer student from another school and he was the only survivor of the Game in his old class. Upon arriving he meets this sweet girl who later turns out to be a complete psycho but I won't spoil it too much, I'll just start ranting away.

Story: Apparently this was based on a book, but I couldn't find it in English so can't confirm if it was as bad as the anime storyline. Nothing makes sense, they took best parts of anime I mentioned up there and managed to ruin them. There is no logic, mystery is lost with crappy plot twists, crazy is too forced, everyone is in love with the main character for some reason and it seems like gruesome scenes (with 0 scientific backing) are there just for the shock value. It makes me angry cause a plotline like that really had potential, you have teen kids fighting to survive, it's a gold mine for displaying complexity of human nature when facing horrible choices, but nooo let me add this cringeworthy scene of the antagonist waving a used condom around cause WHY NOT?  Oh and let's throw in this mysterious abandonded village cause every horror needs a mysterious abandoned village, but don't give them any logical explanations cause mystery!

As far as animation and sound go - I'm not an expert but was okay, nothing special. Can't do better when animating such stupid scenes I guess. Sound effects were meh

Characters: OH BOY

Zero development, whenever you see a little bit of backstory THEY WILL DIE. Failed tsundere action, whiny main character - just all in all really bad

2/10 story
5/10 animation
4/10 sound
1/10 characters
2/10 overall