[Fall 2017] King's Game The Animation: The King's Game resumes with the first episode!

The wait was not long between the announcement and the broadcast of this first episode! King's Game The Animation is finally available on Wakanim and the "king" seems ready to sow panic and death on his way. What is this introduction worth? We tell you everything!

King's Game The Animation

Original title: 王様ゲーム – Ōsama Gemu

Alternative title: King's Game

Genre: drama, horror

Type: Seinen

Period: from October 5 to …

Platform: Wakanim

Number of episodes: ???

Animation studio: Seven (Strange+, Recorder to Randoseru Do♪)

Director: Noriyoshi Sasaki (Okusama ga Seitokaichou! S2, Ojisan to Marshmallow)

Scriptwriter: Kenji Konuta (Ace of Diamond, Saiyuki Reload Blast)

Character Designer: Yousuke Itou

To be reserved for an informed public.

Synopsis

Kanazawa Nobuaki has rebuilt his life in a new high school away from his old school. Even if past horrors prevent him from befriending his new classmates. However, it manages to open up somewhat, especially thanks to the relay race on the occasion of the sports festival. But one day, all the students receive a message from the "king" on their phones. No one takes it seriously, except Nobuaki who knows that a terrible death game has just begun. The peace was short-lived… 

Spring: Wakanim

This review does not contain any revelations that may interfere with the viewing of the anime. Read with caution though.

The return of the "king"

One does not escape so easily the nets of the "king". And that, Nobuaki learns the hard way in this first episode. A short-lived respite that did not leave him time to recover from the last round. Of course, he suspected that the "king" would not leave him in peace and that the horror would begin again sooner or later… But a tiny hope still lives in his heart: the hope that this serene period will last as long as possible.

Midnight.

The tiny hope cracks, splits and eventually bursts to give way only to despair and reality.

Your whole class participates in a King's Game. 
The King's orders are absolute and must be carried out within 24 hours.
Be careful, no abandonment will be tolerated.
— SNE —

The scenario, many people know it and it is relatively simple: a class, a "king" who orders and students who carry out the orders under penalty of suffering a mortal pledge. But who would believe the new kid, freshly arrived from another establishment and his warnings about this morbid game? Because Nobuaki knows only too well what happens when the king's game begins… And he knows only too well the suffering he will have to endure again and the struggle he will have to fight for his survival.

King's Game The Animation adapts the sequel to Nobuaki Kanazawa's nightmare and not the first modern King's Game as in the manga. This anime adapts the "second season" or third part (if we count Yonaki) entitled King's Game Extreme, which takes place after the game in which Chiemi Honda participated. You know, the one Nobuaki had feelings for. The one with whom he had to go further to survive… These are not very recent memories since the manga now dates from 2011 (Japan) and 2013 here… But don't worry, some flashbacks will most certainly remind you of old forgotten details.

Ah! I almost forgot… To participate, do not forget to respect these few rules…

Obey, survive… then die.

Such is the harsh law of the king's game. Because you have understood it well… But few survive this morbid game. We understand then that Nobuaki simply wanted to escape and lead a normal life. But the king doesn't seem to hear it that way… And under these conditions, how to live well your change of school? The discovery of new faces? Potentially becoming friends… Who will die sooner or later. Difficult integration for Nobuaki. But is pushing others away really the technique to help as many people as possible survive? Is it honest to sacrifice yourself first so as not to relive the horror a second time? And is revealing the truth to them without giving in to panic at the fall of the king's first message a real solution? Especially when no one wants to believe you and tensions arise…

Nobuaki finds himself in a difficult situation and the viewer sincerely feels sorry for him… He who will have to participate a second time in this deadly game. He who will have to make his comrades understand that he is not the king, even if he survived the last part… He who will have to learn to manage his emotions to survive… These are all challenges that will be difficult to carry out. But that it will be very interesting for the viewer to follow.

We really wish this lull would have lasted longer for Nobuaki, who was just starting to smile timidly at life again thanks to his new class. A class shattered by play, which is divided in terror. You won't even have time to remember certain names or faces… But for others, you will have plenty of time to get to know them, to see them evolve, to love them, to fear them, but perhaps also to hate them.

Hemoglobin, pledges and terror

We were a little scared for King's Game The Animation, we must admit. Will the technical team respect the horror and difficult scenes of the manga? Won't the king's orders be watered down to better get on screen? How would violence be adapted? Question orders, we keep the question in abeyance, since we are only at the beginning of the game. On the animation side on the other hand… There are some nice details to note, others less so.

This first episode of the anime King's Game The Animation reveals beautiful landscape scenes, sometimes bloody, sometimes urban that are worth a look. Short moments that allow you to escape a little from the game, or on the contrary, to plunge into horror. On the charadesign side, we deplore the somewhat "bland" side of Nobuaki and the lack of details, but we appreciate the way the expressions are portrayed on his face. But here it is stuck the most for me, it is in the credibility of the shocking scenes. Which really aren't. In comparison, go see Made in Abyss, episode 10, you will have for your stomach. Short. In the manga King's Game, the shocking scenes are rather detailed, sometimes pushed to the extreme in the drawings, losing reality, but gaining in horror. In the anime, the few sensitive scenes proposed leaves us downright hungry … And are not really worthy of a horror anime. Too nice, but detailed, these are bland and do not surprise, do not mark the viewer. To see how the next pledges will be scripted in the episodes to come…

In terms of atmosphere, we expected something more threatening, where anxiety would grow little by little. But as this is the first episode, we are waiting to see the rest to judge this point. On the OST side, nothing notable for the moment, we are waiting to hear more! We are also waiting to discover opening and ending in due form in episode 2! 

Have you already discovered this first episode of King's Game The Animation ? What did you think? Tell us everything! And if you haven't had your dose of hemoglobin and anxiety yet, see you next Thursday for episode 2 on Wakanim !