![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot-2017-10-12-19.24.10.png?resize=747%2C420&ssl=1\")
\u2026And she\u2019s more worried about who she is going to have sex with. If you recall, one of the King\u2019s Orders is that she \u201chook up\u201d with #25 Teruaki Nagata and she\u2019s really fretting over it. Hey, sweetie? You are caught up in a perilous game of life-and-death right now. TEN of your classmates just died\u2026one right in front of you in the most horrible of ways, and all you can think about right now is \u201cAm I gonna have to have sex with some guy?!\u201d You don’t have to have sex with Teruaki RIGHT THIS SECOND. You have 24 hours to figure out what you want to do. PRIORITIES\u2026GET THEM\u2026NOW.<\/p>\n
We then cut from Natsuko worrying about her sex life to the new OP. The song is \u201cFeed the Fire\u201d by Coldrain. The song goes well with the anime<\/em> and it sounds awesome, but the animation accompanying it doesn\u2019t really do anything for me. It\u2019s nothing really special.<\/p>\n Anyway, let\u2019s check back in with Natsuko, who by now has probably calmed down and realized that the safety of herself and her friends is more important–<\/p>\n AND THEY\u2019RE STILL TALKING ABOUT WHO SHE IS GOING TO HAVE SEX WITH!! Why?! WHY IS THIS STILL A TOPIC OF DISCUSSION AT THIS POINT IN TIME?! Again, you just lost 10 classmates\u2026one of whom died right in front of you (and is still laying there, just FYI)\u2026and all you can think about is who is going to be the first to take your virginity?! And she then starts crying to Nobu-Kun, wanting him to take her virginity first as she loves him. Natsuko\u2026sweetie\u2026THINK ABOUT YOUR VAGINA LATER! Nobu-Kun then decides to tell us about his history with the King\u2019s Game which can only mean one thing: It\u2019s FLASHBACK TIME!! It\u2019s just like Naruto: Shippuden<\/em> all over again except there\u2019s no Vic Mignogna\u2026yet<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Speaking of Shippuden<\/em>, I have to say this is probably the most unimaginative and abrupt entry into a flashback sequence I\u2019ve ever seen since\u00a0Shippuden<\/em>. I looked away from my TV for a second when I was watching the episode, and when I looked back, for a few seconds, I didn’t pick up on the fact that we weren’t in the same place. The only way I realized it was when I noted the Crunchyroll Subtitles were outlined in blue instead of all white. Even the characters from Nobu-Kun\u2019s old class look somewhat like the ones in his new class. Would it have hurt the creators to make an interesting transition, or maybe make the break between acts the transition?<\/p>\n ANYWAY\u2026we\u2019re back in time to Nobu-Kun\u2019s old class where King\u2019s Game shenanigans are just kicking off. Hideki Toyota has been ordered by the King to touch Satomi Ishii\u2019s F-Cups. Of course, baby girl is none too thrilled about this. The class thinks this is just a big elaborate prank. He backs off and we then see a SMILING Nobu-Kun talking to his pal Naoya Hashimoto who\u2014<\/p>\n Okay\u2026PAUSE HERE AGAIN! There\u2019s something I want to address. This happened in the 1st<\/sup> episode, and it\u2019s happening here and getting on my nerves. Whenever they introduce a classmate, they let them have a line, their name appears on-screen, and there\u2019s silence for about 1-3 seconds. They don\u2019t move, they don\u2019t blink, they don\u2019t do ANYTHING\u2026they just freeze as though they\u2019re giving the audience time to read their names…or make a sandwich. And it\u2019s awkward. The most egregious instance of this is with Naoya\u2019s introduction. He says his line, his name appears, and he just freezes\u2026unblinking\u2026unspeaking with those big brown eyes and that Old Navy Frost Free Quilted Vest. (Look it up if you don\u2019t believe me!)<\/p>\n Anyway, that night, Nobu-Kun receives a couple of messages from the King. One about Hideki and Satomi from earlier,\u00a0the other containing a new Order\u2014that Daisuke Tazaki and Misaki Nakajima\u00a0\u201chook up.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if this is an issue with Translation or what, but I find it interesting that the \u201cKing\u201d uses the phrase \u201cHook Up.\u201d The \u201cKing\u201d doesn’t explicitly say \u201cHave Sex.\u201d That is a bit vague on my end, truth be told. I mean, if you tell someone to \u201cHave Sex,\u201d then that\u2019s pretty much cut and dry right there. But \u201cHook Up\u201d could mean many things aside from intercourse. It could mean something innocuous like going out on a date or having a nice kiss. I find it funny that these kids AUTOMATICALLY jump to the conclusion that the \u201cKing\u201d wants them to have sex instead of doing something less intense like going out on a date. It would make my day if the King sent a message right afterwards saying \u201cDANG! I just wanted ya\u2019ll to go out on a date! I didn\u2019t mean for ya\u2019ll to do all that! The King\u2019s next order is that the two of you get the Morning After Pill.\u201d<\/p>\n In any case\u2026the next day, the teacher relays some bad news: Hideki and Satomi hung themselves and died. This naturally has the class shook. After school (and after an establishing shot of Ria Iwamura because I\u2019m SURE she\u2019ll come back later) Shouta, Misaki\u2019s boyfriend, is livid at the thought of his girl hooking up with another dude, and he threatens to break up with her and kill Daisuke.<\/p>\n That afternoon, at Typical Anime High School Hangout Location #3 (also known as the riverbank), Hiro-kun and Chiemi talk for a bit about the death of their friends. Nobu-Kun receives a message from the King saying that the Order was done\u2014Daisuke and Misaki did the deed. Chiemi wonders out loud what would happen if they received the order, and Hiro-Kun says that there\u2019s no way in hell he would comply. The lies you tell, Nobu-Kun.<\/p>\n The next day Nobu-Kun walks to school with Naoya and another order comes in from the King. Shouta, our jealous boyfriend, is given the rare opportunity to be King for the Day and give an order. He also gets his own special crown, a Personal Pan Pizza, and 50 free tokens to play any game he chooses at Chuck-E-Cheese for being a good boy and getting Straight A\u2019s on his report card. So, this order is pretty much cut and dry\u2026just have Shouta give a harmless order, execute it, and call it a day until the next one comes around, right? Shouta seems like a pretty nice guy who wouldn\u2019t give any prodigiously stupid or dangerous orders, huh?<\/p>\n Cut to our King for the Day beating the ever-loving snot out of Daisuke. Dang it, why do I have to be so freaking naive?\u00a0Anyway, Nobu-Kun arrives just in time to pull Shouta off Daisuke\u00a0who then decides to give his order: that Daisuke Tazaki hangs himself and dies. Shame on you, Shouta. No Personal Pan for you, young man! No soon as the proclamation is given, the King sends confirmation of the order to the entire class via text. Daisuke dashes out in terror and at Chiemi\u2019s insistence, Nobu-Kun follows after him leaving his classmates behind to explain to their teacher what all the ruckus was about and why the desks are all askew. Nah, I’m just kidding. Adults don’t exist in this show to do actual adult things like that.<\/p>\n Later, at Typical Anime High School Hangout Location #1 (also known as the school roof), Nobu-Kun comforts Daisuke reiterating that this whole thing is just a sick joke. As they talk, we get a peek into Nobu-kun\u2019s life before everything goes downhill. We find out here that he\u2019s a musician in training with dreams of playing at Nippon Budokan one day. Bro, don’t you know you haven’t really made it big until you play at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana? Now THAT’S a venue.\u00a0 Daisuke reveals that he also has dreams of being a musician despite his external meek appearance. He’s kind of like Koyuki from Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad<\/em>–quiet on the outside but inside beats the heart of a rock star. Now if only Greg Ayres would voice him in the dub, that would just be awesome. In any case, this revelation hypes Nobu-Kun up and he decides that the two of them along with Naoya should rock out all night long past midnight, with Nobu-Kun vowing that he\u2019ll stop the King\u2019s punishment no matter what.<\/p>\n Fast forward to later that day at Daisuke\u2019s house (with no parents around, of course) and the trio belt out music all through the night with Daisuke especially putting his heart and soul into the music, especially in the last ten minutes before \u201cMidnight.\u201d The time comes and goes and the group celebrates with Daisuke going to get drinks. You know, when you really think about it, our glasses wearing bro has had a pretty awesome 24 hours if you don\u2019t factor in the King\u2019s Game or the beat-down he got earlier. He made some new friends, he had a chance to rock out with said friends, and he got to sleep with a cute girl. Not an AWFUL way to spend a day\u2026riiiiiight???<\/p>\n Welp, a phone call from Chiemi brings an otherwise awesome day to a tragic end as she states that it\u2019s actually a few minutes BEFORE midnight. Turns out the clock in the room they were having the concert in was off by a couple of minutes and it\u2019s not quite midnight…because NOBODY IN THIS ANIME LOOKS AT THEIR CELL PHONE TO KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS…<\/p>\n Even worse, much to Naoya\u2019s horror, a message from the King comes on his phone with just two words: \u201cObedience Confirmed.\u201d Nobu-Kun rushes to the study to find Daisuke hanging from the ceiling, dead and gone. Nobu-Kun is clearly torn up: he failed to ease the panic of his new friend, and he ended up seeing him swinging from the ceiling in the study–<\/p>\n Wait\u2026how did he know Daisuke was in the study? Before he left, our glasses bro said he was thirsty and was going to get drinks for everyone. Wouldn’t the logical place to look for Daisuke first would be the kitchen and not the study? Nobu-Kun just RAN down the hall, busted through the first set of closed doors he comes across and finds Daisuke. That\u2019s either dumb luck or just plain dumb writing.<\/p>\n Speaking of dumb things, we jump back to the present where Natsuko is STILL fretting over who will take her virginity first. She pleads with Nobu-Kun to sleep with her first before she does the deed with Teruaki. Keep in mind this whole conversation is happening with ALL HER CLASSMATES circled around them\u2026and the dead body of their classmate still on the ground! Teruaki decides that enough is enough and that they must follow the King\u2019s order right then and there. He drags Natsuko away from Nobu-Kun and puts her on the ground struggling against his grasp while her classmates, save for one girl, watches on.<\/p>\n So, yeah\u2026rape. He\u2019s literally about to rape her\u2026in broad dayli\u2014I mean moonlight\u2026in front of her classmates\u2026on the ground\u2026WITH A DEAD BODY A FEW FEET AWAY. I\u2026I don\u2019t even know anymore. RAPE. What is this, Sword Art Online<\/em> or something?! Am I supposed to believe that Teruaki is so crazed that he is willing to RAPE a girl outside.<\/p>\n Oh, but hang onto your socks, boys and girls. Things go even further down the rabbit hole. Apparently, the attempted rape flips a switch and Natsuko kicks Teruaki off her. Her entire demeanor changes and she starts talking down to Nobu-Kun about how she expected more from him since he survived the King\u2019s game last time. She then removes her blouse and talks about how she\u2019s now willing to do anything to survive and tells the now frightened Teruaki that they should \u201cget started.\u201d When he doesn\u2019t reply, she abruptly drags Nobu-Kun off away from the group for a sidebar.<\/p>\n If the above paragraph made no sense, then congrats. We\u2019re on the same page. That scene makes zero sense whatsoever. So, the attempted rape from earlier caused this immediate mood change in Natsuko\u2026who is now apparently cool with having sex outside in front of her classmates, one of which, I would like to remind you again, is RECENTLY DECEASED. So she decides to strip down to her bra and offer herself to Teruaki\u2026who just sits there in horror! Dude, TWO SECONDS AGO YOU WERE ABOUT TO RAPE HER! You were so terrified about not following the King\u2019s Order you were willing to violate a girl in public. NOW YOU\u2019RE SCARED?! What, now that she\u2019s offering herself to you, consent and all, it\u2019s not that big a deal!? Good grief, this writing is stupid.<\/p>\n During the sidebar, Nobu-kun reiterates that his goal is to try to save people from this game, but Natsuko rebukes him saying that self-preservation is more important and that backstabbing and deceit is the way to go. What happens next still blows my mind.\u00a0 Natsuko starts to strangle Nobu-kun declaring that she hates him. When he pushes her off, she throws her blouse at him and screams loudly, giving the illusion that Nobu-kun is trying to do something inappropriate. The classmates come rushing to her aid and immediately assume Nobu-Kun is the guilty party and commence with a beat down.<\/p>\n Lemme get this straight. The class SAW how Teruaki was about to rape Natsuko. They saw her kick him in the gut. They saw her take off her blouse and goad Teruaki into having sex with her. THEY SAW HER PULL NOBU-KUN INTO THE WOODS FOR A SIDEBAR CONVERSATION WITH HER BLOUSE STILL OFF. And they figure \u201cOh, well Nobu-kun must\u2019ve tried to do something\u201d and they wail on him?! NOW you decide to stop the \u201crape\u201d\u2026when there IS NO RAPE OCCURING?! I swear, I didn\u2019t think I would rage on this show this hard and this early on, but good grief.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Natsuko is now trying to appeal to #32 Mizuki Yukimura to text the word \u201cDie\u201d to Nobu-Kun in line with King\u2019s order which she states will kill him. How does she know what will happen? The message only states that Mizuki and another student had to text the word \u201cDie\u201d to a classmate. She has NO WAY of knowing what effect it would have on the recipient. So why is she acting like she knows what will happen when she honestly doesn\u2019t?! The episode ends with one of the students calling out for Nobu-kun as he loses consciousness. Who is this guy? Hell if I know. I\u2019m just glad this episode is over.<\/p>\n The Death Toll Remains: 10 Dead, 22 Remain.<\/p>\n The ending credits are somewhat improved from the first one\u2026somewhat. The song is just your standard Japanese rock singer singing a standard Japanese rock song playing over standard imagery. Nothing too memorable here. A first-time YouTuber with Windows Movie Maker could do better.<\/p>\n So, yeah. That was crap. That was not a very entertaining twenty-three minutes at all. The only redeeming factors I can find in this particular episode were the flashback sequences and even then, I had issues. This was completely jumbled storytelling, and it left more questions than answers\u2026and not in a good \u201cOoh, I want to see what happens in the next episode\u201d kind of way. These are more \u201cWhy are these people so freaking blind and\/or stupid?!\u201d Natsuko’s flipped personality switch came out of NOWHERE and her plan to frame Nobu-Kun for rape was equally puzzling.<\/p>\n On the plus side, I am glad that I got a little back-story on Nobu-Kun that I talked about earlier. It was great to see him in the flashbacks grinning, goofing off with his friends, hearing about his hopes and dreams (Even if it was the generic \u201cI want to be a rock star!\u201d). It was an excellent starting point for the hardened character we met in Episode 1 and I hope we get more.<\/p>\n Finally, I can\u2019t help but get the feeling that this is a show that I\u2019ve seen before. A friend of mine pointed out that this is yet another anime taking place in a high school with your typical troupe filled students\u2026much like every other anime out there over the last few decades. I understand that this may be a popular setting in anime, but a little variety never hurt anybody. On Monday, I found myself going back into Crunchyroll\u2019s manga archives and looking at \u201cKings Game: Origin,\u201d a manga created by Nobuaki Kanazawa, the creator of the original \u201cKings Game\u201d manga this show is based on. In fact, “Origin” acts as a prequel to the events seen in the anime and takes place in the same universe.<\/p>\n In that manga, set in 1977, a remote village in a mountain area is forced to take part in the King\u2019s Game. Orders are sent by letter instead of emails because, duh, it\u2019s 1977, and leaving the village doesn’t make you immune to the King\u2019s punishments, which are just downright gruesome. I can\u2019t help but wish that the \u201cOrigin\u201d manga was the one the studio adapted, not the manga set in the modern-day. It would\u2019ve been refreshing if we didn\u2019t have a show set in yet another stereotypical high school. Also, how cool would it have been to see an entire village play the game? Not just high school teenagers, but grown adults, little kids, the elderly\u2026all wrapped up this deadly game. I know it might sound morbid wanting to involve little kids in this life-or-death struggle, but you have to admit, it would be a lot more interesting than watching the same old characters in the same old high school setting. Variety is the spice of life, after all.<\/p>\n I know it\u2019s still early for King’s Game: The Animation<\/em>, and despite the face palming stupidity of this episode, it STILL has the potential to wow me\u2026but it had better get the lead out and FAST as it only has 10 episodes left. I know some shows take a while to heat up and get a good head of steam, but we can\u2019t have any more episodes like this.<\/p>\n Just a reminder that King\u2019s Game: The Animation<\/em>\u00a0is currently streaming on Crunchyroll with new episodes every Thursday at 11:00AM. Funimation will also be doing a SimulDub of the series starting on October 21<\/strong>st<\/sup> but at the time of publishing, there is no cast listing. Seriously hoping Daisuke is played by Greg Ayres, though. He’s awesome.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hey guys, Josh here again. First and foremost, I want to thank you all for the love you’ve given this Southern Anime Writer \n [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[29,703,60,708,706],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation","tag-anime","tag-anime-review","tag-crunchyroll","tag-kings-game","tag-kings-game-the-animation"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot-2017-10-13-22.18.00.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-GD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2743,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions\/2743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Screenshot-2017-10-13-22.13.26.png?resize=747%2C420&ssl=1\")
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