My review of episode 1 of Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table
Sooooooooooooooo I am gonna go against the grain here. I thought it was rather meh. Like a 1.5 / 5
The episode is very very slow paced. Half the time I was shouting at the characters to hurry the fuck up because the pacing is slow, their speaking slowly, their moving slowly, thinking slowly. Jesus, did everyone take Xanax?
Their is absolutely zero time to get to know or care about any of the characters. Oh no, not punk hair waifu, she was the lifeblood of the episode with her 2 minutes of screentime!
I don't like silver hair girl, I get that she is a veteran and explaining everything for members sake (and the audience) but it all feels so very very meta / 4th wall breaking that it kills the suspension of disbelief and ruins the mood.
No blood, but animal stuffing kinda makes it hard to take the show seriously and the fact \[Spoiler\]>!that their limbs can just be casually reattached after the show kinda takes out the tension to losing a limb !<
The scenes where the girls faces were just blank is a stylistic choice, but I chuckled every time I saw it on screen
I chuckled a bit when \[Spoiler\]>!silver haired girl dropped blondie like a sack of fucking bricks. Also, how does she stab her with a crutch? A crutch is not a stabbing weapon lol, its completely blunt. So that scene just looked goofy and stupid!<
Again, I ***KNOW*** this is just episode 1 (out of 12?) but this episode just left me feeling "well...that was thing." I have no attachment to the characters, the world, the premise etc. It all just feels like a one and done throwaway OVA from the 90's that doesn't really have anything to say.
Why does this exist? It doesn't particularly do anything great or unique other then the protag who has done this 28 times before. That is the only unique thing about this, butttt that is not enough to carry more episodes especially since they have all the personality of Plank from Ed'Edd'Eddy
Overall a 1.5 out of 5
The blue hair girl death was pretty brutal to hear and the protag surviving 28 previous time is interesting but not enough to want me to watch more episodes. The rest of the show is bland, slow, lifeless and generic.
The episode is very very slow paced. Half the time I was shouting at the characters to hurry the fuck up because the pacing is slow, their speaking slowly, their moving slowly, thinking slowly. Jesus, did everyone take Xanax?
Their is absolutely zero time to get to know or care about any of the characters. Oh no, not punk hair waifu, she was the lifeblood of the episode with her 2 minutes of screentime!
I don't like silver hair girl, I get that she is a veteran and explaining everything for members sake (and the audience) but it all feels so very very meta / 4th wall breaking that it kills the suspension of disbelief and ruins the mood.
No blood, but animal stuffing kinda makes it hard to take the show seriously and the fact \[Spoiler\]>!that their limbs can just be casually reattached after the show kinda takes out the tension to losing a limb !<
The scenes where the girls faces were just blank is a stylistic choice, but I chuckled every time I saw it on screen
I chuckled a bit when \[Spoiler\]>!silver haired girl dropped blondie like a sack of fucking bricks. Also, how does she stab her with a crutch? A crutch is not a stabbing weapon lol, its completely blunt. So that scene just looked goofy and stupid!<
Again, I ***KNOW*** this is just episode 1 (out of 12?) but this episode just left me feeling "well...that was thing." I have no attachment to the characters, the world, the premise etc. It all just feels like a one and done throwaway OVA from the 90's that doesn't really have anything to say.
Why does this exist? It doesn't particularly do anything great or unique other then the protag who has done this 28 times before. That is the only unique thing about this, butttt that is not enough to carry more episodes especially since they have all the personality of Plank from Ed'Edd'Eddy
Overall a 1.5 out of 5
The blue hair girl death was pretty brutal to hear and the protag surviving 28 previous time is interesting but not enough to want me to watch more episodes. The rest of the show is bland, slow, lifeless and generic.
Commentaires
it's like the opposite of Gnosia's MC. i heard that Yuri isn't even in the game, and yet they made his character so great.
I'm guessing it'll basically be *Death Parade*, with this episode's MC in the role of Decim. In future episodes the other players will have to have more character to make that work, though.
Getting annoyed at people in a life or death situation they volunteered for moving slowly is silly. The animal stuffing thing has clear thematic implications, helps broadcastability, and gives the players a ton of options. Acting like the show wanted you to be attached to the first victim is dumb because the show didn't try to attach you, the death communicated other information like stakes and tone.
I don't get how you list several things that make the show different than your expectations while also criticizing it for being generic. This review comes across as someone that got antsy during the slow opening and then started nitpicking random stuff to vent their frustration.
There is alot of internal monologue happening in each character... which is idk what they are thinking, only guessing based on visual presentation.
Firstly beniya take her time because she have internal monologue... after that, she decide to playing favorites... her action is result of her internal monologue.. which is i dont know for sure what she thinking.
Second, Yuuki take her time to think about how she solved the problem, and she look at the chain...there is a keyhole in it... all girl spend good amount of time observing the area... but they didnt know the key hole existed, that because the keyhole only appear after the game begin, so she look at the chain second time to notice the keyhole after the first look is smart ngl.
About yuuki move slowly and causing first dead, yeah that because yuuki fault... she even admitted her fault in manga.
If there is anything i miss? Because you didnt tell me which scene you talking about... its soo hard to address the problem.
The reason why there is no time to know or care about the character is because it is just realistic... you go there for money and quit the game, the more you know better all of them, the more hardest your emotion gonna be after they dead... that is why none of character talk deeply about their personal live, they are only go there for the money... not making friends... except beniya i guess???... But that because momono is dragged into the show that make beniya protected her.. still it is not her bussiness to tell other people her personal life.
Another reason is, the show take yuuki perspective (except that kinko flashback and aoi short internal words)... look how mute when the girl crying after aoi and first girl dead... and blank faces is how yuuki sees them.. this is like silent voice movie when the mc sees all people with X and blank faces... and that is why we see them as not memorable character, because for yuuki... they are just people who in the way of her goal.
Like what is the point, why does she want to beat 99 games? What about the other characters why are they involved in these death games. Oh I'm bored of normal jobs. Oh I got tricked. Oh I have to repay a debt. Cool cool cool. There is zero back story and my guess is it'll just be more games and more deaths but could they at least make the games more interesting or more importantly have some character depth. Make me feel something instead of making me feel like Yuuki.
Not only that but what was the point of the previous games (if you can call them that) and their deaths if they were forced to only have 3 people survive anyways with no "alternate route" at this point you might as well just have a death game where everyone dies for no reason.
As far as death game shows go this was... one of them.
Lifeless? I think they trying to stay calm and alert the entire time, why did you want a character who play dead game to be lifefull? The more detached you're, the better chance of survival... it also realistic ngl.
I already explain why there is no backstory.
Why did you find the game uninteresting? People misunderstood the game, maybe you one of them too.
The art and sound/music design were extremely on point imo. Maybe because I'm pretty into escape rooms myself.
I don't think the side characters are meant to have depth - they're going to be gone next episode, replaced by a new cast of faces. This is part of the storytelling - the life of someone who does this "professionally". In fact, I think the entire show is focused on -who is the Mc? What are her motives? What is she truly thinking? And that's also reflected in the occasional shots with featureless faces, they're just... Faceless companions for a short time.
There's a lot of subtext and visual cues about using tests to identify who you can trust etc, only for that to be turned on its head in the end - well executed even though they're priming you from the start to be uncertain about the mc's motives.
Also they had 45mins to at least explain what was going on in these games or at least give a simple contextual background on the girls to let us understand why they’re doing this to give us a reason to support them.
Judging from the scenario of this game, they have a game master and spectators? Possibly watching them like squid games. But I feel like there was no stake other than surviving the game…not a slight thought of killing each other for more money?
Funny enough, we are even placed in the perspective of the spectators themselves; as we are watching them trying to survive. But honestly if I see a bunch of girls placed in a deathmatch and started teaming up I’d be hella turned off too.
Also, [spoiler 2] >!it's pretty obvious the crutch used to murder Kinko is not a *stabbing* weapon. It is however one with a pointed tip, which is plain to see, meaning with enough pressure (like, just for example, putting most of Yuki's body weight on it) it can be used to *crush* a skull.!< If you want to nitpick, get better at it.
E: I can understand not appreciating what this series goes for in terms of its direction, which is very much possible to express that without betraying a complete lack of understanding for the craftsmanship that goes into making anime. I wouldn't bat an eye at someone calling Souta Ueno's style pretentious or the like, but generic it most certainly is not.
I actually disagree with this interpretation. One thing that I think was very interesting about Yuki in this episode is that she has a very strict set of rules she follows. I think those rules are what she has established to allow her to survive so many games. Not praying for the dead until later prevents her from, as she said, regretting only being able to pray for some people but not all.
Killing Kinko because she was the closest means that it wasn't really *her* fault that she killed Kinko, she just did it because Kinko was unlucky. Similar rules about who she kills when the situation demands it would help stop her from feeling too much guilt over her actions. She didn't kill Kinko because she wanted to, she did so because she had to according to her rules (is what her self justification would be).
I think another rule she has is to avoid playing favorites when it comes to which other players she helps survive. Passing to the left or the right would be, in some way, playing favorites. To the left would maximize the survival chances of Beniya and Momona, while minimizing the chances of Kinko's survival. If she passed to the right, the opposite would be true, but perhaps especially so because she seemed to want Kinko and Aoi to survive, both of whom would have benefited most from passing it to the right. Placing them in the middle like that, while not optimal when it comes to everyone surviving, would give the most equal chance for any single one of the others to survive, avoiding favoritism.
Which is *very* interesting given her altruistic play style. She will help everyone survive, *so long as it doesn't negatively impact her*. Which implies that she has decided that playing favorites is a negative enough outcome (for whatever reason) that she would prefer doing something suboptimal for everyone's survival if it means being as unbiased as possible.
[Shiboyugi] >!You know, that wouldn't be out of character. She knew at the start there was enough time if nobody obstructed the process, which was near-guaranteed to happen by placing it at the center. But by passing circularly, it would by proxy make her decision a bad one if say for example Beniya stopped passing along. By placing it center she can wash her hands of the whole thing with blame falling on whoever wasted time fighting over who gets the keys first. It telling her more about the others' behavior and relationships was definitely a positive side effect for her though.!<
E: [Shiboyugi] >!In a similar way, her actions leading to Kinko's dependence on her is another thing you could classify as a positive side effect. Yuki didn't do it out of malice, but since Kinko ended up without any other players too close to her and no legs left, murdering her also became the safest choice that can be rationalized as bad luck for being the nearest.!<
I wrote the initial comment before having another lengthy round of discussions last night, and it's wild just how many different takeaways wrt Yuki's motives (and lots of cinematography talk of course) this one episode allows for. It gets people in my circles going in a way I haven't seen since Hibike S3 ~~last year~~ in 2024.
> [LN] >![...] the group fashioned some of the many rod-shaped weapons in the sauna room into makeshift crutches!<
> [LN] >!*She’s a good girl*, Yuki thought, before resting the tip of her crutch on that innocent face. The next moment, she pressed her weight against it. Snap! A sharp, audible sound reverberated through the air. It came from Kinko’s neck. Her neck, her oh so thin and fragile neck, had snapped.!<
There you have it. The anime didn't change this part, the manga did. Only thing the anime changed about this scene is that it didn't specify a cause of death.
My perspective is that it's a method to emphasize Kinko's attachment to her family and exaggerated sense of responsibility, which led to her participating in the game to begin with.
Also another question, in the anime it seems she knew it would be her and accepted her death. Where as in the manga she was caught off guard and was scared of her death. How was it in the LN?
> How was it in the LN?
Different than either of anime and manga:
> [LN] >!She directed her gaze at Yuki, eyes filled with equal parts bewilderment and optimism that she had been dropped by accident. Her stare showed no hint of criticism.!<
Though I can see how the second sentence translates into her blank, seemingly accepting stare in the anime.
Sigh.... she was too good for that world anyways. Rest well in headcannon afterlife Kinko. You were the best girl imo
It wouldn't take a lot of pressure between the eyes/above your sinuses to really do somebody in.
Especially the backgrounds, theirs so many Easter eggs and compelling hints that portrayed the characters without entirely telling you what it is, which is cinema. The dialogue and voice acting fits the tone of the scene, and phycological aspect of human beings faced by death. “No human would act what they are if faced by death”
I think that most anime casuals won’t appreciate the effort and dedication what it takes to direct visual mediums in which makes it compelling.
I knew it is horror genre but it's not my cup of tea. The artstyle is so vibrant, it initially gave weird vibes but appeal sadly goes down. The MC is stoic, it's fine. Blood is censored is okay. The voice actors are really good.
But the whole anime lacks the "adrenaline feels" for a battle royale or survival genre...
Its a story meant to explore people rationalizing the choices they make that result in the deaths of those around them. Its not a show made for people who doomscroll reels and tiktok.
edit: nah this isn't for me, they drag out a single manga chapter an entire episode. The manga is far better. The characters actually react, and theres somehow cut content in a show thats this slow in the adaptation on netflix.
It feels like an AI made this anime, you dont even have basic facial animation on range, all you see are blank faces lmao
I SO agree with the pacing being very slow throughout the entire episode. This is just my opinion, but I don't like how "misty" it looks, almost like it's on the highest brightness setting. I'd love to see the colors more saturated in the future. Someone was also commenting on how some of the characters were acting childish and I was annoyed at that too. I know it's common in anime but I always find it so cringy and annoying (I'm sorry).
Plot-wise, what pulled me in was the summary being a death-game of some sort. I initially thought the season would be one complete run-through of the game but I'm fine with there being multiple games each episode. I just KNEW the minute silver-haired girl said "I could be evil", she was gonna do what she did. I didn't trust her, and I don't like her atp. I also don't understand her reason of doing these games all the time, 28 so far, and wanting to reach a completion of 99. I wanted an explanation. What is she getting out of this? Is she genuinely enjoying this?
Like I said, I'm curious so I'll continue, but I completely understand why a lot of people would drop it after this episode. I'm not that into anime myself. (A friend introduced me to Death parade and I need to go rewatch and finish, and I loved Devil May Cry) That being said, some shows click instantly for people, take time, or don't at all.
I also feel that the game primarily punishes a lack of cohesion. The girls could have made it if they had stuck together and taken the time to listen to each other. It's not a question of individual weakness, but of pressure and disorganization. Losing three characters in the first episode frustrates me, not because it's shocking, but because there was real potential to further develop Aoi, Kinko, and Kokuto. As in Squid Game, attachment makes losses more impactful—here, everything happens very quickly. I sincerely hope that these characters are not definitively written off, and that the series still has something in store for us regarding them.
It was originally a Katana in manga
Don't forget that the *immediate* previous scene was a solid 2 minutes of a the camera bobbing up and down over a highway where absolutely nothing happened lol
nothing left for me to say, everything's been commented about by the op.
Maybe all of these things have some super deep symbolism which makes lots of sense for people who've seen the manga, read the LN, or whatever this originally came from, but as someone with no prior knowledge of the series, but for whom it just sounded cool, it wasn't really doing it for me. Maybe my impression of future episodes will be different. I did like the keys scene, but it was somewhat undercut by the fact that in the end only a certain number of people were allowed to live anyway, and the cutting off limbs thing just struck me as weird (and I mean, I get it's not that kind of show, but really if you need to lose weight consider your heavy maid dresses before your limbs)
Are you talking about [rack focus](https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/rack-focus-shot-camera-movement-angles/)? There was at least one I saw. It’s not janky, it’s a well established technique.
Please just go back to shonen
The scene reads as the writer wanting to have there cake and eat it too. You can't have them be experienced but not know that you need to lay out the rules of how to take turns so that someone dies. I feel like that would be more likely to have on her 4th or 5th game, maybe you could make your protag NOT the most experienced person in the game and have another girl there who takes the lead and kill her off, Like the one that knows what they are doing or so they say dies. That would have set a much higher stake and chaotic world than 5 girls who have never played or have played once with the MC having done over 20 games before. It's way to unbalanced.
Yeah and I agree about the relatively low stakes of being restored perfectly after a game so any lost limbs have less weight. And the stuffed with teddy bear fluff thing because if can't be too gory for TV? But the grinding them up with saws and beating a person to death is fine? That's such a weird line to draw on what's ok.
I went in without looking at trailers or anything, just the synopsis, but I was expecting anime SAW but it's more like Build a bear workshop SAW.
The whole attachment to characters you don't need to do that
I like this anime cus it acc teaches to detach just watch you don't need to relate or even get the anime
The getting part for me is I watched ep 2 and I still don't get the plot like where is it heading do we just keep watching yuri play until she succeeds at winning 99 game streaks perhaps
Idk idc just watching to the end to see the end
If I am correct I think they drop ep weekly making it a fun watch while eating (again as I watch it fast it takes 20min or less for me to finish an ep)
I enjoy the anime again as I watch it fast but I watch everything on fast playback speed anyway.
sidenote: I never used to watch anything on 2x or even faster speeds used to find it cool and odd when others did, until I started and thought to me self why the hell did I watch anything on original speed. especially when most of the things we watch are a waste of time and don't add value anyway so why not just watch fast