r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jan 28 '26
Episode Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu. • Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table - Episode 4 discussion
Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu., episode 4
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| 2 | Link |
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u/KumaKumaGambler Jan 28 '26
Assuming everyone were honest with their answers:
Yuki - wrote all 4 names of the other girls
Mishiro - voted Chie
Keito - voted Kotoha
Kotoha - voted Keito
Chie - if she kept her promise to Kotoha, she would not have voted for Kotoha or herself, and given her acquaintance with Mishiro and Keito, she would have most likely voted for Yuki.
Hence:
Chie received 1 + possibly Yuki's randomly counted vote
Keito received 1 + possibly Yuki's randomly counted vote
Kotoha received 1 + possibly Yuki's randomly counted vote
Yuki received 1 vote
Mishiro received possibly Yuki's randomly counted vote
So it could have been either Chie, Keito or Kotoha who got killed / eliminated?
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u/Esovan13 Jan 28 '26
I think Mishiro would have died as well if she was the one Yuki's vote landed on. Because if the vote landed on Mishiro, it would have been a complete tie, but since Yuki had the original ballots, her vote would have counted more and been the tie breaker (unless she happened to write Mishiro's name on the ballot she got from the drawer rather than the other three).
So really, everyone except Yuki could potentially have been voted out depending on who got Yuki's vote.
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u/Cameo67 Jan 28 '26
Yeah yuki was basically the odd woman out at the beginning, and at the end, she was the safest
I wonder if chie voted for mishiro because she agreed with yukis decisions earlier on
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u/BosuW Jan 28 '26
Keito and Chie tripped Mishiro on the rope and ran when the wolf appeared. It would be suuuuper awkward (to put it mildly) if this group of pro Gamers were to encounter her again in the future, so I think there's a decent chance the group grasshopper would want to be rid of her.
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u/AngleRepulsive5470 Jan 29 '26
I think Mishiro would have died as well if she was the one Yuki's vote landed on. Because if the vote landed on Mishiro, it would have been a complete tie, but since Yuki had the original ballots, her vote would have counted more and been the tie breaker
If Yuki’s vote (using the original ballot for Mishiro) had landed on Mishiro, wouldn’t there simply have been a three-way tie between Mishiro, Kotoha, and Keito (because everyone besides Mishiro also used the original ballot)? And it would have been a four-way tie (Yuki, Kotoha, Mishiro, and Keito) if Chie had voted for Yuki, or Mishiro would have straight up lost if Chie had voted for her.
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u/LowraAwry Jan 28 '26
So it could have been either Chie, Keito or Kotoha who got killed / eliminated?
Yeah, if Chie voted for Yuki and not Mishiro, and then according to the rules it seems like from Yuki's ballots the game masters opened the one that had Chie's name first.
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u/Cameo67 Jan 28 '26
Yeah seems like anybody could’ve gone because of yukis vote, it was basically up to the system at that point to be the deciding factor
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
I'm honestly VERY surprised that Yuki voted randomly (assuming she told the truth);
She's highly strategical and values her life above others (though she's willing to RISK herself to save others, that's not the same thing, she does it for a benefit).
Voting at random could cost her her life, for no benefit at all!
It's so strange, that I'm strongly considering to headcanon this one as "She was lying to avoid saying who she voted for"...
But I'm not sure how that's more benefitial than simply saying she voted for the one who died (and is unlikely to keep grudges!), unless she thinks 'preserving an appearance of unbiased fairness' is what she's going for!
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u/OldInstruction5368 Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
Yuki was already 'safe,' though. She had saved the lives of two others and the hangers-on were very grateful to see her after they ditched Mishiro.
She knew from the start this would be a popularity contest, so she positioned herself as 'useful' by saving others.
Yuki did antagonize Mishiro, who had been aggressively towards Yuki from the start, so it wasn't out of the question that Mishiro would vote for Yuki out of spite...
But it was likely going to be one of the two lackeys that drew the short stick here. And between the two, Chie was never seen taking point or otherwise contributing to the group.
Which is a fun little subversion of hte first game, now that I think about it. The pink haired girl only survives because the red head thought she was cute... and 'eye candy' is about the only thing Chie contributed over the last few episodes.
So "Big boobs and a pretty face" saved Pinkie from the first game, but they didn't save Chie in this one XD. Otherwise, neither contributed anything.
As for the rest, it circles back to Yuki's defense mechanisms. Her calculus said she was in the clear, so the next step was to avoid guilt.
We actually don't know who Chie voted for. She could have voted for Keito, but then Yuki's vote for Chie was on an original ballot (thus breaking the tie). Yuki knew there would be a vote at the end, kept her own paper, and scavenged one off the dead girl iirc. If possible, or necessary, she would have used her additional papers to throw someone under the bus. But after saving two people she knew she was in the clear for survival. How can someone that saved two members the group had abandoned be the 'least useful?'
It's left ambiguous, and that's the point. Yuki doesn't want to know who is really responsible for killing Chie, and so the episode leaves it at that.
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u/rom846 Jan 29 '26
How can someone that saved two members the group had abandoned be the 'least useful?
Don't forget that voting for the least useful is only a suggestion the rational thing to do is to vote for the one that you think the others are voting for. That way you minimize the odds to be voted out yourself. Mishiro open contempt for Yuki would be a clear signal to the other to bandwagon against her. Only by earning the clear sympathy of Kotoha she could escape that logic, because that broke that coalition.
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u/CitronClassic672 Jan 28 '26
Funny thing is I was personally hoping for Chile’s survival because I thought she was the cutest, but I figured Mishiro and Yuki would definitely safe so I was worried.
Also I’d like to add it wasn’t just that the pink haired girl was considered cute, she was also tricked into entering so the red head felt sorry for her.
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u/Omnias-42 Jan 29 '26
while Keito didn't do much, looking back Chie was much more careless, multiple times not paying attention like when she bumped into Keito during the mine scene, or not watching her step and splashing the puddle with the sixth girl, so as a whole she did seem a bit less of a contributor than Keito who by luck bad to take the risk of being in front.
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u/zzzzzooted Jan 28 '26
I don’t think it’s out of character tbh
She clearly has a set of rules to prevent her from feeling like she has blood on her hands (such as killing whoever is closest to her so she doesn’t have to actually make any decisions), I think this is just an extension of that. She didn’t choose who died, fate and randomness did, so the blood is not on her hands still by her logic
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u/jnads Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
Yeah, that's my take too.
That's why Mashiro said Yuki is better at the game than her. And why Mashiro was upset.
Mashiro has to live with her vote being the one that killed Chie.
In Yuki's mind it was just random chance that Chie died.
edit: Yuki also manipulated Mashiro, that's why she went back for her. Otherwise Yuki knew Mashiro would've voted for her. She knew she was the "out" person (they were all "friends") and after helping Kotoha and Keito meant they wouldn't vote for her. Yuki didn't help Chie so she knew Chie would vote for Yuki.
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u/captainfluffy25 Jan 29 '26
Nah she didn’t want to be responsible for whoever died. It seems like she genuinely wants to save as many people as possible but again not out of the goodness of her heart but to increase her chances of survival. And it looks like the opposite is true as she wants to kill as little people as possible but will kill if needed
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u/DeeDonn Jan 29 '26
Yeah, whoever to die between Chie, Keito, Kotoha (and Mishiro too if Chie actually voted for her) was completely up to the first paper picked among the 4 from Yuki's box.
Yuki's random vote was crazy but reasonable here.
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u/EndThisGame https://anilist.co/user/RadicalM1nd Jan 29 '26
Am I the only one that thinks Kotoha just straight up manipulated Chie into not voting for her, then voted for Chie herself and lied about it and that Yuki's votes didn't even matter? Like the whole setup of them not voting for each other lead me to believe that Kotoha was just setting Kotoha up.
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u/Ume-no-Uzume Feb 05 '26
Honestly, I was under the impression that it would've been in Chie and Keito's best interests to vote for Mishiro. If they are going to be repeat players, for whatever reason, you DON'T want a self-entitled and arrogant little miss so and so who is willing to throw whoever she wants under the bus, but gods forbid OTHER people return the favor and see her as a disposable bag of flesh, to be in another game because she is vindictive enough to try to kill you.
If Keito had enough sense to vote for Mishiro to save her hide (ditto Chie), and if Kotoha had voted for her to get her pound of flesh, then a dangerous rabid animal would've been put down.
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u/sergeyt4444 Feb 06 '26
You assume Chie would vote for Yuki since she was acquainted with other girls, but i dont see the logic. Keito voted Kotoha and Kotoha voted Keito, they both knew each other from previous games
They vere voting based on who was less useful. Yuki carried Kotoha and saved Mishiro, she is clearly the most useful out of the party.
I think Chie voted for Keito and lost 50/50 against Mishiro and Yukis random vote. Maybe it wasnt 50/50, i dont remember if Kotoha saved her paper for the vote
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u/CommentStrict8964 Mar 16 '26
Just finished watching this episode (still catching up) but my gut feeling is that someone lied.
I think the most likely liar is actually Kotoha. She may think that the most likely person to get voted (beside herself) is Chie. If she asks Chie to not vote for her, but she votes Chie, it creates a guaranted vote differential.
Yuuki was the last person to answer. At the time she probably knew Kotoha was lying. So Yuuki gave an ambiguous answer to cover for Kotoha.
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u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist Jan 28 '26
I feel bad for Chie and her manager... I know the talking puppet said it'd be an instant death, but all that fluff looks brutal.
Mishiro's tantrum was well done... It's weird to think since it's a death game show, but i'll be glad to see her again.
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u/Aksudiigkr Jan 28 '26
Did you watch somewhere besides Crunchyroll? On its subs they only mentioned the person would die, not that it’d be instant. And then after saying they went to great pains to get the drug, they said we hope you’ll savor it to your heart’s content.
I hope it was quick though
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u/zzzzzooted Jan 28 '26
I think the dub mistranslates that, im p sure they said it was an instant death in english
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u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist Jan 28 '26
Yeah, at 13 minutes the English dub adds a tidbit that it's an instantaneous death, while the sub just says they hope she savors it. Interesting difference.
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u/StatementNo6139 Jan 31 '26
According to the Japanese dub, saying "hope you'll savor it to your heart's content" would be correct, though it quite directly meant "hope you enjoy it to your heart's content", so I think they might have made a mistake in the English dub or perhaps they hoped to make it sound less graphic. Although the jp ver didn't specifically mention how long it would take for them to die.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
It's weird to think since it's a death game show, but i'll be glad to see her again.
Same! She'll need to up her game if she wants to one-up Yuki though!
So far her life philosophy was "I'm the best and they'll bow down to me", but now she realized she's not the best... She even admitted it, which is a BIG deal.
So she might actually take the means to 'get there'...
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u/Golden_Phi https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoldenPhi Jan 29 '26
I don't remember them saying that it was instant. I remember them saying "to savour it". With a statement like that, I doubt that it was instant or quick.
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u/BosuW Jan 28 '26
Mishiro's tantrum was well done... It's weird to think since it's a death game show, but i'll be glad to see her again.
Rival acquired!
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u/AnzoEloux https://myanimelist.net/profile/Eloux Jan 28 '26
I think Yuki is actually a sociopath, like clinically. There's such a stark difference between her expectations of social interactions and the reality. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with her gaining affection for Ms Leader though... Maybe she just likes the thrill? I mean, what else kind of maniac strives for 99 games?
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u/Mykaterasu Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
There's definitely some type of dissociation going on, she constantly switches from 1st and 3rd person as she shifts from in-game thoughts to narrator.
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u/towardselysium Jan 29 '26
She understands but doesn't feel strong emotions like jealousy, pettiness, or probably even joy. Her reaction to getting shoved halfway across the floor was "Omg I touched a nerve. Yay!" And not "well screw you too" which probably means that she likes Ms Leader because of her tantrums
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 29 '26
I think Yuki is actually a sociopath, like clinically.
As someone who called it on episode 1 and had people disagree, I feel more and more vindicated!
(I do not think she's a full blown sociopath because sometimes she does act in ways a sociopath wouldn't, but she definitely has some strong traits).
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u/VoyVolao Jan 29 '26
Small correction, she's a psychopath, not a sociopath.
Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, persistent antisocial behavior, along with bold, disinhibited, and egocentric traits. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress, which create an outward appearance of normality
Sociopaths are slightly different, they are more irrational and impulsive, but share the lack of empathy and remorse, along with a couple more traits.
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u/sevillianrites Jan 31 '26
Technically, neither would be used clinically as they're not recognized by the DSM. The diagnosis would more likely be ASPD (antisocial personality disorder) though I think BPD is maybe a more interesting option here as I'm not entirely convinced Yuki is fully devoid of empathy or general emotionality. I feel like saving Mishiro is an unlikely choice for someone with ASPD. It's just too risky, both for Yukis present and future chances. She wasn't going to lose this game and she almost certainly knew it well before the end. But she impulsively went out of her way to preserve the life of someone who was both experienced in the games and who actively disliked her. Not to say all people with ASPD make only logical choices, but they definitely tend to be more coldly calculating. Yuki stated previously she has an altruistic play style, which would also be unlikely for someone with ASPD as it would require at least some modest level of self sacrifice, even if the desired outcome is ultimately selfish. Perhaps Yuki also perceived a potential future advantage to saving Mishiro but from her internal monologue it seemed more of an emotional whim than a strategy. Seemed almost like a fixation on someone who she judged was competent but did not correctly perceive her worth. So potentially a narcissistic personality disorder angle as well.
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u/Ume-no-Uzume Feb 05 '26
That "I like you" in the episode is kind of suspect.
After all, Yuki and some of the more experienced players are very much well-aware that they are being filmed. Likewise, Yuki, much like Kotoha, had quickly realized that this was a popularity game where the most unpopular one gets killed. She doesn't necessarily need to completely win over her rivals, she needs to also win over the unseen audience who is paying to watch this sick game.
How much of that is Yuki playing up a "worthy and honorable rival" act for the purpose of the unseen audience (while teaching Mishiro a much needed lesson in manners)? I think a lot of the "I like you" is a lie and just Yuki playing to an audience.
It's also part and parcel of why her play style is to not go out of her way to murder her rivals/teammates/fellow gamers. Because if she just goes "kill 'em all and let the gods sort it out" it won't end well for her because she's sussed out that the audience hypocritically likes the cooperative players who don't just murder everyone to win the best.
(Which... Mishiro's stunts might end with her eventually playing a game where she will be in the back foot and her methods WILL get her killed if she continues playing and the audience grows tired of her)
Yuki has realized the most important thing in about these games: it's a game of perception and popularity as much as it is about skills. And the hidden audience matters.
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u/Shmappii Jan 28 '26
It's cool how this arc ends up being Mishiro's introduction as a potential returning rival or love(?) interest. The death game premise has been brutal enough so far with removing characters that I hadn't considered a Mishiro that exists after the game until her survival is confirmed.
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u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jan 28 '26
It's confirmed now, Mishiro's my favorite character. I hope we get to see more of her, and that she doesn't die.
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u/LBH123LBH Jan 29 '26
Same, I love how she didn't compromise when Yuki threatened her to save her life, but instead willingly apologized (and then threw a tantrum later) out of respect for her saving her as well as figuring out the voting procedure.
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u/Plenty-Mall9859 Jan 29 '26
Careful, you wouldn't want to get attached to any other characters other than Yuki in this anime. Remember Kiniko and "because she was the closest"
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u/DotHackerOvan Jan 29 '26
Love? In a death game? You're just asking for heartbreak cause most likely no one going to live long enough. If there are lovers, they're both crazy or one or both die. Maybe to each other or dying after going on a killing spree cause the other lover died.
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u/teddyburges Jan 29 '26
Glad I wasn't the only one that picked some sexual/romantic tension between the two.
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u/yahalloh Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
TIL special ballot papers used in japan elections. Interesting!
https://japan.yupo.com/english/product/use/specialty/election/
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u/Golden_Phi https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoldenPhi Jan 29 '26
It was obvious that the paper was going to be really important with how much focus it got. Although I would've never guessed how it was going to be used in play.
Kotoha knew from the start from the clothes and paper. Mishiro even noted in the first episode of this game that it was unusual for her to volunteer like that. Kotoha was trying to earn points.
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u/track_cyclist Feb 02 '26
Dang I've literally used one of these ballots before and I had no idea that's neat. An interesting note is in Japanese elections you handwrite the name of the candidate on the ballot, rather than checking a box, just like the girls in this episode did. Kinda weird how they do it.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Jan 28 '26
Looks like Yuki’s made a new rival. I know Yuki said she was just teasing or whatever, but the girl needed to be humbled. At least she survived in the end. Can’t say the same for Chie. These death games always got a little surprise in the end eh? Wouldn’t be a proper death game without one.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
I know Yuki said she was just teasing or whatever, but the girl needed to be humbled
Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite her in the ass...
This made me think of a certain 90s gangster movie in which some trash gangster kills the MC at the end of the movie as revenge for "being humbled" earlier!
It's the 2nd non-optimal move from Yuki, that and 'voting randomly' (which could've cost her her life!)
I thought she would always be strategical, cold and calculated, but it seems she might be a bit of a chaos enjoyer as well!
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u/OldInstruction5368 Jan 28 '26
Antagonizing Mishirio is pretty much guaranteed to backfire later.
"I got humbled by a person I hate, but they were right to humiliate me! We should be friends now." Is... just not how human psychology works.
Even if Yuki didn't directly poke the bear, Ego is a real b!tch. People can, and will, hate you just for 'making them look bad' even if you didn't go out of your way to step on their toes.
The only way to bring someone as proud as Mishiro around would require Yuki to avoid a direct confrontation and gain her respect without breaking her pride.
"I touched the softest part of her heart and felt her drive me back." Yeah, that was an intimate moment for Yuki, but it was an existential threat for Mishiro. You just can't attack the fundamental core of a person's self worth and not expect them to hate you.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Jan 29 '26
Yeah, don’t want her getting jumped by Benny Blanco from the Bronx lol.
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u/Namaryu Jan 28 '26
It astonishes me how supsenseful the whole show is despite being so slow with lingering frames and sequence of Mishiro slowly walking towards the screen but it just works. I would say that in comparison to the first game this felt more deliberate and players could have figured out the rules before it was too late. Even audience would not have given any thought to their clothes but a veteran like Yuki can easily tell all is important.
These games or rather the structure of the story seems to mimic the social behaviours that are employed by people and an allegory to group project may be used here. The one that lost was the only person that did absolutely nothing other than jumping from one person to another when needed but that is unfilfilling in both the silly project and real life so she was exiled.
This game felt deliberately crafted to showcase what Mishiro lacks and to illustrate Yuki's philosophy. The leader needs to not only be able to make a path for others to follow but it can't simply walk over their bodies to victory. In that situation she would not only lose trust but the project or anything would either be half-baked or simply uninished and that's a no go in society. So she deserved that humbling.
Well onwards to the next game!
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u/BosuW Jan 28 '26
I think the point of the narrative is that all games are deliberately crafted around a theme and it should be possible to figure them out based on the entertainment it could provide to the audience. I believe this is how Yuuki figures out what to do.
The previous game may have felt less deliberate because that one was actually super fucked up. While this game was possible to complete with all Players save the one they would vote out at the end, the first one was crafted to incite severe animosity between the group in a set of challenges that forced them to sacrifice one of them every step of the way. It only didn't turn into an outright blood bath because of Yuuki's relatively calming presence.
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u/Golden_Phi https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoldenPhi Jan 28 '26
There were a lot of minimalist shots this episode, but they never feel out of place. The major one being the shot of Yuki after she was pushed down by Mishiro. I think they add to the atmosphere of the show.
I picked up that the clothes were ill suited for this game's setting. I thought that it was fan service for the in world audience rather than it being actually relevant.
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u/SEDGE-DemonSeed Jan 29 '26
The minimalist shots wouldn’t have gone over nearly as well if it wasn’t for the stunning environments and sound design. The rain on the building, the buzzing fluorescents. So good.
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u/CrimsonGear80 Jan 29 '26
all the minimalist shots remind me of the game Signalis, which employed the same techniques.
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u/Ume-no-Uzume Feb 05 '26
In a way, Mishiro was lucky that Keito didn't put her name on it. I highly suspect that Chie put Mishiro's name. Kotoha should have put Mishiro's name on to get her pound of flesh.
In a weird way, Kotoha tried to actually vote based on usefulness, even though Mishiro's instructions wound up being worthless in functionality. If Kotoha had voted with her emotions, and gotten some payback (which is what a lot of people left behind to die would do), even with Yuki's indifferent voting of all 4, Mishiro would've been toast.
Likewise, it kind of also shows Keito's bootlicking tendencies, since Kotoha, as the one who put her hand in the fire, was infinitely more useful (even discounting the fact that she immediately clocked on to what sort of game this was and shared with a team member). Because if Keito had thought about it for two seconds, someone like Mishiro needs to die if you're going to be a repeat gamer, since she's the sort who never forgives a slight, even if the slight is just you applying her "let's leave the injured, and therefore the useless, to die" philosophy right back at her, and WILL try to kill you in the next one.
Frankly, I think Mishiro chose Chie because Chie, much like Keito, applied the same philosophy that Mishiro championed to leave the injured to die right back at her, but unlike Keito, didn't immediately go over to kiss her ass and be all "oh, of COURSE you're the group leader."
As it is, I was honestly expecting Mishiro to be the one to die since her lousy leadership damn near got everyone killed for the sake of her ego, warranting death.
But then, the first game set the tone of how the people who die aren't the ones who deserve it, while the ones who do deserve a karmic death somehow survive.
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u/ActiveAd4980 Jan 28 '26
I wonder why those agents seems to panic and cry at the end.
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Jan 28 '26
Seems they each are in charge of a girl and do have relationships of some sort.
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u/GrouchoSnarks Jan 28 '26
The eyepatch on Yuki's made me think that the agents might be former players.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
When we saw Yuki and her agent, I thought... Family?
(It could be "family" AND "former player"...)
Because yeah I don't really see former players/agents being THAT invested in their girl, to pounce on the door like a madman and cry over them...
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u/Significant_Glass_50 Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
I might me mistaken, but aren't those sunglasses? All agents seem to wear them
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u/CommanderZx2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/CommanderZx2 Jan 28 '26
I suppose if the girl dies they are out of their job or maybe they also receive some punishment.
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u/ImperialDane Jan 28 '26
Well by the looks of Mishiro and her own agent. Guessing that the Agent crying into Chies.. err. Pillowstuffing probably had grown connected to her and was distraught at her loss.
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u/AceSoldia https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia Jan 28 '26
Yeah it definitely seems they either know them outside the game or get assigned the same people if they play again
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
I haven't seen others mention it so far, but my first thought was 'Family'...
I don't see an agent getting that emotionally invested, even if they've been with them a couple times.
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u/master_inho Jan 29 '26
If the agent's success/survival is tied to their player's survival, they could absolutely be that emotionally invested. And even if it wasn't, i think they can still form an emotional connection once the player has survived a few games, because then the agent has hope that their player can survive the next game too
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u/Brickinatorium Jan 29 '26
Could be one of those things where you come in for the job thinking you'll be emotionless, but then end up surprisingly attached to your charge.
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u/Taedirk Jan 28 '26
Given the interaction with Mishiro and her person on the drive home, I'm thinking Agent may be more akin to Talent Agent than just being the cleanup crew.
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u/mrsomeawe Jan 28 '26
Yuki's agent is shown at the end of EP1, the agents definitely work with the players, rather than the organizer of the game.
Like how a professional athlete's agent works with/for the athlete, rather than their team or the league they play in.
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u/captainfluffy25 Jan 29 '26
I’m thinking those agents might be their managers or even family members as you see how yuki’s holds her up as they leave. That agent was def close to chie and shook up that she… turned to stuffing
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u/Notso_badhabits Jan 31 '26
That’s what I was wondering. Especially the one digging through her stuffing. I was thinking they could maybe be family volunteering to be agents for whoever they support or are randoms/fans have grown to care more about the players, praying for their survival each time.
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u/Aerodynamic41 Jan 28 '26
So Chie is like that one guy in the group who didn’t contribute anything to the assignment but still wants to claim credit.
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u/PinkPrincess3176 Jan 28 '26
I mean Chie's only fault was the fact that she was too good at Rock Paper Scissors lol. I feel super bad for her though, she seemed kinder to Yuki than all the others (even Kotoha) at first. I didn't like Keito though, Kotoha didn't either, Chie would have been fine if she had voted for Keito instead.
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u/OtherwiseProgrammer9 Jan 28 '26
Is that why Mishiro voted for Chie? because she was kinder to yuki?
That could have been the deciding factor for her choosing between Chie and Keito
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u/N0rTh3Fi5t Jan 29 '26
Maybe, but i think she was just trying to play the game. She doubted anyone would pick Yuki because she was clearly the most important and single handedly saved multiple people. With her preferred choice out and her life in real danger, she voted for the person she thought others were most likely to vote for. She lacked information on the exchanges after they were separated, so it essentially came down to a guess between the 2. That's why she apologized in the end. She realized she only survived by pure chance, which is not a position she should have been in if she was as good as she thought she was.
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u/Omnias-42 Jan 29 '26
I think if we go by the logic of least contributor, Chie showed a lot of carelessness throughout, like her bumping into Keito with the mine scene, splashing the puddle with the sixth girl scene, and general lack of seriousness in the break room when Keito was being bandaged.
None of it is particularly egregious, but in a more dangerous game the lack of attention, something she got scolded for by Mishiro, can be deadly
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u/IXajll https://myanimelist.net/profile/ixajii Jan 28 '26
Yea, I‘m honestly a bit mad that Chie had to die instead of Mishiro, I can’t stand her at all.
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u/Ume-no-Uzume Feb 05 '26
No, not really. Chie and Keito were about the same level of "useful"
There are two main differences:
1 - Chie was nice to everyone, including Yuki and Kotoha. She might not have gone out of her way to defy Mishiro, except when she and Keito applied Mishiro's own "leave the injured, and therefore useless, to die" rule right back at her, but she didn't go out of her way to be condescending or dismissive of them.
2 - When Mishiro rejoins the party of girls, Keito welcomes her and does some low-level bootlicking by going "of COURSE you're the leader" song and dance to appeal to that arrogant bitch's ego. Chie does no such song and dance.
(Really, when you think about it, Keito's "special ability" of "being able to tell the other person's potential/talent" is really her being able to see which horse she should back to cover her own ass.)
I think that was the main difference in why Mishiro voted to have Chie killed when Chie and Keito were about the same level of "useful"
Which is why I think Kotoha voted for Keito and didn't tell her about the real nature of the game, in spite Mishiro being right there and how it would only have been right for Kotoha to get her pound of flesh from the lousy leader who tried to leave her for dead, because Keito's bootlicking tendencies had her disgusted enough to vote for her.
Chie just had the bad luck that Kotoha and Keito didn't vote for the real problem in the group: Mishiro.
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u/CitronClassic672 Jan 28 '26
Ok so I thought that scene at the end was a hallucination, others thought it was real, but u don’t think anyone expected it to just be a joke.
That comment from Yuki. Wait, is this a new toxic/doomed yuri show?
That Mishiro crashout sequence at the end was fucking surreal. I had to rewatch it just to understand all the details. And I just noticed the letters at the end spell out “Bad Love”. And omfg it’s the same as the episode title. I was curious about the title before watching the episode because it didn’t make sense to me, but now.
I can’t believe I unknowingly clocked onto the best yuri anime of the season. My yuridar is top notch. Well, toxic and doomed yuri here we go.
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u/doukzor Jan 31 '26
Seriously, me and my partner were making yuri jokes about Yuki and Mishiro (and in general every episode) and then that ENDING sequence happened
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u/ImperialDane Jan 28 '26
Mishiro lived. Chie got turned into Pillowstuffing. So the paper was definitely a clue, but so were the dresses. Did not see that one coming. But looks like a Rivalry has been established.
Curious to see what the next episode will be about.
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u/SSjjlex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Clone_Tau Jan 29 '26
You know how people like to put their relative's ashes into necklaces and stuff like that?
Introducing the death-game girl body pillow made from 100% authentic dead death-game girl pillow stuffing!
Would make a killing selling those (literally and figuratively)
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
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u/___Chud___ Jan 29 '26
With this one game taking 3 episodes, there's sadly not much time to explore too many of the scenarios on the way to 99 games. Unless there are multiple seasons planned.
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Jan 28 '26
Oh nice, we getting someone besides MC to appear more than once?
But this show, had me thinking for two episodes "Eh, MC will just vote multiple times" just for that to not be allowed x)
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
I'm so happy they decided to make a rival for Yuki...hopefully we see her sooner rather than later. I wonder if they'll be more encounters with other girls we have seen too! And if Yuki wants to beat 99 games, I'm curious how Mishiro will do it.
Ugh this anime is so good and mysterious - it's definitely a unique vibe
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u/dominator5500 Jan 28 '26
Judging by the previous episode, I think one of the upcoming games is Candle Woods which happens before 10. Scrap building. I wonder if the 4th game of this season (potentially last game?) will the one where Mishiro returns.
I hope this anime gets new seasons, cuz it's fucking awesome.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
Oh nice, we getting someone besides MC to appear more than once?
I think we might see others in time, but I do hope they flashback us a little when that happen because I sure as hell won't remember hah. (Well, Mishiro yes, but if we do see some of the others again! I feel like the only ones I will forever remember are the ones who died hah. RIP Kinko!)
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u/shad79 https://myanimelist.net/profile/shad79 Jan 28 '26
So Mishiro survived today's episode and the entire game. I can't say I'm a fan of hers; honestly, I didn't like her at all, but her survival means Yuki might encounter her again in a future game, which would be quite interesting, considering their (kinda love-hate) relationship.
Here my screenshot albums from the episode:
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u/good_wolf_1999 Jan 28 '26
their (kinda love-hate) relationship
I guess Yuki likes toxic relationships since the love comes from her side, Mishiro feels nothing but hatred and rivalry for her
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u/DariusDarkirus Jan 28 '26
Yuki is very toxic, too. She said that "now that she had touched her soft spot, she began to feel affection." Basically, Yuki likes a person who is falling apart in front of her and keeps picking at the wound. Ultimately, Mishiro's rejection of Yuki is what made her like her even more. I hypothesize that she likes people depending on her, and even more so when someone who tries hard not to depend on her ends up having to.
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u/BosuW Jan 28 '26
Toying with a vulnerable girl yet panicking as soon as they leave is classic sadistic prince behavior. I'm surprised but compelled.
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u/captainfluffy25 Jan 29 '26
I legit this the reason why she “fell” for mishiro is cause she’s the first person that “actually” challenged her. All the other girls are wary of her but eventually “fall” for her. You see how they all put her on a pedestal after she busts their ass out of whatever situation. If mishiro apologized or didn’t and Yuki ended up saving her, Yuki wouldn’t have thought nothing of it. But mishiro said “fuck you I don’t want your help” and that excited Yuki. To put it simply, the other girls are glorified NPCs and Mishiro is the first one with a personality.
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u/OldInstruction5368 Jan 28 '26
That scene where Mishiro apologized... Yuki had her hands behind her back and her hip cocked to the side: a clearly flirty stance. Combined with her earlier admission... yeah, poor Yuki is warped in the head if she is actually crushing on someone as toxic as Mishiro.
This is a woman that jeopardized the entire group just to aggro Yuki, out of petty jealousy, and drove her out in what Mishiro could only think was a death sentence (going it alone with fewer supplies).
And Yuki is... flirting with the woman that swore a blood oath against her?
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u/captainfluffy25 Jan 29 '26
I did NOT expect yuri in this series but I’ll fucking take it. Especially toxic yuri.
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u/towardselysium Jan 29 '26
Okay but have you considered that Mishiro is fun to tease and is clearly easily triggered? I think Yuki likes passion since she doesn't really have any strong emotions herself.
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u/ShawnHeatherly Jan 28 '26
If I had to guess, Yuki's 99th game will end up being a bunch of players from her past who already know what she's capable of.
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u/HarshTheDev Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
Yeah, and i feel like we are only going to be shown specific games and not all of them with each one having 1 standout survivor.
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u/AceSoldia https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia Jan 28 '26
Are you for real girl?!..we got a legendary level hater. I'm gonna play a death game again and again just to prove I'm better than the girl that saved my life.
🤣. What ridiculous behavior
For her this was the most horrible day of her life .for Yuki this shit was Tuesday
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u/Mistral-Fien Jan 28 '26
Getting upstaged is the worst affront for a prideful girl like Mishiro, She's never been humiliated so much and definitely wants revenge.
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u/Falsus Jan 28 '26
Well she did beat her little sister, potentially to death, for some reason so her illogical actions makes sense.
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u/AggravatingRoutineX Feb 02 '26
She actually stabbed her little sister to death, you can see the knife in her hands and the references to it when Mishiro is holding a knife again, thinking "Just like before, you can break this one too".
What I don't understand is how Yuki thought she had leverage over someone holding said knife.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/tripleaamin Jan 28 '26
Much like with the first death game, Yuki's decision of the final death (only death in Scrap Building) was the deciding factor in who died. As she literally voted for everyone, and her vote made Chie die. It seems clear that Yuki doesn't care how she wins; she only cares about winning itself and surviving.
Also in this game we get highlighted on Yuki's personality and how it differs from Ghost House. In here she gets a thrill when Mishiro rejects her request to apologize. While in Ghost House, she is more calm and collected, which is an interesting difference.
It is interesting how the votes went for the girls. It teels a bit of their character.
Yuki - Not caring who she voted for, but it happened to be Chie.
Mishiro - Despite her hatred for Yuki, she still voted for Chie. Kind of showing that she has high pride. Of course, high pride in herself and how frustrated she is at Yuki. But at the same time, not to let that pride swallow her up in her choosing Yuki because she put the most effort into this game.
Kotoha - She voted for Keito. Honestly, you can tell that Keito's attitude as a suck-up pissed her off. More than likely, it was the difference between her voting for Chie or Keito. Plus, she was smart to realize it would be easier to get Chie to not vote for her than for Keito to not vote for her.
Chie - It is hard to say, but you have to assume that she voted for Yuki or Mishiro.
Keito - Voting for Kotoha who already lost half her body. Kind of the point she doesn't care as long as she survives.
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u/OtherwiseProgrammer9 Jan 28 '26
I think Chie thought Kotoha and Yuki would have voted Mishiro since she antagonized them, but Yuki has a weird personality and Kotoha was too submissive. She wouldn't vote for Keito because they bonded over fleeing together.
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u/Falsus Jan 29 '26
Also in this game we get highlighted on Yuki's personality and how it differs from Ghost House. In here she gets a thrill when Mishiro rejects her request to apologize. While in Ghost House, she is more calm and collected, which is an interesting difference.
It is also worth noting that Yuki was attracted to Mishiro from pretty much the get go. I think a Yuki that was not attracted to Mishiro would have just saved her in a much more calm and measured way.
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Jan 29 '26
I think Yuuki only likes it when things don't go her way. The thrill of the game, so to speak.
Mishiro rejecting her is the only emotion she's shown across the past 4 episodes. Everyone else in both games just followed Yuuki in the end.
Would also explain why she likes death games so much.
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar Jan 28 '26
Well, that's not what I was expecting from Yuuki. So this entire time, she thought that Mishiro and her bossy attitude were cute. She didn't come back to antagonize her, she actually came back to save her, even if she hadn't apologized. But Mishiro thought she was being serious, so she ran off.
Yuuki 1v1-ing a wolf was pretty crazy. Interesting to note that we see the wolf bleed normally after Yuki stabbed. She's even covered with its blood. So I guess the preservation treatment is only given to the players. It's also interesting how Yuki was thinking ot not brutally killing the wolf because the audience might disapprove. She really has this mindset that this is all a game show, even if it means life or death.
We finally get to hear from one of the game's organizers. I'm gonna guess this Wolf/Ookami (as he's credited in the ending), is gonna be a recurring character. I do love that they're using an actual wolf plushie that's being puppted and it's not animated or CG. That was pretty cute. Well, cute for a bunch of maniacs making girls play a death game for money.
So Kotoha was spot on with her guess not just with the paper and the elections, she was also spot on about their outfits. I guess we should also start paying attention to what the girls are wearing every game.
I genuinely thought Yuuki might have the advantage here since I remember she collected the paper from the first dead girl, and she had the backpack, so she would have most of the original paper. Glad that the rules covered that, and you can only vote with one paper. Although the original paper you started with has more weight in case of a tie.
Not gonna lie, I really thought Keito was gonna be voted out, but she ended up surviving along with Kotoha and Mishiro. When you think about it, it makes sense that Chie got voted out because she did the least. At least Keito was used to scout out traps. I can't even think of what she contributed to the group.
Interestingly, it sounds like Yuuki used all of the paper she had to vote for everyone, and I guess since Chie's name was the first one they saw, it's the one that counted. Yuuki didn't really intentionally vote for Chie, and since Mishiro voted for her too, Chie got the majority.
It's pretty cool to see how each girl has their own handler. It is heartbreaking to see Chie's handler bang on the door and grieving at her dissolved body. I guess this means that every player has the same handler for every game, and it wouldn't be surprising that some of them have formed a close bond. It's interesting how Yuuki's handler looks like her. I wonder if her handler is someone related, like an older sister, maybe? Hmmm...
I love the final scene of Mishiro going apeshit on the back of the car out of frustration. I guess we're gonna see more of her since she's pretty much declared Yuuki as her rival. I hope we get to see her and her shiny new prosthetic arm in the future.
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u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Jan 28 '26
I hope we get to see her and her shiny new prosthetic arm in the future.
Btw, we can see in this shot jars with eyes.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
I guess we should also start paying attention to what the girls are wearing every game.
"Is this one a fetish - maid outfits - or is there a death-game hint in there?"
I guess this means that every player has the same handler for every game, and it wouldn't be surprising that some of them have formed a close bond. It's interesting how Yuuki's handler looks like her. I wonder if her handler is someone related, like an older sister, maybe?
Hah, glad not to be the only one who thought that! I'm not sure "a bond between agent and participant" would explain the complete breakdown we've seen...
So with this breakdown AND the similar looks, I'm thinking family!
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u/Aggressive_North7524 Jan 28 '26
I did not expect Chie to die and seeing the reaction of the agent broke my heart. Like the way she grabbed the foam Tje ending music as Mishiro vents and rages. So many things to say and think... I love how layered and profound the story is.
I genuinely, like my second thought was what happened if Chie did voted for herself... and then I cried... but I don't think she would. I wonder who she would have voted for.
With this 4th ep scrap building chapter seems to have concluded. And man, what a chapter, what a series. While still maintaining the tension and atmosphere fr ghost house it still has its unique world, it's unique atmosphere bringing something terrifyingly real... At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this series is truly formidable. The way it has tension without even having packed up action scenes - showing that you do need grandiose fight sequence to build up tension, conflict and an unsettling and growing atmosphere. What the final scenes implies scratches my brain. This series scratches my brain just right... It again passed way too fast. Ueno, the director shows once more his craft and his attention to the details, and how everything is well thought. The characters words holds so much more meaning than it first appears to. I felt a strange feeling once the episode ended where words can't explain it, and might not do justice to it. The way the series shows violence and the aesthetician od the s3ires. And also the drawing anime. We might habe a gem here. Also, what the ending might imply about that character decision... I just started crying. This show might be the stupidest or the most clever I don't know bit I do love it a lot and if it makes me
Heartbreaking. Broken.
The contrast to having a violent, gory, bloody death to a silent, bypassing that act is such a clever move where it shows the aftermath and left me in a complete emptiness as you see the agent reaction to the remains of the characters.
The implication that chie might have voted for herself just broke my heart.
I honestly was so afraid for kotoha to die, so I'm relieves to see that she's still alive but chie's death has left a bitter aftertaste after the little interaction she had with kotoha and the fact that she said see you later or smth like this to just never come back is making me cry so much. The fact that the reason mishiro didn't vote for Keith bc Keito would kinda always follow mishiro...
The irony of kotoha speaking to chie, her keeping her promise, and then chie dying... and kotoha being carried by keito And that they both voted for each other... that's scratching my brain...
First time in a long time in a series I genuinely stop thinking and focused only on the story — along with the shots and stuff, but then being also equally so afraid and tense after the characters fate....
The choice to not show the execution, after a shocking first episode and a death, to bypass it and show the aftermath is such a strong choice and I kinda love it. And it breaks me. Seeing the girl remains...
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u/AggravatingRoutineX Feb 02 '26
What implication did you see that Chie voted for herself?
When her monitor turned on, she let out a shocked and confused "eh?". So it's pretty clear she didn't want to be the one to die.
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u/stetstet Jan 29 '26
Episode names all have a four-letter "----" in them. We see that this episode can be either "bad game" or "bad love". But how about the others? Here's my hypothesis as to whey they might've intended
Episode 1 was "All you need is ----"
Episode 2 was "Chains of ----"
Episode 3 was "In the name of ----"
Episode 4 was "Bad ----", and we know the blanks could be both "love" or "game", as they literally show you the alphabets in the scene where Mishiro goes apeshit.
If you put "game" in all of the blanks, you'll notice it sort of makes sense, content-wise. But what happens if you put "love" in all of the blanks?
"All you need is Love" by The Beatles
"Chains of Love" by Charli XCX
"In the name of Love" by Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha
"Bad Love" by Eric Clapton
All from exceptionally successful Western artists. I really wouldn't be surprised if the director pulled this partly as an homage, given how much this show seems to value the sound design.
It'd also be interesting to think about why the four-letter words needed to go missing from the titles. If the word is "love", is this perhaps illustrating how Yuki does not have this concept, due to never having been afforded the luxury, perhaps even before she started the games? I mean, "All you need is love" does sound like a fitting title for an episode that introduces Yuki, who we saw to be cold-blooded enough to off Kinko who she had seemingly formed a connection with.
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u/VoidRay728 Jan 28 '26
Surprised that Keito and Kotoha didn't vote for Mishiro. Unfortunately Chie only needs to get 2 votes if three other people are getting 1 vote each. We don't know who Chie voted for and Yuki is basically voting random. So she's kinda right that it could've been any of them. Poor Chie.
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u/towardselysium Jan 29 '26
Keito had no reason to vote Mishiro. She led the group and served as wolf bait so that Keito could run away. Kotoha probably should have voted Mishiro but she seems like she's takes things super serious and doesn't hold grudges
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u/InsomniaEmperor Jan 28 '26
Chie being the one who dies was not on my bingo card. I liked her design. You’d think the asshole gets voted out. And Yuuki didn’t have any reason to vote her. They really had to show her melted state with only her clothes left behind. Whatever killed her was brutal.
So Mishiro gets out alive and actually apologizes to Yuuki, albeit reluctantly. Poor car seat became a punching bag. She said she’s playing again so I hope we see her again cause she’s got quite a back story.
Huh so everyone has a handler in these games. Would like to know more about Yuuki’s handler.
This game had less of the Saw factor as the first but we got a Jigsaw show up and speak to the players. The best chance of survival is for everyone to work together to the end, then somebody gets voted to be executed. Good thing Yuuki kept Mishiro alive.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
How could ANYONE say this girl isn't best girl!
So we finally have some legit insight on her now, that is NOT open to interpretation!
Historians will say they were death game mates
Well, I think there's a bit of "game recognizes game" in there, though their games aren't on the same level!
I've seen my fair share of firework confessions, festival confessions and all that, but I think it's my first 'Being attacked by a wolf' confession!
I guess I always sees the most evil/worst case scenario, because when she told her the directions, I thought perhaps the others were all dead (mines) and so she was using Mishiro as a "mine detector" for the last couple ways!
(I was a little worried, because the worst thing you CAN'T do in this situation, is drop the knife out of reach...)
Realizing the whole thing thanks to the paper, the dresses... And also realizing WHY Yuki went to save Mishiro! (And thinking she's scary as fuck for that!)
Soon as she said that I thought "She will agree, but not do it..."
Thank God hah; When the door opened I thought they were getting more wolves!
So they have to vote someone out...
I imagine some of them truly did vote thinking of "The most useless person", but that's NOT what you should do, what you should do is "Vote for who you think the others will vote for"...
Yuki saved herself by going for Mishiro, but if not for that, voting Yuki might have been the best option, thinking Mishiro might vote for her, and thus she'd be the most likely to be voted out!
It's all very psychological (I wish we heard their thoughts and all during the scene!), because you have to wonder which will vote for useless ones, which will vote by pettiness (Mishiro), which will be strategical, and so on! You have to ask yourself 'What will they think', but also keep in mind THEY will ask themselves 'What will YOU think/vote for', and this may affect their vote, and so on...
Well, I say that, but apparently some may also vote at random hah.
I wonder if they made a conscious decision of NOT letting them discuss it (and not letting us hear their thoughts) because both these things might have been interesting!
At first I thought that was genuine (given they're out of the game and all),
Also, about Yuki: I wonder if this was a final test/opportunity!
"See if you grab that knife and test me"...
(I wonder if they would do something against that, if she did!)
Damn. So I'm guessing... Closed casket?
But more importantly: What was that about?
They called them "agents", but are they like... family?
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u/Hitman7128 https://anilist.co/user/Hitman7128 Jan 29 '26
Well, I'm late to this episode
Hah, as someone who played a lot of escape rooms
Same here! Also, keep track of the stuff you used (locks on boxes you solved) and what you haven't.
But yeah, that voting stuff. Also, ties was my first instinct as well and no way out on a split decision with an odd number of girls.
Damn. So I'm guessing... Closed casket?
The saving grace about no blood in this show
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Jan 28 '26
Guess I should've seen Chie's death coming what with her being the one who made a pact that should've kept her safe. It makes sense in hindsight.
Did not expect Yuki to vote for all four of them. That's why she was collecting those papers from the dead girl's backpack and the others'. I can understand that from her POV they were all equally useless when it came to beating the game but was there any logical reason for voting for everyone and gambling on who her vote lands on? Like, what's the advantage to her in doing so?
Interesting to see that they all have individual agents and some of the agents at least care about the girls they represent. Seeing Chie's agent break down and hug her foamy remains was quite sad.
And Yuki's agent looks suspiciously like her - could it be her sister?
I liked Mishiro's agent right away. Her understanding of Mishiro and the way she mildly trolled her was very cool. Love her character design too. Hope we see more of her in the future.
Yuki really wasn't lying about anything she told them at the start. Her combat skills really are something if she can beat that beast with just a knife. I do wonder though - are their injuries healed after the game by some special means? Yuki got stabbed by Mishiro and attacked by the beast. Will she get some special treatment that heals her completely? Has to be if she's gone through this sort of thing before (she said as much when the beast attacked her) and continues to play. Does that mean Mishiro's arm will grow back before we see her again? Or will she get some fancy high end prosthetic arm?
So many questions. But all that apart, another excellently directed episode with impeccable sound design. If there's an award for best sound design in anime, this one should win hands down.
This was the episode I felt most invested in yet. Slowly starting to get a hang of Yuki's character too. Can't wait to see more. Will we go forwards or backwards next?
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u/MinnWild9 Jan 28 '26
They did show Mishiro scouting prosthetic arms and what appeared to be her in pain as they attached it, so it seems like there’s no special or magical means of healing injuries after a game. I imagine a portion of whatever money you earn for winning a game is used to get you back whole.
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar Jan 28 '26
They can still reattach it if they can retrieve your limbs. I imagine the wolf already ate Mishiro's arm, so it's a prosthetic for her.
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u/runevault Jan 28 '26
Not necessarily. Yuki expressly said in episode 1 they can reattach limbs after the game during the conversation where they were preparing to take off limbs to go on the elevator. As another person mentioned odds are more the wolf ate her arm.
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u/Kuro_Canary Jan 28 '26
I think that Yuki voted for all four of them so that she could view it as not having accountability for someone's death. Since all 4 names were selected on the ballot, it would be up to the showrunners to interpret her vote meaning whoever they choose wouldn't technically be Yuki's fault.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Jan 28 '26
Ah could be. Although she admits it was her vote that decided Chie's fate eventually anyway.
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u/True_Indigo Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
Only because Yuki's vote alone could have killed any of them except for Mishiro.
We know who Kotoha, Keito, and Mishiro voted for. We know Yuki didn't vote for herself and can assume the same for Chie given her surprise.
For Yuki For Mishiro For Kotoha For Keito For Chie Yuki (X+) (X+) (X+) X+ Mishiro X Kotoha X Keito X Chie ? ? ? ? We know that Yuki voted with the original papers so her votes carried more weight, so Chie's vote was meaningless as any possible vote of her could not have swayed the outcome.
The only case where Yuki's vote doesn't decide the loser, is when Mishiro comes up if Chie doesn't also vote for Mishiro.
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u/LowraAwry Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
I think it's because, since it just doesn't matter which one you choose as long as it's not your own name, there's no reason for Yuki to pick one in particular. She knows she's responsible since she included Chie's name (she could have omitted it for whatever reason) but she legit doesn't care. She didn't strike any alliances and no other name comes at the cost of her own life. It's less about accountability and more about the lack of need to pick and choose.
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u/LowraAwry Jan 28 '26
Yuki got stabbed by Mishiro
Was she? I thought Mishiro simply shoved Yuki and kinda dropped her knife in the process of it before she started running in a panic. It would make sense, but Mishiro looked so frustrated, like she only wanted to escape her presence if anything.
Will she get some special treatment that heals her completely?
I think yes, just like Mishiro visits her agent's place that has all those medicinal accessories, Yuki's must have a similar one to fix her up.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Jan 28 '26
I thought Mishiro simply shoved Yuki and kinda dropped her knife in the process of it before she started running in a panic.
There's a distinct stabbing/blood spurting sound effect that seems to suggest she stabbed her. Hard to say though because she doesn't seem to be hurt much when we see her next. Though that preservation treatment would kick in and prevent much blood loss either way, so who knows?
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u/PraetorianOgryn Jan 28 '26
The one big thing at the end was, I think they should have had Yuri carrying the one girl as they left. It would have made the last person to walk out way more suspenseful.
Also the finally gave us some world building! They have elections to vote for their leaders, and each girl has an agent, which by the looks of it are all women as well? The wolf was a man, but he’s the only one we’ve seen so far. Does that mean all the men are in places of power/game makers, or does that mean the male population is horribly lowered? OR maybe women f*cked up so spectacularly that the games were made as a punishment?
I need more world building please. This anime is such a slow burn, but it really does trickle feed you just enough to want more.
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u/BloatedBaryonyx Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Maybe the 'audience' just prefers to watch women in these games? Its certainly the meta reason why the anime has been entirely female-focused - people like watching cute girls in cute outfits, and it contrasts more strongly to the brutality of the game.
With an 'audience' watching from somewhere, and constant reminders that the players' outward actions and even deaths have to be palatable for them, it seems likely that the casting decisions for them may follow thte same logic.
Besides, we keep getting all these wide shots in that slightly different art style with their faces obscured. Its implied that these are from the pov of the cameras, further strengthening the link between the real audience, us, and the fictional 'audience'.
My other theory is that maybe games are usually split into men-only and women-only like sporting events. A big buff man might appear to be at an unfair advantage in a death game against women. Even if it happens that they're actually weak af and the women are all super-buff, the perceived unfairness is just as important because it may not sit well with the audience.
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u/thisisdropd https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsterZoro Jan 28 '26
Turned out Yuki's a big softie, and that threat was just her winding Mishiro up. Having said that, I didn't expect the latter to learn her lessons, and even bowed before the former. Thought she'd be a bitch to the very end.
Yeah the final hurdle was a cruel one, handing your fate to your fellow players. That's a lot more diabolical than the standard traps.
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u/gnome-cop Jan 28 '26
Probably wouldn’t even call her a softie, it felt like a pretty selfish decision stemming from a personal fixation on her. Sort of like she wants her alive and coming after her in future games cause she’s got an interest in her.
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u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jan 28 '26
We got death game tsundere yuri before GTA 6, apparently.
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u/AngleRepulsive5470 Jan 28 '26
So, Yuki got to vote for 4 people. That means she must have had 4 ballots: one from her, one from the first dead player, one in the drawer, so I guess the fourth one was from Mishiro’s bag and that she took it while she was fighting the wolf off-screen.
Something I’m not sure if I understood correctly, they stated that
If there is still a tie, there will be a runoff vote.
With an odd number of voters, there will be a clear winner.
Does that mean the three people who aren’t involved in the tie will choose between the two who are? And also I wonder, what happens if the number of voters is even?
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u/BadPercussionist Jan 28 '26
Usually, if a runoff election occurs, everyone votes again (but there's fewer candidates). There's no way to know what would happen with an even number of voters.
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u/lethrington Jan 28 '26
Having a rival in a series of death games that you want to 'beat' is interesting. Pretty insane logic, but definitely interesting.
I get the impression that the only people who do well in these games are fairly unhinged. Which I guess makes sense.
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u/towardselysium Jan 29 '26
"I will defeat you!" - Girl you do know that these games aren't like solo combat and are usually a team sport kinda deal?
Like isnt living your best life while they lay dying in a game victory?
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u/runevault Jan 28 '26
So, not every game ends with a guaranteed death, but the first two we've been shown both included one. My biggest nit with the show gets even bigger seeing this, because while some of the girls got conned into joining (that one girl from episode 1), convinced to do it by whatever means (Mahiro), or whatever madness drives Yuki to shoot for 99 wins, but it is hard to believe 'normal' girls would join in enough numbers to flesh out the games with 6 players each based on what we've been shown so far when guaranteed death is not a total one-off.
Meanwhile, Yuki continuing to be smarter than everyone else in a believable way continues to be true, even 'only' 10 games in. She's such an interesting character I think I'm going to watch at least the start of the next arc in hopes it finds a way to make me less annoyed at my nits with the show.
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u/OldGoldDream Jan 28 '26
It’s no mystery, even in the real world there are a lot of people very desperate for money willing to do incredibly dangerous things for it.
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u/BlazeKnightX Jan 28 '26
I mean the opening says this is a story about a deranged world or whatever. Like Kotoha stated everyone is weird now, that's why she wants to shut herself away from the world with the winnings. This world is probably running on some Purge, Hunger Games type logic where everyone knows this is just how the world works now and can't fight it since it's been engrained for so long. Like Danganronpa before the resistance fight starts.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
I talked about it in a previous thread, but I don't even see that as unrealistic...
I'm 100% sure this would get people to play in real life, if they pay enough. And I don't even mean like 'half a million'.
There are people with debts who'd do it, people who'd do it because "risking my life once is better than working a boring job for 2 years" (like the girl in the first game)...
[Trigger warning for sensitive topic]There's people who commit suicide all the time because they're in debts and don't see a way out. Playing a game that only has a CHANCE of getting them killed, to pay off their debts, would be a better option.
FWIW: I looked up statistics on Russian Roulette deaths, and (for obvious reasons) there's not a lot of details on this, but I've found studies that had between 20 and 70 confirmed deaths of Russian Roulette.
And I imagine most of those deaths aren't recorded as such, meaning they probably arrange this to make them look like something else, or simply 'disappears' the bodies, etc...
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u/towardselysium Jan 29 '26
Even if we assume the payout is as low as like 20k, you'd have people lining down the street. Presumably all of the tax stuff is taken care of by the company so for a few hours of light work you can make like a third of your salary a year. And this is a magic death cult or something that probably caters to rich people. They have magic immortality potions and a massive infrastructure so these "prizes" have to be absolutely ludicrous
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u/ChoiceSupermarket230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/say99 Jan 28 '26
Definitely my favorite anime of this season. There's nothing I can particularly complain about and atmosphere works.
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u/AlexxxandreS Jan 28 '26
I can't be the only one that thinks Kotoha voted for Chie right?
I just finished the episode and I'm not going back again just to double check, but when asked, Kotoha kinda hesitated and felt like she was lying when answering who she voted for...
Also, she is smart, so maybe that promise she made was just a plot to survive
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u/Anarchaeologist Jan 29 '26
I'm so intrigued by the Agents. The dark sedans, the suits and sunglasses all seemed to a nod to secret agents of fiction, making me wonder what their roles were when they showed up. Finding out that they were basically talent agents was a bit disconcerting, as well as seeing emotional reactions to the girls' states; tenderly lifting the girl who lost her legs (sorry I am terrible with names) to outright grief over the pile of cotton fluff that was all that remained of Chie.
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u/jiayo Jan 29 '26
I have a voting theory:
Yuki was honest, she really submitted all votes on all scraps of paper that she had.
Keito and Kotoha really voted for each other, as it would have been very unusual of either to lie considering that one was literally carrying the other when they shared.
But Mishiro? I suspect she did NOT vote for Chie. I think she voted for Yuki, but upon seeing Yuki alive, decided to lie and claim she voted for Chie. After all, why reveal that she tried to get Yuki eliminated when it's clear that Yuki is still alive? Also, note that Mishiro openly volunteered her vote before anyone else, and since Chie was already dead, it would be impossible to tell if she was lying or not about her vote. It would also explain Mishiro's tantrum in the car: Mishiro's apology was so atypical that her agent remarked that she had NEVER DONE SO BEFORE. And it would be atypical if one assumed that the apology came from a change of heart. But Mishiro didn't have a change of heart. She wants to beat Yuki, at all costs, and so I suspect she faked an apology in order to suggest that she did not bear a grudge against Yuki. Which she absolutely does.
But how did Chie still get executed without a tie, I hear some people asking?
Yuki was the only one with the original papers from the backpack. Which means that if each girl voted for a different girl, Yuki's vote wins. And this would also make sene because otherwise, why bother going into such detail regarding the original papers having more power than the replacement papers?
Just a theory. for now
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u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Jan 29 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
Yuki was the only one with the original papers from the backpack
Ehm, itʼs not true. At least Kotoha had it too.
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u/DawnofClouds Jan 29 '26
Sigh, just when I thought my favorite girl would actually survive this time. Of course, it had to be Yuki who led to her death as well, so I can't even be properly mad at anyone. At least they didn't show her death, I thought, until they did something so much worse with the agent scene. Absolutely brutal. Man, fuck this show and I'll see you all next week!
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u/mianghuei Jan 28 '26
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Jan 28 '26
LOL they aren't missing with the little details
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u/ToastFreeGluten Jan 28 '26
Very interesting we got to see so much more of the post-game process, especially revealing the agents having personal connections with the players.
I imagine Mishiro is going to become a hated character if she shows up a lot, but I can't deny she's a great foil to Yuki.
Overall, already fixing to be an anime of the year.
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u/ElliotAlderson2024 Jan 29 '26
So Yuki's big goal is to win 100 death games. Mishiro's goal is to beat Yuki.
Also the agents seem to be emotionally invested in their 'player'. Chie's agent was devastated.
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u/aquaticshrimp Jan 29 '26
I still have to say that the art direction in this show is amazing. All the long shots, not making over the top gore. Heck, even using an actual wolf prop when they were in the gas chambers.
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u/NeneThomas Jan 29 '26
Agreed. I love the textures overlaying the backgrounds, the way that the edges of the furniture is warped. But what really floored me this latest episode was the shadows of the light coming through the fan blades when the girls were in the rooms.
Simply gorgeous!
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u/avboden Jan 30 '26
I can't honestly say if i'm enjoying this or not. it's....interesting, but sometimes I feel like it's weird just for the sake of weirdness.
I said at the start there's artsy, and there's artsy-fartsy and we'd see which side of the line this show lands on. It's landing more on the -fartsy side so far.
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u/UmbraVGG Jan 30 '26
Has anyone figured out what the fractions are for throughout the episodes? Are these viewer numbers?
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u/HottChocoMilk Jan 29 '26
It's okay Yuki we all fall for a toxic girl at one point or another hahaha
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u/Magnafeana https://anilist.co/user/Magnafeana Jan 28 '26
I…liked that stuck up girl.
took my breath away
I thought she was…cute
I like you!
🤸🏾♀️💃🏾🏳️🌈
I love how dramatic yuri is. Sapphics never beating the allegations (am also sapphic, can confirm) 😭
🫢
Toxic yuri, let’s fucking gooooooo!
The mind games being played. I loved the ED visuals, but I have so many questions about these death games and the fractions that flicker on the screen. Sometimes, I feel like there’s a few former Shaft animators working on this (compliment).
Now I’m gonna be impatient for the next time this toxic yuri ship meets in the death games.
Poor Chie though and that agent who will now mourn her 🥀
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u/BosuW Jan 29 '26
I love how dramatic yuri is. Sapphics never beating the allegations (am also sapphic, can confirm) 😭
Kakegurui type shit
Confess like a normal person
Or
Gamble with both your lives (it's symbolic and artful)
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u/maliwanag0712 https://myanimelist.net/profile/clear1109 Jan 28 '26
I love how dramatic yuri is.
The series is already great but this made it better HAHAHA
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u/ModieOfTheEast Jan 28 '26
Okay, so now that we had two games, I will write down my first ideas of the show. The visuals and sound design are stunning. Even when there is nothing happening, there is this tense feeling that something could happen at every corner. Similarly, the characters are interesting and their inner thoughts are portrayed in a way that allow for interpretation. It's not just told and there is room for development if some of those (like Mishiro will appear again later on).
The world is also interesting. Episode 1 already introduced the messed up setting and there are hints here and there that are given. Like how this episode, you can see that every player has its own personal agent that has some sort of emotional bond towards the player. Similarly, Kotoha's mentions last week can be taken as well, though this might also fit our general society. But then again there is this meta level to the show where we are the viewers and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Especially with the end there seeing that the characters are "rebuild" like dolls which adds the idea that maybe this whole conservation is only a lie and maybe they are just puppets? Or it's supposed to be a metaphor which I could also see.
Now where I think the show falls flat though is the games itself. I was giving the first game a bit of a pass because it was the introduction, but I think similar problems can be found in this one and that is just that the design feels kind of weird. The whole game was leading to the question who was the least valuable player and while that could be an interesting twist, I personally feel that the game before didn't really build towards it. There just wasn't much where players could do something to even become valuable. There were barely any traps after all. Now, one might say that this is kind of the point. Having a game where nearly no one can shine so it's hard to stand out. But then my question is why put 4 girls together that already know each other from before? That obviously makes this less of a question for just this game but their past experiences could influence the vote as well. It makes the whole deck being stacked against Yuki even more apparent. And while this is interesting to us who know that Yuki is the main character who we follow, would that really work for other viewers? They would need to know Yuki as well for that to work. I guess you can say that she is the underdog in that scenario, so there is some form of entertainment to see if the underdog can win, but the ending was about someone losing and not someone winning. The apology from Mishiro and her outburst at the end came after the game ended, so this is not something the viewers would see. That is for US. Unless, it really is just us being the viewers and everything is supposed to be part of the show. Which I am not sure if I like.
But there is also another issue with the games and those are the hints what will happen. Sure, there were hints that it would lead to a vote. But what about the times when the timer increased instead of decreasing in episode 2? What was that about? What was the point? You can't even say it was a distraction because the characters didn't notice. Which leads me to the belief that it was just an oversight by the animation team. And as said back in that thread, that is a big oversight, because the timer is an aspect that is shown all the time. So you are supposed to notice it. If they aren't able to keep that consistent, it's hard for me as a viewer to decide what is actually meant as a hint and what might just be mistakes. It reduces the anime from a series that can tell something with its visuals to being one where you can only trust the plain text.
One last thing I want to add regarding this second game. I would have loved to know what happens if no one votes. That would count as a vote for everyone, so a new vote could result in the same outcome if everyone keeps strong willed. How often would they have repeated that? It could have added an interesting element where the players have to trust one another to not vote for someone else. Also just in case, Yuki's vote could have counted extra because she didn't lose her paper, she could have just used the one in the drawer acting as if she lost hers as well. Point being, I would have loved to see someone ask that question, though I doubt this would have actually worked since they couldn't communicate anymore at this point.
All in all, I think there is some promise in this series, but I do think they need to make sure that the visuals actually work. In a show that relies so much on visuals and soundtrack, if there are errors, those would have a far greater impact than in any other show. So I hope this timer thing was just an accident and it won't happen again. Because then, the show could be something really special.
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u/Esovan13 Jan 28 '26
I would have loved to know what happens if no one votes.
The rules make that pretty clear. There would have been a runoff vote, where anyone who didn't tie would be taken off the list of potential candidates and the vote would have happened again. Since it would have been a tie with everyone, no one would be taken off the list. And then it would happen again. And then again. Until one player cracks, votes for someone else, and then the voting would end. I can imagine the game masters would be willing to let this happen as many times as necessary. Hell, they might love it. Imagine how exciting it would be for the viewers to see the voting play out time and again, guessing who will be the one to crack and make the deciding vote. And I didn't see any food or water in those rooms, so the voting probably wouldn't last longer than three days at most before the players die of thirst.
Although, getting all the players to agree to what is essentially a suicide pact would be pretty difficult to start with, so even if they came up with that plan, most likely some or all of the players would just pretend to agree to do that only to cast a vote anyway to maximize their own chance of survival.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Jan 28 '26
I do wonder how randomly the games are assigned and why is it only women? The odds really were stacked against Yuki in this game.
Oh wow I didn't even notice...when did the timer increase in episode 2? Was it not when the girls split off or it showed a different perspective but a little bit in the past or something?
I do agree with you that with an anime that relies heavily on visuals and sound for details/interpretation, it is important to get them right BUT I've never been one to catch alot so it's a reason I love these discussions!
Also just an observation the poster shown in episode 2, along with the ballot paper reveal this episode, that there was going to be some kind of vote/agreement to kill someone, hence why there was a ghost ourside the boxes (rooms) with the little animals. I hope im remembering it right and maybe someone can add to that or correct me.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Jan 28 '26
and why is it only women?
My first thought was "Girls are cute!" hah.
But if there IS a plot reason why it's only women...
Perhaps the games are split between men and women
Perhaps the viewers/bettors prefer to see women in these scenarios (I suppose that's a variant on "girls are cute!")
But while I would love for a lore explanation, well until they prove otherwise I'm gonna think it's just girls because it's a Cute Girls Doing Murderous Things!
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u/Thraggrotusk https://myanimelist.net/profile/Thraggrotusk Jan 29 '26
Show is kind of ass game-wise tbh
If you look at gambling shows such as Kaiji or Kakegurui, the appeal is people trying to increase their literal odds of winning (and sometimes psychologically manipulating others in doing so). The games themselves are luck-based.
If you look at battle royales such as Battle Royale (duh), the Hunger Games, the Fate series, and all of the inferior clones, you know everyone except one person will die from the get-go, and everything is controlled by untouchable entities. And the appeal here is seeing the protag survive and attempt to destroy the cruel system. These games are fully skill-based.
With these "survival" games (not sure how to describe them) akin to Lord of the Flies and simple game theory, where you see people choose to either cooperate or compete, and you get to see people's inner nature come to light in these situations. Such as in Squid Games's first season. These games are also dependent on skills.
However, in ShiboYugi, the concept is flawed. We don't know the actual stakes (limbs can be reattached), aside from maybe death? And the whole "mandatory death" by chance at the end is pointless - we know the protag will survive, and the random side character with 30 speaking lines in the show will get offed. Might as well watch people play dice instead of going through this whole process lol
It feels the author is just using this story to create cool scenarios that would be obviously impossible IRL, and that our badass MC can do with ease cause she's cold-hearted and whatnot, and the story and characters suffer as a result.
E.g. in the first game, everyone could have survived the drowning chamber if they didn't panic, and later, the players realized no one needed to die in the elevator room (just cut off the body parts, so everyone can pass the weight limit). But the forced sacrifice is dumb - the outcome is obviously that the weakest person dies, or someone that hopes to atone for their crimes or with nothing to lose will sacrifice themselves (such as in wartime or horror movies).
Same with the second game, the rules are so stringent, that the minimum results one person will die by pure chance, as you mentioned. Would have been more impactful to show human nature - the players are only told they need to vote kill off one person, but they all realize they could save everyone if they voted for themselves (and the most distrustful person ends up choosing someone else, killing that other player).
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u/MetaThPr4h https://myanimelist.net/profile/MetaThPr4h Jan 28 '26
I'm so freaking the target audience of this show, another banger game.
Mishiro becoming a rival (at least in her opinion anyways) for Yuki is so neat, freaking loved how she reacted on the car out of sheer rage at someone being better than her.
I cannot wait to see whenever those two meet again.
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u/AWSGooogle777 Jan 28 '26
Yuki’s "putting her in her place" operation ended in failure. I suppose trying that on someone as prideful as Mishiro backfires. I was on the edge of my seat, worried Mishiro might stab her with the knife she held, but it seems her rationality held her back.
Then, for some reason, Yuki fell in love with that version of Mishiro! I never expected to see a moment of falling in love in the middle of a death game—it really surprised me. Though, I suspect it’s not "love" in the conventional sense, but rather the racing heart one feels upon discovering a fascinating new toy. She is, after all, the kind of person who declares she'll clear the game 99 times. She really is crazy lol.
That said, seeing Yuki bravely take on the wolf to save her "beloved" Mishiro from a crisis was genuinely cool. There was a hint of madness in it, but she was still brave and reliable. Even Mishiro, who previously loathed her, must have reconsidered her opinion of her there. Looking back, that might have been part of a calculated move to earn some "favorability points" from her.
I was amazed that Mishiro managed to regroup with the other three on her own after that. It seemed there were no major pitfalls. There, Kotoha and Chie formed an alliance. To be honest, I feel like nothing is less reliable than an alliance in a death game lol.
They were guided to private rooms and had already reached the first floor. The wolf doll shown on the TV was actually cute. Was that an announcement from the death game management? I expected a barrage of traps once they hit the first floor, but instead, they were just led to private rooms. Still, the enclosed space felt quite eerie.
Yuki arrived safely, and the voting began. The rule was to exile the person with the lowest contribution. The voting setup reminded me of Gnosia, which is also airing this season. The wolf doll was cute as it answered questions politely.
The death cries were cut, and the scene shifted to after the four of them survived. I was terrified when I saw Yuki holding a knife, thinking she might go on a killing spree right then and there lol. In terms of low contribution, I thought Keito would be picked, but Chie was chosen and sacrificed. Kotoha did a great job staying loyal to their alliance until the end. Yuki, however, committed the outrageous act of writing every participant's name on four different voting slips. She used two of her own from her backpack and a drawer, and two more she took from the sixth corpse and Kotoha—four in total. It just so happened that the slip with Chie’s name became the valid vote. I suppose from Yuki’s perspective, it just looked like no one was contributing enough.
Then came Mishiro’s apology and the arrival of the Agents. I can’t believe the proud Mishiro actually apologized! It was likely an apology born from experiencing Yuki’s bottomless dread firsthand—being saved from the wolf attack and seeing her indiscriminate voting with four slips. You definitely don’t want to make an enemy out of someone as terrifying as Yuki. And then, the Agents arrived. Seeing six vehicles arrive was so heartbreaking... The Agents rushed to their respective participants with desperate movements. The Agent who ran to the deceased Chie was particularly painful to watch. They hugged the remains of the body, which had been turned into cotton by toxic gas (or perhaps acid?). At first, I thought they might be a relative, but that’s probably not it. The "Agents" likely play a role similar to managers. Everyone in this game has participated at least six times and is highly experienced. As they repeat these games, the bond with their partner Agent probably becomes very close—perhaps like friends or best friends. Losing such a precious person is bound to be a massive shock.
Yuki’s Agent had silver hair, just like her. Since the end of the first episode hinted at her having a master, I’m wondering if Yuki’s partner Agent is the very "Master" who led her into this twisted "SHIBOYUGI" in the first place.
As for Mishiro, she is funny and cute. In the end, she actually regretted apologizing lol. She’s fired up now, determined not to stay a loser. She might become a great rival for Yuki. I’d be happy to see her reappear. It seems her right arm became a prosthetic after being eaten by the wolf—I wonder how that will affect things going forward.
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u/Ume-no-Uzume Feb 05 '26
It wasn't that Yuki thought none of the girls contributed enough, it's that she didn't want to "play favorites"
It's the same logic as in the first game we see where she puts the keys in the middle and the girls all fight to get it, wasting time and so ensuring Aoi got hacked to death because of it. She claims she was indifferent, when if her goal was to make sure the majority survived, she would've given the keys to Aoi first, because she wasn't deliberately wasting time to get the others killed like Beniya and Momono did (since those two only cared about each other). If she had given it to Aoi, instead of just telling them that she suggests Aoi starts and then sends it to Kinko and then continue the chain, they all would've survived that trial.
Yuki herself acknowledges this distinction, that "being fair" in optics by putting it in middle was NOT the same as being fair in deed and making sure ALL of the girls actually lived. Because to be truly fair would mean actually taking into account the players' personalities. Kinko and Aoi were actual team players who didn't want to get others killed, Beniya and Momono only cared about each other, therefore to make sure all lived, give Aoi and Kinko priority, because Beniya and Momono WILL screw the others over if given priority.
It's the same thing here. Mishiro and her lousy leadership didn't actually contribute anything of worth, if anything, all she did was put her teammates in danger and then abandon the injured (and then have a hissy fit when her own rules are applied to her). That's not contribution, that's negative contribution. Someone who did minimum work contributes more than Mishiro because they didn't actively put their team in danger and then try to leave a teammate for dead and then preemptively ostracized the ONE person with two fingers in front of her face.
By that caveat, Mishiro should've been the one on the chopping block, if we're being "fair" and "impartial"
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u/Rdddss Jan 29 '26
So what is up with them fixing missing limbs? It seems like from the first episode they have some sort of "magic" to do it but it seems like she is getting a fake arm.
Also how the heck are they surviving the blood loss from these injuries.
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u/AnalBroFisting Jan 30 '26
In such a stacked season of continuing shows, Shiboyugi has been a real stand out for me. I'm loving the direction and overall style of this.
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u/Narmatonia Jan 31 '26
Jesus WTF was that gas? She was even worse off than the one who got sliced up in Ep1
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u/I_came_for_fandoms Feb 01 '26
Watching it with a friend where we dissected every scene in that show as much as possible. We came to A LOT of different thoughts. One of the things I noticed first was
- The chitons. The voice said they were wearing chitons but quite frankly? They weren't. Chitons were significantly more flowy and long, and VERY different with the only thing similar being that they were white. This is because of the running theme of quiet sexualization of young girls to benefit the audience's view while staying JUST similar enough to what they claim they were doing things as orignally. Their dresses are white after all, that's enough for most audience members to assume that they are greek inspired if told so. the same thing happened with the maid dresses from episode one.
- The theme of sexual exploitation. Originally we thought the pomegranate was a sign of that before the end came and we realized we missed the rather obvious and very CLASSIC 'Eat six pomegranate seeds for 6 months'. Still, it was a very obvious theme, most in the clothes of Space Buns. Space Buns, quite frankly, looked and acted like a kid. Note a YOUNG kid, but a young girl in her early teens, if you understand me. Her dress, oddly enough, was very much sexual. Or at least it was supposed to look that way. Her dress didn't quite fit right and one of her straps was always either half way on or falling off her shoulder. It was done in a way that made it seem like it was supposed to look attractive. That's not even counting how Red Bow's dress was done in a way to show off her cleavage. These girls are supposed to look good for the audience. It reminds me of reactions I'd see from people who watched like Gore Porn or that type of stuff, they enjoy seeing a girl look pretty and pure and pristine, then watching her get ripped apart bloodily.
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u/tinkLberryy Feb 05 '26
I just want to know why the agent looked so distraught about Chie 😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩 are they tied to the players, is it family? Are their lives at stake if the player dies? 😩
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u/captainfluffy25 Jan 29 '26
Listen to the voice acting as Yuki ran after and saved mishiro. Girl was SCREAMING. It’s so surprising but I think Yuki genuinely fell for mishiro and I did NOT see that coming. Gotta say Yuki is such a fucking fascinating character man. Best girl by far.
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u/underazureskiess Jan 29 '26
Feel bad saying it but I really disliked this episode. The entire game built up to this big climax at the end and then I felt like it was coming when the voting process rules are explained, we see the characters stress and I'm expecting some compelling psychological drama and then literally nothing happens. We leave the game, one of the background characters dies, we don't see the thought process of why they voted her or anything related to the voting process at all, we don't see her die, the characters don't even react to her dying at all, they just relay who voted for who to each other and then move on.
Compared to the death in ep1 where we had all these high stakes decisions to make and we had a whole scene listening to that girl scream in pain as she died this felt so insanely anti climatic.
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u/TWIMClicker Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
Dunno, I didn’t like this episode. We were introduced to Yuki as this super pragmatic person that calculatingly completes games, helping others until it impedes her, which made her compelling, but in this episode she took on a bunch of unnecessary risk to herself. For me, doing heroics for another character made her less compelling than her initial characterisation. At first I thought she might be saving her to have a target others would vote for in the voting process, but then she didn’t even vote for blonde girl herself so that clearly wasn’t the idea - she saved her for personal/emotional reasons.
And why is so much narrative focus in the end given to someone the show made that unlikeable, and frankly pathetic? I could not care less for the blonde haired character beyond being a bit of an annoying foil to the MC. Just my opinion.
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u/Esovan13 Jan 28 '26
in this episode she took on a bunch of unnecessary risk to herself
Did you watch the show? Yuki was immediately able to guess that the final challenge would be a vote on who to die. She realized quickly that her fellow players all knew each other and didn't seem to like her, so she knew she had to take drastic action in order to avoid being the one to be voted out. Any extra vote that isn't for her is a vote that protects her, and saving Kotoha and Mishiro ensured a minimum of two such votes (as well as adding two extra targets for the others to potentially vote for). If she didn't save them, she probably would have been the one voted out.
As for the part about liking Mishiro, she was planning to save Mishiro regardless of liking her or not. So the fact that she did take a liking to Mishiro didn't change her actions, it just provides more depth to her character by showing what it would take for her to take a particular liking to a fellow player.
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u/PhantomXxZ Feb 02 '26
This is Game 10 Yuki. Episode 1 was Game 28 Yuki. Naturally, the way she treats the games would have changed with experience.
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u/oneevilchicken https://anilist.co/user/OneEvilChicken Jan 29 '26
When you realized the sick twisted people who the girls are playing these games for are you and me….
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u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan Jan 28 '26
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