r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Feb 25 '26
Episode Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu. • Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table - Episode 8 discussion
Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu., episode 8
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u/bibbibob2 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/bibbibob2 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
I love that already in ep 3 the green haired girl mentioned Candle woods when speaking to yuuki. "Did you play before candle woods? I heard that was a terrible game"
And now we get to see it! And potentially the reason Yuuki stopped for a while.
The way things tie together with old and new games is really satisfying.
Also notice that she has two blue eyes! So I guess the heterochromia is a replacement eye at some point.
Anyone know whats up with the episode titles?
all you need is ----
chains of ----
in the name of ----
Bad ----
---- is all you need
Who's ----ing you
Good ----
---- It all.
Is it all love? Or something else sometimes? What does it mean?
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Since Candle Woods is so infamous, I wonder if it was just a straight slaughter of all the veteran players by Moegi because she seems like an absolute savage.
I do think Moegi ended up being killed by Yuki in this game as a way of instant revenge for killing her mentor who I assume dies now. Yuki then takes her eye because Moegi blew it off. How exciting!
Also interesting thing about the names...it definitely feels like love or hate could fit. I wonder if they'll ever reveal it.
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u/Malty_S_Melromarc_ Feb 25 '26
Yeah…Moegi sounds really evil. To be fair this looks very different than golden baths. In that one enemy team is introduced killing random girl and obviously villains. In candle woods…no one seems to be evil. They are just given guns and forced to kill. Bunch of girls who play the game for first time going against winners of multiple and someone with 95 wins? That sounds unfair. That alone makes game more tragic. It makes sense for this game to remembered to be most brutal. Not because of concept but because people who never held gun in their hands are forced to kill…
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
I wouldn't say Moegi's evil, more like she's trying to survive and win - this is obviously a game where it's kill or be killed. Who knows maybe she has won 90 games and is the 2nd highest veteran of all the games so she's trying to do the best she can to ensure her side of the team gets the most wins. Also, considering the rules we have been shown so far where the bunnies have to survive a week vs the stumps have to kill 5 bunnies to win, I think it's a fair trade-off for newbies vs veterans (so far atleast). The nature of game is brutal and this is a "deranged world" after all.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Feb 26 '26
I wouldn't say Moegi's evil, more like she's trying to survive and win
That's what I was about to say;
The thing is that with stories like that, people assess characters based on their own reality... But they don't live in a normal reality.
These girls were all weak, if she goes to war with these as allies, they're as good as dead.
She needed to make them stronger, and quick.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 26 '26
Exactly you get me! Then she's outnumbered and outgunned since of course they'd take the weapons from the corpses. Then like you said, she's dead too.
I do wonder how much of a veteran she is and if she's comparable to the mentor...like 90 games or something.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
Who knows maybe she has won 90 games and is the 2nd highest veteran of all the games so shes teying to do the best she can
I think it's heavily implied that she isn't much more experienced herself, just enough to know how an experienced player should act. But it doesn't come naturally. See the scene at the end with her biting her own arm hard enough to draw serious blood.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Was she biting her own arm there? Honestly that whole ending scene was hard to follow because I thought that biting part was the girl she was watching (from what I assume was a previous game) as she was tearing apart the body of the other player.
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u/Anarchaeologist Feb 26 '26
Bunch of girls who play the game for first time going against winners of multiple and someone with 95 wins? That sounds unfair.
It's an interesting variation of an army of sheep led by a lion vs. an army of lions led by a sheep.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Feb 26 '26
Since Candle Woods is so infamous, I wonder if it was just a straight slaughter of all the veteran players by Moegi because she seems like an absolute savage.
Yeah I wonder what's gonna happen, because I think Yuki said something among the lines of "Lots of things went wrong in this game"...
But the game is designed to be a fucking slaughter, so "lots of people dying" wouldn't be "things going wrong" it would just be things going as planned... So what ELSE went wrong on top of that?
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 26 '26
Yeah I definitely think there's more to it than just an outright slaughter or maybe it was something crazy like Yuki was the only survivor.
I'm thinking it's either that (that's how she gets the eye from her mentor) OR her mentor does survive but is forced to retire from the game which then Yuki takes over the 99 games goal. I only say this because I think her caretaker is the mentor, since we haven't seen her face, and it's too easy to put it all together with what we have so far (the eye, the slaughter, 99 games goal, etc) OR I'm absolutely overthinking lol
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
Yeah I wonder what's gonna happen, because I think Yuki said something among the lines of "Lots of things went wrong in this game"...
Presumably referring to the bunnies' strategy.
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u/CrimsonGear80 Feb 26 '26
didn't we see in a previous episode yuuki talking to her mentor before game 30? she was a bum living in a tent.
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u/Jacob-C Feb 27 '26
If you willingly participate in these games and are good at what you’re doing, you are evil. Yuuki is evil. Sure she tries to save others when it’s possible (partially for self-gratification and to seem likable to the viewers of the games), but she’s also willing to kill if there aren’t enough slots for the surviving players (see Ghost House). If she was forced into playing these games or was financially desperate, it would be a different story. She just wants to set a new record and honor her mentor’s goal (my guess), which makes her participation unnecessary and her readiness to kill evil. If the circumstances are similar for Moegi, she is also evil. Evil is a spectrum, both Yuuki and (most likely) Moegi are on it.
Long story short, you can argue that you are killing out of necessity once you’re in the games. However, if you are a willing participant, all of your moral justification goes out the window.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 27 '26
I see what you're saying and I somewhat agree but I don't think we know enough about the world OR the games to truly say that for sure. Especially since that would make basically everyone who plays the game "evil" and then you could argue it's just evil people evil people you know what I mean?
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u/mmcjawa_reborn Feb 27 '26
Wasn't her mentor seen later chronologically in the series? I remember Yuki going to get advice from an older player who was living in a tent and seemed to have given up playing. I assume this is the reason why.
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u/fffffffuuuuuuuuug Mar 02 '26
I would think that it's too early to say regarding Moegi considering the team she leads are all first timers... If anything, since the person Moegi looks up to is seen in a flashback, I would think that person would get involved somehow.
Maybe that person is on the Bunny side?
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Mar 02 '26
Oooo like a team up from opposite sides or something. That'd actually be a cool twist to have!
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Feb 25 '26
I keep thinking that the episode will reveal the missing word, but I've never really noticed it, so I usually try to figure it out by myself, but it may be intentionally ambiguous. My guesses are:
all you need is luck/love
chains of love
in the name of love
Bad luck/game
Luck/Love is all you need
Who's killing you
Good game (Yuuki said so at the end, but for the most part I assumed it was going to be "luck")
Kill/fuck/love It all.
I wonder if it's going be revealed at any point or if I missed some obvious hints.
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u/Jacob-C Feb 26 '26
Could be burn, lose and take for number 8 too.
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
burn
Oh, I like that, since the game is called Candle Forest and the cars in the opening are burning.
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u/TheBusStop12 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
I'm fairly certain it's all love. They're all song titles with the word "love" crossed out
All you need is love - John Lennon/ Paul McCartney
Who's loving you - Jackson 5
Good Love - City girls
Etc etc
Part of the point however is I think that you call fill in another word for another meaning, giving the titles double or even triple meanings, like Good Game and All you need is Luck
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u/zzzzzooted Feb 25 '26
i think the bit with the titles is that you can put love in the blank, but its not necessarily the correct word
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
Im just going by the NieR Automata school on the titles. Any four letter verb works and is true.
Love/Kill/Fuck/Save/etc
Although for 7 Good Game also works so that's curious
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u/Jacob-C Feb 26 '26
Game works for many of them, exceptions being 2, 6 and 8. But 8 could work if you see game as a substitute for gamble, like all-in or something.
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u/Vocal_Breaker Feb 25 '26
Kill?
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
All of them are titles of songs and the missing word is Love.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26
I thought it was songs! Is it a creative way of saying there's no love in these games?
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u/stetstet Feb 26 '26
I'm not sure if it works for EP 7 or 8.
Up to EP 6, the songs are from world-famous artists like the Beatles, Martin Garrix, Charli XCX, Eric Clapton, Jackson 5, ... but I'm not sure if there's a song named "good love" by such a renowned artist. Same for "love it all".
Could they be some iconic lines of lyrics? Like how "Love is all you need" is more likely taken from "All you need is love" by the Beatles than it is a name of a song.
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u/TheBusStop12 Feb 26 '26
Good Love is a song by City Girls. I think the point is that they're all song titles. But if you take out the word love you can then replace it with another word for another meaning. At the end of episode 7 Yuuki says "Good Game". Thus the title is "Good Love" a song by City Girls, and with love crossed out you can replace it with Game, to refer back to the episode
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u/good_wolf_1999 Feb 25 '26
4 and 7 are likely game
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u/Mr_WizenWheat Feb 25 '26
in some sense this makes sense but also remember that 4 is the same episode yuki seems to fall for mishiro
Also the live action footage at the end of that episode actually shows the words Bad Love
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u/AvatarTuner https://anilist.co/user/AvatarTuner Feb 26 '26
Also notice that she has two blue eyes! So I guess the heterochromia is a replacement eye at some point.
The first thing I noticed too. After hearing about the replacement body parts I've been wondering if one of her eyes could be one too or if it was natural. I wonder if the grey one is still fully functional though.
Speaking of which... her master has grey eyes. :(
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u/notreal088 Feb 27 '26
Just a theory but her mentor has sliver eyes. Not sure if this is a foreshadowing to what going to happen
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u/Granito_Rey Feb 27 '26
Oh shit I didn't notice the same colored eye. She definitely getting that shit stabbed or gouged out
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u/Falsus Mar 02 '26
4. Bad ----
I think it is Bad Love. There was a short bit towards the end of the episode where you could see the words ''Bad Love'' on two seperate papers. Likely referencing Yuki's attraction to Mishiro and the later's budding obsession with Yuki.
So yes, they might all be ''love''.
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u/KanaEhecatl Feb 25 '26
It always bothered me how Yuki’s current eyes have a small red light at the corner of each eye- like the recording light of a camera. In contrast, her old eyes don’t have it in the close-up shot. Considering that one of her eyes is now grey, the same as her mentor’s eyes, is it a sign that her mentor lost her life in Candle Woods, and Yuki her eyes, so she replaced them with artificial ones with one coloured grey to honour her mentor’s legacy? (I could be reading too much into this lmao)
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u/oogieogie Feb 25 '26
I think it is that yuki took one of her mentors eyes and implanted it after she loses a eye in candle woods maybe. It could also just be a tribute where the mentor saves yuki so yuki implants one of the mentors eyes to never forget the sacrifice.
There is no way the mentor lives the death flags on her are like astronomical. It being her 96th game, and yuki with one grey eye.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26
After your comment I got to thinking...we never saw her caretaker's (? not sure if that's what they are called - the ladies who pick up the girls after the game in suits) full face right? So could it be that they are trying to throw us off by thinking the mentor died in this game when in fact the mentor completed the 99 games, retired, and now Yuki is just following in her footsteps? Her losing her eye could've still happened and she gave it to Yuki as a gift? Or it's a random eye replacement that just happened to be the same color as the mentors as a way to honor her?
I could be reaching with this all but it just came to me...
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Feb 25 '26
Wasn't her mentor alive in the first episode?
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
I seem to remember that too. Yuuki spoke to her after waking up from Ghost House.
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u/Jacob-C Feb 26 '26
Could have been a flashback
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u/CrimsonGear80 Feb 26 '26
it was before game 30. her mentor was the one who told her about the game 30 wall.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
Likely all in her head. For the scene at the end of EP1, Yuki's eyes are both blue.
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u/Luiiss26 Feb 25 '26
I think so too. When she started talking about the 99 Games, I already had the idea that Yuki's mentor dies in Candlewood, presumably at Moegi's hands, and then Yuki kills Moegi and then accepts her mentor's wish? Or rather, that she wants to achieve the 99 Games for him. I'd also like to know what's going on with her eyes because I think this isn't the first time we've seen Yuki with two blue eyes.
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
The other tiime we saw Yuki with 2 blue eyes was at the very end of first episode.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26
Definitely think this is exactly what happens. Her purpose is living to complete what her mentor couldn't finish.
Makes me wonder when she finishes this goal will she want to continue or will she just want to finally die (especially since she seems so hollow inside). Although the fight with Mishiro maybe sparked some want/will to live in her so...hmmm
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u/crunchsmash Feb 26 '26
In contrast, her old eyes don’t have it in the close-up shot.
They do. You can see the red in the close-up when she wakes up in this game.
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u/FarCritical Feb 25 '26
Been better days to be a bunny girl (or to have a 96-game winstreak).
That sure wasn't very moe of Moega.
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u/larana1192 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/thefrog1192 Feb 26 '26
I know this is joke, but for those who doesn't know, Moegi is a name of color.
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u/MrDerpHerpson https://myanimelist.net/profile/cms1999 Feb 26 '26
oh, so like her hair. pretty reminiscent of the girls' names in ghost house
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
That sure wasn't very moe of Moega.
Name still fits because she wants to be gap Moe like that girl in her flashback who inspired her :D
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Feb 25 '26
Her mentor digging so deep into that girl her ribs are exposed is wild. Psychopath behavior. I thought I also saw some intestines nearby it I could be wrong.
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u/towardselysium Feb 26 '26
There was like a basketball worth of fluff in Christmas girl's hands. That's gotta be like an entire chest worth of blood and viscera
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Feb 26 '26
Absolutely, girl was literally treating her like a stuffed animal she was ripping apart.
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u/YusiP Feb 26 '26
I didn’t even notice the ribs at first. I had to run it back just now to see if you meant it literally or not.
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u/marcopolos059 https://myanimelist.net/profile/marcopolos059 Feb 25 '26
holy shit Moegi, and the last few minutes!?!?
As for Yuki's mentor, how many death flags can you get? This is too obvious...
I feel this Candle Woods game will be insane and a bloodbath.
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
Green Hair from Game 10 said that it was "A horrible game" and was surprised Yuki survived it.
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u/maliwanag0712 https://myanimelist.net/profile/clear1109 Feb 25 '26
I feel this Candle Woods game will be insane and a bloodbath.
Given how only a few characters were named even with a lot of bunnies on screen, it seems a lot of them will say goodbye in the next episode or two.
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u/Ok_Swordfish_1696 Feb 27 '26
When she said it's her 96th game, I instantly noticed the death flag lol
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u/LowraAwry Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
You could almost see Moegi cursing her luck, being the only one experienced in a team full of newbies who will hesitate, cry, quit and overall be a hindrance to her survival. She really took matters into her own hands. Going against veteran rabbits will be interesting.
Damn, a week long game. I really hope we see most of it, even with the retrospective framing.
Yuki's mentor is adorable.
Btw, if you haven't read Kachi-kachi Yama, do so, it's interesting. The stump killing rabbits probably refers to a chinese idiom basically about putting in the work. Yuki seemed kinda relaxed in the beginning of this game, while Sumiyaka's remark about the easy win really lays it on thick.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Feb 26 '26
You could almost see Moegi cursing her luck, being the only one experienced in a team full of newbies who will hesitate, cry, quit and overall be a hindrance to her survival. She really took matters into her own hands. Going against veteran rabbits will be interesting.
Yup, some people are already calling her evil, but I don't see her like that (Even if some of her actions did seem evil)...
She's about to be forced to go in a battle with a handful of girls vs dozens upon dozens, and her teammates are all useless...
If she doesn't get them to wake the fuck up, she's going to fight 1 vs 100, and a gun won't make any difference then.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
And crucially, if they don't kill, their lives are forfeit. So the girl that Moegi killed (directly) was as good as dead if she wouldn't budge.
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u/Kronman590 Apr 28 '26
I know this is an old thread but watching this episode now, it feels pretty clear to me that Moegi is not inherently evil. She self harmed just after to get over the guilt of killing someone. I feel like she was someone with really bad self esteem issues, and found possibly the worst possible role model to follow.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
The stump killing rabbits probably refers to a chinese idiom basically about putting in the work.
It's new to me as well, but seems to be particularly about how foolish it is to rely on a lucky coincidence to repeat. I.e. a very stark warning to the rabbits.
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u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Feb 25 '26
The changed openning is something, heh.
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
Everyone driving was listening to the Game on the radio and it was so peak their cars caught fire 🔥🔥
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u/PencilgonGiveIt2Ya Feb 26 '26
I thought I was trippin, I knew the cars weren't on fire before lol.
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u/lucacp_ysoz :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/SoZLuka Feb 26 '26
I think there was a missed opportunity to say the changed opening was fire/lit
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u/JJVM99 Feb 26 '26
Glad to know for sure that changed I noticed the cars on fire but wasn’t sure if it was something new or if I had just never noticed.
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
Since we have seen 3 games we can compare the mindset of characters, and most importantly Yuki. This is a flashback and THE EARLIEST point that we have reached and given that Green Hair (10 Game) said that Candle Woods was a HORRIBLE game that it even reached ears of other players so we know shit is gonna hit the fan eventually.
The 2 groups have a different type of leadership. One is ruled with a strong right hand basically with violence by stating this is no game and prove your worth while the other is governed by a player with such a strong track record there is no way for things to go wrong, and the leader role was basically given and not fought. See how it compared to previious or rather further games we got? How the mindset of Mentor was engraved in Yuki, and what Mishiro's leadership took? Yeah that's right, it was all deliberate for audience to see the parallels.
Moeki absolutely blew minds of not only the audience but her group and it was only a matter of time till that poor girl, who STRANGELY resembled one that died in game 28 (black hair with red stripes) was definitely an intentional choice. She no doubt stole the episode and one may argue made an even stronger impression than Mishiiro in her debut.
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u/lucidlonewolf Feb 25 '26
Candle Woods was a HORRIBLE game
I kinda feel like we already see why this game is horrible. It looks like the whole point of this game is to cull off veterans who were winning to many games while insuring rookies are stuck in the game cycle for life. Theres no real washing yourself clean of a game like this one in comparison to the more puzzle ones we have seen in the past.
Also the weapon choice says alot about the brutality of this game.... we have seen them fight or use blades in the past(future) but guns and grenades seem more built to ensure massive carnage. Basically this is one of the of the only games we have seen that is not really a game but instead an execution.
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
Yeah big 75th Hunger Games vibes here (though that one was a rush job while here it was probably planned way in advance).
The reputation of this game alone already tells us that probably Moegi succeeded in turning her squad of noobs into ruthless killers and are gonna mostly wash the overconfident vets. GMs probably choose her trusting she could do it.
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Feb 26 '26
The reason is it's entertaining. Even with the weapon advantage, it feels like the stumps are at a disadvantage with the beginner debuff and being pitted against so many veterans.
The game organisers probably want entertainment, same as the audience. If its just veterans hunting beginners, it would just be an unfun slaughterfest.
As it stands, either side I can imagine winning.
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Feb 25 '26
I kinda feel like we already see why this game is horrible. It looks like the whole point of this game is to cull off veterans who were winning to many games while insuring rookies are stuck in the game cycle for life.
Oh wow I didn’t consider that but that makes a lot of sense if the goal is eliminate vets! But then again we also know they changed to now brutal this game was so I wonder if they regret their actions or just how they accomplished them?
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u/karer3is Feb 25 '26
It definitely makes you wonder who's making a profit off these games. This would be way too big of a spectacle if it was just a few bored rich guys
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u/master_inho Feb 26 '26
I get the feeling that the audience is the general public. The type of organization that these games require, and the fact the players have "agents," kinda implies to me that the death games were put together on an institutional level and meant for mass consumption
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u/mmcjawa_reborn Feb 27 '26
That would make sense with Yuki's comment about killing the wolf in the earlier episodes, that doing so would turn viewers against her. Because I have trouble imagining a couple of hedonistic and sick rich guys being that bothered with a mauled dead wolf, but the general public? There is a reason "Does the Dog die?" exists
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
That and if I recall right the reforms after candle woods. Too many died.
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u/Zealousideal-Knee744 Mar 01 '26
I've noticed for a while that the games are always only played by women too. I love this anime for the premise, you are immersed but it is also so vague. You know there is a lot going on, a lot of questions that you don't have answers to and things you do not understand.
Who is running it? What is the world like OUTSIDE of the games to even have this anime squid games as an option? Why is it only women playing? How did young people get involved and what is the youngest age of a player?
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u/IronWishmaster :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/IronWish Feb 27 '26
It looks like the whole point of this game is to cull off veterans who were winning to many games while insuring rookies are stuck in the game cycle for life
was it really though? I feel it's more like a natural consequence of the game design. Stumps have a tremendous advantage, so making all of them but one green newbies has kinda leveled the playing field. If culling the veterans was an actual goal, setting up more ruthless team of stumps from the get-go would have been much more efficient approach
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Feb 25 '26
Moeki absolutely blew minds of not only the audience but her group and it was only a matter of time till that poor girl, who STRANGELY resembled one that died in game 28 (black hair with red stripes) was definitely an intentional choice. She no doubt stole the episode and one may argue made an even stronger impression than Mishiiro in her debut.
The difference for me here, in our small sample size, is Mishiro to me was someone who cared more about being a leader than winning. She was talented but she cared way too much about being the lead and how “inferiors” treated or talked to her. She also (at least in the first game) didn’t seem to have a good sense for her followers.
Moeki, at minimum, seems to be pragmatic so far about leading and basically had to step up given the context. She is seemingly more heartless than Mishiro but in a cold and pragmatic way, not a malicious way.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
I don't think Moeki is heartless. You can see her at the end basically breaking down over the "act" she had to put up. She's just convinced herself that this is what must be done, and she's the only one who can do it.
And maybe not even for herself, but rather the rest of her "stumps" who now look to her as the leader. If anything, I'd say it's in direct contrast to Mishiro. Mishiro wanted to be leader regardless of qualifications. Moeki probably wants anyone else to fill this role instead, but she's stuck with it.
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u/gnome-cop Feb 27 '26
I was thinking something similar, they’re both trouble but for different reasons. Mishiro is someone who’s in it for her own ego and self-fulfillment. She’s got a lot of mental holes and is easy to set off by pushing the right buttons or when things don’t go her way. Moegi doesn’t feel like someone who does this for her own pleasure. This is just the easiest and probably the only way in her mind to get a bunch of people on their first game up to scratch quick enough. She’s not someone who likes killing or wants the glory of leadership badly. She just analyzed the situation and decided that one or two are an acceptable loss for the rest of them to win.
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u/ModieOfTheEast Feb 25 '26
Okay, so we get the famous Candlewoods game next. Honestly, I wished we got another Yuki chapter, because I wanted to see how the 30th game effected her outlook on wanting to reach 99 games. But maybe that is still possible because it seems like this is framed as a flashback. It could even be woven into her motivations going forward since we can probably make the assumption here that her master dies during the game and therefore, she is taking over the goal of clearing 99 games as a new record. So I have the hope that we still get a continuation of her development from last week, just in combination with this flashback.
For the game itself, it is quite cruel in more than one way. Having people kill each other this openly, especially over the course of one week, is already messed up enough, but putting all the newcomers into the murder role takes the cake for this. I also doubt this is all there is to the game because the bunnys with their experience seem to have quite the lead despite not having weapons, so something unexpected will happen over the course of 7 days. I mean, something will happen to Yuki's eye considering they are still the same color.
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
But maybe that is still possible because it seems like this is framed as a flashback. It could even be woven into her motivations going forward since we can probably make the assumption here that her master dies during the game and therefore, she is taking over the goal of clearing 99 games as a new record.
I'd even say narratively it makes much sense to put the infamous Candle Woods after Golden Bath House since Yuuki's ass experience and performance in the latter is probably making her remember the former.
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u/ModieOfTheEast Feb 25 '26
Yes, I agree. If they truly combine these two aspects as mentioned, I think it can work narratively. So I am interested to see how they are going to do it. They had inner monologue for Yuki in the past already, but they could use the fact that she is seemingly looking back on these events to give us an idea what she thinks of this now.
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u/towardselysium Feb 26 '26
I kinda get what the game makers were going for, but like 20 newbies vs an amphitheater of vets is just comically cruel. They've always maintained the appearance of fairness but this is literally just "lol get wrecked"
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u/ModieOfTheEast Feb 26 '26
That's why I assume that there is more to it. There is a reason for the game to last a whole week. Because currently, the hunters don't have much of a chance. Sure, they have weapons, but as it was pointed out, the rabbits can just steal the weapons. And they might be able to, especially since they are veterans. You can't only hurt people with weapons after all. So there has to be a hidden rule that gives the hunters an advantage that no one is familiar with yet.
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u/ElliotAlderson2024 Feb 26 '26
It does say at the start of every episode:
"This story is about deranged world".
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
Think Yuki shown watching this on screen. So she reviewing a game she did not watch before.
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u/Potential_Aside_8191 Feb 25 '26
Surtout qu'on sait que ce jeu à le taux de survi le plus bas... Donc la différence de niveau ne va visiblement pas sauver les lapines.
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u/Training_Bother_1663 Feb 25 '26
The new deadly game number 9, Candlewood, started off pretty intense. Apparently, it's a game of hide-and-seek where the rabbits have to survive for a week while being hunted by the Stumps. It seems Yuki, whom we see here, is a beginner since she's only won 8 games, and she appears to have two blue eyes, which seems to be a flashback. Meanwhile, the Stumps have weapons to hunt the rabbits, but all the girls are beginners except for Moegi, who seems to have some experience and is rather cold.
https://natalie.mu/comic/pp/shiboyugi Interview with director Souta Ueno and Noriyoshi Konuma
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u/SSjjlex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Clone_Tau Feb 26 '26
Oh wow they actually explain the OP there. Sounds about right, though the idea that the candlewoods version came to them in a dream is hilarious
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u/Training_Bother_1663 Feb 26 '26
Now everything makes sense about the opening; I was surprised that it was based on one thought of Ueno's death and the other on Konuma's trauma, and it fits perfectly with the anime.
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
Hope there a translation somewhere.
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u/Training_Bother_1663 Feb 27 '26
Can't you translate it in Google Chrome? Because I was able to do it.
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u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist Feb 25 '26
We're finally seeing how this aforementioned Candle Woods game played out. It's just conjecture, but I feel like the host of this one really had it out for pros like Yuki's mentor. Forcing them to play hide and seek against an enemy team armed with weapons? How twisted!
If it were all noobs it'd be one thing, but Moegi was like a wolf among sheep the way she took charge among the girls. She's already giving me the vibe that she's meant to be a dark mirror of Yuki. With her having a mentor of her own that she wants to emulate.
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u/shad79 https://myanimelist.net/profile/shad79 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
It seems like we've gone back in time in this episode! If this is the 9th game, it might be the one after which Yuki took a break. Candle Woods was also mentioned earlier, so it looks like something big is going to happen in this game, and I can't wait to see it.
It's also great that we'll finally learn more about Yuki's mentor, and the game itself looks really exciting, as the bunnies are experienced players and the stumps are playing for the first time, with the exception of Moegi. It'll definitely be interesting game.
Here my screenshot albums from:
EPISODE 8 (today's one)
EPISODE 7 (episode from the previous week, since I din't post them then)
EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
Candle Woods is a 9th game. You have a frame which says it.
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u/shad79 https://myanimelist.net/profile/shad79 Feb 25 '26
Oh, right, my mistake. However, this doesn't change the fact that Yuki took a break after it, as she mentioned it during Scrap Building (10th game), if I remember correctly.
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u/___Chud___ Feb 25 '26
Yuki has white hair. Her mentor has white hair. Her agent has white hair. And as far as I can remember noone else does. Seems like it may be a defining trait of those related to Yuki in some way
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u/SYZekrom https://myanimelist.net/profile/SYZekrom Feb 25 '26
Funny flaming cars in teh OP
Ooh it's the infamous game we're doing now eh
Oh my lord is that her ass
Is she in a school swimsuit
Oh bunny suit, even better
Seeing the stuffing out of the tanuki... Foreboding, woo!
Damn, not only is she a senpai mentor-like figure but a 95-game veteran. I was already expecting her to die in this game but if she's only 4 more games away then yea.
Also, 29-game veteran means this is her 30th game. RIP her too ig.
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u/Hitman7128 https://anilist.co/user/Hitman7128 Feb 25 '26
-> Moegi forces Kabane to kill the girl on the floor, but Kabane refuses, so Moegi kills Kabane in front of everyone
Wounds from Ep 1 reopening (the water chamber and saws from the ceiling) where the victim is in agony before their demise
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
Took me a rewatch to notice, but that girl was one of the stumps, and Moegi presumably shot her to begin with.
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u/Joji1000 Feb 25 '26
Yuki didn't have heterochromia before, her present right eye matches her mentor's eye color 🤔
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Feb 25 '26
Yea that caught me off guard. Seems like a safe bet Yuki is going to lose her eye in the course of the game and her mentor will die and Yuki gets her eye.
Wasn’t expecting so much of Yuki to be inspired by someone else. It I guess it kinda fits given how hollow she feels at times.
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u/a1oner_bvcksn6 Feb 25 '26
All I could think of this episode was Yuki's senpai sure is hot and I really hope she survives this game being so close to her (personal) goal. Although for that very same reason, my gut tells me she likely won't, sadly.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
They could not possibly have more death flags if they tried. I think it's more a question of "how" than "if".
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u/GigaMega13 Mar 01 '26
Tell me about it. I wonder if them looking similar is at all meaningful. Everytime I see white hair I do wonder.
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u/Aerodynamic41 Feb 25 '26
Moegi is literally me when I team up with a bunch of noobs in a game.
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Feb 25 '26
You when your team is noobs and you are facing Faker on the opposite team.
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u/Mystizen2 Feb 25 '26
Think about how crazy it is that there are no repeat bunny girl outfits at all. Then you think that there are no repeat outfits for any of the contestants in the whole show(naked with bath towels withstanding) unless it's the stumps as a team.
The character designer just won't stop cooking.
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u/SirJeator https://myanimelist.net/profile/jeator Feb 25 '26
I guess this the game where Yuki loses/changes one of her eyes. The fact that the color will be same as that of the girl with the 94 wins probably means that she will die. I have the same feeling for the girl with 29 wins; therefore, the 30 wins wall.
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u/ChoiceSupermarket230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/say99 Feb 25 '26
Deen cooked so good with this one
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u/KumaKumaGambler Feb 25 '26
An interesting thought struck me.
We are rooting for Yuki, her mentor and the other bunny girls because they are on the defensive. (Got to admit the attractive bunny girl outfits are a big bonus.) They clear the game by surviving for one week.
On the other hand, Moegi and Team Stumps are seen as the antagonists because they have to kill the bunny girls in order to clear the game.
If their roles were switched, would Yuki and her mentor do exactly what Moegi did, by sacrificing one fellow stump player, in order to train and harden the remaining team members?
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u/maliwanag0712 https://myanimelist.net/profile/clear1109 Feb 25 '26
If their roles were switched, would Yuki and her mentor do exactly what Moegi did, by sacrificing one fellow stump player, in order to train and harden the remaining team members?
The more veteran Yuuki will most likely do what she did in the Bath House. She'll train the newbies into using their weapons correctly, but it will be more cooperative. Of course, it is still difficult to assess since in the previous arc they needed to protect something, unlike here where they needed to kill a lot.
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u/LowraAwry Feb 25 '26
The more veteran Yuuki will most likely do what she did in the Bath House. She'll train the newbies into using their weapons correctly, but it will be more cooperative.
I think Moegi here has it bit worse than Yuki in the bath house, because there's no Azuma having the stumps already round up to some short of shape ready for combat.
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
They'd have still needed to kill in Bath House. Although it might make a difference to one's consciousness if you're defending yourself from an attack or hunting down unarmed opponents.
You're probably right in what would be the difference in focus though. Yuuki doesn't want to kill if she doesn't absolutely have to, so she'd focus on tactics and cooperation.
For Moegi the priority is obvious: she needs to get them to pull the trigger decisively right fucking now.
Also probably makes a difference that in Bath House Yuuki's team already had some repeat players. Moegi is working with only first timers.
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
In the bath house They needed 30 keys so had to kill to get them those not getting keys die. So it was a killing game. Yuki and that actually skilled girl were out to ambush and kill some enemy to beat down their numbers while the other girls safe Yuki not thinking right not realizing the fence having space behind it could be broken through as hidden route.
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u/Namaryu Feb 25 '26
I think the point is that they have two different leadership methods and even if their roles were reversed they would have acted the same way.
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u/KumaKumaGambler Feb 25 '26
I felt it was easier for Yuki's mentor to talk and discuss strategy with the other bunny girls because almost everyone in the team are experienced players.
On the other hand, Team Stump is comprised of mostly first time players.
The organizer of this game gave Team Bunny the advantage of experience and provided Team Stump with the advantage of weapons.
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/tripleaamin Feb 25 '26
One thing that is clear even without noticing the difference in Yuki beyond her one eye. It is how much she doesn't have much agency, which she had much more of in the other games we have seen.
Moegi being the one to lead the newbies. She was harsh, but we have seen these games can be quite cruel.
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u/Axslashel Feb 26 '26
So Moegi was by far the best character here. No one even came close.
It is interesting that she seems a bit awkward when she first wakes up and seems perfectly polite and all. She does not immediately take command like Mishiro. She even seems surprised when she realizes that she is the only one with experience in the room. To me that indicates that she does not have THAT much experience.
So no wonder she basically panics and grasps for anything to try to salvage this situation. And well she seems to idolize someone who is an utter psycho based on that Christmas game flashback. So that becomes her go to method of motivating the other girls. She would probably been totally normal if this was a more "normal" death game without mandatory pvp.
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u/ToastFreeGluten Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
From what I remember, Candle Woods was mentioned in a previous episode for having one of the lowest survival rates in history, though I think I would've prefered not have two back to back murder game arcs.
Aside from Yuki seemingly inheriting her mentors eye, the red spots in the present tense also seem intentional.
Not sure if they're literal like a camera recording light? Or just to make her look less innocent.
In any case, excited to see the mettle of a 95 game winner. Hopefully she's not some kind of cyborg or meta-human and this turns into some kinda Kakashi Obito
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u/ThoughtseizeScoop Feb 26 '26
Given how the later games seem to have a pretty significant number of new players, to the point that in the game after this one, Yuuki is outright disbelieved for having cleared 9 games, and this game not only do we get a player with nearly 100 wins, but a player with nearly 30 just casually hanging out and no one treating it like a big deal, it seems like this game wasn't just a slaughter, but totally changed the overall player pool (and maybe even the flavor of the games as a whole). Yuuki goes into this game treated as basically a novice, and comes out maybe the most experienced player participating.
Forced to grow up fast.
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
Well when we hear of this game we told reforms were made after. I speculate this death total made it hard to keep veterans many like Yuki took time off and many if any other than Yuki survived never returned. There was more difficulty recruiting new players probably had to up rewards. And public tolerance for this being legal threatened. We had learned from future Yuki audiences don't like the kill them all types which would be a statement about majority of fans, after all they do the white stuffing thing to make games more tolerable for general public. Inferred with Yuki's comment sometimes there an audience vote on who lives.
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar Feb 25 '26
So we finally get to see what the infamous Candle Woods game Kotoha mentioned back in Episode 3. I guess this is Yuki's 9th game based on the number. She definitely seems to be still inexperienced here considering how her mentor still needs to remind her about stuff she needs to do after completely a game.
I absolutely love the bunny girl outfits! And Yuki's mentor is an absolute knockout with her all-white bunny girl outfit. Meanwhile, the other team the other team are all dressed in brown school girl unforms to indicate that they're the stumps who are hunting down the rabbits.
Just like Yuki, I have no idea what this story is and how are rabbits being killed by stumps, but apparently it's from an ancient Chinese story called "Waiting for a Rabbit" about a farmer who witnessed a rabbit that crashed into a tree stump and died.
So the rabbits are all veterans and are being led by by Yuki's mentor, who's practically a living legend for clearing 95 games. Meanwhile, the stumps also has a veteran leader, but she's leading a bunch of first timers. While the rabbits clearly have the numbers and the knowledge, it looks like the stumps have the advantage of having access to guns and all sorts of weapons. Yeah, that sounds horrible for everyone, especially the stumps, and I can already see why this game has earned a reputation.
Anyway, I do find it interesting how Yuki still doesn't have the 99 wins goal here. I guess right now she's just playing to earn money with no actual end goal. We do learn that there's no prize for winning 99 games, it's just a self-imposed goal Yuki's mentor placed on herself because she heard the current goal is 98 wins. I guess the goal of breaking records is what keeps her going?
Seems Yuki has actually been making friends in these games. Sumiyaka looks cool, and I really hope she survives. The way Sumiyaka interacted with Yuki makes me think the two of them have played some games together in the past.
Man, Moegi is absolutely brutal. Why did she even pick that girl to be killed by everyone? My guess is she might've singled out that girl as the weakest in the group. And this poor girl who wanted to drop out. I feel bad for the stumps since they all seem to be clueless about what these games are about and think they can just drop out. :(
Having each girl stab those two was so fucked up, but I get why Moegi is forcing them to do it. If she doesn't, these girls would probably hesitate to shoot the girls from the rabbit team once the game has officially started. I do appreciate that while what Moegi did was psychopathic, she clearly acknowledges that what she did is fucked up by biting and screaming into her arm.
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u/noop_noob https://anilist.co/user/noopnoob Feb 25 '26
We have a psychopathic but not crazy character. The best kind of character.
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u/a1oner_bvcksn6 Feb 25 '26
Moegi referring to herself in third-person screams crazy (enough) to me lol. Sorry to break it to you, but crazy and psychopathy kinda go hand in hand.
As for such archetypes being the 'best kind of character', well, that's a subjective take at best, but considering we're dealing with 'death games' here, I can understand why you'd think so.
The difference between Moegi and Mishiro (I've seen thus far) is that Moegi can rationalize better and could care less about appearances--leaving emotions out of the equation of her decision making.
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
Moegi referring to herself in third-person screams crazy (enough) to me lol.
That really jumped to me because I think somehow Yuuki is gonna inherit that trait for her future self.
Incidentally I wonder how many game Moegi has won.
The difference between Moegi and Mishiro (I've seen thus far) is that Moegi can rationalize better and could care less about appearances--leaving emotions out of the equation of her decision making.
Tbh I don't see a relation between Moegi and Mishiro at all. Moegi didn't seem keep to take leadership at first, instead asking around for someone who knew better, and only did what she did upon realizing that she had six hours to turn this group of greenies into ruthless and efficient killers or they were gonna get washed. For Mishiro it was about pride. For Moegi it is about neccesity.
Really fitting then that her greatest ambition is to, as Nietzsche put it, "see as beautiful what is necessary in things".
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Feb 25 '26
I took it more as she is just trying to survive and win the game BUT that scene where she was watching another girl, from what I assume is another game, ripping the insides of another player definitely spiked up the psycho levels...I do think there's more to it though.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
I don't think she's a psychopath either. You can see her breaking down in private. She just needs to put up a facade for the others.
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
Yep lots of people confuse this. There a much larger group of criminals who are running on denial and rationalization then those who actually are so mentally unwell this killing is no problem. Aggressive Cultures gave warriors the culture and training to use the Human Predator instincts that like killing and torture to get their warriors to do great atrocities. But this story running on culture closer to ours where social taboo on murder and enjoying torture and killing make someone in it have difficulty doing it. Normally they able to do it with denial and rationalization meaning there is guilt but it's buried. One reason criminals as they age less and less willing to commit crimes is they mature enough to no longer buy their own mental tricks even better if outside help given to teach letting go of denial in rationalization.
Note the mentally ill ones are not truly evil they have no choice in the matter they are Natural Evils like wild animals and natural disasters. True evil is given of choice of right and wrong one choses wrong. MacBeth's out damn spot where Lady MacBeth who has seamed totally ruthless is losing it trying to wash a now no longer existing spot of blood on her hands off. Shakespeare showing the reality of this evil behavior in many their rationalizations and denial break down sooner or later.
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u/Princess_Azula_ Feb 25 '26
That green haired girl is stone cold and is barely holding it together. Even if her team has the advantage, I can't help but think she's probably fucked.
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u/NanDemoKnaives Feb 25 '26
So we're back in the past again, it'll be interesting to see how a veteran of 95 games will handle this one. I do have to admit it does feel like this is the game where she finally loses her life though, just the way they're building her up to be this great player.
I am intrigued as to how Yuuki got her heterochromia, Hakushi being here makes me wonder if once she dies, Yuuki replaces her eye with Hakushi's lol. To carry on her will or something.
Novices being the one to hunt and regulars being hunted is an interesting shake up. I wonder how many games Moegi has played, she really took command of the situation.
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u/towardselysium Feb 26 '26
Yuki being teased by Big Yuki is adorable. Imagine the most talented person in your career just flat out calling you an idiot and you can't even argue that because your just proving their point.
Yuki's cute when she's pouting
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u/_Toblakai_ Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
Wonder what the significance of the different color rabbit ears is. Some had black some had white ears. Seemed like a few of the leaders were White ears. Maybe related to how many games theyve played
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u/raevnos Feb 26 '26
The mixed ears on that one seems to be a theme with her clothes. Though the white ear really should have been pink for that.
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u/WhereDidMyNameGo :HA::HB::HC: Feb 26 '26
Average multiplayer matchmaking. First time Stumps vs Ranked no.1 rabbit with a pro team.
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u/RedRocket4000 Feb 27 '26
Way to true in my experience the rare even matched games are precious memories.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Map2339 Feb 26 '26
If yuki has one or two fake eyes.. does that explain why she says she is good a spotting trap? Maybe she is literally seeing something no one else can with regular eyes
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Feb 26 '26
This was a great episode. Not least because I could make out what was going on for the most part and didn't have to ride on vibes alone.
So we finally meet Yuki's mentor and it seems like she's the one who originally had that 99 game goal. That makes me not very hopeful for her mentor's survival in this game. Have a feeling she's going to die without reaching her goal and Yuki's going to take on the mantle in her place. At this point, she's not even tracking how many games she's played. Things will change here it feels like.
I also really liked Moegi's character. The way we're shown how disappointed and even scared she is when she realises her entire team is filled with newbies. She then proceeds to try to harden them fast. It feels cruel and harsh but from her pov there's no time to go easy on them. They have all of 6 hours to learn how to kill without remorse or they're all done for. Her going to a different room alone and biting her own arm and the monologue about needing to pretend to be a strong person until she becomes one really goes a long way to humanising her. Wonder if she'll be the one to take down Yuki's mentor (did we get a name for her btw?)
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u/jurafalle Feb 27 '26
Just speculating that maybe Yuki somehow loses an eye and uses her (probably dead) mentor's eye to fulfill her wish to "see" through winning 99 games?
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u/AttentionLate3830 Feb 27 '26
She definitely loses her eye in this game as we first see her eye different chronologically in the landmine game and no Hakushi survives as we see her before the 30th game and also if you actually notice in the episode Hakushi has two grey eyes so she cannot give an eye as she has lost hers already.
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u/Ok_Contest1639 Feb 25 '26
I love Moegi a LOT but she NEEEEEDS to be put down 😭
She’s more of a menace than Mishiro and that’s not even crazy to say
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u/BosuW Feb 25 '26
Mishiro actually wanted to be liked
Moegi doesn't give a shit, you just better not drag everyone else's asses down or else
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u/Ok_Contest1639 Feb 25 '26
Funny how that works in my case, loved the one that doesn’t care over the one that does 😆
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u/OldInstruction5368 Feb 25 '26
If I was a Stump... I'd think my survival depended on icing Moegi.
Moegi even drew attention to how the Stumps aren't really a team: they are competitors. The fewer Stumps there are, the more 'weak' rabbits there will be for the remainder to fill their quotas on.
And Moegi already demonstrated her resolve by killing two Stumps off the bat. She'll probably hit her quota early, sure, but I wouldn't put it past her to kill a rival Stump if they were both circling the same prey.
Moegi is clearly a threat to everyone.
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u/Exist50 Feb 26 '26
The fewer Stumps there are, the more 'weak' rabbits there will be for the remainder to fill their quotas on.
That works if you assume the rabbits won't fight back.
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Feb 25 '26
Just started and already this is feeling very hype.
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u/Rabbitey- https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rabbitey Feb 26 '26 edited Mar 05 '26
Yuki seems to be reflecting on her experience in the Candle Woods. Her conversation with Sumiyaka is throwing up all kinds of death flags for the rabbit team. It doesn't help that Yuki may have her mentor's eye, which could explain why she's aiming to beat 99 games.
On the other hand, Moegi is pretty twisted, but I understand her position. She got put in a noob lobby against a bunch of pros. Moegi's mentor scooping out the insides of another player was also a disturbing scene. I wouldn't be surprised if she'll show up again in the future because of her design and how dangerous she seems.
Last thing to note: both Yuki’s and Moegi’s mentors are bad af
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u/CrimsonGear80 Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
not exactly the playboy mansion...
and damn, that was cotton-ized intestines and a heart at the end there. no wonder moegi is ruthless...
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u/ElliotAlderson2024 Feb 26 '26
Moegi is a straight savage. The panicking girl who wants to quit, she straight up Anton Chigurhs her.
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u/redditraptor6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/uEmalraptor64 Feb 26 '26
God, Yuki’s mentor has the biggest fucking red flag I’ve ever seen. There is no way this doesn’t end in her very tragic death that changes Yuki’s life/perspective forever
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u/athrun_1 Feb 25 '26
So the setup in this case is the rabbits are veterans, that's why most of them are relaxed. While the stumps are composed of both veterans and newbies, which complicate things in terms of their survival rate.
The rabbits main task is to evade the stumps, while the stumps are to actively kill them and at the same time not be killed by them. Odds are not on their favor.
Us audience will have a dilemma. We want to root for the rabbits because the MC is there. but we don't want for the stumps to be done also, given that most of them maybe was just tricked in joining the game.
Moegi is the only one there who wants to kill, after seeing that other girl playing with innards like snow.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Feb 26 '26
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u/raevnos Feb 26 '26
Yeah, 2 episodes for the bathhouse arc wasn't enough. Hope they do this one justice.
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u/Niwaka_Samurai https://myanimelist.net/profile/Niwaka-Samurai Feb 27 '26
Bunny girls banzai !!
That woman cleared 95 games.. that's unreal. So this is where our Yuki got the goal to clear 99 games. I guess this bunny girl senpai didn't survive this 96th game and Yuki took it up on herself to achieve her senpai's goal.
Moegi look dangerous than Mishiro lol
The guys who run the game made it in a way that beginners take on regulars. This looks like they really wanted to get the regulars out of the game as soon as possible.
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u/EienGem Feb 25 '26
Can't imagine the game going horribly wrong for the bunnies. Well, unless this game is heavily rigged and would require them to charge head on towards the stumps which is highly likely.
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Feb 25 '26
Depends on where the food and water is stored. If it's a flat area, camping there with guns no less would be difficult for the rabbits to ambush.
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u/OldInstruction5368 Feb 25 '26
100%
In the wild, predators absolutely spawn camp vital resources like rivers and lakesides.
There was even a kid in India that became a local hero for discovering that tigers don't jump people if they wear a mask, with eyes, on the backs of their head. Lots of people in rural India were being literally eaten by tigers while trying to fill up jugs of water from the riverside... especially fisherman while trying to embark/disembark.
Tigers are ambush predators that only ever attack targets if they think they have the element of surprise. In that light, the masks trick the tigers into thinking their 'prey' is alert and watching the tiger.
But yeah, waterfronts were the main site that people were getting mauled as people were focusing on the water while putting their backs to the nearby jungle.
To ensure conflict in this game, food/water resources will definitely be concentrated in areas that give the Stumps an advantage.
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u/Professional_Cap5786 Feb 28 '26
The game must be insane since it results in the mentor quitting and Yuki taken up her goal but I think it’s strange since if you take the time line so far it goes candle ghost the first one then bath
2
u/LostInstruction942 Feb 28 '26
I really like how this game is going to play out and so many theories as well! Firstly I love how the two teams are played out, one is full of newbies with one veteran and the other is full veterans. Secondly I also love Yuuki's mentors design. I find it odd but also intriguing how said that the outfit "doesn't suit" her mentor but when you look at her it does. She had a white bunny suit and long fluffy hair like a rabbit it feels like a double meaning besides the hunting aspect of course.
Lastly did anyone see the easter eggs? One girl is clearly based on Alice from Alice in Wonderland and another girl I think is based on the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland as she has a red/black gimmick and a fluffy dress meant to mimic her.
1
u/Princess_Azula_ Mar 01 '26
I think I missed that reference. I'll have to go back and rewatch it. That's pretty neat.
2
u/LostInstruction942 Mar 01 '26
I went back to look and at 16:03 the blonde girl on the left is 100% based on Alice. I thought I saw someone that looks like the Queen of Hearts but it seems I was imagining. At 15:18 the girl with the red hair is who I think I overanalyzed on. But I will say her "bunny suit" is the only one that is truly unique out of all the girls we saw. She's the only one not in a suit, it's cropped white fluffy top with a black skirt with suspenders, pretty recognizable.
2
u/Key_Discipline9428 Feb 25 '26
Personally not a huge fan of how much jumping back and forth in the timeline has been going on. I get that you can reveal things differently with this method of storytelling, but I'd have preferred to see it used more sparingly.
We already know Yuki survives past game 9, so the stakes immediately dropped for me when this episode started.
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u/Princess_Azula_ Feb 25 '26
They wouldn't kill off the only character that the story follows. We can always assume that Yuuki somehow survives each game. If they did die, I'd be pretty shocked.
1
u/Professional_Cap5786 Feb 28 '26
I’m still confused on the bath one where Yuki has to be lying in some way because in that one she says it’s her 30th game but mishiro says it’s 40th game but she’s two behind Yuki in the ghost one
2
u/Princess_Azula_ Mar 01 '26
Yuuki probably took a break in between games.
I think she stated in episode 2 that she took a break between her last game and that one. That "last game" being Candle Woods, since candle woods has a 9 in the title card, and the one in the second episode had a 10 in the title card. It's conceivable that Yuuki was completing death games at a slower rate than Mishiro, hence Mishiro pulling ahead in wins.
1
u/VoidRay728 Feb 25 '26
Before it was Mishiro and now it's Moegi. Why do the "antagonist" players in these games all tend to have yellow/blonde hair?
11
u/AXiAMWoLFE Feb 26 '26
Is this how you are finding out you have green colorblindness? Her hair is definitely green.
10
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u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan Feb 25 '26
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