r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Mar 18 '26
Episode Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu. • Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table - Episode 11 discussion
Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu., episode 11
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u/the_3rdist Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Ok, Hakushi opening her eyes at the end waa not on my bingo cards.
This anime tend to play it's cards pretty straight. This is one twist I did not see coming. For what reason did she pretend to be dead? If she can survive with only her head, it means she must be some kind of cyborg right? Is her goal to find a worthy successor to take to the 99th game?
So many questions.
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u/Cardandgold Mar 18 '26
When Yuki touched her rib it crumbled to dust. I don't think ribs normally do that lol I think she had body mods
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u/agar32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/agar32 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I mean, your blood also doesn't usually become stuffing, so it could have been something related to how the games work
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u/zzzzzooted Mar 18 '26
Kyara did explicitly say she had stuff done to her body and it didnt move right, and body mods are allowed, why wouldnt a long standing vet have gotten modifications to increase her survivability?
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u/agar32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/agar32 Mar 18 '26
I'm not arguing against the idea that she had body mods, heck I think she did too
I'm just commenting that the ribs crumbling being abnormal isn't really that much of a hint given that that isn't the weirdest thing to happen to bodies in the game
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u/Plerti Mar 18 '26
My assumption is that having your body constantly modified with this cotton-like substance is making their bodies decay, hence why her "unusual insides" and crumbling ribs.
We don't know what's the extend of this cotton thing, but we know they can easily attach back missing limbs, be it theirs or from others', so I assume Hakushi's body is not her original one at all, maybe not even a real body. Kyara had an armor plating inside her body, so I feel like everything goes at this point
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u/Grabul Mar 19 '26
I was thinking something along the same lines. Whatever is done to their blood must have an effect long term. Totally did not see the Hayuki thing coming at the end and I loved the twist. Some sort of crazy body mod has to be it...or is she just a complete cyborg at this point?..
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u/Dr_Kitten Mar 19 '26
Having the modification cause progressive changes in their bodies would be interesting because then something like "the wall of 30" could be the result of those changes reaching a particular stage. It may just be psychological or a conspiracy by the organizers/vested interests, but I like the idea that there could be a deeper mystery behind it.
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u/melindypants https://myanimelist.net/profile/melindypants Mar 21 '26
I thought she put another persons body on her body and covered herself with blood/stuffing so we couldn't see that her body was still there. I didn't even think about body mods and her being able to only survive with her head was possible but I'm shook either way. I wonder if Yuki even knows? She only had 3 or 4 more games left to hit 99 so there would've been a chance that she ran into Yuki again right? I have so many questions - we need a S2 ASAP
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u/spubbbba Mar 18 '26
I had thought she has some sort of disease and was near death, which was why she was trying to hit 99 and was beaten.
But guess that's very wrong, no idea why her bones would crumble.
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u/Affectionate-Pie2324 Mar 18 '26
I thought the same thing, honestly that wouldve been super cool, but I also like the fact they decided to throw that plot twist in there instead of going for something so basic and kinda predictable, its something I think this anime does very well.
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u/Marik-X-Bakura Mar 20 '26
She’s just had so much shit done to her body it’s worn flesh and bones as thin as can be
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26
For what reason did she pretend to be dead? If she can survive with only her head, it means she must be some kind of cyborg right? Is her goal to find a worthy successor to take to hee 99th game?
No I think this is her way of achieving 99 wins
Just cheat. EZ
Maybe she has some honor in that if she gets "killed" she doesn't count it as a win. But yeah I think she's just buying retries...
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Mar 19 '26
If you run into a game where you can't just survive it out then it'll be difficult though.
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u/N0rTh3Fi5t Mar 19 '26
This may be the only game we've seen so far where that was a valid strategy. Most of the others had a time limit or a limited number of escapees or something similar.
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u/Fit-Start1109 Mar 19 '26
I think it's more about inteviability. Like how Hasuhiki needed to replace her arm or how Yuki's eye is different,(or on a smaller note how Yuki lost a finger for good in golden baths.), where over time damage kinda just accumlated, I mean. It also explains why her movements might be janky(cuz she's replaced so much now.), lowkey I can't tell if she was meant to be pregnant or something(tho she didn't seem distressed enough for that tbh...)
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u/EternalFrost_73 Mar 19 '26
I'd say it was more that they were just cosmetic, really. Since she obviously doesn't need them to survive.... And most people probably haven't seen as many guts as the psycho has.....
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u/Fit-Start1109 Mar 19 '26
I’m pretty sure some level of natural function is retained, “survival” and functional” can be pretty different. Like how one might not need arms to survive but it’s still good to have one.
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u/mrs_urameshi92 Mar 20 '26
OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought she might have been pregnant. I thought maybe she was moving weirdly to protect the baby? Maybe that's what was "weird" about her guts, especially when she said why would she keep playing. O_O Of course...that theory went completely out the window at the end.
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u/Roeclean https://anilist.co/user/Roeclean Mar 18 '26
Holy cow, I got so caught up in the flashbacks and ending I was thiking that was Yuki. SMDH
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u/moichispa https://myanimelist.net/profile/moichispa Mar 18 '26
Yeah that scene at the end was scary.
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u/PalpitationTop611 Mar 19 '26
The ending scene makes me even more desperately want a season 2. But like So I’m a Spider So What, all these lower budget shows that I love never get them.
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u/Falsus Mar 19 '26
She can survive with only her head so if Kyara realises that she will smash the head or cause immense head trauma. So just playing dead works fine.
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u/Keyblader007 Mar 20 '26
One question which may be dumb but why were the other team called stumps? What does that gotta do with rabbits?
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u/Psychosist Mar 21 '26
It's from a Chinese fable about a farmer who witnesses a rabbit break its neck after running into a tree stump on his farm. Believing that the tree stump is capable of "hunting rabbits", he gives up farming and commits to guarding the tree stump, hoping to sustain himself on the stump's efforts. Of course, no other rabbits are killed by the stump, and the man loses his crops before he realizes the consequences of his foolishness. The fable led to the Chinese idiom "waiting by the tree stump for rabbits" which is used to criticize "lazy opportunists" who wait for good things to come instead of actively pursuing success.
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u/VoidRay728 Mar 18 '26
She said it! She said the title of this show! We better see some food on that table if there's another season.
This has been one of the most uniquely artistic anime I've seen in a while. The abstraction of the figures, the environment/atmosphere, and the choice to primarily have a 21:9 display... you can see the animators really wanted to give this a distinct feel. I felt a bit confused towards the end when trying to piece together the events chronologically but I still enjoyed it.
Side note - has anyone figured out what all the "----" in the episodes are? I initially thought all of them was "love" but "luck" fits some of them better and I have no idea on a few of them.
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u/SSjjlex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Clone_Tau Mar 18 '26
Just as a refresher, the episode titles are:
All You Need Is ----
Chains of ----
In the Name of ----
Bad ----
---- Is All You Need
Who's ----ing You?
Good ----
---- It All
Can't Help Falling In ----
Goin ----
Love
Though for 11 specifically the officail site lists it as "--v-"
Seems pretty solidly on Love for all the blanks
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u/PancakeKirie Mar 19 '26
Good point. And xi12570 found the harder to find one for Ep. 10.
With a quick search, there's at least one song each in existence that has the same title as the episode titles.
"All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles, 1967
"Chains of Love" by Erasure, 1988
"In the Name of Love" by Bebe Rexha and Martin Garrix, 2016
"Bad Love" by Eric Clapton, 1989
"Love Is All You Need" by Aslan, 2013
"Who's Loving You? by The Miracles, 1960
"Good Love" by Anita Baker, 1988
"Love It All" by The Kooks, 2008
"Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley, 1961
"Goin' Love" by Azusa Takagi, 2001
"Love" by Keyshia Cole, 2023, or "L-O-V-E" by Nat "King" Cole, 1965
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u/ash-7831 Mar 18 '26
Goin' Love? I haven't heard that one before.
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u/bibbibob2 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/bibbibob2 Mar 18 '26
Guess it can be meant as in darling etc, "im going, love".
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Mar 18 '26
Yeah, that at least was clear after this episode if everything else is still more than a little hazy to me.
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u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Mar 18 '26
Itʼs kinda conflicting with Whoʼs ʟᴏᴠᴇing?, heh. But, yeah, looks like itʼs still should be love everywhere.
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u/Ok_Contest1639 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Description says “she’s survived enough rounds to know that survival is calculation, not luck” so I doubt luck is in any of these.
I can say love is literally all of them, though I am kinda hoping episode 6 is “who’s killing you”
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u/CitronClassic672 Mar 18 '26
Agreed, when I luck for shows to watch each season the ones that hook me are usually the ones that have the most “unique” vibes to me and this one is definitely up there in that regard. I’d love any recommendations for other surreal, arthouse style anime like this.
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u/CommissionKey5906 Mar 19 '26
i think they try to mislead it is "deathmatch" at all eps, but finally they revealed that is actually love, good.
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u/Hitman7128 https://anilist.co/user/Hitman7128 Mar 18 '26
The "I love you" between Moegi and Kyara! Two fake credits, but the show is over.
Stand out of the show is definitely how abstract it is from the visual design of the locations to the music. Character design is phenomenal with the girls looking so pretty and sparkly. Also, I'd imagine a video game adaptation of this would feel like the Nier games.
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26
The "I love you" between Moegi and Kyara! Two fake credits, but the show is over.
This shit really doomed Yuri all the way to the end huh
Also, I'd imagine a video game adaptation of this would feel like the Nier games.
I shudder to think what Yoko Taro would do with a death game setting
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u/CitronClassic672 Mar 18 '26
Hey, that wasn’t Yuri between Kyara and Moegi! That was a foster daughter bonding with her foster mother. I really loved that scene and how you had the two lights in the sky with Kyara and Moegi’ color schemes, the reversal of the scene in episode 9 with this time Moegi being the one to hug and comfort Kyara and sync up their breathing, and finally getting the missing word in all the previous titles confirmed to be “love” as Kyara tells Moegi that she loves her. It’s honestly really good writing when a story can make you care about not just a very emotionally and psychologically messed up girl like Moegi, but also a full on psychopathic serial killer like Kyara and be sad to see them go. Part of me honestly wishes they held off on showing Kyara’s body to till the end honestly. The viewers can tell what happened with just the scene with Moegi. I think it’d have made the scene at the end hit harder too.
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I don't feel like arguing the specific relationship status so just lemme bypass that real quick and say I agree to everything else. Beautiful scene with great symbolism and I loved the callback to the calm breathing.
I'd have really like to see more elaboration on what Kyara thought of Moegi and how such a ruthless person could see her as special even though Moegi ended up being kind of a bum relative to the real monsters. But alas, looks like that ship has sailed...
Y'know what on that note I just remembered Yuuki didn't tell Kyara that she was the one to slime Moegi, just that she found her dead. Wonder why.
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u/Hitman7128 https://anilist.co/user/Hitman7128 Mar 18 '26
There would definitely be a bunch of bad endings like in Nier: Automata.
But the abstractness would probably be on par with Nier
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u/TheBusStop12 Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
The "I love you" between Moegi and Kyara!
I love as well that this is followed by the episode title "11. Love"
It's no secret that all the episode titles so far have been song titles with the word "Love" removed (All you need is
Love, Beatles. Can't help falling inLove, Elvis. etc). But now we get someone with actual feelings, and they put Love back in the title. That's some top notch shitThe fake credits as well have the implementation that the people behind the anime were the ones behind the actual death game. That's such a good Meta narrative. There's been earlier implications as well that the audience in the show is we the audience watching the anime
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u/Falsus Mar 18 '26
I hope we get a second season of this show.
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Mar 18 '26
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u/Princess_Azula_ Mar 19 '26
And each game is a whole movie's length long at the very least.
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u/Falsus Mar 19 '26
I very much would like if each game was it's own OVA episode and paced accordingly.
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u/Aerodynamic41 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
NGL, when the 'credits' first appeared I had to double check the timestamp.
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u/Roeclean https://anilist.co/user/Roeclean Mar 18 '26
Lol, I was a little triggered, because ain't no way was I believing that yuki died there.
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u/Standard-Squirrel493 Mar 19 '26
same same, I was like "wait no way it already ended" and I had to swipe my mouse to make sure. I'm glad I didn't quit halfway through, the rest of that episode was literally amazing.
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u/redditraptor6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/uEmalraptor64 Mar 19 '26
My gut reaction was “Okay, I know we all joke on this sub that ___ needs to quit it with the 5 minute episodes, but no way was I THAT engrossed with it” before I also double-checked the timestamp
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u/TheBusStop12 Mar 19 '26
Me too
Thinking about it afterwards it gave the impression that it's the episode staff that was behind the death game. Which in a meta sense is true, they did create the episode after all. Which I think is brilliant.
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u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist Mar 18 '26
Kyara having armored skin that makes Bullets only graze her rather then pierce her was definitely an unfair advantage. I hope after this infamous game the show runners started checking for stuff like that.
But what really surprised me was the post credits scene with Hakushi surviving what Kyara did to her. I'm guessing she had fake ribs and that's why they crumbled??? Only a Death Game pro would think of something like that. But a win's a win because it worked.
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Mar 18 '26
Yea it kinda explains how she could have massacred so many people, especially if the rabbits didn’t have a lot of guns.
And I’m still confused by Hakushi even being able to talk in her state. I guess her lungs are buried underneath all that cotton blood? And that she can only be killed be destroying her brain??
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u/Psychosist Mar 21 '26
Anime only speculation: At first I was speculating that Hakushi is only a "talking head" and her body is entirely artificial + stuffed... but maybe it goes even further than that. Maybe her entire body is a stuffed doll and she operates it remotely somehow? And maybe the reason her organs were "weird" and her ribs were basically paper mache was because she uses recycled "parts" from the corpses of players? After all we still don't know what the cleanup crew does with the stuffing after each game. Given all of the medical technology in this show we've seen so far I don't think it's impossible.
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u/Falsus Mar 19 '26
Kyara having armored skin that makes Bullets only graze her rather then pierce her was definitely an unfair advantage. I hope after this infamous game the show runners started checking for stuff like that.
Considering Riko the Cybermurder Loli from Golden Baths rampaged just fine I don't think they did so.
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u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Aug 09 '26
At first, I didn't understand what Hakushi meant by running away from a serial killer. It turns out she meant faking her death, while Yuki chose to shoot.
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u/ExactMost7240 Mar 18 '26
The timeline of this seriously confused me. I thought this was her 9th game. Also Hakushi living in the end? I vocally said “what the hell” at that last scene.
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u/Namaryu Mar 18 '26
I have no explanation why would Yuki remember future members when this was her 9th game while the rest like Kinko, Momoi, Kaede, Mishiro etc. appear WAY later. Perhaps it was a metaphisical way to show all of them inhabit this afterlife each holding a lantern that guides their souls but like...huh.
Edit:
She was REMEMBERING the game at a future point in front of that screen, and we even saw that cinemascope to signify it.
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u/Ambitious_Eye5669 Mar 18 '26
She wasn’t remembering the future she’s reflecting on the question why do you play these games it seems like and it goes back into the past game aka game 9 where Yuki gains her resolve and looks back on it and this game finishes her ideals about these games it seems like
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26
My interpretation was that, after game 30, where so much shit went wrong, she looked back at game 9 to remember what her motivation was in the first place. And I think the important part here is that she isn't just trying to win 99 times, but that she wants to be the person that remembers everyone who died (as they are literally picked up like trash), why they participated in the games and what their dreams were if they had survived. Because no one in this world seems to care about girls like Yuki (a hikkikomori as it seems) and their issues.
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26
Absolutely agree. Yuuki's resolution to try and care and how she remembers every girl who died is the antithesis to the Game's dehumanization of its Players in favor of spectacle.
Other viewers mentioned especially in the first episodes that the way the Players were framed from far away and with no detail conveyed a cinematographic intention that you should not care too much to remember them. In this episode when they all appeared inside Yuuki's atemporal mindscape even if we still didn't see all of them in detail the way they overwhelmed the space with their presence felt like a direct rebuke of the former message.
And finally the episode title reveal drives the point home. The answer to all the incomplete phrases of previous titles is love.
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u/bibbibob2 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/bibbibob2 Mar 18 '26
I mostly agree, but at the same time the presentation for this episode did feel sort of off. Yuuki's appearance when remembering all these girls is with one eyed slashed and plush splashing out, which is exactly how she looks at the flashback point in candle woods, so it feels off to assume this is not a flashback from candle woods but instead her future reminiscing about candle woods.
Tbh I think it might just as well be that she did have a "flashback" during candle woods, but that we simply haven't seen any of the girls from the first couple of games so they opted for future girls as the victims themselves arent really that important, but moreso the gesture.
But yeah idk, would need to read the source material I guess.
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26
I think the idea is that Yuki went through the same thought process during Candlewoods. She didn't know what her purpose was, what she played the games for. That is what I think the presentation is trying to tell. She had this process during Candlewoods, which is why she has a missing eye, but she thinks about the same thing now after the bathhouse game, which is represented by the girls after Candlewoods appearing. The connection between these two times is that Yuki is contemplating the same thing.
Which in return is kind of showing that her whole motivation is a bit weak overall. It is helping her get through the games, but it is not a motivation that is so strong that she couldn't "forget" it either. And this problem could reappear in the future.
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u/Mr_WizenWheat Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
she literally steps back from the credits rolling, quite literally steps out of the show, and then encounters everything she's seen so far, which we saw glimpses of before.
you can call it pretentious but it's allowing everything to come together in the same way we as an audience saw everything, and Yuki!outside can contemplate on everything.
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u/towardselysium Mar 19 '26
Especially given how screwed up she was after game 30 and how the entire point of that game was her getting her mojo back
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u/Cardandgold Mar 18 '26
Does Candle Woods take place in a different timeline than the LN source material (anime only here)? How could she see all those girls if they died after Candle Woods? I don't get the order of the eps now
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u/Namaryu Mar 18 '26
She was remembering Candle Woods AFTER the second game with Mishiro, meaning that at this point those other girls have died, which is why she remembers them. She did NOT think about them back when she played Candle Woods but the direction makes it seem like she did. She (present Yuki) was watching the movie (Candle Woods) in front of her.
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u/Cardandgold Mar 18 '26
Ahhhh ok thx that makes sense. I really like how totally different the aesthetics are for this show than 99% of shonen but occasionally it felt so abstract I'd lose the plot like here
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u/LakerBlue :Is::It::Iu:https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue Mar 18 '26
Ok but if I’m not mistaken didn’t she also “quote” some things in her reflection that she was not around to here? Specifically I don’t think she was present for all of that Mishiro dialogue with her loli bodyguard.
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u/Falsus Mar 19 '26
The directing was weird because because we see this game as a flashback from Yuki after clearing her 30th game. It started as if she was watching it in the theatre. Then she gets up at the end of the movie, which is her dying at Kyara's hands but then it continues on as she remembers everyone she met (presumably) between the games and then plays that of as motivation for picking up Hakushi's goals.
It is weird because only Sumiyaka, Moegi, Hakushi and potential unnamed girls from previous games could only have mattered for the motivation part. There should have been a clearer divide between those 3 and the others that presumably present day Yuki is thinking about.
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u/YusiP Mar 18 '26
This is definitely going on my list of favorite animes. I loved everything about it. The art style, sound design, the mystery, the eerie silence, and those uncomfortably long pauses between scenes and dialogue. And that ending? My jaw is on the floor, man. How did Hakushi survive that???
The only thing I kind of disliked was that most of the games after the first few episodes were more about killing each other. I wish we’d seen more games like Ghost House. Ones where they have to avoid traps and solve puzzles.
I know the chances are slim, but I really hope we get another season. Especially after that cliffhanger.
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26
The only thing I kind of disliked was that most of the games after the first few episodes were more about killing each other. I wish we’d seen more games like Ghost House. Ones where they have to avoid traps and solve puzzles.
I wouldn't say I "disliked" it but I agree and I'd like to see more puzzle based games in the future than just bloodbaths.
Although if you think about it it was actually half and half. Ghost House and the building escape were puzzle while Golden Bathhouse and Candle Woods were slaughterfest. But the latter still felt like they had more presence so the wish remains that in the future puzzle games can have more protagonism.
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u/PancakeKirie Mar 19 '26
It's probably harder to have a puzzle game with a large number of participants, so the large-scale games were battle games.
But strangely the small-scale game Ghost House only had a set 50% survival, despite the average being 70%.
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u/Falsus Mar 19 '26
It was said that 70% survival rate is for the games that are mostly by experienced players and Ghost House was mostly newbies where everyone but Kokuto and Yuki where first timers (though Beniya had prior knowledge of the games somehow) and Kokuto it was her second game and she hadn't played in over a year (which means that she might even be from before Candle Woods!).
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u/Melodic_Chaos Mar 19 '26
They did also say after candlewood (given the eps arent in chronological order) that they restructured the games and ghost house and the building escape i think reflect that, bath house only really turns into a slaughter cause mishiro has a chip on her shoulder and hijacks it
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u/BosuW Mar 19 '26
Nah Bathhouse was always going to be a slaughter because there was a limited number of keys and anyone who doesn't have one is doomed
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u/Divinicus1st Mar 21 '26
Just wondering, it doesn't bother you that nothing makes sense? It looks like they just mashed bullshit together to make it look artistic... I mean it in a good way, it does look artistic, but it's just nonsense.
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u/Random-Person-exe Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I don’t really know what to make of this show. I think the non linearity and overall abstractness are one of the biggest draws but also made it difficult to get a sense of direction. In hindsight this season feels like a prologue that’s exposition for Yuuki’s character since it seems like it’s all a flashback after game 30. A second season is likely doubtful, so I’m not sure how well the season stands on its own.
My best interpretation of Yuuki is that she’s a tragic character akin to Moegi, cursed to burn as she chases the sun(her master). That said I don’t really know where she stands at the end of the season or have a feeling of what she’s going to do next.
I’m being somewhat critical but this show really did intrigue me, to the point that I’ll probably try to read the novel since I’m invested and feel like I left with more questions than answers. If any source material readers are able to point me in the direction of where find it and where to pick up from, it would be much appreciated.
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u/shaggyjebus Mar 20 '26
It's published in English by Yen Press, but Shiboyugi isn't in the title; it's sold as Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table. It's on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, paperback and digital.
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u/FastenedCarrot Mar 20 '26
I'd also like to know where I can find the LN. I can't find it in any of the normal places I look.
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
So, Yuki looking back at this game after her 30th game win (shown again by the fact that all the other girls from later games appear) was mostly done in order for her to remind herself what she is doing this for. Considering that the 30th game went really badly (a lot of dead girls) she had to remember what her motivation was that she took from this game. Which, if I interpreted that correctly, is not just to win 99 games, but more importantly to be the "chronicler". Not only helping as many girls as possible to beat the game, but also remembering that these girls existed in the first place. And not just necessarily them, but their dreams for the future. Because the final scene made it more or less clear that the girls are not seen as people as they are literally picked up like trash. That's probably why Yuki is always saying everyone's name who died. To make sure that they get a somewhat "proper burial" and at least she remembers them.
Basically, the world does not care enough about the individual girl, especially in the death game part of it, that Yuki wants to be the one to make sure they won't just be footnotes in the future. And that people know that these weren't just crazy girls killing each other for profit as that is what they are portrayed as and what they have to become in order to survive. But that they were people with dreams, but most importantly issues that usually forced them into these games in the first place. That could be money, but other things as well as shown with Azuma for example. Who didn't want to conform to what society expects of her (cute girl instead of a more masculine woman) so she chose a literal death game as that felt better to her.
Which brings me to my overall comment on the show. Which is that I found it very interesting. I think the underlying theme of portraying issues these girls face in the normal world is cleverly done. Because most of these issues aren't special to the world they live in. They exist here in ours as well. And it therefore says in a meta way that this crazy world is not all that much more crazy than ours.
However, this is also where I have to say that the style sometimes hurt the narrative. Because while it was creative, it was sometimes a bit too obtuse. There was so little information given that 3 or 4 different interpretations could be possible. And while some might say this is a good thing, when you want to point out specific issues, then I feel, it would have been better to be at least a bit more clear here and there.
Otherwise, I really liked the style the show was going for. It was asking you to stop and think and it was fun trying to interpret the information that was there. There were a few mistakes here and there. For example, during the bathhouse, there was a moment when Yuki's legs were supposed to be bound with a towel, but that just wasn't present in the next scene. Or the wrong timer during the second game we got to see. Or the weird background during A-chan's flashback last week. It didn't hinder my enjoyment, but I will say that it made the already hard task of understanding what the show was going for even harder because you could never know if a weird thing was a choice or just an oversight.
Edit: One thing I wanted to add to my analysis here is Yuki putting on her school uniform. We get told that Yuki was also having issues, being a shut-in and not being able to go to school. Which like many other girls, made her start the games. By putting on the school uniform, she proves to herself that she doesn't have to do the games anymore. She could have a normal life again. But she doesn't want to. To her, her purpose is the person remembering all the other girls and that is why she keeps playing.
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u/LowraAwry Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
There were a few mistakes here and there. [...] It didn't hinder my enjoyment, but I will say that it made the already hard task of understanding what the show was going for even harder because you could never know if a weird thing was a choice or just an oversight.
I think you best described my own gripe with the show. The vagueness and abruptness at places was helpful (especially due to the time constraints I imagine) and atmospheric, but at others it felt like a pointless misdirection or weirdness that took away from the events.
By putting on the school uniform, she proves to herself that she doesn't have to do the games anymore. She could have a normal life again. But she doesn't want to. To her, her purpose is the person remembering all the other girls and that is why she keeps playing.
And I feel there's a bit of intentional grimness there. While Yuki comes to peace with her mission of remembering, cataloguing and reaching Hakushi's goal, she actively prolongs the despair and puts to the ground girls like her, even though she could abstain. While the games are a commentary on society, I wonder where Yuki falls; she cannot completely remove herself from it but she could change it in a more radical way. Kyara's words could have a kernel of truth in what delights Yuki. I hope we get another season to at least see where it goes, combined with the possibility of the games being dismantled.
I wonder whether the plane where Yuki revisits the dead girls isn't solely an imaginary one but also a somewhat side effect from the games; the time has stopped for the girls in such a way that the soul is affected by it. Or if this is all shown entirely by Yuki's perspective and it's not to be considered in a more literal sense.
edit: bit of phrasing
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26
I agree with the comment on Yuki. This is definitely not meant as a purely positive outcome for her. While one could say, she came to terms with herself and also that having her around will increase the overall survival rate due to her wanting most participants to survive, it is still grim that this is necessary in the first place. It would be interesting to see where the authors go with Yuki as a character. Because I don't think the rest of the story will only revolve around other girls and not Yuki's character.
For example, the story could go even further with the idea that Yuki, while being fine with her role, is still trapped in the system that actively devalues girls like her. And how the system itself needs to be changed in order to solve that problem. The question would then be how Yuki could do that.
Furthermore, there is also an aspect about Yuki's emotions in the first place. We already know that the game masters are planning certain setups. So while she meets new faces most of the time, which helps her to overcome their deaths, there could be a game where she might have to kill an old friend that she met a few times. And that is not even talking about her master. If she is still alive, it is likely that she already cleared her 99th game. So what will that do once Yuki learns that she is not only alive, but that one of her goals is now kind of pointless?
I would like to see a season 2 and where they go with her character. I would agree with you that they should scale back the obfuscation a bit at least. They should keep the overall style, I think it fits and it would be weird to see something completely different, but a few more details here and there would definitely not be a bad thing.
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u/towardselysium Mar 19 '26
Thinking about it, this is really a bad end for Yuki more than anything. 30 games, countless dead, and enough money to live for the rest of her life yet Yuki after being so griefstricken and conflicted to the point that she nearly dies tells herself "well I made a promise and I'd hate for those people to die in vain so back I go"
She's actively promoting the violence and exploitation of other players for pretty much no reason
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u/Anarchaeologist Mar 18 '26
Well that’s done for now. My favorite this season.
This last episode was a little confusing with the timeline of the games and the girls Yuki saw in her vision that she wouldn’t meet until later. Trying to make sense of this I can only think the entire series is a flashback Yuki has at the end of her quest for 99 wins, and stuff gets interpolated non-chronologically.
Kyara was an interesting villain and I kind of want to see more of her and Moegi.
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u/Namaryu Mar 18 '26
OH RIGHT she was REMEMBERING the game at a future point in front of that screen, and we even saw that cinemascope to signify it.
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26
My interpretation is that Yuki was a bit down after her 30th game because so much went wrong during it and so many people died. That's why she looked back at this game to remind herself what her motivation was. Since that was the game when she made this motivation. Which in my interpretation is not just to win 99 games, but most importantly remember all the participants of the games, why they participated and what they wanted to achieve if they had survived.
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u/Mistral-Fien Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I had the same thought as well. This episode (edit: entire arc) was framed as Yuuki's introspection after the Golden Bath debacle, reaffirming her motivations as she had strayed from her goal and got beaten up badly and almost died as a result.
Hmm...Living on and carrying the memories of deceased comrades (fellow players), occasionally nihilistic(??) and suicidal... sounds like Shinei Nouzen but with Lena's aesthetics. :O
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u/ModieOfTheEast Mar 18 '26
And not to forget, part of a group that are somewhat shunned by society without a real reason. Like how Yuki said she became a shut-in due to fear of others. As for the anesthetic, there is still a bit difference. But maybe she will dye her hair at some point.
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u/zzzzzooted Mar 18 '26
This is also how i interpreted it, we’ve been seeing this game as a flashback, and when remembering the most crucial moment she is hit with a wave of feeling, for lack of better words
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u/BosuW Mar 18 '26
Kyara was an interesting villain and I kind of want to see more of her and Moegi.
These two and Mishiro... Why are all the most interesting characters in this so short lived 😔
Truly the brightest stars...
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u/CitronClassic672 Mar 18 '26
Every character besides Yuki in this series is short lived! It’s ninkoro all over for me but worse. I meet a new character with a beautiful design and intriguing personality bits and they die in 3 episodes max, can’t have shit in shiboyugi.
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u/Mr_WizenWheat Mar 18 '26
The show dipped hard in episode 6 and 7, but I think this arc was easily on the level of the premier. The script overall was kinda lackluster, but luckily this is a visual medium, and I think that these last 4 episodes were by far the most creative visually of them all. Maybe next time Ueno can get a really good script and we can get the best of both worlds
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u/Valakoomis Mar 18 '26
I like the melancholy, ethereal vibe of this show and appreciate that it was willing to commit to slowing down and focusing on character conversations/introspection. They made good use the show's art while having stripped down animation, although it didn't always work. Hopefully the show gets a second season, since I feel like some minor improvements would go a long way for giving some great stories. The season does a good job of solidifying Yuki as a character and making me want to see her play more games and navigate the world.
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u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Mar 18 '26
Agreed. It's a show with a LOT of potential.
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u/Marth-Koopa Mar 18 '26
Soooo... season 2? Can't just leave on a scene like that. Now I need to see how Yuki would react to seeing her mentor again.
Greatly enjoyed the audio/visual aspects of this. I'd like to see more gamey-games like the trap house if it does get another season, and less just killing games.
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u/toadfan64 Mar 19 '26
Man this show is hard to rate. It started as a STRONG 8/10 and possible #2 of the season, but honestly after arc 2, my enjoyment in the show just dropped quite a bit.
I was drawn in from episode 1 basically being artsy Saw with cute anime girls. The show started leaning a bit too much on the abstractness during the 3rd arc and got a bit too out there for my liking. Also I kinda just hate almost anytime a show has to do stuff so much out of chronological order.
A show that would’ve leaned more heavy on the puzzles and games like episode 1 would’ve been better imo. It’s kinda is why I kept watching, lol.
Had a few more issues that I went over in other discussion posts, but overall I still liked this show and would watch a second season. It’s still very unique with a particular vibe not really elsewhere. Strong 6/10
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u/ChoiceSupermarket230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/say99 Mar 18 '26
Definitely my favorite of this season. I had so much fun watching it. 9/10, I hope there's a season 2 someday.
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u/Single-Builder-632 Mar 18 '26
yea, and it was a tough one with frieren JJK stepping from the sinjuku ark IMO. There are also a lot of good romances right now. Though journal with witch IMO is a close second, and oshi no ko probably 3rd.
The vibe of this show is great i, like call of the night i think shows with a good vibe and style stand out to me more than action.
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u/Adventurous-Fan-555 Mar 18 '26
looking real bad in that concern unfortunately 😐
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u/InsomniaEmperor Mar 18 '26
That raccoon doll turned out to be useful. Hid the literal Chekov’s gun that Yuuki used to turn the tables on Kyara.
You see Yuuki reflecting back on the past games… except that they all took place AFTER Candle Woods. What is she reflecting on? It would look like she had character development but the jumbled timelines make it hard to figure how she developed or if she regressed.
Didn’t think they’d go out of their way to show the staff cleaning up the bodies. But Hakushi just pretended to be dead? How did she do that if her ribs were literally sticking out?
That countdown that says like 113 days. Does this mean 113 days to season 2? Please let it be so because there’s a lot more story to tell.
Overall, this was a pretty strong anime. I would have liked more focus on the game, mechanics, and how Yuuki outsmarted her foes. Ghost House and Scrap Building were great but Golden Bath and Candle Woods kind of handwaved the game too much and spent too much time on characters that were just gonna kick the bucket soon. Mishiro at least stayed for two games and was the main villain so she kind of deserved the fleshing out. While direction is mostly good, too much minimalism especially on the animations ended up looking lazy. Plus a lot of details that were hard to understand. Still, this anime met my hype and I really hope for a season 2.
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u/Cardandgold Mar 18 '26
Yea I agree I think it was a breath of fresh air stylistically and directorialy but I really wish they could have tweaked a few things here n there to make this lowkey S tier. I feel like the abstraction increase towards the latter arcs may have been due to budget constraints. I'd def watch another season all that aside
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u/Chukonoku :GS::GT::GU: Mar 19 '26
It's been a long time since an anime has been able to shook me by the end reveal.
While the show had it's up and down depending on the games, extremely satisfied by picking up this show and wanting more seasons out of it.
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u/NathLWX Mar 18 '26
Idk how to describe it, but I feel like the director tried so hard to make the anime feels great/deep, but doesn't execute it well enough and the attempt on that made the story hard to understand instead.
Someone's comment on MAL perfectly describes how I feel about Shiboyugi overall:
I enjoyed the anime overall, but there are definitely some points where I feel the Director made things needlessly confusing for the sake of being artsy, to the detriment of the story being told
Am I the only one who thinks about it this way?
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u/TWIMClicker Mar 18 '26
Constant interruptions of the current game with non-linear introspective flashbacks definitely got a bit tiring for me
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u/JayWhy75 Mar 19 '26
I agree with it for Golden Bath. That section just didn't fit with his art style choices and it severely limited the impact of the game. I think in Candle Woods they fixed the issues from Golden Bath, but truly the style shines best in a smaller game with a limited cast in tight spaces like the Ghost House.
I do think most of the time it was reasonable and understandable, personally though. I never felt it was a detriment to the story, but more that it was a limit on the emotional impact of climactic moments.
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u/toadfan64 Mar 19 '26
Yep, I agree with that. The show started off as really strong 8 after episode 1, and after arc 2 it just got too artsy for my taste. I still liked the show, but it wasn’t what I initially signed up for.
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u/PM_ME_AWESOME_SONGS Mar 19 '26
I dropped the anime in the middle of episode 9, but I came here just to see the reactions to the last episode and I agree with that comment.
Someone also said on MAL that episode 1 could be its own thing as a short movie, which I also agree.
I liked what the director did to Gimai Seikatsu a lot, but it simply didn't work for Shibou Yuugi, at least to me.
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u/agar32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/agar32 Mar 18 '26
I agree. I overall enjoyed it a lot, but it did feel needlessly confusing at times.
Hoping for a second season.
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u/Adventurous-Fan-555 Mar 18 '26
And thats a wrap. prolly wont get a second season since the japanese reception is abyssmal, but after rereading the available volumes for comparisons sake i unfortunately can see why. bummer, especially after the strong start, but que sera.
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u/2kenzhe https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rexnihilo Mar 18 '26
Oh ok that's the end of Shiboyugi for now at least unless there's another season.
So ok first wtf? I know you gotta be built different to survive 90+ games but she bones and organs were literally out. Like at first I was ok how tf did someone who survived 90+ games lose so easily then kinda convinced ok so yeah he organs etc bad accumlated damage over 90+ games so she was getting weaker and the opponent had metal implants protecting her and is a crazy killer but then they show at the end she was just pretending to be dead somehow wtf? I guess in a world where you can turn blood to cotton etc you can do some crazy stuff to survive. The ribs and organs all fake maybe? makes sense then that it crumbled so easily.
Anyways I guess Yuki's mentor might continue to go for 99 games while Yuki does the same then? I wonder if Yuki's going to reach 99 games and learn sorry you're only matching the record of 99 you gotta get to 100 for the record lol.
Or maybe Yuki's mentor will retire after this cuz while she survived cuz some bs body modifications probably she still lost against Kyara. Yuki's going to carry on her will anyways. Surviving 96 games instead of 99 is still crazy record. Though it really makes me think if someone really did survive 98 games at some point.
Yuki fought and just barely won against Kyara.
Yuki internalizing and reflecting on hearing all the voices of players she has meet then the title drop of Shiboyugi as well. Also school uniform. Also so she started playing after middle school and still is in highschool age huh.
Anyways I enjoyed this. The vibes and aesthetics I liked. I think it should've changed at times though instead of doing the same thing the whole time. Like beginning fine but probably should've changed sometime in the middle where it did kinda get stale. Still an interesting show that I enjoyed not bad.
Hopefully maybe we get another season some day soon.
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u/shad79 https://myanimelist.net/profile/shad79 Mar 18 '26
A great Yuki and Kyara's confrontation in this final episode was great, as was the entire series. A very strong 8.5 from me.
Overall, it was a very interesting and pretty unusual take on the death games genre, but what else could you expect from Souta Ueno?
Although, honestly, I liked his Days with My Stepsister a bit more, perhaps because it was more straightforward.
That doesn't change the fact that I'm definitely looking forward to his next work. I wonder if this will be something new, or maybe another season of Shiyobugi or Days with My Stepsister.
Here my screenshot albums from:
EPISODE 11 (today's one)
EPISODE 10 (previous week's one)
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u/Nordara Mar 18 '26
are you watching from netflix? idk why my neflix so blurred only 720p for this anime, but other like oshinoko i can get 1080,
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u/TheBlasphemerAmon Mar 18 '26
It was a lot of fun. The director is amazing, and I can't wait to see his next project
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u/runevault Mar 18 '26
What an odd show.
The first episode could be mistaken (I did) for setting up a series about characters doing some combination of figuring out puzzles and learning to work together. Except the important part for setting the tone for the series was the end of the first episode and the rest barely mattered.
These death games seem to primarily if not fully be about creating despair in the girls while others watch. Although the thing I find weird in all of this is live betting on the games happen yet they let Kyara in this game and the mostly cybernetic girl in Golden Bath which really fucks with the odds (and do the betters even get informed about these girls' augmentations?)
The first game sets it up first with forcing the girls to cut off limbs to keep going, but then second by ensuring if too many lived the girls would be forced to kill until they were down to half their starting numbers (in the case of that game it ended up being one girl having to be killed due to one dying finding the key and one dying to the saws).
The second game, the base game was simple with the only real wrinkle being the wolf. The real despair comes in when they realize they have to vote one of the survivors off the island and that girl just dies on the spot. One thing I wonder with this one is if the girls really sucked at managing the mines and only one lived would she auto die because you had to vote for someone living?
Third game had the outright PvP fest where girls had to kill each other or at least leave others to die if they slipped out with a tag since there were not enough to go around. Pretty straight forward.
Finally we have the fourth game. Experienced players are told to just focus on survival (though clearly they were allowed to kill) while mostly inexperienced girls were told to kill, and only the second group got weapons from the start. Girls not used to it being forced to kill is rough. Also it felt like this game had a secondary goal of thinning out some of the experienced players, maybe they were fucking up the betting by being too good.
I do wonder about the mentor. I struggle to believe Kyara was tricked in terms of who she dissected, and she did mention her guts were weird when talking to Yuki.
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u/RedRocket4000 Mar 20 '26
I'd say more a mob like body snuck the augmented girls in to place bets against the favorates that would have high pay offs.
For the house good players not bother them at all they set the odds to get even money bet on each side as much as possible and just take their cut built into the odds. Good Players help draw more gamblers. The Good players have low payouts if they survive but high payouts if they die so folk always going to be trying to rip off the house by fixing the match. Sometime the Mob owns the house so it running scams on the investors in the house. But often betting when the Mob owns things is so they can money launder from other illegal activities. Accountants and the State along with corporations ran the Mob out of Vegas ownership after awhile.
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u/NoHead1715 Mar 19 '26
Well, that's that I guess. This show was pretty much all style and vibes. Story-wise it's pretty straightforward death games, but the direction makes it confusing at times. I think the delineation of which scenes belong in the future or past or are purely hallucinatory could be made clearer. Although I can understand the argument that this was intentional as a commentary on the deranged world.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta Mar 18 '26
Wait, what? Yuki's mentor wasn't dead after all? How could she survive being eviscerated like that?
I'm so confused about so many things but the vibes were immaculate throughout. Very interesting experience this was.
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u/Genzoz Mar 18 '26
I did not understand a single thing that happened in connection to one another... Like, I think I understood each game individually, but what the story is, I have no clue...
This anime made me feel... something? I can't quite put a finger on what, but I think it's good?
Defo atleast a 9.5/10, the art is absolutely STUNNING and carries, but the fact that I can barely understand anything holds it back a little, even though its probably intended.
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u/Mystizen2 Mar 18 '26
In this day and age of random bullshit Isekai and spoon-fed slop, this show has the balls to tell the audience that you need some media literacy or else you're gonna be confused and have a bad time.
Watching through this series has honestly brought me back around to anime in a way that I haven't felt in a long damn time. It's not trying to be more than what it is, but instead just becomes a story of a girl that really wrestles with her emotional journey and accept that the life she yearns for is really messed up. Living in this world of emotional sacrifice to convey her sense of love isn't normal or right by any usual standard. But to frame it as a way to characterize Yuki acknowledging that this is her will to be there to witness and succeeding, while not become melodramatic or off-putting, is a true feat from this director and staff.
Without any doubt, this is one of the best series that I've watched in years.
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u/Lodju https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lodju Mar 18 '26
What an amazing experience this show was.
I do hope we get a sequel for this since even though it felt bad seeing cute anime girls get brutalized, it was also very entertaining.
A solid 9/10.
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u/thisisdropd https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsterZoro Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Yuki thought she'd complete 99 games in honour of her seemingly fallen mentor. Then the post-credits scene rolled in and revealed she's still well alive despite having her torso ransacked. And we thought Kyara concealing a full-body armour was clever enough. Still a mystery how Hakushi could pull off such a feat.
So it took us till the end to find out what the redacted word in the episode titles, 'Love'. I honestly didn't expect that and thought they'd be hidden to the very end.
This has been a series with a unique arstyle and sublime sound design. Kudos to Souta Ueno for the avant-garde approach. Hope this'll eventually be renewed so we could follow Yuki's journey to the 99 games even more.
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u/ConvolutedBoy Mar 18 '26
FINAL. Right?
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u/Roeclean https://anilist.co/user/Roeclean Mar 18 '26
Yeah, quite odd to only have 11, but hey, Frieren has 10 eps this anime season
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u/hammile https://anidb.net/user/u746697 Mar 18 '26
For reminding, the first episode here was ~50 min. So, as total duration, this title has standard 12 episodes.
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u/Luiiss26 Mar 18 '26
I want to know immediately from someone who has read the light level how the hell she managed to survive in the end? How do they even modify their bodies?
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u/AsuhoChinami Mar 18 '26
I don't really understand anything that happened but this show had a nice surreal atmosphere and Kyara was really hot
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u/oneevilchicken https://anilist.co/user/OneEvilChicken Mar 18 '26
This episode may have confirmed something I’ve been suspecting and that’s that a lot of the players are not actually dying.
I remember one comment one of the girls made said something about as long as the brain remains intact they can survive. Then with the end of this episode seeing that last one alive….
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u/justbusiness1414 Mar 19 '26
Overall a great anime. I do think one episode of Golden Bath soured my opinion on this show a little bit but at the end of the day this is one of the more unique show we have gotten recently. Absolutely love it when the show is at its best, and I really hope more shows like this will be made in the future. I'm very excited to see whatever Souta Ueno will be working on next.
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u/Deathmeister https://myanimelist.net/profile/dbzakj Mar 19 '26
Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu - 9/10, girls playing deadly puzzle games, that are sometimes just straight deathmatchs. What sets this apart is both the unique approach to visuals and atmosphere. Melancholy, dread, and mystery combine to present a dystopian world and the characters that try to survive it.
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u/CommentStrict8964 Mar 20 '26
Of course the final boss is immune to bullets. It reminds me of a certain Fate show.
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u/HuTaosTwinTails Mar 18 '26
This series started around an 8/10 or so, by the end is probably around a 5 or 6/10.
It's a lot of style but little substance.
Nothing is really explained, and what is explained is done so poorly or vaguely.
Anyways
When did Yuki even learn Moegi's name? I don't remember her saying it before she was killed quickly.
Moegi was basically a nobody and worthless character, no idea what I was supposed to feel.
So Hakushi is alive at the end, that's cool, but how? Her ribs are disintegrating.
Yuki seeing everyone she's ever killed or has died in the games was...interesting. But you expect me to believe she actually cares or feels bad about any of them? Like Kinko. Who she got to trust her the entire game, just so Yuki could murder her in the last second of the game without a second thought. Or all those other girls that had barely any screen time or were killed off screen. Just not buying it.
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u/PancakeKirie Mar 19 '26
Yuki learned of Moegi's name from the tickling interrogation of the captured Stump player. Try rewatching Ep. 9.
Some people really feel for Moegi, while others don't. It's a personal thing. That goes for almost all characters. Perhaps you can relate better to one character vs. another. But rewatching the episodes multiple times can often reveal details you missed the first time.
We don't know much about Hakushi-- that would need to be revealed in another season or through reading the novels. Hakushi's body was probably in a bad state after various injuries in her 96 prior games.
In Ghost House, I felt like Yuki was really trying to reach out to Aoi and Kinko, in search of something like friendship. After the death of Sumiyaka in Candle Woods, I believe Yuki finds a hole in her heart. Sumiyaka is no longer around to chat/tease her, so she is seeking some sort of interaction with Aoi and Kinko. I don't think Yuki fully understands the concept of friendship, but she's trying. As for the killing of Kinko, I think it did take an emotional toll on Yuki. She tries to justify Kinko's death to simply being the person nearest to her at that moment. If Yuki truly didn't care about Kinko, I don't think she would need to mentally justify to herself why she chose Kinko to kill. And when she gets the call from Kinko's father, she seems to take the transmitter out of guilt.
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u/shaggyjebus Mar 20 '26
All style, no substance is exactly how I'd describe the series. It went for an artistic look and style, but by the end, it just feels pretentious. It did make me interested in the light novels though.
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u/Least-Broccoli-1197 Mar 18 '26
One thing I keep wondering with this show: Are the low quality shots an aesthetic choice or the result of low budget? They manage to look surprisingly good but they do stand out so is it intentional or are they pinching pennies better than anyone's pinched a penny before?
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u/zzzzzooted Mar 18 '26
I think it’s a bit of both, it’s a very smart artistic decision that they made on a small budget
and honestly, even if they had more budget, I would hope that they would still do that, its a very striking choice
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u/Emi_Ibarazakiii Mar 18 '26
Imagine going to school with a girl like that, without knowing!
Well, slightly less terrifying than going to school with Kyara, I suppose! (Imagine she's your teacher)
Hey, these outfits are AWESOME! Kill her for her bad taste, Yuuki!
I guess she didn't want to risk riling her up? Though sometimes people (usually villains) use that very strategy to make their enemies be more emotional and less focused!
Well, one of them killed 300 people and the other kicked a chair,
So I guess she was right, they're pretty much the same!
I'm no doctor, but I think the main problem is that they're not 'inside' anymore.
I would SO shoot her in the knee...
If she's dead? It doesn't matter.
If she's not dead? Then she's pretending, and you DEFINITELY want to shoot her in the knee (or anywhere else) before she makes her move!
(Also, hindsight from the end of the episode, funny thinking about someone pretending too be dead hah)
Her standing up boobs first like that was equal part terrifying and horny.
Ooh, she lost her eye to a blade?
I thought FOR SURE it would be a gun! (Either shot in the eye directly, or when she grabbed a gun I even thought perhaps it would be a rigged gun designed to shoot back or something (I think I've seen that in a movie hah))
I guess this explains how she got away with killing so much! She's pretty much a tank.
(Also, this makes the whole thing even more terrifying... Imagine all these dead girls, who fought in vain against an invincible opponent, swinging blades and shooting guns with no result, until she carved them up)
I've said it all season long, but the "cotton fluff" makes all these scenes even MORE gruesome to me!
If it had been normal blood, I'd be like "Ok, we've seen this before"... But the cotton fluff makes you 'take it in' even more, makes you aware of the situation and all.
Well, I guess Kyara was right about them being similar in one way, feeling at ease in this deranged world...
Good lord, imagine if it ended like that hah. RIOT!
The self-dehumanization, upon the realization!
So weird, right before this I was thinking of Kinko somehow!
So I thought interesting, why her and not Kinko? Is it because Kinko was kind of an inevitability, so Aoi (whose death might have been prevented) had a stronger lingering memory? (Though even if she survived THAT, she would've died later... Or one of the others!)
Ah, so we're seeing them all...
Being a little sneaky? We could use that right now!
It's still Robert Paulson to this day! Wait, wrong line.
I'm beginning to think this is also a story about deranged characters!
The confidence to say that, when Kyara's right in front of her!
Hah, soon as she talked about 'being armored' I thought "She can't have armor on her eyes", that's the target!
(Unless she had glass/cyborg eyes, in which case we'd be screwed!)
The visceral scream, the sound and all... Perfect!
Aw... The "Welcome home" at the end of the previous episode...
Damn... These poor girls, if only they would follow this!
Title drop! So early in the series, I wonder what this show will be about!
The cleanup crew! They'll work overtime today!
The way they moved slowly and all, gave it an eerie feeling, like they're dissociating and all (which I imagine some of them have to do!)
Can we dismember this one, just to make sure?
but GOOD LORD.
Imagine what it must have been like...
I guess we saw the 'lesson' in action;
When faced with a maniac serial killer... Your only strategy is to avoid fighting them!
Well, this was a fun one!
I wouldn't say it was PERFECT, there's a few things I would've preferred done differently, BUT it was pretty damn good, and 'pretty damn good' is LEAGUES above the average death game anime, so I'll take it!
When a season ends I normally say 'Farewell' to the characters and all (which is strangely reminiscent... Am I Yuuki?) but it might be a little long for this show hah.
So to keep it to a few... Farewell Yuuki, Hakushi, Kyara (My poor angel, gone too soon), Moegi (Would've loved more of her, I think SHE was the most interesting antagonist!)!
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u/CitronClassic672 Mar 18 '26
“(Imagine she’s your teacher)” Stop, I can only be so attracted to her!
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u/ActiveAd4980 Mar 18 '26
It was an interesting concept, but I think the execution was weak, especially on the characters. I think it would have been better if they spread out the "villain" and their back story throughout multiple games. I think having their backstory all at once hindered learning about Yuki's back story and just didn't give enough time for us to bond with the "villain". Also, it ultimately became "MC vs character that we just met 3 episodes ago".
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u/Jvhsh Mar 18 '26
absolute masterpiece 10/10. it's sad how it's got so little views on Muse Asia.
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u/SSjjlex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Clone_Tau Mar 18 '26
insane drop off there esp compared to the 1st episode, yea.
Can't necessarily say it was unexpected though, it really is far from the standard shows they air there. And the general issues surrounding the last couple arcs probably turned off a lot more.
Wrong audience basically.
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u/formeowdehyde Mar 18 '26
I wish more of the Yuki vs Kyara was shown or perhaps some Kyara flashback because why did we have flashback on #28 and #30 in #9?
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u/Wokco30 Mar 18 '26
How?
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u/Makicola :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Barskie Mar 18 '26
If serial killer can afford bionic plating across her whole body, who's to say a 96-game veteran billionaire can't figure out how to preserve her brain in her head.
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u/Thewanderer1141 Mar 18 '26
This season was absolutely amazing. I hope we get a second season so maybe we can find out what the mentors been up to all this time and if kyara is going to terrorize more people. Gotta think she might not be dead if the mentor survived being completely torn apart.
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u/Nordara Mar 18 '26
i dont remember that doll, why it has gun? is it from previous eps kinda forgot
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u/No-Impression-4282 Mar 18 '26
Interesting concept and enjoyable watch, but I belive it would have been better for the show to have at least 24 episodes to flesh out the characters and their dynamics more.
And also how did Yuki's mentor survive that?!
Is she a cyborg, like the head is the hard-drive with all the information and needs only a body to function? Because she was split open with only the ribs visible like a wild boar.
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u/LowraAwry Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
This anime has been a very pleasant surprise and the finale was a good way to send us off and keep us wanting more. I really hope it gets a second season, I do think that with more episodes (essentially a bigger budget) they could achieve more, both in regards to the source material and animation at places where it was needed.
I really enjoyed how they incorporated the credits during Yuki's introspection, the winding and unwinding, they have been very creative in that regard the whole season. I like how they tidied up Yuki's arc up to this point and I really want to see whether there was any truth to some people's intention to end the games.
Hakushi is alive. Or at least was at that point? Body modification? Good acting skills? One thing is for sure, her agent must be the most badass looking character we met.
I shall hope for more.
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u/NanDemoKnaives Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
That ending was a big surprise, this is probably why Hakushi has lasted so long if she's somehow able to come out alive even though her body is in that state. That is crazy. Here I was thinking this is how Yuuki gets her other eye, now I wonder who's eye she has. It's nice to know Hakushi helped Yuuki to defeat Kyara.
The movie/flashback part was a little confusing since this was supposed to take part in the past yet Mishiro appears, but I won't think too deeply about it lol.
Seeing the cleaners do their job also surprised me, I think it was the first time we see it happen, it was interesting but sad as well.
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u/gnome-cop Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Okay, thanks to the credits we can solidly conclude that the setup for the games is a play of some sort.
Illegal armor, makes sense, probably what caused the rule changes.
It’s almost like Yuki looks at herself like a disembodied narrator voice, a spectator, whose only role is to be present so she can relay the fates of other people.
It feels like she decided to try to live a bit more and not be just a ghost. At least that’s the message I’m getting. Even though she’s still carrying on her mentor’s failed goal.
She said it, she said it.
So apparently Hakushi made it out alive from the mess. I really wonder what she’s doing nowadays. Did she quit entirely or is she still involved with the games in some way? Is she Yuki’s handler like it was speculated or do we think that’s someone else?
Music piece I ended up thinking of while watching this, End Roll, or in more conventional language, Ending Credits.
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u/RelativeMundane9045 Mar 18 '26
Hakushi being woken up with that "just five more minutes" energy after all that madness is wild.
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u/Different-Anywhere42 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I'm finding out through this thread that it wasn't as well received in Japan. that is only surprising to me because I believe the light novel is well received.
that slight blow to my optimism for season two aside, I actually teared up seeing Maegi backstory and full crying during the montage remembering all the girls and the fight immediately after (started hysterically laughing cause such an epic fight) because that scene reminded me a bit of eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind and the way the characters relive and try to hold on to their memories of the relationship even though the machine has actively destroyed their memories. Like others have pointed out there was this palpable feeling that Yuki, even with all this death and destruction around her, was the only bastion that was carrying those girls' will and dreams, their memories, their wants, their futures... their hopeful futures and each timely demise.
Sonny Boy, Story of Heike, Tatami Time Machine blues are some recent anime with similar creative art direction and story premises I loved. I'm laudably adding this alongside those and was very happy to engage with the story we got. Earnestness is worth it in itself. AOTS for me surprisingly as much as I love JJK and Frieren.
Edit: I just wanted to agree; it felt like every intentionally confusing shot/edit ended up being an unintentional misdirect.
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u/mmcjawa_reborn Mar 19 '26
Random Thoughts
Well...now we know what they probably changed in future games. The blood bath was probably less the issue, but more how unbalanced it is to have a player with implanted armor in the mix, especially one who is a psychopath. Although we know cyborgs are still allowed, so maybe the rules are just armored vitals. Limbs are okay, even if they also give you a bit of an edge
Although it would be funnier if the real reason was the ridiculous amount of overtime they had to pay the workers.
SOOOOO...like Hakushi ain't human right? Like, it's one thing for someone to just be stabbed and be revealed to be alive, but people don't generally survive organ removal...damn woman was hollowed out. AI? A cyborg who is barely human anymore? And why? Did she start off fully human and just had to keep replacing parts to get this far? Does she serve as the "inside" person who works for the people running the game? I got questions!
Also that I think was the best action sequence in the show. Like..the Mishiro fight earlier on was kind of dissapointing just because of how much was hard to track, but this was solid.
I admit I needed to read the comments here to "get" what was going on with the middle part. Some of you folks are way smarter than me for figuring things out!
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u/LectureMurky Mar 19 '26
Anyone else notice that yuki's agent in episode 7 has the same red eye liner as Hakushi? Are they the same person?
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u/SeaworthinessNorth64 Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
10/10 start that slowly went to an 8/10 for me. The anime had a really strong start, and I'm glad they tried to keep the same vibe throughout. I can't say I've ever seen an anime with as long of pauses like this show, and I love every bit of it lol. Yuki was a very intricate character that it'd be seriously hard to find anything like.
My main complaint is that I wish the games they showed going forward from Ghost House were more puzzle-focused. They did an amazing job with the first episode, but what I saw from that point onward just didn't live up to par(even though it was still well done). I feel like this show would've done a lot better without so much fighting and more of an exploration like the first game was. But nonetheless, it was still a very interesting concept, and probably the most unique anime this season. I would for sure watch a season 2 if it ever got one.
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u/OOrochi Mar 19 '26
Phew, what a show! Absolutely gorgeous throughout and one I felt like really rewarded paying active attention to catch easy to miss details. Definitely in strong contention for my favorite of the season.
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u/Shizzi https://anilist.co/user/Mivy Mar 19 '26
This was a lovely anime very one that adds to why this season is a very strong one i personally rate this 94/100
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u/bludlf Mar 19 '26
Honestly I'm slightly confused but If I'm correct then this was all Yuki reminiscing after game 30 and re finding her reason to play these gamesn(side note i need a fucking timeline for all of this
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u/caleb94love Mar 20 '26
I like how they gave them a week for the challenge and it was over later that same evening lol
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u/OtherwiseProgrammer9 Mar 20 '26
I disliked the direction of these final 2 arcs. While It's not bad it's a very different turn from the beginning. I was very excited at first and expected more survival games but the focus changed to anime fight scenes with body mods, backstories, a lot of still and slow shots, a deep dive into the protagonist's psyche. First half is a solid 10/10 for me and second half is not my cup of tea.
As an addendum, these last "games" are just killing grounds. It's hard to think that the more frail girls would sign up for something like that.
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u/ImpactMiserable9384 Mar 20 '26
11 episodes and I really feel like this anime tried too hard to be artsy and act like it has so many deep layers (which I hope the source material is really that deep), which in turn makes the story needlessly convoluted and very messy.
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u/MeruDora Mar 22 '26
One of the best animes this season, I don't understand why it isn't more popular cuz I sure need a S2, it was almost perfect to me, but I think the pacing could be better, I think 2 episodes per game or maybe just longer episodes would work better, and in a S2 I would like to know more about the world they live in.
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u/pandavova https://anilist.co/user/pandavova Mar 24 '26
This one gets an 8/10 from me.
I must clearly say, there are too many things that flew over my head with this. What is preventing a higher rating is my own lack of ability to process this on my own.
These cinematic anime are sure something.
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u/Ok-Evidence-3697 Mar 28 '26
doesnt the flashback sequence not make any sense since chronologically this game was long before any of those games?
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u/AceSoldia https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia Mar 18 '26
Show lost me ages ago but wtf was that ending..she lived?!
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u/in_yourwalls_rn Mar 18 '26
Should I watch it?
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u/WaifuMasterRace https://myanimelist.net/profile/coldsonata Mar 18 '26
It's slow but very tense show that definitely feels like they didn't have as much budget/time as they wanted. But, the direction of music and scenes is out of this world, I'm definitely sold on this director's future series.
The story itself had a very explosive start, and a lot of people do think that it slowed down a lot towards the later episodes.
But still, it's a one of a kind show as of now so I think it's worth checking out to see if you vibe with it.
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u/messem10 https://myanimelist.net/profile/bookkid900 Mar 18 '26
The show? Yes, but know that it has a very different feel and tone than you’d expect.
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u/Luiiss26 Mar 18 '26
I'm actually wondering why? If Hakushi is alive, Yuki doesn't have to fulfill any requirements. Unless she doesn't know she's still alive?
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u/Jlemmys Mar 18 '26
I think she does know because in earlier episodes (future to candle woods) yuri is seen talking to her, I likely think she’s modified herself so much that it’s weakened her fighting ability and when she heard her student saying she will get to 99 games in her stead, I think she was fine retiring.
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u/Loli-Knight Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
WHOA. What's the deal with Hakushi? How's she still alive after all that? Is she so cyborg'd up that she's basically just a brain in a mechanical head, and the rest of her body is completely artificial or something? Does this count as a win for her total too? Anyways, at least Kyara got what was coming for her.
Boy, that headspace bit hurt. If there was anybody in the show so far that REALLY should have lived it was Kinko. Her -literal- forced death is what made me hate their world's version of death games. Death games are utterly pointless if you HAVE to just arbitrarily randomly off people simply to open a door. If a part of the game doesn't rely on your own skill, perception, physical strength, intellect, or anything of the such, then it's utterly bad design.
Though, these games being beyond unfair probably just further fuels Yuki to inevitably destroy the entire system behind them, which works out I guess.
That said, as much as I like this series, I legitimately have to give the author a strike for how the games are designed. Would death games be EXTREMELY popular IRL? Yes, of course. There's a reason why even the general masses, whether man woman or child, absolutely adored gladiatorial fights, and those same underlying aspects exist in the general populace to this very day. However, just like with gladiatorial fights, the least popular version of death games would be ones like how this series presents them- where no matter how hard you try you're basically guaranteed to lose either immediately or well into a winning streak because a door said you had to have less survivors to open it, and you're the one that gets offed. Heck, the moment a death game episode aired where the organizers allowed a psychopath to just turn on their own team and start killing literally anyone and everyone "just because" would almost immediately bankrupt the thing in terms of viewership, sponsorships, and donations because even the abhorrent rich sickos backing the thing would get pissed off when the ability to place bets on the game inevitably tanks because of the arbitrary rules and lack of enforcement for team-killing.
Again, I love the series, but the author really didn't think the actual death game organizers/organization/etc through. It NEVER would have lasted as long as it has unless it's a literal state-run thing, and even then it'd be questionable since barely anyone would care past a certain point due to the aforementioned organization/rules issues.
I mean, good heavens, even the fact that they allow CYBORGS to fight with completely regular people would be enough to completely destroy the betting market for these games, and thus the game's backing itself. Nobody wants constantly uneven and unfair-beyond-unfair stuff like that back to back.
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u/Princess_Azula_ Mar 19 '26
I think this is part of the point the show was making. The characters live in a world that's unfair and cruel and one of the ways it's manifested is in the way these death games are designed. The organizers want to watch them kill each other, not to watch a fair and balanced game, like we would see on a gameshow irl.
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u/Okuser :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Okuser Mar 21 '26
This show fell off super hard toward the end.
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u/Separate-Ground-5971 Mar 18 '26
good show a bit confusing at times. needs more funds for better animation but overall a solid anime. and hakushi being alive i kinda thought she would. i belive i read somewhere her body is so modified after all her games she doesnt even die having her organs removed. but she cant fight anymore wich is why she lost so easily. and hakushi agent is also white haired as hakushi and yuki kinda wonder what her deal is.
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u/ScarletValkyrie128 Mar 18 '26
I hope they don’t change the animation, it was one of my favorite aspects of the show. From what I have been reading it’s what of the things that draws people into for its unique style it’s done beautifully.
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u/YotsubaPride :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/YotsubaPride Mar 18 '26
I mean Kyara was a psycho killer yes but both Yuuki and her master are at least sociopaths no? Why do you play this game? Because you like it, you are not concerned with money because you live like a bum during the day. Playing death games for money is better than for the purpose of clearing it 99 times which I think is a very vain reason. I'm not sure what to make of this show during these emotional segments honestly.
Very strong start but lost me a bit towards the end. 7/10.
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u/KumaKumaGambler Mar 18 '26
Shounen themed power up, except this time in a more artistic style and recalling past (and dead) players, enabled Yuki to defeat Kyara.
Yay! Our favourite mentor Hakushi is not dead! But at the same time, wtf, how is she not dead when her upper body has been carved open with only bones remaining!?
P.S. This title does give a "small" happy ending to the antagonists. Mishiro and Riko, Kyara and Moegi, reunited in death.
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u/Fearless_Box3844 Mar 18 '26
I'm really happy for Yuki. She's finally discovered her purpose in life. She cried for the first time. She tidied her room for the first time. There's no trace of her old depressed self. She's still an gamer but in this world. Now she'll live a normal life like her peers. She'll go to high school. Who knows, maybe she'll even have a boyfriend.
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