| I've noticed that in the past few years there has been an increase in "Death Game" series. For those who might not be familiar with the term, it refers to series that a bunch of character are pitted against each other in a fight to the death (it might not necessarily be fighting, but they battle in some way until one is dead). Now, I don't think these series have had any great success so far. looking at the scores and audience reactions most of them seem to be average at best. I have to admit that series like these are not for me. I'm not the target audience by a long shot. So I just wanted to ask: 1) Do you like them and if you do, what do you find appealing? 2) Do you think there is a large enough audience to keep the genre alive, despite the low-to-average scores? |
| I never got the appeal and I don't understand why there's so many of them. Even the ones I like I still consider them to be a bit dumb at places. |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
| No, i'm not a big fan of death games that don't involve a battle royale. There's an audience for everything, the size is relative but the quality matters. |
| I think any growth in "death game" plots follows more or less the same trajectory as most anime. The trope is used a lot as a fake plot device for comedies, isekai, etc. because it's pretty well understood. So, perhaps this reference has also caused a perceived growth in its actual utilization. 1.) The trope's been done well and poorly in equal measure. They lend themselves well to a weekly or monthly serialization format, because you can backstory and kill off a character in each episode/chapter. These shine when displaying strong character writing, or a compelling intrigue narrative. 2.) There is not an audience for this specific trope. The actual quantity of anime/manga featuring death games (not as a satire) is small relatively speaking. They will continue to exist, because they're well structured for serializations. |
| They're alright. The ones I've seen are pretty dumb, but they're usually a fun watch. I haven't watched the supposed worst one, Ousama Game yet though. |
| I smell a conspiracy behind it. It must be one! Nobody can be involved in such sketchy shit without being part of some super-evil conspiracy! |
| Here is my Pixiv account of my hentai drawings..... https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/104739065 Here is my blog.... https://theendofindustrialcivilization.blogspot.com/?m=1 |
| Love the genre. It's probably one of my most favourite in not just Anime, but other media also, ever since watching Battle Royale years ago now - which is my favourite movie. I just think it can produce some great plots, especially the taboo aspect of taking someone's life, even if means saving your own. And that life could be your childhood friend or lover depending on the circumstances. Saying that though, I haven't seen many types of Anime that really do this genre totally well like Battle Royale did for me. I loved Tenkuu Shinpan, even though that was not totally perfect. |
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| I have seen a few of them and most of the time they just didn't appeal to me character wise or plot wise because they both just seem shallow and uninteresting. If anything they are just kind of fun to watch. The only one I really liked that I have seen is Tomodachi Game and that is just because I enjoyed seeing Yuuichi Katagiri acting like a complete asshole 😅. I just started watching Tasuuketsu it seems okay so far but I have only seen the first episode so time will tell. |
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| I avoid anime about games because I'm not interested in fictional game mechanics. |
| Sadly, most of them are total trash 😫 |
| In concept, I think it sounds like a great and interesting idea, yet most of them end up being completely dumb and stupid or fail at making it engagin in the long run (there are some that even decay after just like 5 chapters). I think that at least in manga the greatest "death game" out there is Imawa no kuni no alice. Manga usually makes this genre more gruesome and edgy as to gain the lector to continue consuming it, which translate to what we get in almost every death game anime. Right now there is one airing called Tasuuketsu and you can see the result, probably the successor of Ousama game (the worst of all of the genre) |
| Unless you count death parade pretty much all of them suck, but I FUCKING LOVE THEM!! at least the ones that are edgy and pver the top. bonus points for good animation. Mirrai nikki, gelipnir and even tomodachi game were more fun than most good shows that I have seen. |
| Also available at: YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK8spdL1M_J-z0vO2C7jPLw Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AshPolygonsDo/videos Twitter: https://x.com/APolygons2 Backloggd: https://backloggd.com/games/lib/rating?page=8 IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/user/ur107632777/?ref_=uspf_nv_profile |
| The only time I kind of liked a death game movie or such was the 2000 Japanese movie battle royal but it had a good story. Other than that I never cared it´s just a dumb silly idea to make a movie or a game about pointless murder for fun. Doing what Roman did during the roman empire. Lets have death as entertainment. I don´t see the enjoyment at all. |
| Most of them fails to see what made Battle Royale great in the first place. |
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| I'm not a huge fan, I haven't seen that many, because I struggle with them to stay invested & stick till the end. I don't know if I grow weary of the constant senseless killing or the annoying dialogues/monologues. Maybe I had bad luck and I have picked the weaker ones to watch while ignoring the good ones? Gimme some titles of the good ones :D Manhwa examples: - I'm reading a very interesting manhwa now about the heroes in a gacha game, heroes can die permadeath and I really like that aspect. Always builts tension during main missions. The art is 10/10 aswell, beautifull and well represented in combat, the way the MC grabs the enemy sword and cleaves it straight in the enemies head was subarashi. - Another great manhwa is L.A.G., at the start of this story the MC already has died a couple of times in this mysterious maze dungeon while maintaining his memory of previous runs. So he has some prior knowledge that is helpfull in the beginning, but things spiral out of his control this time and it's yet another bitter fight for survival. Along the way he meets others and MC always gotta be extra carefull as to trust them or not, they could backstab you to grab your souls, you know? The dungeon can forcefully split your current team up and hopefully be reunited later or not at all... Death looms behind every corner. The art is very comparable to Western comic book style so it's a welcoming refreshing change. Conclusion: So yeah I like the death of characters, but somehow these death games anime aren't appealing enough, I don't know why exactly. Maybe while thinking I don't want to much dialogue, I kinda need it to attach myself to the characters so they could have a more meaningfull death later on? Maybe death games are just way to forced and often don't make a lot of sense, because of all the excessive senseless killing? |
| Kingdom Come Deliverance II GOTY 2025 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is another worthy GOTY contender I tip my fedora to Sandfall Interactive, excellent debut gentlemen! If digital buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing My curiosity is an act of love for truth I do love the truth, I love it so much that I don't want to lie. Lying is tiring & in the end, the only thing that stands the test of time is truth, lies decompose over time. |
Reply to Adverrito
to me death game anime has become way too predictable
in theory, the probability of who's gonna be the final survivor should be 1/(number of participants), but i usually know who's gonna live at the end just from watching the first episode (spoiler: it's the main protagonist)
after we established who's gonna live at the end, it's time to treat other participants as mindless props to do some stupid things that eventually get themselves horribly killed. meanwhile, the virtuous protagonist does nothing of that sort cus killing someone for reducing the number is bad, but killing for self preservation or revenge is good. i guess it's a sure way to make the audience safe to root for the character, but i think it's a bit overused. i also find they make the protagonist OP like having way more IQ than other participants, it's rare to find opponents way more cleverer than the protagonist, making him at his wit's end. now it's basically just a goody smartypants beating down the baddy weaklings and somehow people enjoy this on repeat
in theory, the probability of who's gonna be the final survivor should be 1/(number of participants), but i usually know who's gonna live at the end just from watching the first episode (spoiler: it's the main protagonist)
after we established who's gonna live at the end, it's time to treat other participants as mindless props to do some stupid things that eventually get themselves horribly killed. meanwhile, the virtuous protagonist does nothing of that sort cus killing someone for reducing the number is bad, but killing for self preservation or revenge is good. i guess it's a sure way to make the audience safe to root for the character, but i think it's a bit overused. i also find they make the protagonist OP like having way more IQ than other participants, it's rare to find opponents way more cleverer than the protagonist, making him at his wit's end. now it's basically just a goody smartypants beating down the baddy weaklings and somehow people enjoy this on repeat
Adverrito said: after we established who's gonna live at the end, it's time to treat other participants as mindless props to do some stupid things that eventually get themselves horribly killed. I do not agree that death games are predictable. There's always the posibility of multiple survivors, especially when the goal is survival rather than killing. Visual novels may also offer alternate endings in which the protagonist dies. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| Mirai Nikki was pretty good, Btoom was dogshit. I avoided the rest. Actually, Fate counts as a death game, UBW Abridged is amazing. |
Reply to Infinite-Void
I have seen a few of them and most of the time they just didn't appeal to me character wise or plot wise because they both just seem shallow and uninteresting. If anything they are just kind of fun to watch. The only one I really liked that I have seen is Tomodachi Game and that is just because I enjoyed seeing Yuuichi Katagiri acting like a complete asshole 😅. I just started watching Tasuuketsu it seems okay so far but I have only seen the first episode so time will tell.
Seven said: I have seen a few of them and most of the time they just didn't appeal to me character wise or plot wise because they both just seem shallow and uninteresting. If anything they are just kind of fun to watch. The only one I really liked that I have seen is Tomodachi Game and that is just because I enjoyed seeing Yuuichi Katagiri acting like a complete asshole 😅. I just started watching Tasuuketsu it seems okay so far but I have only seen the first episode so time will tell. Pretty much the same here minus Tasuuketsu (which I PTW) as most of the time I just try to enjoy it for what it is. Although, I do like the concept of a death game. |
| this setting may not flourish if they can't show blood and gore. psychological element can be present so it should be worthwhile to watch it but it can be hard to fit it in one season not many writer can do it, many obvious plot holes can ruin it. |
| I liked: BTOOOM! Deadman Wonderland Darwin's Game Death Parade Future Diary But I don't go out of my way to watch them. Especially, since only 2 of those were actually complete and the rest just stop.... |
KruszerAug 2, 2024 10:57 PM
| "The name's Gambit. Remember it." -Gambit "X-Men '97"  |
| Death game-themed anime can be quite polarizing. They often involve high-stakes survival scenarios where characters outwit and outlast each other, which is intense but way too emotionally draining for me.. Some find this thrilling and suspenseful, but for me they also tend to feature a lot of violence which I don't mind but the psychological tension is too much for me. Personally, I find them stressful from a storytelling perspective because they explore betrayal, lies, ugly side of human nature, morality, and survival under extreme conditions. All these affected me negatively and made me doubt people around me, made me lose trust and installed fear and PTSD in me.. They are not suitable for me at all. |
| Love the trope, though there are almost none which are good 😂 As mentioned above, the only good ones I watched were from Fate franchise, Mirai Nikki was somehow acceptable, same for Deadman Wonderland (anime was butchered compared to manga), same for Danganronpa (games are excellent). I think that the main problem I have with them is a lack of character development, leading to not caring about characters at all or cheap deaths. It even worked better as live action adaptation (Alice in Borderland) which was pretty shocking tbh. |
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| Not really a big fan of them, but I have seen a couple of decent ones. |
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| There should be nothing wrong with the genre itself, however I rarely find anything that isn't trashy. There is a few which are decent but overall it's a genre mostly consisting of garbage. Maybe it's harder than usual to make a genuinely good 'death game' anime. Even outside of anime, this genre isn't that appealing either. |
mshfqtnySep 9, 2024 6:57 AM
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