Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
|
Concerning the English dub, Suzie Yeung previously did an outstanding job voicing Lena in 86 (and also does excellently as one of the main readers for the audiobook version of the source novels), so she's an ideal fit for this role.
The debut episode of this one completely bowled me over, and for much the same reasons James mentioned in his review; it was the only debut this season that I gave a maximum rating to. The two episodes since have not disappointed, either. I went into SHIBOYUGI fully expecting a much more trashy viewing experience, but this could legitimately be one of the season's top series, even in a season that's unusually stocked with qualitative heavy-hitters. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jdnation
Posts: 2505 |
|
|||||
|
Best show to debut outta nowhere for me this year!
And in a season this packed with heavy hitters, that's saying something! Hopefully it keeps on impressing during it's entre run as it's debut episodes! This could be that special show that risks being lost, so I'd recommend everyone check it out! |
||||||
|
||||||
MemoBookworm
 Posts: 49 |
|
|||||
|
This is probably one of my favourite shows of this (absolutely stacked) season. Probably my favourite new show (although Journal with Witch is strong competition). Death games are one of my favourite guilty pleasure genres, and I'm also someone for whom great direction and animation can carry a show alone. This show is like the best of both worlds for me.
That said, I'd be lying if I didn't have a few reservations. After seeing a few episodes, I can't help but wonder whether the show's writing is actually good or if the animation and direction are carrying it. The foreshadowing around Kinko's death felt somewhat clumsy and heavy-handed, for example. Not to jinx it, but the show made me think a little of Wonder Egg Priority, where bad writing was covered up by fantastic animation and direction, until it got too nasty and everything fell apart. Maybe I'm wrong, but I do suspect the original writing might have been more in line with a less meditative adaptation (maybe something like Another?) than what it is. Of course, even if the original novels don't quite match the adaptation, that doesn't necessarily mean the anime can't be great. (For example, the much worse Kino's Journey remake was apparently more accurate to the novels). From what I've read, they've already changed things up to make Yuki more of a mystery at the start, so who knows? And frankly, if the anime can keep up this level of presentation and interesting death games, I'm totally on board. One of my favourite aspects thus far is how conscious Yuki is of the audience, and how she performs to make herself more appealing to them. I'm interested in how that affects the games going forward. |
||||||
|
||||||
CrowLia
 Posts: 5572 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||
|
I feel kind of dumb for having to ask but what do the countdowns mean? The one that goes up to 33 in this game and went to 22-23 in the first one. Is this something obvious and I'm just dumb or is it something that will make sense later on in the story?
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
It's being used to represent stages in the death games (or perhaps scenes if you want to think about them in a video game context), more or less. The number always advances when there's some kind of transition. |
||||||
|
||||||
Greed1914
 Posts: 5360 |
|
|||||
|
So far, the different take on the genre is working. Since this is a type of job, and people can repeatedly play, it largely dispenses with the pretense of trying to make you feel for a character just to make their death feel more important.
We'll have to see where it goes, but it also seems less concerned with the traps and solutions and is using them more as a character device. Normally, I'd call out that last trap from the first episode as being cheap. Until then, every trap was survivable so long as people did things like stay calm or not fall for bait, so something where it comes down to "we predetermined 3 people should die" stands out as less a puzzle and more of a punishment for doing too well. But, it seems like the real point was to show that while Yuki does want everyone to survive, she will act when needed. Plus, in the context of a tv show, it makes sense. Stuff like Survivor is no stranger to episodes where the show runners tell the cast they have to eliminate someone regardless of how well they perform that day. I am curious where this goes for Yuki. She cares enough to literally carry her team to help them, but also watches for herself first. Everyone needed to take their turn to avoid the saws, but she held the keys so she had the first go. She also says that she simply killed the person closest, but also made it so that person was the least likely to fight back. Treating these games as a sport also adds a bit of a sports anime twist to it. Playing more than once isn't unusual, so people could just as easily survive as not, and the preservation treatment means that any rivalries developed can come back later. |
||||||
|
||||||
IronWish
 Posts: 234 Location: Ukraine |
|
|||||
I suspect it to be LN chapter numbers, Monogatari-style, although I can't confirm it.
I've seen discussions about adaptation choices, and in LN Chie has a massive crash-out when voted out in the end of Ep4: https://imgur.com/a/wZQdfLM. |
||||||
|
||||||
Millhi
 Posts: 150 |
|
|||||
Correct although they also fake the number a tad. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Aerdra
Posts: 556 |
|
|||||
These "chapters" seem to be rather short, then. Also the numbers sometimes jump up more than one. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Millhi
Posts: 150 |
|
|||||
It's not that the chapter is short. this game #10 is a single chapter( ln spoiler[volume 2 Chapter 1: Scrap Building (#10)]) which uses chapter numbering with text that can range from a single sentence to a few pages. For reference the amount of chapter numbering in the ln for this chapter is x/30 while for the anime it's x/33. Hope this was understandable enough? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Aerdra
Posts: 556 |
|
|||||
|
I guess they're more like sections of a chapter?
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
Thanks for posting this; it's an interesting comparison. I can certainly understand why the adaptation chose not to include that; it doesn't fit with the style and tone of the way the adaptation is portraying the scene. The anime is much more aiming for a subdued feeling of dread than dramatically heightened tension, and that approach is plenty effective enough. One thing I am very curious about is why all of both the participants and the Agents we've seen so far have been female. Is that purposeful or coincidence, and is it something we should expect to see explained eventually? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
champeagle3
Posts: 66 |
|
|||||
|
After watching episode 4 three times and thinking about it for the last ~22 hours, I've gotta say this show is just about everything I didn't know I wanted. I haven't felt this uncomfortable for this long in this way since Penguindrum, but instead of worrying about impending trauma or doom, I love it. I'm excited by it.
This may seem like an odd comparison, but I feel like I'm back in the audience of Revue Starlight and Yuki and Co. are already on the stage for our twisted amusement. 99th class or 99 games, I will be seated. |
||||||
|
||||||
Covnam
 Posts: 4393 |
|
|||||
|
Last episode I thought Mishiro was having a delusion of Yuki acting in a way that didn't fit her personality shown so far, so I was surprised it was really her.
Chie turned in to a pile of stuffing, so I guess they weren't exaggerating when they said it was something special they cooked up. Interesting that Chie's agent was crying over her death. I wonder what the relationship between the participants and agents are... I guess Mashiro's arm was eaten by the wolf or something if she had to get a prosthetic instead of getting it reattached. I guess even if they can regrow hair they can't do everything... I hope that every game doesn't end with there always needing to be a requisite number of deaths that we've seen so far. It's not shocking if it happens every time. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
IronWish
Posts: 234 Location: Ukraine |
|
|||||
Coincidentally, the way Yuuki killed Kinko at the end of Ep1 looks like "Position Zero!" move Revue Starlight girls do at the end of audition, and now I can't stop laughing at this picture in my head. Thanks for this comparison! |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group