SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table

Episode 7

I've been seeing chatter online about how different in tone and even narrative content this adaptation of SHIBOYUGI is to its light novel and manga counterparts. I'm a guy who is fine with liberties being taken in an adaptation when the result is a net positive for the new iteration of the story (ask anyone who has had to deal with me ranting and raving in defense of Emerald Fennel's controversial adaptation of Wuthering Heights). I don't mean “net positive” in the sense of “objective and universal improvements,” mind you. I'm simply referring to my respect for any creator or team that has a strong enough vision to know when to bend to the records of the source material versus when it is time to commit to a bold choice and run with the gamble. I think it has been pretty obvious that I have been more than happy to embrace the unique vision of director Sōta Ueno and his team, as it syncs with what I personally value and enjoy about the medium of animation and the science fiction genre.

This week's conclusion to The Golden Bath Game represents, perhaps, the first time that I've felt the friction of this team's personal style rubbing up against the borders of the original SHIBOYUGI story. In other words, “Good - - - -” is an occasion where you can tell, if you're looking hard enough, that the original style and pacing of the arc was probably very different than what we have been delivered here. It's far from bad, to be very clear. I found this to be an emotional and riveting episode of television, just as every chapter of SHIBOYUGI has been thus far. Nonetheless, some cracks, however small they may be, have begun to surface.

It begins with, well, the beginning of the episode, which gives us a rather haunting flashback that explains the origins of Mishiro and Riko's toxic partnership, before transitioning back to the death game already in progress. This transition is, to be honest, a little disorienting. Not confusing, exactly - all of the stray corpses floating about the pools make it clear what has happened to the rest of the contestants after the calamity of last week's ambush. It's just emotionally strange to have every contestant, including important characters like Azuma, killed off-screen so that we can focus on Mishiro and Yuki's (anti)climactic duel.

Ironically enough, the intentional anticlimax of the leading players' reunion is one of the factors that makes this such a compelling and engaging story, even if it may be the messiest one that SHIBOYUGI has told so far. It's just so sad but so fitting for Mishiro to build up her rivalry with Yuki as this mythic, darkly romantic entanglement that will define and validate her entire career as a death game player, only for Yuki's facade to finally crack and reduce our heroine into a desperate, crying mess. Mishiro envisioned a matrimonial duel to the death that would befit an epic romance from ancient times, but she must instead settle for a pathetic, ugly, and not especially cinematic scrap that brings out the worst in both fighters.

This is great storytelling, and I continue to think that Ueno and company's insistence on abstracting the violence and spectacle from their fights works for what this version of the story is trying to do. I just wish this game had been given just one more episode to play things out at a slightly less frantic pace. I'm fine with Mishiro dying in an undignified manner that cuts short any hope of a grand, series-long rivalry with Yuki. That's exactly what the show is going for. It's a shame, though, that the secondary narrative of The Golden Bath Game didn't get enough time to stand on its own compared to the other two games we've experienced.

This sentiment directly affects how Riko's role in the story plays out, too. Again, the vibes of her messed-up dynamic with Mishiro are perfect - it's absolutely horrifying to see Mishiro work her seductive magic on a kid who has both literally and figuratively been ripped apart by these games, and that just makes it that much sadder when she desperately asks Yuki if Mishiro even bothered to mentioned Riko's getting killed. The downside of this arc's somewhat rushed pacing becomes a factor when the game tokens and the rules of winning become linked to Yuki and Riko's showdown. I can deduce that the yellow galoshes were somehow involved in getting past the security turrets that guarded the hallway to the exit, and all of the furniture strewn about suggests that a “the floor is lava” kind of setup is what caused Yuki to trigger the gunfire that got Riko killed. The vagueness of the game makes for a more confusing and disorienting finale than is necessary, especially because it makes it harder for us to sympathize with Yuki when she laments the “shit” nature of both the game's design and her own play.

Still, despite this arc's shortcomings, it has left us with a wealth of gorgeous imagery and tantalizing emotional developments to reckon with as Yuki “celebrates” her 30th victory. Clearly, she is no longer able to completely dedicate herself to the role of ruthless, self-involved survivor, and it is ironic because she has finally found within herself the genuine desire to live. When Mishiro met Riko, she saw in the wounded child a hollow soul that she could fill with dark purpose. The would-be killer queen may have let poor Riko down, in the end, but she was able to pass along one final gift of purpose to Yuki, at the very least. In her own way, I guess Mishiro really was able to become a beautiful creature in the end.

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SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.