King’s Game the Animation (Ousama Game the Animation) is a 2017 television anime series based on the cell phone novel King’s Game written by Nobuaki Kanazawa. It was adapted by studio Seven and directed by Tokhihiro Sasaki. Kadokawa Pictures published the series and was first broadcast in Japan on October 2017 as part of the Autumn season.
Background:
“A class of thirty-two high school students receive texts commanding them to complete strange tasks. Do what the messages say, and more will follow. Fail to go through with them, and face the consequences. Nobuaki Kanazawa has played this game before and knows that these demands must be met. But until penalties for failure become lethal, no one is ready to step out of their comfort zone.
With death around every corner, and as orders and punishments become more and more gruesome, the worst in people manages to tear its way out.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, March 2020
Well, this is going to be a fun one to talk about. King’s Game the Animation is an absolute train-wreck but an enjoyable one to watch. It’s part of a sub-genre in Horror that involves a group of people stuck in a life or death situation caused by a real-life game, in this show’s case a text message. Honestly, I love it but it’s not the anime of the year, heck the studio animating the series is known for working on a whole bunch of hentai projects. At least the opening song by Coldrain is an absolute banger to listen to.
Crunchyroll acquired the rights to King’s Game the Animation and Funimation offered the simuldub and home video release. It didn’t do well enough to warrant a limited edition in the US & Canada territories. Meanwhile, Anime Limited acquired the UK & Ireland rights and reportedly it did well enough over here to earn itself a collector’s edition release. It arrived just over a year later than the US release but at least it actually got released in the end.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited are known for their special collector’s box sets. Saying that though, King’s Game the Animation somehow managed to get the treatment as well and honestly the end product is pretty good looking.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing a digipack to house the Blu-ray discs. The box also comes with a 20-page booklet and a fold out poster. The box has clean artwork with the show’s title on the spine.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99. This is also a Blu-ray only release and is expected to get a standard edition over time.
I acquired King’s Game the Animation during the special early bird offer on Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas 2019 event. I liked the show enough to grab it sooner than later.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 20-page booklet
- 34 x 40cm Fold-out Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 9th March 2020
King’s Game the Animation comes with all 12 episodes across two Blu-ray discs. The encode and authoring were done by Funimation. The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
The white subtitles are locked during playback and the discs are also region locked to B for Blu-ray.
Now despite the nice packaging, I should clarify that unfortunately the censorship shown during the Japanese Broadcast remains on the UK/US Blu-ray releases. I have no clue if studio Seven kept the censorship on the Japanese Blu-ray releases or Funimation accidently re-used the broadcast, but either way this is disappointing for what should be a fun gory trainwreck series. Heck the BBFC 18 logo was mentioned on the packaging but it’s actually a 15 if you check the database.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Textless Opening “FEED THE FIRE”
- Textless Closing “Lost Paradise”
- Funimation Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
King’s Game the Animation is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 