YMMV / The King of Pigs

• Americans Hate Tingle: The film is quite beloved among fans of serious adult Western Animation, despite being barely known outside South Korea. However, there are many haters in Japan, who see it as Koreans ripping off their own animation style.
• Angst Aversion: This movie will be incredibly off-putting to those who are already aware of how morally bankrupt the protagonists are, the incredibly bleak, nihilistic story, and how it all ends.
• Anvilicious:
  • The practice of Pay Evil unto Evil can be taxing to mind and body, as shown through the eventual Murder-Suicide of Kyung-Min as a result of his business failing and being unable to cope with his role in pushing off Kim-chul—who taught the protagonists on this philosophy—after he refused to kill himself to spite his fellow students. Not only does violence beget violence but it can also lead to people suffering a Despair Event Horizon from the trauma that would likely last throughout their lives if left unchecked.
  • Bullying can highly damaging to the victim and can lead to lifelong psychological trauma that can cause them to lash out in intensely unhealthy ways.
• Jerkass Woobie: They aren’t exactly great people, but no child deserves to be put through the hell that our three leads were.
• Out of the Ghetto: For a long time it was assumed that the only east Asian countries that could make indigenous cartoons of high quality were Japan and (to a lesser extent) China, while South Korea mostly did animation for other countries. Then this film came along in 2011 and a lot of animation enthusiasts declared that this was one of the best animated films that ever came out anywhere.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Combined with Eight Deadly Words. While the students they are up against are sadistic bullies who make lives for the "pigs" utter hell, our three lead characters are not above torturing small animals or backstabbing each-other, which will cause many to be even more put off by the already bleak story.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Make no mistake, the bullying Kyung-min, Kim Chul and Jong-suk all go through is undeniably horrible. However, any sympathy for them is lost when they stab a poor cat to death.