History Literature / KingsGame

* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: The King's Game is actually a computer virus that controls people with hypnotic suggestion. The more people think about and believe in the power of the game, the stronger it becomes. Eventually, its hypnotic powers become so strong as to be able to cause ''{{spontaneous combustion}}''. How on earth the human body can completely destroy itself and set itself on fire through something a vague as hypnosis is unknown. ]]

''King's Game'' (王様ゲーム, ''Ousama Game'') originally began as a cell phone novel by Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares his name with the protagonist) originally published in chapters between 2009-2015. It has since been adapted into a manga by Renda Hitori, as well as a film adaptation directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film adaptation stars members of idol groups [[Music/HelloProject Berryz Kobo and °C-ute]] and focuses more on Nobuaki's girlfriend Chiemi Honda. An AnimatedAdaptation by Seven began airing as part of the Fall 2017 Anime season.

* VoodooShark: The entire origin of the King's Game certainly fall under this. [[spoiler:Why would a virus cause those particular symptoms? A virus' goal is to propagate, make copies of itself. It's in its best interest to keep a host alive. Most lethal viruses are viruses that did not have humans original as hosts. Second, how does a biological Virus become a computer virus? Other than the name, the two are completely distinct concepts. Third, where did a virus, computer or otherwise, learn irony, sadism, humiliation, and all the other human emotions it clearly is acquainted with based on the orders if it gives? Lastly, how does it hypnotize people into killing themselves when these people ''no longer have their phones''. Better yet, how does hypnotism causes things like spontaneous decapitation or ''being set on fire''.]]

''King's Game'' ((王様ゲーム, ''Ousama Game'') originally began as a cell phone novel by Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares his name with the protagonist) originally published in chapters between 2009-2015. It has since been adapted into a manga by Renda Hitori, as well as a film adaptation directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film adaptation stars members of idol groups [[Music/HelloProject Berryz Kobo and °C-ute]] and focuses more on Nobuaki's girlfriend Chiemi Honda. An AnimatedAdaptation by Seven began airing as part of the Fall 2017 Anime season.

''King's Game'' ((王様ゲーム, ''Ousama Gamu'') originally began as a cell phone novel by Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares his name with the protagonist) originally published in chapters between 2009-2015. It has since been adapted into a manga by Renda Hitori, as well as a film adaptation directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film adaptation stars members of idol groups [[Music/HelloProject Berryz Kobo and °C-ute]] and focuses more on Nobuaki's girlfriend Chiemi Honda. An AnimatedAdaptation by Seven began airing as part of the Fall 2017 Anime season.

''King's Game'' (''Ousama Game'') originally began as a cell phone novel by Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares his name with the protagonist). It has since been adapted into a manga by Renda Hitori, as well as a film adaptation directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film adaptation stars members of idol groups [[Music/HelloProject Berryz Kobo and °C-ute]] and focuses more on Nobuaki's girlfriend Chiemi Honda. An AnimatedAdaptation by Seven began airing as part of the Fall 2017 Anime season.

Originally a cell phone novel by Nobuaki Kanazawa (who shares his name with the protagonist), it has since been adapted into a manga by Renda Hitori, as well as a film adaptation directed by Norio Tsuruta. The film adaptation stars members of idol groups [[Music/HelloProject Berryz Kobo and °C-ute]] and focuses more on Nobuaki's girlfriend Chiemi Honda. An AnimatedAdaptation by Seven began airing as part of the Fall 2017 Anime season.

* BoobsOfSteel: Natsuko, who has the largest breasts out of all the females.

* CruelTwistEnding: The anime's ending. [[spoiler:Everyone within Nobuaki's new class has died, and Riona proceeds to commit suicide with Nobuaki's corpse to stop the spread of the virus. A very bittersw--''nope''. TheStinger shows that the King's Game has found more victims, and it's implied it's targeting ''completely ''random victims'']].

* DeadlyEuphemism: When Nobuaki is given an order to "lose something important to him", he immediately starts breaking his possessions to prove to himself that the King ''wasn't'' implying he had to kill someone close to him. [[spoiler:Nami drowns herself after hearing the order to help him pass anyway.]]

* EveryoneDiesEnding: [[spoiler:How ''Shuukyoku'' and the anime end. Even worse, in order for the King's Game to stop, everyone ''has'' to die--[[ShootTheShaggyDog and even that didn't stop it]]]].

Not to be confused with the [[Film/KingsGame2004 2004 Danish political drama]], which has the same English title.

* PutOnABus: Ryuuji in ''Kigen'' goes over ten chapters without speaking, justified as he was severally stung by giant hornets early in the manga and his face was swollen to the point where he could not speak and had little screentime until he recovered.

* RetGone: In the movie, those who die in the King's Game are subject to this. A rather chilling moment occurs when the teacher addresses a half empty classroom ''and sees nothing wrong with this.''

* RealityEnsues: In the original King's Game and ''Shuukyoku'', Nobuaki and his class received immediate notifications of the orders through text messages; in ''Kigen'', which is set thirty years prior, the citizens of Yonaki Village received their orders through letters, as instant messaging wasn't invented yet, meaning the villagers would find their orders at different times instead of routinely at midnight.

* ShrinkingViolet: Of sorts. [[spoiler: In the beginning of ''Shuukyoku'', Nobuaki is so traumatized from his experiences of the last King's Game that he has crawled inside of a shell, is very reluctant to bond with his class, and overall nothing like the lively, friendly kid he was introduced and depicted as in the first manga. However, when the King's Game starts up again, he becomes a {{Determinator}} to end the game once and for all this time.]]

Not to be mistaken with the chopsticks game the main characters play in ''VideoGame/Persona4''.

One night, the students in Nobuaki Kanazawa's class all receive a strange text message. It announces the beginning of the "Ōsama Game" (King's Game), in which the entire class must participate. The mysterious King will issue a command every day which must be completed by midnight. Withdrawal from the game is forbidden. Failure to comply will result in punishment.

!!''Ōsama Game'' contains examples of:

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Riona kills herself to avoid the virus spreading to the rest of Japan, thinking that would put a stop to the Ousama Game once and for all. In the last moments of ''Shuukyoku'', we learn that other schools across the country have started getting messages from the King, meaning her sacrifice was worthless.]]

* AnachronicOrder: The anime adaptation adapts both the first ''Ousama Game'' installment and its sequel, ''Shuukyoku''. It compensates for this by jumping back and forth between the two series, rather than adapting them in order.
** The entire story was published in anachronic order too; starting with ''Origin/Kigen'' (the fourth one being published) then ''Ousama Game'' (the first) and ''Spiral/Rinjou'' (the third) happening almost simultaneously and before ''Extreme/Shuukyoku'' (the second).

* ApocalypticLog: Found in Yonaki-Mura from the first Ousama Game.

** [[spoiler:Kazunari lived peacefully for 32 years before the Ousama Game resurfaces, instead targeting his daughters and their friends.]]

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: [[spoiler:Chiemi in the movie. She won the first Ousama Game but refused to become the new King. As punishment, her memory is repeatedly wiped and every new class she joins has to play the Ousama Game. If Chiemi dies, she is just reborn as a new Chiemi to watch her friends die over and over.]]

* BreakTheBadass: Shouta began to break long before the Ousama Game decided to completely rear its ugly head. [[spoiler:when Daisuke dies because of his order, he feels genuinely guilty.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Too many to list. But a notable example is [[spoiler:Chiemi, when she discovers (in both the manga and the film adaptation) that it's her fault that the Ousama Game targeted her class.]]

** Original:[[spoiler:Everyone but Nobuaki and Chiemi has been killed by the Ousama Game. They finally figure out how to escape but then Chiemi dies because of blood loss from the leg wound she got earlier.]]

* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler: ''Kigen'', which tells the story of the events of the Ousama Game played in Yonaki Village; as established during Nobuaki's excursion there, everyone who lived there dies during the game, with the exception of Kazunari.]]
** [[spoiler: Going into ''Shuukyoku'' or the anime, one immediately understands that Nobuaki is the sole survivor of his first Ousama Game.]]

* TheGamePlaysYou: At first people play the Ousama Game because it seems like harmless fun. Then people start dying.

* GhostTown: Yonaki-Mura, after the events of the very first Ousama Game.

* HauntedHeroine: [[spoiler:Chiemi. In the manga, the King is a virus that targets her class because her mother (or rather, her first cousin once removed and her father's first love) was the King's previous master. In the movie, Chiemi won the original Ousama Game, but because she refused to become the new King, she has to relive the tragedy in every new class she joins.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Nobuaki and Naoya, [[spoiler: to the extent that Nobuaki lies to his classmates about knowing how to escape the Ousama Game in exchange to vote to save Naoya's life over Kana's, and allows (forces) Naoya to have sex with his girlfriend to save himself from a punishment. Some of Naoya's last words alive are him telling Nobuaki he loves him and Chiemi very much.]]

* HiddenHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:Natsuko, as revealed in ''Shuukyoku'''s ending. She really did love Nobuaki the entire time, but due to her experiences in her previous Ousama game she thought she had to do what was needed to help him survive.]] Didn't come across so well.

* HistoryRepeats: Nobuaki's class in ''Shuukyoku'' is strikingly similar to his class in the in the original Ousama Game. [[spoiler: Even the first few orders are exactly the same.]]

** [[spoiler: Ria has shown herself to be competent and calm in a crisis. She has figured out the truth behind the Ousama Game and even has a plan to stop it. She then proceeds to wait while 7 of the remaining 10 students are killed before she actually shares this information. While her plan ultimately fails, the information on the true nature of the game lets Nobuaki and Chiemi escape, although Chiemi dies along the way.]]
** The classmates in the third Ousama Game seem to be holding it during the entire encounter with Natsuko. In the anime at least, her personality does a compete 180, she straight up agrees to have sex with Mitsuaki and takes off her shirt, then tells Nobuaki to came with her to talk in the forest. She makes them all think Nobuaki assaulted her by throwing her shirt at him and yelling for help. This might have been plausible and believable... if they weren't literally standing a few feet away from her when she reveals her true colors. And they ''still'' choose to follow her orders. Kenta [[SubvertedTrope on the other hand]] was apparently too far away to hold it by the time he shows up. After initially wanting Nobuaki, [[WhatTheHellHero he sees what already happened to him and calls them all out on it]], [[ProperlyParanoid going so far as to smack Natsuko to the ground for her suspicious behavior]].

* RealityEnsues: In the original Ousama Game and ''Shuukyoku'', Nobuaki and his class received immediate notifications of the orders through text messages; in ''Kigen'', which is set thirty years prior, the citizens of Yonaki Village received their orders through letters, as instant messaging wasn't invented yet, meaning the villagers would find their orders at different times instead of routinely at midnight.
* RetGone: In the movie, those who die in the Ousama Game are subject to this. A rather chilling moment occurs when the teacher addresses a half empty classroom ''and sees nothing wrong with this.''

* ShrinkingViolet: Of sorts. [[spoiler: In the beginning of ''Shuukyoku'', Nobuaki is so traumatized from his experiences of the last Ousama Game that he has crawled inside of a shell, is very reluctant to bond with his class, and overall nothing like the lively, friendly kid he was introduced and depicted as in the first manga. However, when the Ousama Game starts up again, he becomes a {{Determinator}} to end the game once and for all this time.]]

** Nami gets a surprisingly easy order of giving any order to herself. She decides her order will be [[spoiler: "Find the ousama" since she was sure that Ousama must be someone from their class]]. It went as well as you might think.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: In ''Ousama Game: The Animation'', the original Ousama Game is told right after the events of ''Shuukyouku'' begin to kick off. We don't even hear about what happens in the current session much because the anime spends ''five episodes'' (of a twelve episode series) on the first game.
* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: The Ousama Game is actually a computer virus that controls people with hypnotic suggestion. The more people think about and believe in the power of the game, the stronger it becomes. Eventually, its hypnotic powers become so strong as to be able to cause ''{{spontaneous combustion}}''. How on earth the human body can completely destroy itself and set itself on fire through something a vague as hypnosis is unknown. ]]

[[redirect:Literature/KingsGame2009]]