Ousama Game may have been the anime I watched eons ago when it first came out.

But the anime somehow left me with a negative impression that still lingers even to this day.

Well, it’s hard to think highly of this anime when the story doesn’t seem to add up no matter how you slice it.

Yes, you can argue with me, saying I shouldn’t take a story like Ousama Game way too seriously.

After all, blame the characters’ bad luck for getting caught in an unfavorable situation at the wrong time.

Even with such an argument, the author in me can’t help but want to rip the story apart.

That shows how much the story doesn’t sit well with me.

Of course, Ousama Game isn’t the only anime that leaves me with an icky feeling. But I’ll leave you with that for another day.

What Ousama Game anime is all about

Imagine receiving a strange message on your phone that resembles the Ousama Game you play during a mixer.

Well, I can’t think of any other situation that puts you having to play this type of game.

The game is similar to Truth or Dare but you have someone designated as a king instead.

So, all these instructions will come from this person rather than everyone in the game.

Of course, this is the mild version of the game where the only thing that will get hurt during the game is your pride.

But the Ousama Game these characters experience is a different ball of the game altogether.

Unlike the playful Ousama Game we all know, the instruction they receive from this presumably ‘King’ requires them to kill someone or do something along that line.

Like your typical horror anime, those who receive this strange message ignore it at their peril, thinking it must be a prank.

But our main character here, Nobuaki, warned them not to. And they best listen to him when he was the only person who survived the last game.

So, he knew about the horror that was about to hit them.

It was only when one of them died for real that they began to take the message seriously.

My biggest gripe with the story

If there’s one common trope about the horror genre in general, it will be this – no one survives in any of these situations.

So, it should surprise no one that the whole class is dead, including our main character here who survived the last game.

If you think that the King would spare him only because he survived the last one, you’re gravely mistaken.

Sad to say, he didn’t.

And so does the other person he was trying to save.

If Nobuaki’s death is any indication, there’s no doubt her fate will be the same as his.

There’s no reason for her to treasure the life that Nobuaki tries so hard to save when her death is set in stone the next time the game comes around.

Rather than treasuring the life given to her, she decided to commit suicide instead.

Well then, what is it that made me grit my teeth as I watched this anime till the end?

It’s not that hard to guess what it is that made me want to gnaw on someone.

For one, who is this presumably ‘King’ in this story and how does this killing mechanism work?

There’s no way that a humble message has the power to kill people, right?

And how does this so-called Ousama Game spread?

There was no mention of any kind whatsoever of how all these things come about.

The next thing we know is many people are dead because of it and that’s just about it.

You don’t read the manga that comes before the anime!

Remember when I said that our main character here is the only survivor of that same game?

Well, it turns out that the same game already took place somewhere before and our main character here was one of the unwilling participants of the game.

And just like what you see in Ousama Game, they were all dead except for him.

I could be wrong about it considering that I didn’t read the manga and there was no official English translation for the manga.

But even if I did read the manga that comes before it, I doubt it will answer any of the questions I have.

That’s just how the horror genre works. There’s no origin to the madness whatsoever.

It happens because of the characters’ bad luck, nothing else.

It’s a nay for me

It’s obvious that I certainly am not a fan of this anime.

And I don’t think my opinion about the anime will change either if I read the manga.

While I’m fine with all characters ending up dying if that’s what the story demands, I can’t seem to like a story that feels like it comes out of nowhere.

If anything, I want the supernatural occurrence to have some basis in it even if they’re based on myths.

Well, pretty much anything supernatural tends to begin with a myth, anyway.

But this one doesn’t have any basis other than the technology being the trigger to wipe everyone in the class.

Who would have imagined that the humble message on the phone is more potent than a nuclear weapon?

Not only that you have to take part in the game, willingly or not. But it discriminates no one when you can’t fulfill what the King demands you do.

Recommended horror anime to watch

If Ousama Game is a total dud, is there any other horror anime out there worth the salt, you ask?

Well, if a horror anime is what you seek, then you’ll be glad to find out that Another is another anime that you should add to your watch list.

And nope, I’m not trying to be smart here. The name of the anime is indeed called Another.

What makes Another worth watching is that not only there’s a basis behind the supernatural occurrence. But there’s a solution to stop the madness too.

So, it won’t be just about the main character witnessing people around him dying one after another.

There’s more to it than just seeing people dying in a way that can make your skin crawl.

Funnily enough, the story in the anime is a little longer than what you see in the manga and light novel.

But the ending for the anime is the same as the one in the manga, though. This is the one thing that doesn’t change in the anime version.

If you’re wondering how good Another manga is, you can read my thoughts about the manga here.

I won’t deny that Another can feel a bit dated to some. But it still wins over the Ousama Game anime, hands down.

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Trigger Locked Book 1: The Mind Control Assassins