King’s Game & The 7 Stages of Grief

Dearly Beloved…

For my initial thoughts, take a look at when I did my first impressions article for the Fall 2017 anime season.

I had high hopes for King’s Game but was ultimately let down. Watching this was akin to watching a death, so with that let us all morn together and walk through the seven stages of grief. May this anime rest its weary soul in peace, torn to shreds by the internet (I actually kind of low-key liked it though…).

1. Shock & Disbelief

If you recall, my initial impressions of King’s Game (or Ousama Game The Animation) was optimistic. I simply couldn’t believe it would be as bad as it was. The moment that shook me into a state of disbelief was when the “antagonist” chick cried rape after begging for sex. Not saying that you can’t revoke consent but the show’s logic was on full display here, and by that I mean there wasn’t any. There were warning signs everywhere, but that leads me to the next stage…

2. Denial

What you see in my first impressions is denial. Surely this show wasn’t bad. Maybe it just hit a rough patch. These are all thoughts I had at one point. Spoilers, the show was just bad. I didn’t want this show to be bad though. A chance at a proper Future Diary was something I desperately wanted but alas it was not meant to be. If anything, King’s Game was actively worse.

This picture is only funny if you watched the show.

 

3. Pain

She’s fine. No… really, she was on fire for like 10 minutes but no big deal.

After a few episodes, watching King’s Game became a real chore. It was physically painful at how stupid the characters and events were. Sure, I was laughing on the outside at that haircut scene, but I was crying on the inside.

 

4. Anger

In the final four episodes, I was pretty mad at the show. Constantly ripping into it, the lack of logic, mistakes in the animation (which there were A LOT), etc… I yelled a lot at the TV. Granted I didn’t get Black Mirror levels of angry (that show inspires so much anger in me) but my blood was almost boiling with this one.

5. Bargaining

I was actually watching King’s Game with a friend and it came to the point where he asked me if we could drop it. I just couldn’t give up on the show though! I don’t know why, but I really wanted to see this thing through. Correction, I had to see this show through to the end. I pleaded with him to press on, share in the miserable excuse of a show with me, but ultimately I had to continue the journey… alone.

6. Depression

At this point I was hopeless for the show. With only one episode left, I simply didn’t think there would be anything redeeming about King’s Game. No light to point to amidst all this darkness. I soured, my bitterness and frustrations mounting. “What’s the point?” I wondered as I pressed play for the final episode. After all, I knew the show was going to be garbage.

7. Acceptance

However, to my surprise, I actually ended up enjoying King’s Game in a way. It was a bad show, don’t get me wrong, but I was compelled to watch it. Ultimately, I thought it had a pretty good ending. Even with that sequel hook, and we are definitely getting a sequel to this hot mess *sarcasm* (but no seriously, would watch), there wasn’t really anything major for me to complain about with the final episode. Just minor gripes that were omnipresent problems throughout the show. With a little tweaking in the writing and direction King’s Game could have been pretty fantastic.

It was here that I had my realization.

As AniTube’s Gigguk has taught me:

This was just something that I hadn’t been willing to accept up to now but hopefully I’ve helped you realize it as well. Let’s be honest, you all finished King’s Game too after all.

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All joking aside, I tried something really different with this look at King’s Game so let me know your thoughts on both the anime and article in the comments below. If you enjoy my work, or the work of my contributors, consider becoming a Patron of mine. Every little bit goes right back into the blog. For more details just click the picture below. As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all back here at Jon Spencer Reviews real soon!