As a King’s Game fan, I must say King’s Game is a hard series to love. Not just the anime, which was quite bad, but the series as a whole. It starts as a pretty simple death game – and then goes right off the rails as you progress.
Between the bad anime adaptation and the increasingly deranged progression of the novels, I don’t think King’s Game is getting that Battle Royale legendary status like it was aiming for.
Alternative Titles:
- Ou-sama Game
- 王様ゲームThe Animation
Year Anime Premiered: 2017
Animation Studio: Seven
Number of Seasons: 1
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Light Novel, Manga
Entry Last Updated: July 28th, 2024
Where To Start The King’s Game Light Novel After The Anime?
While King’s Game is more well known as a manga, it did start life as a phone novel that later became light novels. If you finished the King’s Game anime and want to continue the story after the anime with the light novels, you can start at Novel 3.
Do note that Novel 3 is a side story that happens during Novel 2. It is the story of King’s Game Rinjou for those familiar with the manga adaption of it.
Regardless, the King’s Game anime was a terrible anime adaptation. It is very strongly recommended that you read the novels from the beginning. Alongside the anime being a bad adaptation, the novels are also a bit different from the manga story at times. They also continue well past what the four manga series have adapted.
Is The King’s Game Light Novel Over?
The King’s Game light novels are complete. They ended in 2015 with Novel 12.
Where To Start The King’s Game Manga After The Anime?
One of the bigger flaws of the King’s Game anime is that it is technically adapting two manga series in one 12 episode anime, but it references other series as well. It is a classic case of trying to shove too much in, and the result coming out bland and bad.
The King’s Game manga chronology and how it relates to the anime is as follows:
- King’s Game: Origin (Ousama Game: Kigen) – Adapting Novel 6 and 7 – Original King’s Game in the past. They visited the ruins of the village in the anime, but did not really go too deep into this story.
- King’s Game – Adapting Novel 1 – Flashed back to and referenced heavily in the anime. Details Nobuaki’s first time playing King’s Game.
- King’s Game: Extreme (Ousama Game: Shuukyoku) – Adapting Novel 2 – Adapted in full to the anime as the primary story.
- King’s Game: Visit (Ousama Game: Rinjou) – Adapting Novel 3 – Side story of King’s Game Extreme. It was very briefly nodded at in the anime. It details Natsuko’s first King’s Game.
So the anime briefly sums up the original King’s Game manga, referenced the King’s Game: Origin manga several times, and was primarily adapting the King’s Game: Extreme manga.
Instead of adapting the original King’s Game manga, and maybe doing an episode that summed up the Origin manga story, the King’s Game anime primarily focused on adapting the third manga series instead in a stunning display of bad decision-making.
As the King’s Game anime was essentially a summary of the game with all the parts that make you care about all the characters that are brutally dying carved out of it, it is recommended to read the King’s Game manga from the beginning instead.
The recommended read order for the King’s Game manga series is King’s Game > King’s Game Origin > King’s Game Extreme > King’s Game Visit.
Is The King’s Game Manga Over?
The King’s Game manga is complete. It ended in 2012 with Chapter 25.
The King’s Game: Origin prequel manga is complete. It ended in 2016 with Chapter 30.
The King’s Game: Extreme sequel manga is complete. It ended in 2014 with Chapter 28.
The King’s Game: Visit side story manga is complete. It ended in 2016 with Volume 4.
Will There Be A King’s Game Season 2?
While the King’s Game anime ended with threatening a Season 2 and alluding to the next novel, there has been no word on it since 2017.
I theorize that they were going to make a manga adaptation of the King’s Game: Annihilation novel next, since that is what the ending of the first season was referencing, then use another season of the anime to market it by adapting the story.
However, given that the anime was so disliked, I think it might have killed all those plans.
