by Rollin Bishop

My usual gateway into most creative work is through characters. You make interesting choices with characters, their written arcs or their animation and design, and I'll follow you into hell. Flashy action is hit or miss, and more often miss in the current status quo, but solid writing is always a plus.

But when it comes to Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, which is produced by Studio Deen and absolutely my biggest surprise this anime season, none of the above explains why I've become absolutely enthralled and invested. There are relatively few shows I consider appointment viewing, and other than The Pitt (don't get me started; now that's what I call TV, baby) it's just Shiboyugi at the moment — every Wednesday, like clockwork, I am compelled to turn it on immediately. The vibes are simply too immaculate.

Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table is an adaptation of the light novel series by author Yūshi Ukai and artist Nekometaru. It follows a young woman named Yuki as she participates in deadly games organized by mysterious forces, something which she treats like a regular job. Despite being announced back in September 2024, the anime adaptation (and its source material, which is published in English by Yen Press) made basically no impression on my radar at all until the immediate runup to this season.

The show, currently streaming both on Netflix and Crunchyroll, is constantly gorgeous to look at both from a design and shot composition perspective. I'm not even sure I'd always classify the show's choices as "good," but I would call them "interesting" if not. Shiboyugi seems less concerned with depicting plot or an arc or even the linear concept of time — I'm increasingly convinced that the small vignettes of the different games are absolutely not happening in order. It makes for a sometimes-baffling, always-interesting watch.

But don't take my word for it, just see for yourself:

Even the trailers and stills don't really do the show justice. It's hard to explain without sounding like I've gone completely into a corner that only values style over substance, but it remains shocking to see anime that looks like this week after week, is framed like this week after week, without completely losing the plot.

And yet I am captivated by how Studio Deen details eyes and fine features but obscures and obfuscates backgrounds. And by how, despite Shiboyugi ostensibly being about death games, action is brief and often indirect and blood isn't even a consideration due to a convenient plot device, even though Yuki is literally fighting for her life. Violence looms and sometimes explodes, but it's a punctuation and omnipresent threat more than an opportunity. The major deaths are frequently blurred by angles or brief flashes (or in one case, obscured by walls). The adaptation feels more interested in letting a moment stew than exploiting it, perhaps mirroring Yuki's own lack of interest in the horrors around her.

There is some worry inside me that this is smoke and mirrors, with exquisite craft masking a lack of substance. That should the surface be scratched with even the smallest amount of pressure, there'd be nothing underneath. There's every possibility that the team eventually finds itself unable to pull it all together and the early runway is simply impressive for its takeoff with no concern for its landing. (As always, my early excitement is tempered by remembering how into the first half of Wonder Egg Priority I was.)

What Shiboyugi has aired thus far, and what Studio Deen has made, is bold and confident. Bold enough to turn my attention to it and confident enough to keep it. Despite the fact that I regularly champion animation of all stripes, which shouldn't be a shock considering where you're reading this, I am maybe surprisingly picky about what I do and don't like — what I do and don't watch.

I watch Shiboyugi. I can't not watch Shiboyugi.