Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu (死亡遊戯で飯を食う) is an action light novel series written by Yushi Ukai and illustrated by Nekometaru. It is still ongoing, with eight volumes released so far. I have read the first three volumes and thought I would talk a bit about the series, considering that the anime adaptation is about to start.

The story follows Yuki, a girl who participates in death games for money (hence the title). The entire premise revolves around Yuki waking up in some ridiculous outfit, be it a maid, bunny girl, or whatever else the organizer thinks of, and facing a lethal game alongside other girls.

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Yuki does look pretty in every picture involving her...

...though admittedly seem younger than she is.

These are usually violent and disastrous games where most of the girls will inevitably die by the end. Yuki has been participating in these for quite a while, despite being only 17 at the start of the story. Her dream is to reach a 100-game survival rate and match the level of her teacher.

Some of the games are cooperative, where all the girls need to help each other to survive, while others put them in groups to fight against one another, denying survival to the opposing team. Either way, at least 50 to 60 percent of them will not see the light of day. There is a convenient technology in this world that allows people to reattach lost limbs; this is used to make the scenes more graphic without the issue of long-term effects on the characters.

The first game with the maids, what a disaster...

There is an overarching story mainly focused on Yuki’s interactions with the organization and the people opposing it, but it takes a backseat to focus on the specific game of each volume. This makes the series feel very episodic, relying entirely on the gimmick of the specific game to remain interesting.

There are very few recurring characters in the story aside from Yuki, and these recurring characters do not last long anyway. This is one of the problems of the series, as you really cannot connect with any character aside from Yuki since you only see them for a very short period of time.

Yuki and her master in the 9th game

It does feel that the series is trying to go for shock value to attract younger readers. That is probably fine as long as it is your cup of tea. I was drawn to this novel without actually knowing the synopsis, mostly due to the great character design. While the first volume was interesting enough, the story devolves very quickly into a series of games where the stakes feel low, considering you know Yuki simply cannot die.

I am not sure I want to continue reading this series, but there is a part of me interested in knowing if the overarching plot actually moves forward in the remaining volumes. Surely they cannot continue with just episodic content for eight straight volumes, right?

30th game with the ojousama.

To summarize, it is a well-written light novel, but it targets a specific audience. It did not manage to grab me, but I am sure there are people who are going to love it