#unthreaded

[parasafterdark]

Concept: What if Paras were Dragons?

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[parasafterdark]

a. why does squid game annoy u (if its not just vague bad vibes which is valid n relatable hahaha)

b. what r ur suggests for media w death games that u like 👀

Thank you for making me have this conversation in public instead of just circling the room rambling at imaginary people! :D

One Groundrule: This is all about Season 1. As I'm writing this I have seen what's available of S2 and I am totally normal about it! They took my Blorbo and put xym in the shows! ;_;

The thing is I only really have 3 notable gripes with "Squid Game" itself. Only one of which that really pisses me off, while the other two are more...hmmmm let's call it mixed.

For one, I do not care for the mass death aspect of many deathgames. It's great for shock and awe at the start, but imo if you have a set cast of players throughout then the second to last game shouldn't feature nameless fodder. It's clearly something the show does deliberately and it fits with the overarching theme, so I don't really fault it for it I just *shrug* sure whatever.

The thing I keep flip flopping about are the games and how much I like them. First watchthrough I found them kinda boring. Second I recognize how they play into the theme, but still found them meh. Third one now is after I started Hunting Grounds and opinions have gotten complicated!

Game 1+2 are great actually. "Red light/Green Light" is amazing shock and awe and "Dalgona" is really good for character work. No notes, I did not appreciate them enough.

Game 3+ 3.5 are mostly player reduction. There is also setup for some bit players and reinforcing the underdog theme. They are not bad per se (3.5 is pretty needed for other things) just...idk have fewer players to begin with.

Game 4 will rip your heart out. It's the one game I loved from the first time I saw it. Everything I love about this genre compressed into one challenge, it's fucking beautiful! One day I'm gonna figure out how to riff it into Hunting Grounds.

Game 5 is an absolute mess on every level. As a game, on the themes, where it is placed in the story, all of it bad. I get why it's here and why it is the way it is but oof does it not flow. Can't even think of a way of fixing it without doing major rewrites to everything around it.

Game 6. *deep sigh* Ok, rationally it's fine. There is a solid emotional core and it plays out in what I can recognize as devastatingly. Too bad I'm still angry at what happens right before we get here :)

This show is so lucky it's post games finale is pretty good.

[Spoiler]

Sae-byeok gets fridged purely so we can have a two man ex besties finale. There is nothing else to it. It doesn't really play into any themes and doesn't tell us anything about the other charas. She just dies in agony for no good reason. I hate it so much.

[/end Spoiler]

But yeah, if it was just that then this would be another show I would maybe rewatch occasionally but otherwise not think too much about. Alas this is not the context it exists in nowadays.

Tbh, I don't know if this is really a thing orjust another instance of tumblr pseudo philosophy, but: There is this notion of Capitalism co-opting it's critics and then marketing them back to you and Hooo boy is "Squid Game" the posterchild of all that.

That is not the Shows fault! It just happen to come out a the exact right time, with the exact right look to catch on with the right amount of people. After which some of the worst people got their hands on it and fucked it.

And I am not capable enough to not think about all that while watching.

During my first rewatch I kept thinking of all the Dalgona/Ikonography ASMR Slime and challenge videos that flooded Youtube for a while. This time through it was that + all the Beast Game reports. I wish I could enjoy "Squid Game" for what it is but the world is making that really annoying!

Anyway here is where this post would have ended if I hadn't noticed something while writing so instead we are now doing a detour to visit Grandpa! :D

At it's core "Battle Royale" is about the disposability of a vulnerable group in the eyes of society and how those People deal with that.

By attacking fellow victims in desperation. By fighting for what is precious to you. By giving up. By building community. By accepting the game and reveling at the carnage. By building a bomb to attack the people that put you here.

Yeah it's dated and janky in parts (especially the charas), but underneath that is a cause and depth that has aged exceptionally well! It shows that the genre lends itself so easily to systemic critique (to then get boiled down to just the spectacle).

"Squid Game" is about Besties being underdogs and if they're gonna make it through or not. That is what the story is interested in.

Sure there is also a scathing depiction of capitalist society and what it does to it's people....in the first 2 episodes and a bit at the end. It's a framing device. A really good one, but for the most part really just that.

I wish it was woven throughout the rest of the show in a more tangible way. But instead the story leans a lot more on it's characters and imo they aren't stable enough to carry that theme through.

For example Gi-hun has a background as a strike worker and the one time that comes up is a harrowing parallell. And then we go straight back to focusing on besties making it through as if this isn't something that should deeply reflect on the character.

I've seen this show 3 times now and I still can't tell you what Sang-woo's deal is. That's the second most important Player.

Meanwhile, even with all it's datedness, "Battle Royale" still manages to give it's evil Psychopath Stereotype enough Nuance that you get why he's here, doing what he does.

Because it focuses more on it's themes, groundworkand making those cohesive with the charas, "Battle Royale" stands the test of time in a way that I don't see "Squid Game" managing. Even if it weren't getting cannibalized as we speak.

I think that's the conclusion I'm coming to with this. There is a brilliance in "Squid Game" that you can clearly see! In the first 2 episodes, in Game 4, in Game 6 (even if I don't care), in the post games part.

And I want that to be more than maybe a third of the show!

[parasafterdark]

Ok, putting Deathgame recoomendations into it's own post cause the other got too long already >.>

@many-blogs

Battle Royale

(Novel + Manga by Koushun Takami, 1999-2005; Movie, 2000;)

A random schoolclass gets put on an island to kill each other. Last one alive after 3 days gets to continue to be alive.

Listen, there is a reason this spawned a genre. The Charas are...VERY early 2000s with all the stereotypes you'd expect from that, but the story is solid and a fun read. Having multiple characters to follow around really helps with cutting through how very shounen the protag is. The movie is compressed, but also they make a very smart choice with the Game Master.

If you want the gist of the whole thing, the movie is enough, but if you want the charas to make sense, then read the manga. I never read the original novel so no clue where that falls.

Alice in Borderland

(Manga by Haro Aso, 2010-2016; 2 season Life Action series, 2020-2022;)

Unkown amount of people get isekai'd into an empty Tokyo where they have to keep participating in deathly Game Challenges or get killed via giant laser.

This is the one that REALLY got me into the genre. It also kinda changed me as a person, because it's core themes revolve around suicidality and finding reasons to keep going despite it all. Great games, great characters!

The Netflix adaptation is really good! It smoothes out some of the more disjointed parts of the story, but follows it closely overall. My only note is that if you only watch the show, then please read the very last chapter of the Manga. It's the perfect end point for the themes and it sucks they didn't put it on tape.

The 8 Show

(Single season show based on "Money Game" + "Pie Game" webtoons by Bae Jin-soo, 2024;)

8 Players are locked into a Game Space where they earn money based on their private room and time passed. Time can be earned by being entertaining.

That's it, that's the entire show. It is very blunt with it's theme and it's great! I've tried to read the webtoons this is based on but I can't find them in an accessible way, so idk. Love the show, stole it for Hunting Grounds.

Tomodachi Game

(Manga by Mikoto Yamaguchi + Yuki Sato, 2013-2024;)

Friendgroup gets dragged into participating in a series of challenges to test the trust they have in each other.

This is just such a fun read. Yeah the protag has a bit of a "I'm too smart for this" problem and the twists are twisting into each other, but I don't care I'm having too much fun with these games and how they get through. This is the one that made me start Hunting Grounds. I love watching people lie to each other :)

Kaiji

(Manga by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, 1996-ongoing; 2 season Anime 2007/8 + 2011;)

One mans very bad, terrible, excrutiating long way out of gambling debts.

There are games with the consequences of grave injuries, slavery or death. This is a Deathgame, fight me! At least until Kaiji battles a Pachinko machine for ~100 chapters at which point, hi and welcome to my hell! I'm just so fascinated by the structure of this thing and I need more people to join the madness. Manga and Anime are equal, choose your poison.

Honorary Mentions:

"Gantz!" for great games and yet being so, so weird about everything else

"Death Parade" ....not sure I count it in the genre but it's great, watch it!

"Real Account" for no other reason than it's the one I'm currently reading

"Saw" franchise. Again: Fight me!

[parasafterdark]

There is a special kind of torture when you find a piece of media that has all the vibes that you want for your paracosm

But the genre is slightly to the left

[parasafterdark]

Hey Madders that switch between multiple paracosm/timelines/AUs:

How?

How do you keep track of everything going on? How are you not constantly overwhelmed by everything happening at the same time??

I've got myself into a situation where I have to keep track of two paralleling storylines (there are supposed to be three but I've already been too lost to even start the third one ;_;) and also the One Piece rerun has forced itself into my brain and I just feel constantly lost and confused and behind x_x

Help ;_;

[parasafterdark]

Yay: Two musicians I love made a collab!

Nay: It is not blorbo music :(

[parasafterdark]

Can we talk Paras and immortality?

Over time I've developed a like...multi tier system of immortality cause wanting to keep a core group of paras around but also needing time to pass and consequences to happen and eventually you start to sit there like: "Shouldn't you all be creaky old and/or dead by now?"

But also having them never face eternal destruction is also boring so like...

"Fake" Immortality: That's people that artificially have their natural lifespan enhanced. Either out of their own volition or just cause there is someone around them that just....REALLY wants them to keep sticking around.

But this only affects aging, so you can very much still get a gun and poof and dead :|

Ex: Wolf had to actively ask to die of old age cause otherwise Shal would have not let him go.

Colloquial Immortality: That's just species that, for whatever reason, stick around for a very long time, but are generally easy to kill via conventional means.

Ex: Kuzan is a Bio Ice Elemental. Aging is not a thing for him. But also you put the heating into overdrive and he's just gonna melt eventually.

Technically Immortal aka "Killable, but it's so annoying to do": Don't die of age, can sustain most kinds of damage no problem but can still be killed if you're determined enough and the stars align.

Ex: Chris once had his body violently spread through an entire fast food joint and recovered (physically) no problem, but if he as much touches a dimensional portal he will poof

Technically Immortal subsection B aka "Gods": Same as above, but if you do manage to kill them you take parts of your (or others) universe with you.

Ex: Sheo, Shal, Ava, the physical incarnation of Death, you know...gods and makers and such

"True" Immortality: Sometimes you fuck up so hard Death gives up on taking you. You'll just exist forever now. Watching your friends and family come and go again and again and again...

Also you get haunted by the ghost of other true immortals who want you to come to the "perfect existence" dimension.

Ex: Meth, Mascot and It are the only ones currently around and they are doing great (they are not doing great)

Anyway, talk to me about immortal paras and why they are that way. I find the topic fascinating o.o