As the Gods Will

High school student Shun Takahata sits bored in a classroom when a small Daruma doll materializes on his desk. The toy announces that a lethal version of Red Light, Green Light has begun. Anyone who moves dies instantly. This single event launches a gauntlet of deadly children's games overseen by capricious deities. Participants face a dodgeball match against a giant Kokeshi doll and a game of tag with a possessed school mascot. The narrative strips away social order to reveal how people react when faced with absolute mortality.

The original five-volume series ran in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from February 2011 through October 2012. Vertical Comics licensed the work for English release, publishing the first volume in February 2016. A sequel titled As the Gods Will: The Second Series followed in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from January 2013 to December 2016, spanning 21 volumes. A prequel called As the Gods Will Zero appeared as a four-chapter story on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app in early 2017.

Takashi Miike directed a live-action film adaptation released in Japanese theaters in November 2014. Sota Fukushi stars as Shun, while Miike himself appears in a cameo role. The movie covers the events of the first two arcs and blends black comedy with splatter horror. Critics described the film as a gleeful yet uneven playground massacre that turns innocent pastimes into nightmarish slaughterfests. [modifica]