Horror cellphone novel inspired 4 manga, 2011 live-action film, smartphone game

This year's 16th issue of Futabasha 's Manga Action magazine is revealing on Tuesday that Nobuaki Kanazawa 's Ōsama Game ( King's Game ) cellphone novel is getting a television anime adaptation that will premiere in October.

The anime's cast is as follows:

The original novel's story begins when an entire high school class of 32 people receive a message on their cellphones from a person known only as the "King." The messages contain orders that the students must obey, or they risk the punishment of death. With their lives on the line, the students soon find out that the orders are getting more and more extreme as time goes on.

Futabasha published the original cellphone novel in tankōbon format in 12 volumes from 2009 to 2015, and also in larger bunkoban format in the same number of volumes from 2011 to February 19 earlier this year. Futabasha is also releasing a new edition of the novels with its Futabasha Junior Bunko label, with illustrations by Chiba. The sixth and latest volume in that re-release shipped on March 15.

The story has also inspired four manga adaptations. The first manga by Hitori Renda ran on Futabasha 's Everystar Premium online service from 2011 to 2012, and received five volumes. The second manga by Renji Kuriyama , titled Ousama Game: Shūkyoku , ran on Everystar Premium from 2012 to 2014, and received four volumes. The third manga by J-ta Yamada , titled Ousama Game: Kigen , ran in Futabasha 's Monthly Action magazine from 2014 to 2016, and received six volumes. Crunchyroll released chapters of the manga online under the title King's Game: Origin (seen above left). The fourth manga, again by Kuriyama, is titled Ousama Game : Rinjō , and it ran from 2015 to last November. Futabasha published the manga's fourth and final volume last November.

The game inspired a live-action film adaptation that opened in Japan in December 2011. A smartphone social game adaptation and tie-in to the film was also released in November 2011.