Kami sama no Iu Toori

As The God's Will (Kamisama no Iutoori)

Takahata Shun's day at high school begins just as normal and boring as ever, but it doesn't end that way. After his teacher's head explodes, he and his classmates find themselves forced to play children's games, such as Daruma ga Koronda (a game like Red Light/Green Light), with deadly stakes. With no idea who is behind this mysterious deadly game session, and no way of knowing when it will finally end, the only thing Shun and other students can do is keep trying to win...

Numerous games follow, each one with more and more casualties. Shun encounters Takeru Amaya, a muscular and disturbed young boy who takes great pleasure in the events. Despite being polar opposites, they manage to work with each other.

The final volume sees the creator of the games, Kamimaro, an obese and naked lazy guy, launching his final games with all the remaining victors, however Shun and Amaya try to kill him with magical "bombs" used for one the games. But they get wounded by their own weapons and as a result are thrown out, on the verge of death, off the games for trying to cheat God.

As The God's Will: The Second Series (Kamisama no Iutoori: Ni)

During the same timeline as the first part, Yasuto Akashi skipped school the day the games began, after having a fight with his best friend, Senichi Aoyama. While his classmates competed in the games at school, Akashi and other students who skipped school must compete in a separate set of games in order to survive.

After some deadly games and trials (where Aoyama dies after reconciling with Akashi), the two series join together when Ushimitsu, one of Akashi's friends, save Shun and Amaya, protagonists of the first series, from their doom after they tried to cheat the "God" of their games.

The god of the second series, Sein Kami, is killed midway through the story, impaled by giant school tools when his sister Acid Mana finds his games to be too "boring". She then takes over the games.

The god of the first series, Kaminokouji Kamimaro, is revealed to be a human fed up with life who was given God powers by Mana, he created the games out of boredom, to find another god and be erased in the new world. He dies together with Shun in Judgment Old Maid, the penultime game, happy to have finally found a "friend" (Shun).

In the end, Acid Mana is revealed to be a "human" living in the "outside world" and she has created the world where the events of the story take place. Her goal was to find the new god of this world, throughout the games.

The last remaining survivors (Ushimitsu, Akashi and Amaya) become "Gods" but realize they can't bring back all the people who died during the games (only their memories of them, or empty shells/puppets).

The final game between the 3 "Gods" is a dice game where each number gives a number of hits, each hit destroy a memory. Amaya standing as "the god of destruction" (living for himself) loses against Akashi "the god of hope" (living for the others) who dies shortly after, having lost every memories, even of himself.

Ushimitsu, truly loving Akashi, decides to rewind the events at the beginning of the games with him as the "God", waiting for Akashi to confront and release him of his loneliness.

Manga

As The God's Will started as a manga series, written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Akeji Fujimura. The series completed with 21 Chapters under 5 Volumes. It began serialization in the 28th issue of Bessatsu Shounen Magazine, released on February 9, 2011, published by Kōdansha, with the concluding chapter released in 2012's 38ths issue, released on October 9, 2012. As The God's Will was published in Italian by Star Comics from November 15, 2014 to March 14, 2015.

On January 16, 2013, a on-going parallel sequel manga titled As The God's Will: The Second Series written and illustrated by the same authors as the first part began its serialization in the 635th issue of Weekly Shounen Magazine, still published by Kōdansha, moving from Bessatsu Sounen Magazine. The series starts at the same time as the original but follows the survival story of new characters, particularly the ones who didn't go to school at the first day, who face different challenges than those in the first series. Kamisama no Iutoori Ni was simulpubbed in English as As the Gods Will: The Second Series by Crunchyroll from October 30, 2013 to January 6, 2017. Kodansha Comics USA has been releasing e-books of the series since November 3, 2015. It has also been published in Italian by Star Comics since April 11, 2015.

Live-action film

A live-action film based on the first arc of the manga, Kamisama no Iutoori, was announced in 2013 with Takashi Miike (director of the films Aku no Kyōten, Mogura no Uta and Ace Attorney) set to direct the film. The cast includes Sota Fukushi as Takahata Shun, Hirona Yamazaki as Akimoto Ichika and Ryunosuke Kamiki as Amaya Takeru. In 2014's 32nd issue of Weekly Shounen Magazine, the release date for the film was revealed to be November 15 of the same year. In the same issue, Mio Yuki was confirmed as joining the cast as Takase Shouko, an original movie character counterpart of the original story's character Hirai Shouko.

As The Gods Will (Kami-sama no Iutoori)

Shun Takahata (actor - Sota Fukushi)Ichika Akimoto (actress - Hirona Yamazaki)Takeru Amaya (actor - Ryunosuke Kamiki)Shouko HiraiYukio SanadaTakumi EnokidaTadakatsu OkuhiraKamimaro KaminokoujiSatake (actor - Shota Sometani)AyaHaruhiko KikkawaMorikawaMatsuwaHanaokaYuu ShirosakiMikamiKobayashiDaigorouYuutaMakoTakamatsuKotarou MaedaEiji OkuHamauchiMasakunJunko BandouMudou ImuraGenki YamadaHeita TadanoMaki OotsukaKouhei ShidaTakuto TokutaTakahiro KaburagiMasashi OokumaShouta KageuraMichio HiranoKyouko HiraiAtomu KatsumataRyou SeraMusashi MizuharaIppei ShiratoNaitouAshiddo Mana

As The Gods Will The Second Series (Kami-sama no Iu Toori Ni)

Senichi AoyamaYasuto AkashiSein KamiTakahashiRui MochidaKiyoshirou UshimitsuMei HoshikawaKai HaraMasami TsugeMegu NatsukawaAkira ToroiKagemaru ShimuraYae HouraiTasuku HigashihamaYuu Tenma

Reception

The manga sold 1.5 million copies.