Whoa. Not for the faint of heart. I have not read the manga. I have not seen other Miike films. I have a fresh slate going into this movie, with nothing but the summary on this website. The concept seems simple enough: death games to find the ultimate child of god. Emphasis on "death." This director did not hold back on the death. I got so uncomfortable watching some of those students die, especially the scene in the white cube (after the giant porcelain cat in the gym…). The games are clever, strategy-based games that make you think. You learn how to win the game as the characters (or more like with Takahata Shun as he seems to be the student with the highest IQ in the entirety of Japan's youth…) do, and it's impossible to tell who will survive. I really enjoyed Fukushi Sota in this role; definitely easy on the eyes. Takahata Shun was intelligent, but also human, and you can see him evolve over the course of these games to be confident and daring enough to do everything it took to make sure as many people as possible survived. But the guy who really hit the nail on the head here was Kamiki Ryonusuke as Amaya Takeru. His character is enigmatic, and Kamiki really gets that… look… in his eyes and that sound in his voice that really sent chills down my spine and I really loved it when he was on screen. The music is intense, and although I didn't really pay much attention to it, I realize now that I probably felt as nervous as I did because I didn't register the music as music… I'm not explaining myself very well here, but yes, it's very good at heightening emotional and intense scenes. Overall, an engaging movie that made me want to find and read the manga. Be careful though; blood is not something this director is afraid of. There is gore. There are painful agonizing deaths. But the story is engaging, and not something you want to watch for giggles.