As the Gods Will 
Japanese: 神さまの言うとおり
Romaji: Kami-sama no Iutoori
Release Date: November 15th, 2014 (Japan)
Running Time: 83 mins.
Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Hiroyuki Yatsu (Screenplay), Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Akeji Fujimura (Original Manga)
Starring: Sota Fukushi, Hirona Yamazaki, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mio Yuki, Shota Sometani, Nao Omori, Lily Franky
When Takashi Miike announced he was going back to making gory and funny films I couldn’t help but grin. When I saw this trailer I replayed it a dozen times and possibly (probably) cackled with glee at the comedy! This trailer is just fun!
Shun Takawata is a high school student who lives an ordinary life until he finds himself forced to participate in a series of children’s games which turn extremely deadly as is seen when his teacher’s head explodes! Shun has to play the games and win to survive otherwise he will die. It gets complicated because his friend Ichika Akimoto (Yamazaki) is also playing. Nobody knows who or what has caused this bizarre game but a fellow student named Takeru Amaya (Kamiki) is enjoying seeing his classmates die…
Kami-sama no Iu Toori translates as Just as God Said but the working
title has commonly been translated into As the God’s Will. It is based on a horror-survival manga series written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Akeji Fujimura and follows Shun Takahata and his classmates who are forced to play deadly games to avoid death. There are two arcs, the first in Bessatsu Shounen Magazine and that ran from 2011 to 2012. The current arc is in Weekly Shounen Magazine.
Death game/survival manga are a big genre that are becoming much more available in the west (my local library has at least two different titles, one being Judge, and multiple volumes). They are regularly made into movies because of the chance to shoehorn a bunch of idols into the lead roles and this seems to be part of the trend only it has Takashi Miike.
He is releasing two films this year, the first being Over Your Dead Body, a Ringu/Audition type horror film which is screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Reviews have largely been positive although it seems to run along whether people are willing to accept that Miike is playing a slow-burn game. At the very least, J-horror fans shall love it. For those who want a more manic time, there is this which comes out in November and his more in tune with something like One Missed Call (2004) crossed with the colourful hyperactive For Loves Sake (2012). Seeing him turn games such as Daruma-san ga Koronda (the daruma doll fell over¹) into a massacre looks too funny to be missed as the trailer shows.
The people taking part in the horror show are an amazingly talented bunch with experienced actor Nao Omori, star of The Ravine of Goodbye (2013) and Lily Franky, a supporting actor and a hilarious one at that in Judge! (2014). They are providing support for a new generation of actors like Ryunosuke Kamiki, one of the standouts in the ensemble school drama, The Kirishima Thing (2012) and Hirona Yamazaki, one of the star of Lesson of Evil (2012), another Miike film which gets a release at the end of September courtesy of Third Window Films. The lead is Sota Fukushi who was bland in Library Wars (2013). The film gets a release in November and I cannot wait to see it!
Here’s an image gallery:
¹The game involves one person being it and saying ‘daruma-san ga koronda’ while others race around behind them. When “it” says “tomare!”, everybody must freeze and it tries to catch people who are still moving. I can see how this can be utilised to turn the story into a horror show.
Genkinahito 
Thanks for the heads up on Miike’s new movie. Sounds great. Another one to catch whilst I’m in Tokyo in December.
It looks like a lot of fun and I’ve started reading the manga as a result. It’s entertaining stuff if you’re taste runs dark.
ooh, I guess it’s like Japanese Grandmother’s footsteps except with added supernatural creepiness! Actually, I can’t even remember what you’re supposed to say if you’re Grandma – I vaguely remember someone counting but maybe you just turn round? Maybe you could ‘win’ by stealing Grandma’s keys without waking her up, or is that a different game? I think the short answer to this is that I have a rubbish memory for popular children’s games.
Also I feel mean to say it but I think ‘blandness’ maybe the point of Sota Fukushi. I’ve never seen him do anything other than ‘gormless’, well except Library Wars where he was meant to be arrogant and obsessed with efficiency which is just a different sort of ‘gormless’ really, though it didn’t work as well as his usual sort of ‘gormless’. Perhaps he will surprise us all one day! The film looks good though 😀
I have never heard of Grandmother’s Footsteps… That sounds like a title for a horror movie. Walk quietly up the stairs otherwise a Deadite old woman plunges from the attic to grab victims, whilst yelling “I’ll swallow your soul!”
Fukushi disappeared in Library Wars. His presence was noticeable but I didn’t miss him when he was sidelined by the script during the final battle. Working with Miike may unleash his inner freak. This looks good and I have no problem seeing Fukushi get splattered with blood and terrorised by weirdoes in masks! Miike FTW!
Ohhh sounds fun 😀
It certainly looks it!
Grandmother’s footsteps sounds a little like “what time is it Mr Wolf” where you creep up on somebody whilst asking the time – then when they turn around – and then I can’t remember whether you had to freeze or run!
Lynn 😀
Childhood games are the creepiest. That’s another one I don’t know but I feel that could be turned into a horror film 😉
I know – why do we love being scared so much!
i already watch the movie..its really fun ..scared me…the characters tht i really like in tht movie is..
amaya takeru = ryunosuke kamiki( real name)
tq verry much for tht movie
I liked this film so much I wrote a pretty long review. Kamiki and Sometani stole the film. What was your favourite challenge?