As the Gods Will (film)

High school student Shun Takahata spends much of his time playing violent video games. At school he is suddenly forced to participate in a deadly game of daruma san ga koronda. When the Daruma doll turns toward the blackboard, it exposes a button on its back that the students can attempt to press to end the game. But, if the doll spins back around and sees anyone moving, then those students' heads will explode. Everyone in the class except Shun dies in this first game.

After the game, Shun finds his childhood friend Ichika and they make their way to the school gym. There they play a Maneki Neko, where students dressed as mice attempt to throw a basketball-sized bell into a hoop attached to the collar of a giant cat doll. Those who miss are killed. Amaya wins this challenge and enables the students to move on to the next challenge in a giant cube hovering Tokyo, as hundreds of schools in Japan and elsewhere face similar tests.

Shun must keep winning a series of different deadly children's games in order to protect himself and Ichika. He has no knowledge of who is behind the games or what their ultimate purpose is. Meanwhile, a troubled classmate named Takeru seems to revel in the opportunity to cause the deaths of other students. Taruka and Shun fight but they are knocked out by sleeping gas released by the giant cat doll.

The next game is Kagome Kagome, in which the students are blindfolded to guess which of four floating Kokeshi wooden dolls is behind them. If they fail, they are killed with a red laser and telekinesis. If the Kokeshi lose, one of them reveals an answer key which opens the doors and frees the students to the next level. There, Shun meets Takase, whom he will save and will enter the next level.

The next game is Shirou Kuma, where the students have to answer the white bear's questions politely. Takase and a friend get killed. Shun soon realizes the bear is the liar and its real color is black.

The final game is matryoshoka. The remaining five students draw lots to see who is the "Devil", and whoever allows their face to be seen by the Devil is caught. Shun kicks a can and finds armor to protect his face from the Devil, then drowns himself until Takeru pulls the armor off to save him. They learn their fates as they eat ice cream: Shun and Takeru live while Ichika and the others die.

• Sota Fukushi as Shun Takahata
• Hirona Yamazaki as Ichika Akimoto
• Ryūnosuke Kamiki as Takeru Amaya
• Mio Yūki as Shoko Takase^[5]
• Shōta Sometani as Satake^[5]
• Jingi Irie as Eiji Oku
• Ryosuke Yamamoto as Mikinori Taira
• Minori Hagiwara as Yumi Taoka
• Sasuke Otsuru as Yukio Sanada
• Naoto Takahashi as Kotaro Maeda
• Nijiro Murakami as Haruhiko Yoshikawa
• Lily Franky as Homeless man/God
• Nao Omori as Takumi
• Dori Sakurada as Class president (cameo)
• Atsuko Maeda as Maneki-neko (voice)
• Tsutomu Yamazaki as Polar Bear (voice)

The film earned $1.5 million domestically in Japan in its first weekend in November.^[6] It was later released on home media in the United States by Funimation.^[7]