This new series had essentially two chapters to introduce the series. The first is when the protagonist, Yuuki Sorimachi, is playing in her 28th game. Using her experience to introduce how these death games work. To put it quite simply, it can be quite cruel. You have various people entering it for money for different reasons, or, in the case of Momono she was kidnapped and forced to play it. Just because you have good reasons doesn’t mean fortune will smile on you.
Preservation act is quite the term that gets used in these death games. Essentially, as long as you are alive, you can come back to the person that you are now. Though the integrity of your bodies being manipulated by that is quite unsettling. One thing is clear: these games are made in a way so that someone is expected to die. Even when the girls managed to get under the weight, one of the girls had to be killed before any of them could leave. This is one case where we see how used to the death games Yuki is because, with no hesitation, she kills Kingo. Who probably is the girl in the first chapter you come to like the most? She is doing it for her father, and she overcame adversity.
The 2nd chapter focuses on a death game when Yuki was much more inexperienced. Through here we learn of her master, Hakushi. Essentially, through this game we see that Yuki carries her master’s will. Yuki is listed as a phantom with not many emotions, and her style of play is very much that. I do expect the point of surviving before killing will be a defining part of Yuki’s play. Still, Hakushi being alive is a demonstration of how much you can alter your body. I guess she is that athlete who should have retired ages ago, so hopefully the novel keeps the integrity of how much you can alter when you are ineffective.
Kyara & Mogei were another side of master and apprentice. Unlike Yuki, Mogei had more life to her. Her torturing her teammates was something that pained her. Even Yuki mentions that Mogei had more life to have beyond these death games. Meanwhile, Kyara is a reminder of how these games can tackle psychos. Think about it: a place where you have free rein to kill and get away from the laws of the real world? Girls like Kyara are the biggest threat to Yuki breaking the record of death games. There is also the mention of the wall of thirty. Of course it is to be expected that it will be a pivotal game for Yuki.
Overall, the first novel does a decent job of introducing the realm of death games. Curious for more.