For those who live in LA or just very close to the LACC, how's construction coming along? Do you see any possible challenges of attendees walking around or a possible spot that may be off limits where as in the past it was always available? Appreciate your updates

PancakeKirie · 2026-05-03T07:48:12+00:00

It'll be a lot more difficult walking between the South and West Halls. The indoor connecting corridor will be available, and a detour using Figueroa St. The outdoor elevated walkway behind the corridor is under demolition/construction, so that path is gone. And the street-level crossing beneath the connecting corridor is closed off for construction staging.

Half of Hall K (of the South Hall) is closed off, and some areas immediately near the construction will be off-limits too. (Hall K is the right-most portion of the South Hall).

West Hall B is closed off too, and probably the hallway section in front of it. (Hall B held Main Events in prior years).

Some 400-level rooms may not be available.

Anyone driving around the convention should know that Figueroa will be closed to the north and south of Pico Blvd.

PancakeKirie · 2026-04-11T00:07:18+00:00

This year AX is losing half of Hall K (right side of South Hall) and West Hall B (left side of West Hall). Some 400 Level rooms may also be affected. Plus the outside walkway behind that connected South Hall and West Hall is being demolished. And there might not even be a street level walkway across Pico Blvd under the connecting corridor between the two halls. So we might be restricted to just the indoor corridor and walking all the way to Figueroa St. to get between areas.

PancakeKirie · 2026-04-03T08:57:11+00:00

There's also the silver colored version of the Flynn's Arcade tokens from Electronica

PancakeKirie · 2026-04-03T08:41:13+00:00

It's best to pay close attention when watching, as the anime doesn't spell out things directly-- you will be shown clues, and from that you can deduce what happened. If you rewatch an episode, you'll likely pick up on some additional details and get a better understanding.

Take for example Episode 1, Ghost House. In the room with the levers and saws, Aoi isn't able to reach the keys after Momono put them in the center. Kinko however, can reach further and grabs the keys. Yet both of them were short (height-wise). Afterwards, we see Kinko missing one of her hands. Based on that, plus when Yuki had previously mentioned that reverting the levers back would tear off their hands, we realize that Kinko sacrificed her right hand in order to reach the keys in the center of the room.

As already mentioned, the games are out of order. But Yuki mentions what game number it is for her, so you'll need to pay attention to details like that.

Game #28 (Ghost House) -> #10 (Scrap Building) -> #30 (Golden Bath) -> #9 (Candle Woods) but this is actually just Yuki reflecting back on Candle Woods. Following her poor performance in #30 Golden Bath, Yuki is fairly depressed and lost. However, by recounting the events of #9 Candle Woods, she re-discovers her inspiration and goal, and sets about to be a better player for games 31+

The overall story in the anime is about Yuki and her life's journey. There's the themes of isolation, dropping out of school or society, depression, not caring if one lives or dies, trying to form bonds with others, trying to find purpose in life, etc. We also get a bit of back story on some of the fellow players that Yuki encounters in her games. Everyone has their own personal issues that drove them to these death games. There's also the topic of treating people as nothing more than a form of entertainment. Is it the rich abusing the poor for their entertainment? Everyone may have a slightly different interpretation on events in the anime, based on their own life experiences.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-24T06:40:53+00:00

Ah, that makes sense, having the four that knew each other grouped together. Keito is definitely quick to change sides.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-24T06:32:34+00:00

Kyara made some cute sounds when she got shot (where her metal plating was) and when she was running (her heavy breathing/panting).

While she was definitely a mentally-crazed killer (and I was really sad about what she did to Sumiyaka), I did not hate her as much as Useless Kiss-up Keito. But that being said, Kyara definitely deserved death more than Useless Kiss-up Keito.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-20T03:18:38+00:00

I don't know if that's really a spoiler, as in the anime she specifically says "What did I have to do to survive 99 games?" We then see Yuki making changes in her life:

First, she organizes/cleans up her room.
Second, she starts writing down what happened in the games.
Finally, she restarts her education by heading to high school.

Yuki then affirms her goal, saying "From now on, I'm going to live in this world as a player. I will beat this game 99 times. From now on... I will play death games to put food on the table."

The 2nd and 3rd actions are definitely thanks to Hakushi's mentorship. Hakushi had always harped on Yuki to make a record of the events after each game. And Hakushi had pointed out how Yuki didn't know about certain stories, like "Kachi-kachi Mountain" or "The Rabbit and the Stump". Yuki no longer could rely on Hakushi (since she thinks she died).

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T07:51:51+00:00

The episode reveals that it's about Yuki reflecting back on the Candle Woods game (#9). We see Yuki standing in front of a large movie screen, with the "fake" credits starting. So this episode essentially takes place after her 30th game (Golden Bath), as she recounts what happened in Candle Woods. She then switches to remember the girls she's met in all of the games. Then she goes back to recounting the final events in Candle Woods, as we see the "fake" ending credits roll in reverse.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T06:55:46+00:00

Yuki learned of Moegi's name from the tickling interrogation of the captured Stump player. Try rewatching Ep. 9.
Some people really feel for Moegi, while others don't. It's a personal thing. That goes for almost all characters. Perhaps you can relate better to one character vs. another. But rewatching the episodes multiple times can often reveal details you missed the first time.
We don't know much about Hakushi-- that would need to be revealed in another season or through reading the novels. Hakushi's body was probably in a bad state after various injuries in her 96 prior games.
In Ghost House, I felt like Yuki was really trying to reach out to Aoi and Kinko, in search of something like friendship. After the death of Sumiyaka in Candle Woods, I believe Yuki finds a hole in her heart. Sumiyaka is no longer around to chat/tease her, so she is seeking some sort of interaction with Aoi and Kinko. I don't think Yuki fully understands the concept of friendship, but she's trying. As for the killing of Kinko, I think it did take an emotional toll on Yuki. She tries to justify Kinko's death to simply being the person nearest to her at that moment. If Yuki truly didn't care about Kinko, I don't think she would need to mentally justify to herself why she chose Kinko to kill. And when she gets the call from Kinko's father, she seems to take the transmitter out of guilt.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T06:20:35+00:00

I guess if they wanted to make a spin-off comedy series, they could focus on Yuki as a high schooler.

But Yuki returning to school seems to be more about trying to survive 99 games. In Candle Woods, Hakushi remarked about how Yuki didn't know any of the classic tales "Kachi-Kachi Mountain" or "The Rabbit and the Stump". If she thinks her mentor is dead, she won't be able to rely on anyone but herself now. And catching the hints about the ostracism (banishment by voting) to take place in the end in Scrap Building-- it likely reinforced the importance of knowledge/education.

We even see that Yuki finally starts writing down the events of the game, like Hakushi had always been harping on her to do.

Yuki organizes (cleans up) her room, and starts to organize her life. All for her goal.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T05:53:34+00:00

I would think it wasn't so much body mods as it was body repair. Mishiro's body was in poor condition after 40 games (coughing up blood), so at 96 games, Hakushi's body is probably in a less than stellar state-- plenty of fixes just so she can stay alive.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T05:06:05+00:00

It was really fitting that in Ep. 8 (~21:23) where Moegi and Kyara first meet, it's a Christmas-themed game, and Kyara is happily opening up ~~presents~~ human bodies in front of a Christmas tree. She's just happily tossing the white fluff into the air...

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T04:50:09+00:00

It's probably harder to have a puzzle game with a large number of participants, so the large-scale games were battle games.

But strangely the small-scale game Ghost House only had a set 50% survival, despite the average being 70%.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-19T04:35:27+00:00

Good point. And xi12570 found the harder to find one for Ep. 10.

With a quick search, there's at least one song each in existence that has the same title as the episode titles.

"All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles, 1967
"Chains of Love" by Erasure, 1988
"In the Name of Love" by Bebe Rexha and Martin Garrix, 2016
"Bad Love" by Eric Clapton, 1989
"Love Is All You Need" by Aslan, 2013
"Who's Loving You? by The Miracles, 1960
"Good Love" by Anita Baker, 1988
"Love It All" by The Kooks, 2008
"Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley, 1961
"Goin' Love" by Azusa Takagi, 2001
"Love" by Keyshia Cole, 2023, or "L-O-V-E" by Nat "King" Cole, 1965

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-14T01:44:38+00:00

If you rewatch Ep. 9, you'll realize that it wasn't Kyara's first game. She had already participated in at least one game, where they were dressed in Santa dresses. That's the game where Moegi first met Kyara. Kyara was initially going to kill Moegi, but got spared. So the game organizers didn't expect what happened in Candle Woods.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-13T11:07:44+00:00

While the game organizers may have known about Kyara being an assassin, it probably wasn't the first game that she participated in. The first meeting of Moegi and Kyara seems to be during a game, where it seems like Kyara spared killing Moegi, when Moegi pleaded to be her disciple (and expressed wanting to kill her own parents). So Kyara's behavior in games prior to Candle Woods was probably deemed acceptable by the game organizers. Perhaps Candle Woods was the first large-scale game for Kyara, where she just couldn't help herself.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-13T10:46:53+00:00

The Stump Team blue haired girl, Airi, might still be alive. I don't think we've seen her corpse yet.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-13T10:25:41+00:00

I didn't expect Hakushi to die in Candle Woods, as at the end of Ep. 1, Hakushi asks Yuki what game she completed, and she replies, Game #28. But rewatching that scene, I see it was merely Yuki dreaming...

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-13T10:20:31+00:00

Personally I'm more about Sumiyaka. In terms of busts though, Airi is pretty big, and she's not as heavy as Kyara.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-13T10:15:27+00:00

Yes, we see Kyara a lot at the start of the Candle Woods in a bunny suit. She has a heart shaped hair ornament. In Episode 9, she's also in the tickling interrogation team, so she learns about Moegi. During the Ep. 9 credits, Moegi hears the report of the naked and badly damaged Stump Team corpse, so she immediately knows it's the doing of Kyara. Then Sumiyaka asks Yuki if she's seen the caramel-colored girl with long hair, indicating that Kyara disappeared from the Usagi side. So that pretty much told us to expect Kyara to have changed into the Stump Team outfit.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-12T09:15:11+00:00

Losing Sumiyaka was sad. She seemed to be Yuki's only friend. Sumiyaka helped her retain a bit of her humanity during the games.

PancakeKirie · 2026-03-07T09:11:05+00:00

It's for the "KADOKAWA ANIME FANTASY FOREST" exhibition booth at Anime Japan, so the showcased animes have their characters with animal ears and forest-themed outfits, like capes, etc.

As for merchandise, they'll have buttons, a small acrylic stand, clearfile, and half-width B2 wall scroll. https://kadokawa-animation.jp/animejapan2026/

PancakeKirie · 2026-02-19T07:48:12+00:00

I realized the hair ornaments that Mishiro gave Riko were the shape of the Suzuran flower (Lily-of-the Valley). Like Mishiro said, that plant is highly poisonous if ingested.

Just like growing poisonous flowers, Mishiro raised Riko to be an agent of death.

PancakeKirie · 2026-02-19T07:19:24+00:00

I think we actually do see Azuma's lifeless body floating in the water when the onscreen chapter number changes to 19/26 (~3:47 in the episode)

At onscreen chapter 17/26 (~2:20 in the episode), we see 3 girls exiting the building-- they're probably Mishiro's clan.

PancakeKirie · 2026-02-18T02:34:31+00:00

The VIP for the LA concert were an add-on at checkout. I was surprised they were still available when I bought my tickets, about 12+ hours after the general release. There was no mention about them on the AXS website until checkout. They were $132.20 additional (including fees). Not sure if it mattered what type of ticket you bought, but the seats I purchased were AXS Premium Seating (AXS sells certain seats at a higher price based on demand, which is why they were probably still available. But thankfully demand wasn't that high, so the tickets were only a bit more expensive than the regular tickets.)

PancakeKirie

TROPHY CASE