ノーライフキング [No raifu kingu / No Life King] (Jun Ichikawa, 1989)

Sep

23

Nintendo – 1889

Makoto and his friends play with their video game console (via). DP: Osame Maruike.

Home video games: Nintendo was founded on this day in 1889.

It's the late 80s and Japan is in the midst of an economic and technological bubble. Like so many kids, Makoto (litt. “truth”) and his friends are obsessed with their game console. In anticipation of the release of the fourth instalment of their favourite game, rumours start doing the rounds. Some cartridges are cursed with the “No Life King”, meaning players who cannot complete the game, will die. The curse appears to spill over into the boys' real world. What if when you die in the game, you really really die…?

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The real and the virtual begin to blur for a generation of "new children" raised as digital natives in Jun Ichikawa's prescient childhood adventure, No Life King. https://wp.me/p1x9li-jvH

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