Sorry guys, I guess it was poor form of me to start the topic without commenting on it myself.
I felt the show had a very high standard of acting. One or two characters were rather clich? yet the scripting and acting quality negated that for me. The show's premise was widely suggested by millennials to be a copy of Hunger Games and then generation Xers like myself pointed out Hunger Games itself is clearly inspired by the Japanese film Battle Royale.
However, dismissing it as just a copy is grossly unfair. The series has a very unique take on the innocence of childhood games being corrupted and twisted by our adult needs and the reality of life. Though very violent in parts, the bloodshed never once felt gratuitous or lazy to me, it fitted the story being told.
It's hard to say a lot about this without spoiling it for any potential viewers so I will finish by observing that it's ironic this series is a "descendent" of Battle Royale, because S Korea seems to have replaced Japan as the "cool kid" of Asia. Their singers, films, etc. are hugely popular across Asia and now even in the west. It's not something I can really relate to, yet I can still appreciate a fine, engrossing story when it's told. This is one of them.
