Yes, in realistic audio, multiple times. Skip Self-Sufficient Autophagia altogether if this is a trigger. Also, the last minute or two of Trial of the Phoenix: Part 1 contains vomiting audio, but unlike other examples it’s heavily telegraphed.
The characters are all 17 and the killing game probably constitutes abuse. Many characters have abusive parents. A character was kidnapped and abused as a child, too.
In Defence Game, a character is forced to mutilate another’s eye. I don’t think we see the results onscreen but it’s painful and described as a bad injury. Said character has a bandage over their eye for the rest of their screentime.
While the executions are offscreen and thus can’t really count, Body Discovery 4 has a female character killed onscreen in a way that seems like shock value at first. Tentative yes but correct me if this wouldn’t count.
The killing game itself could be seen as torture, as could the executions. The first of the Ch.3 victims was tortured to death. Staffside features some of the staff being tortured by Kan.
Shigeki is mentioned to have come from a household torn apart by domestic violence, this is also a minor theme in Staffside. I don’t think it happens onscreen though.
A character attempted 4 times before the game started and was never successful. During the game, another attempts suicide but is talked down. In Staffside, several staff members contemplate or attempt and a few succeed, including a fairly major one.
Mild audio jump scares throughout Chapter 1 in the form of an alarm. Later motive introductions also contain an alarm but these are more telegraphed. Near the end of Trial of the Double Feature, something pops up from the corner of the screen in a startling fashion. Audiovisual jump scare at the end of Call of the Void.
Staffside gets into some gnarly medical horror, but calling it body horror would be a little insensitive. The fourth execution could have involved it if it was onscreen.
All but five of the main cast die, the survivors are traumatised for life and blackmailed into not telling anyone about their experiences, and the scientists running the game get away with their crimes and set the sequel into motion. The ending is possibly as bleak as it could get without everyone dying but at least there’ll be two sequels which bring hope that some closure/comeuppance could happen eventually.
Mostly described instead of shown due to the podcast-like format, but the trial videos and fourth body discovery video do feature blood, and the descriptions are very grisly.
Not that I know of, but at one point a character makes a remark about another’s eating habits and warns they’ll ‘grow huge’, another character refutes this by pointing out there’s basically no chance the character would ever be huge.
Posthumous decapitation of the third victim. We don’t see the headless corpse or head but it is described and the character’s death silhouette has a white dotted line over the neck.
Body Discovery 4 features a squicky impalement and the sound of blood falling on the floor. Sudden harsh/glitchy noises. Onscreen violence is accompanied by sound effects.
Kan Toranosuke, possibly Hanano as well, and it becomes somewhat of a theme. Many characters who’ve sustained trauma or abuse become the one who inflicts it.
Chapter 2: one is posthumous, one is the cause of death. From the third trial onwards the one who died of hanging has a wound on their portrait’s neck from hanging.
Not that I remember, but in one of the exit interviews a character mentions that if he could go back and do the game again, he’d kill himself, which could be a similar trigger.
A gun is fired in Chapter 2. There’s an armoury hidden in the school with guns discovered at the end of the fourth chapter but they never end up used, save one person who fetches one for self-defence but still never uses it.
There are some implications of it, particularly with the Plane and a couple instances in the fifth chapter. Tentative yes as it’s not too bad but it’s likely to get worse in the sequels.
This is a voice acted project, so whether it can count or not is YMMV. There are disabled characters but I don’t know if their voice actors are disabled.
The only character confirmed to have cheated is Shigeki, whose sexuality is currently unconfirmed but seems to be mostly attracted to women. If he’s ever confirmed to be bisexual I’ll change this to yes.
No characters are confirmed to have DID. Other mental illnesses have been respectfully, accurately represented so far, so if it pops up in the sequels, it will likely be decent representation there.
A character beats up their bully but I think that’s it. Edit - forgot that Hanano beats up the far weaker Masanari in Ch.3 - skip Good Child if this is a trigger.
Several dead parents, one character watched his sister die, most of the cast have beloved family members who are either briefly met in their introductory videos or talked about on the creator’s tumblr/Discord server who will probably mourn them if they find out they’re dead.
More like impalement in some cases, but the first killer, third victims, and fifth victim all die of stab wounds. In the third investigation a character is non-fatally stabbed.
Possession doesn’t seem possible in this world so far. [CHAPTER 4 SPOILERS] the execution in this chapter is meant to evoke an exorcism, but the character is not possessed.
Ran is a demonologist and performs exorcisms. He also believes he’s set for Hell due to his ‘demonic cursed arm’. However, it’s unknown how real these demons are and they play no part in the story besides this.
The fourth wall is a little shaky in the Student Spotlights as the audience’s questions are answered by the students — these episodes are easily skippable without missing much. However, Ken leans heavily on the fourth wall in Call of the Void, addressing the viewers (who, if it helps, he admits he doesn’t know really exist) and calling them out for enjoying the suffering and death in the series.
Nakamigawa in Ch.4, but he catches himself before any damage can be done and there’s no visuals. Happens to a different character the next chapter but this does result in injury.
The most major autistic character, Ken Hasegawa, seems to have a fairly positive upbringing and decent support. While the killing game he’s in probably counts as abuse, it’s not specific to him.
A character who dissociates and maladaptively daydreams is called ‘dumb’ as a result. At a different point, a character having a panic attack is knocked unconscious, but the one knocking them out is reprimanded. Private medical information is revealed as evidence in trials. Dr. Kan is ableist, but a highly unsympathetic character. Not sure how many of these count but they’re worth mentioning.
About half the cast is confirmed or implied LGBTQ+, and some of them die, but others are still alive as of writing (Ch.5). Edit: While several die, a couple do make it out alive.
An intersex character is portrayed as unsettling but this is not connected to them being intersex. Some of the scientists are trans but their moral status is ambiguous due to being minor characters.
Not in the videos, but Staffside touches on it with a backstory relationship. It’s portrayed as disturbing and ends very badly. A character was also sexually assaulted as a very young child by their presumably adult uncle - not shown, but described.
Pre-story, a character was outed as gay and attempted suicide as a result. I don’t think it’s addressed in the series but supplementary material mentions it.
Posthumous examination of a character’s corpse reveals they self-harmed. Another character cuts themselves offscreen to make use of luminol (makes blood light up) during the darkness motive.
The red screen jump scares aren’t flashy enough, I don’t think, but I will warn you they happen several times in the first chapter and near the end of Trial of the Final Sacrifice Part 2.