Dorei-ku The Animation

The anime could be good, but it make so many mistakes. It has a different proposition, and some interesting twists, but there are several issues that make the experience sucks.

At the beginning of the anime, you get tense not knowing what can happen to the characters, everything is uncertain, but over time you really stop worrying, because becoming a slave, which at first seems to be the most horrible thing possible, it soon becomes common. People enslaved left and right, slaves who change masters, and characters you even forget the name for being totally forgotten after their episode of apparition.

Speaking of characters, what an ugly ... and forced evolution. In the end everyone is nice and has a reason to commit the greatest atrocities, and everything is revealed because "I totally take away someone's free will because I have a bigger reason than no one understands", and the worst part is everyone THINK THAT'S OK, the other characters just accept it. In one episode the character X is being an extreme son of a bitch, but in the next everyone has gotten along. At one point one of the slaves still dares to call the group "family."

The music is too weak, disconnected with the intensity that the scene proposes. In times of tension, when freedom is betting on a challenge, and the music looks like those used in comedy animes.

Other than that, because they ran so much with the anime, it has several holes, and things that sometimes make no sense, besides problems that could be solved with a simple conversation.

The battle of the slave masters The animation

If you cant be asked to read a block of text the shortened version is:
The story may not be excellent and you may be questioning it sometimes, but it is still an enjoyable watch at face value. Especially if you're interested in psychology, but there are better options out there.

Story 3/10
The whole scm system is intriguing and neat, but the usage and explanation is all over the place for the context of the story. So the initiation of duel happens by two people stating that they want to do said duel in whatever game manner, they both ... have to then agree to that said manner. Essentially entering a contract. But the weird thing is that it should have to be carried out to the exact point instead of altering based on the story, This happens often with parts not making complete sense just to fit the story narrative. These are questions that confuse me and it just seems that they alter the actual conception of the device to fit the story.

Everyone in the story is pretty insane, power hungry and wanting their deepest darkest desires. There are many questionable motives from characters in the story and it all felt a little flat, like surely you could call the police? It felt that characters were evil for the sake of being evil.

There are a few set conditions people can't do whilst under contract as master and slave, one being not being able to emotionally manipulate. This is a broad sense and seems bizarre to be a rule as this essentially would make anything you emotionally didn't want to do not do. We see time and time again characters being emotionally manipulated during the story. Another condition is that one cannot be ordered to do something that endangers one life. This rule was broken throughout the story on a few occasions and over acted in certain conditions just to fit the plot.

One thing I did enjoy is the game aspect, but this was just not expanded too much upon. Games were often extremely short and ultimately felt a little flat compared to what they could have been.

Sound 6/10
The opening and ending were good I guess. Throughout the show they do use a similar backing track to create suspense but it is nothing special nor is it anything truly horrendous.

Characters 5/10

Too many characters for a 12 episode anime, they were introducing characters left right and centre and you could forget about a character due to the numbers they were introducing. Due to this they added character backstories often and it took away from the current trajectory of the story and had to make you think, oh what was happening. I would have preferred if we received more depth to the MC and Eia to give their personality more depth. For the amount of episodes we did receive there was depth and development in some characters, but not the main characters. Due to the number of characters it would often flick through different villains, and this would make characters forgettable.

Majority of characters are forced to be dumbed down for story driven reasons, without spoilers, people act in a manner where it's unnatural to act just for the sake of the plot. This resulted in me questioning the character themselves and wondering what their stance is in the story, which is fine. But it didn't seem necessary or natural at the given points.

Enjoyment 7/10
This is something I actually can say was pretty positive. Whilst it may seem contrary to the story and the character development, it was actually quite a decent watch. Ignoring the numerous plot holes and lack of certain character development and the overwhelming variety of characters I found myself still wanting to see what happened. This might be due to wanting to find out what dark twist comes next, or how many many more villains we will see. Whatever the case, this is the shows strongest point.

Overall 5/10
Whilst this may seem like a negative review I did thoroughly enjoy my watch of the show, it does have some good games in the show and there may be some characters you really like. I do wish we could have seen this extended a few episodes just to add more backstory and create more tense situations via the game mechanic.

This show has an interesting plot where it is a game of making people your slaves while trying to avoid being made a slave yourself. And capturing a master makes that master's slaves also your slaves. I like how that naturally leads up to a big finale where there are mostly slaves and very few masters. Then the masters duke it out in a final, "who will win it all" battle. Despite that, the tension is rather short lived because the games end extremely quickly and always followed a specific pattern. I won't tell the pattern because I feel like it is more enjoyable before ... you figure it out. I really enjoyed how most of the characters felt like real people and how the characters came to care for one another naturally(the device to make slaves cannot change emotions). An interesting case of playing "is this Stockholm syndrome?" for the watcher. There is also an interesting game of "is anyone participating in this game a good person?" My conclusion is that there are only 3 good people who wore the master/slave device: the beefy salaryman with glasses, the hostess for a Victorian noble-esq cafe, and the dog. Even the main character, who entered the game to free everyone only planned to free everyone when she became everyone's master. That is still using people as slaves on purpose. I will have none of that greater good bullshit on such a small scale.

Is it perfect? No. Are there many potholes and stupid ways of winning? Yes. Was sexual assault and harassment of women most of the depraved acts mentioned in the synopsis? Yes. I am in no way saying it was a masterpiece, but I am saying that I enjoyed it for what it was and someone else might also enjoy it.

A retainer-like device known as the "SCM" is being sold on the internet and rumours have it if you wear it and challenge another person that's also wearing to a duel, you can turn them into your slave when you win. Ohta Yuuga comes across Eia Arakawa one day after dumping her best friend. After discovering how daring and smart she is, he requests she becomes his insurance partner. He knew the risks of the device but wanted the thrill it would give him during duels while he tested his own abilities. However, he also wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario and ... that was for Eia to win him back if he ever lost. Despite having just met, Eia thought she understood what he meant and agrees to join him but ends up finding herself caught up in a battle for slaves between masters.

I think this show is another one for the masochists who enjoy seeing others suffering. And as with most masochist shows, there's sex involved (and rape in this case). The show is based loosely on a Manga with a slightly different name, "Dorei-ku: Boku to 23 no Dorei [Slave Region: The 23 Slaves and I]". Direction feels a bit like Death Note or even King's Game because you see brief flashes of rules that the SCM operates on but that's about it. Doesn't have any depth like the mind games Death Note had. Maybe a bit better than King's Game because it isn't filled with gruesome deaths but there is a lot of pain and suffering. It tries to lighten up the mood with a few jokes but mostly crude ones.

Of course, the characters aren't your average person. Mostly people who are most likely under a lot of pressure like hostess and hosts that keep clients company in red club districts, people bored with their daily life including your common dominant little kid character. Games used for duels are also very simple like your usual rock-paper-scissors so no riddles or mystery to join in here - some just there for a joke while some are just messed up.

Each episode basically focuses on someone different. Or something... Their stories intertwine but I think it tries to do too much in such a short series. Characters end up with too little of a role in the main story so you don't empathise with them too much and the plot ends up wearing too thin. It kind of tries to be clever as it alternates between the different masters so you're trying to guess how they managed to outsmart each other but, their schemes aren't very grand to make an impression. It's also odd how the slaves from different walks of life are just suddenly friends instead of trying to find a way out.

It might have been an alright show if it didn't feature abuse but, I guess it doesn't have "slave" in its title for nothing. Art isn't anything impressive and character designs feel a bit off. I don't think there were any OST tracks that caught my attention but the OP "Karakara no Kokoro [Parched Heart]" isn't too bad.

Death Note would probably be a much better alternative to this show with its dark theme and mind games if you haven't watched it already. Just without the abuse.

wow ... this anime was just bad. when i first started it, the concept really appeared to me. i enjoy all genres especially psychological so i jumped onto this anime. i really shouldn't have.

the story : the slave concept is pretty new to me and seemed interesting. it was executed terribly. it always felt like way too many things were happening at once?? the beginning was okay, but by the end i was begging for something exciting to happen, but i continued to be disappointed and just started wishing for this anime to end. it would bounce from one character to the next without ... really seeming to finish the other character's story?? it was way too all over the place and started to add random character's backstories for no reason. then all of a sudden random characters came together to save the day and it just didn't seem to make sense.

the art : wasn't great but wasn't awful either. it irritated me some of the characters always had a little blush to their face but whatever. the art was okay, a little weird and stiff at times but other than that it was okay.

the sound : don't even remember, but i'll just say it was okay.

the characters : OH GOD THE CHARACTERS. i don't even know how to begin. for starters THERE WERE WAY TOO MANY!!!!! literally every episode was split into two characters points of view. one half of the episode was one character, the other half was another character. but characters never repeated. this resulted in characters falling way too flat! you literally never had a chance to really get to know them except in their half of an episode. the minute they introduced a character i forgot their name because they never mentioned it again. the show didn't really seem to have a 'main character' which bothered me. random characters suddenly turned good or evil and you couldn't even tell why or how because THEY WERE LITERALLY ONLY THE FOCUS FOR HALF AN EPISODE!!!! the characters reasons for doing things didn't even make sense. no characters seemed to have actual development because you never saw it happen, one second they were evil next second BOOM they're good. honestly felt like the dog had more screen time then some of the characters. they were just so awful it made no sense, this was probably my reason for disliking it so much.

overall : it honestly may be generous of me to give this anime a 5. after about episode 5 or 6 i was begging for this anime to end. i think what ruined it for me were the characters. even if the story is bad, characters can usually make up for it. but this time, they really ruined it. bad story execution and flat characters ruined this anime.