Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu]

A great anime that for some reason went almost unnoticed in the most lackluster season of the year.

The story is nothing spectacular and the show has so many main characters that its harsh to focus and develop a single plot on only 12 episodes without eliminating the relevance of the other characters.
With that being said i feel like we ended up having a good understanding of almost every MC on this 12 episodes. Iride and Himiko ended up less developed than the others but to a certain point i can understand this choice since mistery is kind of a part of their character.

Art wise this ... feels a lot like Kagerou Project. That being said this is a better Mekakucity Actors than MekaActors itself, balancing characters screen time, not disrespecting the characters personality from the source and not overcomplicating anything.

Sound wise aside from Anya who sounded like a angsty brat 100% of the show i felt that the VA was fantastic. Yuzu in particular is incredible with all the shifts in emotion that the character goes trough.

All the characters have a certain charm to them (except the white haired guy since it feels like he is the most childish of them all after Anya. Hell i cant even remember his name).
All the characters get almost the same ammount of development.

I was looking forward to the show every week altough after the first episodes i realized that the show was way more lighthearted than i was expecting.
This isn't bad at all since many shows are sickeningly boring when every single new plot point is: "If you fail, you die" and you damn well know that they arent going to die. AKA every single shounen out there.

Finally. No this is not a Danganronpa clone, this is something else with a similar plot.
Danganronpa anime is complete garbage anyways.

My initial MAL rating will show a 6/10, however in reality it's a 5.5/10 to clarify and not waste people's time.

The Ones Within when i first started to watch it showed me an interesting concept that i hadn't initially seen done before by making the main cast all streamers who played different genres of video games and if there's one thing that can improve a shows overall all rating it’s a unique concept of which did help this show slightly.

Unfortunately this show gives 0 investment in the stakes in presents and tries to have serious build up that not ultimately lead nowhere but just ... plain lead nowhere entirely, in other words the show falls flat and it does so harder than a 40 foot belly flop. Now don't go getting upset that i just dissed your favorite anime or something cause there are positive aspects of this show to talk about, but my main issue overall is it has so much wasted potential and doesn't know how to keep tension despite acting like one of those shows where everyone is trapped in a job and suspicious of one another.

The Good Aspects: The idea behind each character having to use their gaming genre of expertise to help complete tasks to reach the amount of views required to win and escape where they are at is quite an interesting concept sort of like Danganronpa without the killing aspect (of which MANY seem to blatantly compare it too…). The characters themselves are honestly interesting and when they TRY (keyword try) to make each character have something serious or mysterious going on with them it actually makes me want to figure out what’s up with them more (at least it did for a VERY short amount of time…). What they come up with for games for them to play and how they have to choose who plays them is also a good aspect, I find it quite interesting that some of the NPC type characters who are meant to be obstacles for them during the game seem to be doing so because they have no choice (it doesn’t add up to anything so it’s not a spoiler really, more like a ‘The Ones Within theory talking point if anything). The art was definitely not plain Jane bland which is nice but it’s just a bit above the cut so nothing spectacular. The character interactions I found enjoyable but I’m sure aren’t for everybody.

The Bad Aspects: this show can’t decide whether it’s a slice of life game show with dramatic tension, or a undertone serious story with slice of life elements on top to keep everything seeming happy to later reveal a dark sinister truth down the line but mostly leans towards being a slice of life game show because none of the serious elements are relevant enough to make any difference if they haven’t already been debunked or disproven. They seem to just through characters backstory/trauma or and way the other players get to know them in willy-nilly if they aren’t the characters who take center stage for one reason or another like Aikawa. Towards the very end of the show they’re just like “oh, yeah. We know almost nothing about this guy so I guess let’s just give him a random ass reason why he’s usually alone and sleeping, that’ll work right?” I’m not saying the reason they gave him was bad per say but the resolution was completely bullshit considering NONE of the other characters really paid him all that much mind throughout the show and in the end one character just kinda “knows” the reason and he comes back because he seeing his fellow streamers are there for him or some shit? It felt forced as HELL.

Many interesting elements and places they see along the way (that they can go back to ANYTIME) are just one shots that we never explore or visit again most likely due to the series only being 12 episodes and apparently a 13th none-aired episode long, but there’s so much nothing in those 12 episodes it’s sad and to see what it could have been and the its only 12 episodes point doesn’t apply to its lack of build up because other shows with less episodes had great build up like Problem Children are Coming From Another World Aren’t They? That only had 10 with an 11th bonus episode. Something that also bugged me is the quirks the streamers had like one who’s good at horror games being scare of anything remotely horror like… you were choice because you were good at playing that type of game and you can’t stand it IRL? Not just stupid and gimmicky. There’s also the nurture and farm game streamer who apparently carries around flashbang grenades? Their used for comic relief and to lower tension when people are fighting but it makes 0 sense and seems more hurtful than helpful (especially if you know what an ACTUAL flashbang can do to your ears and hearing, it’s not pretty). Also to simply note without spoilers the ending is trash. Maybe in the unaired episode the REAL ending is better but for now MAL deems that not a part of this complete breakfas--- I MEAN series and I don’t think and unaired episode is gonna be dubbed so it won’t effect this review and my opinion of the last episode stands.

Overall I found it difficult to defend this series with good points but regardless it did give me SOME enjoyment, so let’s go over the MAL categories now and rank them shall we?


Story: 4/10 (by 4 I mean bad cause MALs word for it “decent” is stupid when 5 is listed as mediocre) . The story encompasses the entire series and its progression so I can’t give it points for its concept if the show ultimately lead nowhere in the end.

Art: Definitely above average but nothing to flashy so I’d give it a 6/10.

Sound: I’m not a great judge of this category sense I usually don’t hear the background music unless it REALLY stands out and this show definitely didn’t have anything stand out. The opening and ending aren’t bad though not great either. 5.5/10 or 6/10 in MAL terms.

Characters: Honestly this one is up to the viewers’ discretion as to whether enjoy the character archetypes but I did and I saw potential that the stories progression apparently didn’t so 7.5/10 or 7/10 in MAL terms.

Enjoyment: Despite its short comings it was somewhat enjoyable so I give it a 6/10.

Overall: I’ve already said in the beginning my score was 5.5/10 or 6/10 in MAL terms and its hugely because the show wanted to be two different things but in the end couldn’t do either correctly enough. If it had more episodes and better writing maybe it could have been better but it didn’t so it’s sad to see this show fade but I don’t think it’s gonna be a show I’ll remember in the future and it’s not one I’d buy unless it was an essentials or a HUGELY on sale.

Warning: some spoilers below.
Random stuff: the anime. This is a more fitting title to this show.
The plot: random streamers are abducted to play some games and will be released when they hit a view count. The start itself is not the problem, execution is: games are so random in each episode that I got more and more frustrated from episode to episode. Some mutant overgrown pandas, mimic plants that can even copy personality traits, ghosts and demons, hi-tech cameras and a ghost town to the top - what is going on, who even thought that those things bunched together would make something wholesome? It feels ... more like some kind of bingo, where all the "cool stuff" got tossed into the pot disregarding setting and if those things are a good match between each other. Oh, and cherry on top: this anime doesn't even cover the source completely, so it is not a full story, so this whole mess is never explained properly.
Art and sound: average in every way, nothing to add.
Characters: another big problem. Everyone is supposed to be a streamer, I am ok with that. But can you tell me, since when streamers have highly letal poison vials or flashbangs? And the characters themselves aren't really complex, everyone pretty simple with a single "drama" trait to show in their personal moment.
Enjoyment: none. All 12 episodes I was more confused than amused, more trying to figure out what is going on than enjoying the show.

Overall: can't recommend, at best it is some nieche anime, at worst - waste of time.