Darwin's Game

High school student Kaname Sudou receives an invitation from a classmate to play Darwin's Game, a mobile game he has never heard of. However, as soon as he opens the application, a green snake suddenly pops out from his phone screen and bites his neck, leaving him unconscious. Waking up in the infirmary without any signs of a snake bite, he is told by the school to take the rest of the day off. Although he is puzzled by what has happened, he dismisses the surreal experience as a hallucination and boards the train home.

Unfortunately, his curiosity gets the better of him and he uses the application once again. As the application appears to be just like any other battle game, Kaname breathes out a sigh of relief and decides to start his first match. However, the pleasant surprise is short-lived, as his in-game opponent unexpectedly appears right in front of him and attempts to hunt him down with a knife.

As he desperately runs for his life, Kaname puts two and two together and realizes that Darwin's Game is not an ordinary game, but rather, it's a brutal fight for survival.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Karino, Shuka Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Sudou, Kaname Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Kashiwagi, Rein Main

Oomori, Nichika Japanese

Sui Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Souta Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Maesaka, Ryuuji Supporting

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Liu, Xue Lan Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Hiiragi, Ichirou Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Banda-kun Supporting

Takemoto, Eiji Japanese

Kyouda, Hiroyuki Supporting

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Watase, Shouta Producer

Jinguuji, Manabu Producer

Kitazawa, Shiryuu Producer

Reviews

Mar 20, 2020

HellLyter

Recommended

Darwin’s game is the most recent addition to the survival game genre, and it follows the standard death game blueprint to a tee. The majority of this anime can basically be summed up as generic strong valued anime dude is given Emiya Shirou’s “TRACE ON!” ability from Fate Stay Night and is thrown into a Fortnite styled battle royale that basically uses Future Diary’s phone mechanic. Oh, and he gets all the hot anime waifus who immediately want to bear his children roughly 5 minutes after meeting him.

Yeah, it sounds a little ridiculous (and borderline plagiarized in some aspects), but you know what? I ... actually ended up really liking it. And that’s not because it has a thought provoking narrative or satisfying character development or anything like that, because the show honestly doesn’t. It does however provide ample entertainment in the form of quirky characters duking it out in a fun battle royale environment. That’s exactly what I expected to get out of this anime and it’s what Darwin’s Game delivered, so it’s a success in my eyes.

One thing that Darwin’s Game does that many others in the genre do as well is to make the setting of the story take place in a realistic world modeling our own. This however raises questions once the survival game starts, such as how the heck can such a game of such a momentous scale be orchestrated and executed in this society, how on earth are people able to receive magical abilities just by opening an app, and why does the game even exist in the first place? Maybe Darwin’s Game’s longer source material explores these questions more, but this anime adaptation certainly doesn’t, which I’ve noticed has caused some people to view it in a negative light. All I have to say is why does it matter? Yes, an explanation of things is always important and necessary, but this anime is only the beginning stage of Darwin’s Game. It’s not meant to provide all the answers, just explore interesting scenarios and establish preliminary character relationships. This isn’t a thought provoking anime by any means, and I just wanted to say that this show is meant to be watched for some good natured fun, and if you’re looking for something deeper, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be met with disappointment.

The plot itself is pretty simplistic, but effective. It follows protagonist Kaname, a normal high school student, who gets abruptly thrown into a death game after opening the titular phone app Darwin’s Game. It’s easy to predict that he makes allies throughout his journey and slowly progresses in power, but it’s the way that these points are portrayed that makes them effective. Every single one of Kaname’s teammates that he makes by the end of the anime besides the analytical loli Rein he ends up fighting before becoming friends. Now while this does seem basic, I actually really like this approach. Most other survival games may have the protagonist make one or two allies with initial enemies, but they just usually up and murder everyone else. Kaname is different in that he tries to befriend all his enemies, and it never once felt forced because there was always a reasonable explanation for why these people who had just been trying to literally kill each other earlier would team up.

And despite it’s short run time, I actually ended up liking the bonds between the members of Kaname’s clan Sunset Ravens. By all means I shouldn’t, because there’s been hardly any time for their relationships to develop and they don’t have great chemistry yet or anything, but there’s something about this group that I just like. Their banter during the car chase episode near the end got me to smile, and I just have a feeling that if there’s ever a sequel, I’ll start to like them even more.

What ended up surprising me most about this anime was just how normal the characters have ended up being thus far. I’ve watched enough survival games, both good and bad, to naturally come to expect the majority of the characters to have absolutely insane character traits. But in Darwin’s Game, they’re surprisingly mellow by comparison. I didn’t even hear a single maniacal laugh given by the main girl Shuka, who I had assumed would be a Yuno Gasai knockoff. Now don’t get me wrong, she’s possessive of Kaname and kills people, but it is a death game after all, and she’s given an understandable, albeit simplistic, reason for participating. The “craziest” she gets is getting jealous over Kaname talking with other woman, which is pretty standard in anime (and probably real life too, but I wouldn’t know…) In the end, Shuka ends up being just a regular badass anime babe with some cute mannerisms and outfits, which I’m perfectly fine with.

So I’m basically saying if you’re here because you want to watch a possessive yandere murder everyone for the sake of the one she loves while laughing hysterically, you’re probably in the wrong place. Sorry!

Speaking of laughing, the voice that stood out to me the most was actually Wang’s, the main antagonist of this arc. While none of the girls were crazy psychos, this guy certainly was, and if you couldn’t tell by his appearance or actions, it was definitely evident in his voice and crazy laughs. Wang isn’t listed under the characters section here on MAL at the time of writing this so I don’t know who is credited with voicing him, but to me he definitely sounds like Yoshitsugu Matsuoka just having fun in an antagonistic role, and he just sounds great! Besides Wang’s voice, the rest of the anime’s technical aspects were generally lacking. The other voices were fine and I did like Rein’s soft-spoken loli voice. The theme songs were catchy and I got pumped up whenever that death metal sounding insert track would play during certain fights. However, it’s the battles themselves and the visuals in general that were a letdown. The art itself is pretty standard, but for some reason I was put off by the anatomy of some of the characters’ faces, primarily Kaname. During many fights, the anime does something that I totally dislike, which is the implementation of many, and I really mean many, still shots. Having unmoving panels with characters talking and sound effects playing over them when a battle is supposed to be going on is just the epitome of laziness in animation in my eyes, especially when the images aren’t even drawn particularly good or anything.The visuals redeem themselves a little with the car chase scene, which I thought implemented a combination of hand drawn and cgi visuals quite nicely. But overall, the animation definitely could have been more polished and aesthetically pleasing.

Overall, Darwin’s Game didn’t bring anything new to the table, that much I’ll concede. The story up to this point has been pretty standard and the characters are as well. But you know what? I still like it. It’s an entertaining anime, in fact one of the most enjoyable to watch that I’ve seen in awhile. I binged watched every episode bar the last in a single sitting, and I had fun the whole way through. And in my mind, being able to captivate and entertain an audience, no matter what the means, is the most important aspect of any show. And for me, Darwin’s Game succeeded in this, so it gets a pass in my book.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 20, 2020

Snapshot426

Mixed Feelings

If there’s one anime that I enjoyed the hell out of despite its major flaws, it’s Future Diary. Despite its over-the-top, plot hole ridden story, its weak protagonist and its hit or miss cast, it was a show that never got boring and was entertaining from start to finish. It’s a testament to how a show can be entertaining despite its flaws. It’s funny because I found myself in the same situation while watching this show. A show that had some very similar vibes to Future Diary and was a show that kept me entertained despite its flaws.

Sit back, relax and either pay £2.99 ... or watch this 30 second ad on Arknights to continue reading this review as I present to you the anime review for Darwin’s game. Lets begin shall we?


Story: 5.5/10

Our story begins with a random guy getting murdered by a man in a panda mascot costume. Then the actual story sees our protagonist Kaname Sudou get a message from his friend about a new mobile app called Darwin’s Game. Not knowing anything about the app, he clicks on it and finds out that the app is a real life or death game where only the strongest and smartest will survive. With no way of getting out of the game, he has to adapt, make new allies and simply survive this twisted nightmare.

So what we have here is a real life gacha mobile game where the rich get richer and there is no way to escape the addiction. It kind of is a metaphor of how the entire mobile market is portrayed by the public. A soulless pay-to-win game where the only one enjoying it are the ones benefiting from it, the ones who take amusement of people’s addiction to the game and the ones who are dedicated to the game simply for fun. When you think about it, it actually makes somewhat a bit of sense because you got Kaname who sees this game as nothing but bulls**t for the sake of someone else's enjoyment, whereas a character like Banda-kun (the guy in the mascot costume) thrives on the thrill and addictive itch of the game.

That’s not to say that the show as a whole is subtle. Quite the opposite. This show throws Kaname into the deep end as soon as he clicks the app. Now the story can be split into three parts. The first part is setting up the world of Darwin’s game, the second is one big battle royale and the third is the aftermath of the battle royale. The battle royale is where the bulk of this show’s episodes take place and while it did feel dragged out, it was rather enjoyable that managed to keep me on my toes as new elements and factors introduced make the royale more interesting. It did continue throughout the show to make it entertaining but at the cost of some much needed world building. That’s not to say there wasn’t any world building as we did get some interesting elements to the world of Darwin’s game, but it felt like it was not enough. Corpses leave weird holes on surfaces and yet the people outside Darwin’s game never look into it. Or how the creator of Darwin’s game managed to evacuate an entire city for the battle royale. It these things I think that if it was explored upon. It would help give this, “You are merely pawns for my amusement,” kind of vibe to the world that would have made it more interesting.


Characters: 3/10

I indifferent about Kaname not because of his personality, but how rapidly his character grows and evolves from scared twerp to cocky son of a b**ch in no time. It does help remove some of the tedium when it comes these kind of characters but his growth doesn’t feel organic and, more or less, changes for plot convenience sake so we can get from point A to point B. But his cocky nature and moral code does lead to the show’s more entertaining moments so there is some good that has come out of it but I would have preferred that we were naturally lead to his cocky attitude to make his transition more reasonable, but that is just my opinion though.

But Kaname is the only character I sort of like because I really couldn’t care less for the cast around him. They all have rather uninteresting personalities and are merely there to support Kaname despite their significance to the show. Shuka devolves into a generic love interest very quickly as her character arc is solved rapidly. Rein is a charmless tech whizz. Sui is boring and underdeveloped despite having a double personality disorder and Ryuuji is so bland and uninteresting as the edgy, lonesome character with a dark past, that I am starting to doze off while finishing this sentence. Now the biggest problem I have is that I can’t sympathise with them because although they they have backstories that give you why they are going along with Darwin’s Game, they don’t come across as troubled people merely adapting to the whims of the game (even though they try) and trying to survive, but just unsympathetic killers. Something that the show doesn’t have trouble with mind you when characterising the main villains of the show, the Eighths clan, but affects the rest of the main cast outside of Kaname. Can they contribute to the entertainment value of the show, yes but ONLY in the right circumstances.


Animation: 7/10

The animation for this series is around good side of the scale. There are some moments in this series where the animation (particularly in the first few episodes) definitely look good and the action can be fun to watch. Other times though it looks just looks fine, although the aesthetics of this series do look good with how characters die when they lose a duel or when the camera angles in on the phones. That being said, character designs are more on the bland side as they don’t have features that make them stand out with the exception of Shuka with her red dress and very long, braided ponytails which definitely made her stand out the most to represent a rose and her...um...stabby chains of death (nailed it) act as the thorns. Overall, solid animation.


Sound: 7.5/10

The more I listened to this soundtrack, the more I liked it. It can be frantic, fun, calming and foreboding as it seems there is a soundtrack to match the situation. The use of techno, violins and electric guitars (not all used within the same ost) are well done to keep the scene interesting and was getting more noticeable as the episodes rode on. It helped keep the action of this series fun to watch and is definitely a highlight of the show.

Same goes with the opening, although I am referring to the song "CHAIN" by ASCA because the animation shown here is questionable. Like why does Kaname run into a shower of bullets when it kind of goes against his character and doesn’t somehow get shot once? Because it’s cool? The opening kind of wants to portray its cast of characters as badassess but it comes across pretty weak. Whereas the ending it just okay. I like the song, "Alive" by Mashiro Ayano but the visuals are basically still images of our characters. Nothing really special about this ending.


Conclusion:

I don’t really know what to make of Darwin’s game. I don’t find this series to be a must watch, especially this season as there are better anime this season to watch. But my feelings towards this show are the same feelings towards Future Diary where the show never bored me and kept me engaged from start to finish. If you feel the same about Future Diary, then I can see you enjoying Darwin’s game as it is an entertaining shounen series with some great action and music. But if didn’t enjoy Future Diary, THEN BOY THIS AIN’T THE SHOW FOR YOU MATE. The world building, janky pacing and characters will frustrate the heck out of you. It’s a show that will appeal to some but not to others and although I did enjoy it, this ain’t a show I would look back later this year as a show that is definitely one of the best. By no means is this a bad show, but it ain’t a great one either.


My Personal enjoyment: 7.5/10


Overall Score: 6.1/10 Recommendation: Consider it

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 20, 2020

Stark700

Not Recommended

We’re only 3 months into the new decade and already, there’s an anime about survival games. For context, Darwin’s Game is a shounen manga adaptation directed by Yoshinobu Tokumoto. I remember reading about this manga some years ago and tried to be less critical about it. But years later, I find myself looking back at the series and knowing that it has no redeemable traits. Of course, that’s the manga I’m talking about. The anime isn’t any miles better either.

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Looking at the episode count, you’re probably asking yourself how on Earth this show could cover the ... manga in just 11 episodes? The simple answer is impossible because the manga contains well over ongoing 80+ chapters. Even with an hour special, Darwin’s Game falters on its strange pacing. We’ll get to that later but for storytelling purposes, Darwin’s Game does try to connect itself with the genres it has to work with. Specially, the first hour special throws main protagonist Kaname Sudo into a survival game from his phone. In the digital age today, everyone has a phone so the author wanted the audience to be familiarized with the elements. That’s fine and dandy until you realize how that phone throws Kaname into a labyrinth of his worst nightmares. Now as a contestant of a dangerous survival game, Kaname must not only battle but survive with each episode raising its stakes. For its very purpose, Darwin’s Game takes on the survival game genre perhaps influenced by similar franchise such as Battle Royale or Mirai Nikki. I don’t blame the author for having upcoming with such an unoriginal idea but for good sakes, this type of recycled plot is anything but unique.

However, I may have misspoke on the actual reason why this show is called “Darwin’s Game”. Based on the Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, it would seem the author has decided to apply some of the same principles into the storytelling and characters. For that reason, this anime is more about surviving than discovering the truth of the Darwin’s Game. Getting back into the main story, Kaname is initially clueless about his position until he realizes that lives are at stake including his own. The first episode bounds him into a chaotic fight that puts him into near death positions. If that wasn’t enough, he also learns that in order to survive, he must rely on special abilities while competing against others. The objective of the game is to kill others to collect their points and in return, they can cash into those points for money. In the beginning, Kaname’s lack of allies puts him into a compromising position as he is alone with no one to trust. It isn’t until he defeats other competitors and begins to build his own clan of allies. Among the first of these allies is a girl named Shuka Karino. Coming from a rich family and dressed in a lavish way, Shuka becomes his most trusted friend and perhaps a romantic interest. Their relationship is built on reliance at first but later flourishes into trust. The anime doesn’t explore much of their romantic side, however. If you’re looking for that, don’t bother because Darwin’s Game at its core is about survival. The Darwin’s Theory of Evolution deems those who are worthy to be competitors in this game and Shuka is one of them.

And as the story progresses, we are introduced to other formidable players such as the 13 year old prodigy Rein Kashiwagi, Ruji Masesaka, and even Sui, a character with a dual personality. These characters all possesses special abilities in the form of “Sigils”. In fact, Sigils play an imperative role in the overall Darwin’s Game world for each one has a different ability. For instance, Kaname’s Sigil allows him to recreate items and use them in battle. Shuka has the ability to use wires as weapons and thanks to her agility, she can utilize these wires as a killing tool. Rein’s “Laplace” sigil allows her to analyze vectors and use that information to her advantage. The idea the creators wanted to enforce into these character abilities is that each of them has potential to change the outcome of the game. But the bottom line is that despite having all these creative ideas, the main characters suffers from general characterization. It’s very difficult to get invested into any one of them besides Kaname. The show pushes him as the main guy who is protected by plot armor and his allies. Kaname himself is designed as a generic teenager that you can find in just about any similar gimmicky shows. His relationship with the main cast is untimely written and lacks commitment. I can honestly say that there’s no character pair in this show that has emotional appeal. It’s also hard to root for anyone in this show because by the end of the day, we all know who’s going to be alive.

Despite not facing production issues, Darwin’s Game animation quality lacks any distinctive qualities and relies far too much into its action elements. Character designs looks uninspiring with almost every character having the same face. Main protagonist Kaname adapts a high school student look that can easily turn heads away. On the other hand, I do applaud the character designs for the female cast such as Shuka. That dark scarlet dress she has on is something most viewers will have a hard time taking eyes off of. And if you’re looking for some fan service, you’ll be pleased to know that the anime loves to occasionally have the characters ends up in erotic-like positions or camera angles. Beyond that, Darwin’s Game visual appeal is mediocre at best and insufferable at worst.

Honestly, I think I’ve given up on the whole idea about survival games being translated into anime form. Too many times, this type of show aims at a niche audience and reuses the same ideas over and over. Plus, it seems this adaptation’s goal was to advertise the manga because there’s much more content out there in storytelling. However, take my advice and don’t throw your money at this franchise. It’s not worth it and this decade is just getting started.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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