Tomodachi Game

High school student Yuuichi Katagiri cherishes his close circle of friends, composed of four classmates: Yutori Kokorogi, Shiho Sawaragi, Makoto Shibe, and Tenji Mikasa. However, when the funds for the upcoming school trip are stolen, the incident causes Shiho and Makoto—who had been tasked with collecting the money—to distance themselves from the rest of their class.

Soon after, Yuuichi and his friends are deceived into meeting up and knocked unconscious by unknown assailants. After waking, the group find themselves confined in a white room with controversial figure Manabu-kun, who reveals that one of the five has gathered them together to clear their personal debt of twenty million yen. To pay off the amount, they must participate in a variety of psychological games that will test the true nature of their friendship and humanity.

Distressed and isolated from the outside world, Yuuichi and his friends need to cooperate to complete the games. But as their concealed feelings and problematic pasts begin to surface, their seemingly unbreakable bond may soon shatter into irreparable pieces.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Katagiri, Yuuichi Main

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Sawaragi, Shiho Main

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Mikasa, Tenji Main

Hamano, Daiki Japanese

Kokorogi, Yutori Main

Amano, Satomi Japanese

Shibe, Makoto Main

Ono, Tomohiro Japanese

Shinomiya, Kei Supporting

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Mizuse, Maria Supporting

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Tsukino Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Manabu-kun Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Onigawara, Hyakutarou Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Kurosu, Nobuhiko Producer

Komatsu, Reina Producer

Hidaka, Isao Producer

Koguchi, Wani Producer

Reviews

Feb 19, 2024

sutaagaaru

Recommended

I’ve just finished watching this series, and I decided to take a quick look at the reviews to see if there was a general enjoyment of the show. I was actually quite surprised to find that there are a multitude of reviews expressing their EXTREME dislike for this anime.
Of course, opinions are just that: opinions. And I don’t think there is a series, anime or otherwise, that is liked by absolutely everybody. But a lot of the criticisms of this particular one, I just can’t understand.

First of all, I’ll share my views on Tomodachi Game. As an avid enjoyer of thriller-type drama anime, I ... was quite pleased with its plot. I am a huge Classroom Of The Elite fan, and this was recommended to me because of that. I had no expectations to enjoy this more than CoTE because I truly believe that anime is a work of art, from its philosophical nature, and its array of characters that all have their own depth. (I’ll also point out that every single opening is a fucking banger.)

When I was watching Tomodachi Game, I didn’t really think the characters had much depth to them, other than maybe Yuichi, but there was absolutely no competition in that regard to CoTE.
I’ve seen this criticism in almost every review of this anime, and I definitely agree. But, I disagree on the point that “it is hard to believe they’re even friends because you never see them interacting as such, and they were thrown into the game too quickly to see their friendship.”
Yes, that is true, but personally I think that makes the watch even better. The point is, they barely knew each other, aside from a dirty secret here and there. I think that was the entire purpose of the game in the first place, to show the main cast they were hardly ‘friends’ at all; the fact that there were a huge lack of scenes between them before the game sort of cements that idea.

As for the pacing, it felt slightly too quick but I didn’t really feel aware of that while I was watching. It was only after the fact that I sat back and thought to myself ‘wow that was a lot in such a short time.’ This is just my own view, but I kind of enjoy a fast paced drama. It makes me really engage with what’s going on and if it were a 24-episode season, I’d feel it would be dragging on a little bit. Assuming that there is supposed to be another season— I have no idea if there is or not— I have no qualms about how quickly the season progressed.

Another criticism I saw a couple of times was about how convoluted the actual game was, and how difficult the rules were to follow, either because of how short-of-time the rules were on screen, or simply because they were too complicated. This is just how I saw it, but I didn’t think the rules were that hard to follow at all. Yes, the rules were on screen for a total of 2 seconds, but directly after that, the rules were explained again verbally by Manabu. After the verbal explanation, the games were pretty straightforward, at least to me. Besides, it’s quite common for rules or even other text written on screen in any anime to only be on screen for a couple of seconds, so it’s not really a huge issue specifically in Tomodachi Game.

I’d also like to quickly mention that criticising Yuichi for his ridiculously unrealistic intelligence and his engineering of other people’s psyche is kinda pointless… What are you expecting from an anime where 5 teenage students get kidnapped to play a torturous game, and absolutely no one questions why they disappeared for a certain amount of time? I feel like Yuichi’s manipulation skills is not the most unrealistic part of the show. Plus… it’s not real, if anyone cared to notice. I don’t see why realism is a factor in an animated fictional series. But maybe that’s just me.

All in all, do I think Tomodachi Game is an amazing, perfect story that is to be considered a 10/10 watch? Of course not, it’s rare that I rate anime a 10 unless I’m really biased (I’m only human).
But I wouldn’t exactly call it a shitshow either. I rated it a 7 because of that, it was pretty good and I’d recommend it to anyone that likes an interesting, entertaining drama anime.

To end my review, if you completely hated this anime that’s absolutely fine, no one is forcing you to like it. This was just my take on it. :p

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 26, 2024

Divyanshu777

Mixed Feelings

It is one of the few Anime whose Opening I actually like. The actual Anime was alright, can't say more unless Season 2's out.
Here's what my friend wants to say

Honestly, this anime has a common story centered on psychological manipulation and trust issues among friends, but it falls short in execution. Predictable plot twists diminish the suspense, though fans of the genre might still find it a bit boring. The art style is fitting but unremarkable, complementing the intense atmosphere without standing out. Characters are kinda dumb, making their interactions predictive. Their reactions to events are mostly same, though sometimes exaggerated. While it may ... not be universally appealing, those interested in psychological thrillers and social dynamics might appreciate its themes of friendship and betrayal. A decent watch, but not outstanding.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 18, 2024

Dark_Yagami

Not Recommended

A fun series of social strategy games, that’s unnecessarily cringe for the edgelord protagonist and unreliable character motivations of everyone around him.

The character motivations of everyone who is not the protagonist, are whatever is required to juke the audience and move the plot along. Sometimes that includes 180 degree turns of character personalities and even their underlying motivations. This undermines the sense that these are real people and friends of the protagonist, which ultimately undermines the tension of their precarious situations, because who cares about characters that don’t seem human, right?
...
Lots of everyone marveling what a genius the protagonist is and how much that turns them on and makes people want him.

The animation is sub-par.

That being said, the games themselves are creative (when they aren’t torture porn), the design and comedy of the creepy mascot was fun and memorable. I enjoyed working through the logic of some of the games. That earns it 3 stars.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Tomodachi Game Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) KANLen09 - Apr 12, 2022	210 replies	by Tayyibo »» Jul 11, 4:37 PM
	Enough source material for S2 ? lightning_angad7 - Jun 14	16 replies	by quietkun27 »» Jun 19, 11:28 AM
	Poll: Tomodachi Game Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - May 3, 2022	138 replies	by JamesYukiNoriaki »» Jun 12, 9:15 AM
	Poll: Tomodachi Game Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) KANLen09 - Jun 21, 2022	222 replies	by Assassin2112 »» Jun 7, 10:30 PM
	Poll: Tomodachi Game Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - Jun 7, 2022	140 replies	by Assassin2112 »» Jun 7, 9:11 PM