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

Koguchi, Wani Producer

Komatsu, Reina Producer

Hidaka, Isao Producer

Reviews

Jun 21, 2022

Mapachecool999

Recommended

The first time I saw Tomodachi Game was while I was watching the following anime of the spring season, I found it by chance and for some reason it immediately caught my attention and that was without even reading the synopsis, nor seeing the KV that it had in that moment where only the "friends" together were noticed. No, that was not what caught my attention, the title was. "Tomodachi game" or the friendship games, for some reason the title caught my attention and immediately became the anime I was most looking forward to this season for which I hadn't read the manga. And when ... the first chapter arrived I was not disappointed at all.

Story - 10/10
The story is about a group of 5 friends who one day are kidnapped and taken to participate in something called "Tomodachi game" this because one of their friends had a debt of 20 million yen, therefore to pay it they have to Participate in different games where your debt will be reduced or in some cases increased, what happens is that in these games two factors are tested "money and friendship" What is more important to you? Money? 'Friendship? Would you be willing to lose millions of yen just to save your friends? Do you trust that they would do the same? That's what the Tomodachi Games prove. Each of the games taking place this season proves that and each one changes some factor but leads to the same question. And it is and incredible ride to watch.

Art 7/10
The art is the worst part of the anime and if it is quite mediocre to say the least compared to the manga, although the character design is very faithful to the manga, the animation is bad. I think this is due to the small budget that the animation studio has since it is a studio with little renown that took its first big manga to adapt without having a big budget. The reason I give it a 7 is because they did the best they could and stayed true to the manga with the small budget.
But maybe I'm somewhat biased.

Sound 9/10
The opening is a banger without a doubt, Nana Mizuki did an incredible job with the song and left me listening to it for quite some time. The ending is also a great song Saji did very well and it was a perfect song to listen to after each cliffhanger.
There weren´t many big shots in the cast but the voice acting quality is unexpectedly excellent, Especially the Yuuichi one, that was an insane VA
performance.

Character 9/10
The characters are a fundamental part of the story and the truth is that they are all quite interesting.
Yuuchi our protagonist is without a doubt one of the best protagonists of recent years at the level of protagonists like ayanokouji from Classroom of Elite. He is a totally unexpected character that you never know what he is thinking and manages to solve the problems he faces without you knowing how. The interesting thing here is that in the whole group of 5 friends you can't trust any of them, they just all have something that makes you doubt them.

Enjoyment 10/10
I really enjoyed it, it is the anime that I enjoyed the most this season and the first one that I will dedicate time to write a review for, each chapter left me wanting to know more and I never took my eyes off the screen while I was watching it. Every day I waited for the time the chapter came out just to be able to see it, at that level I enjoyed it. And me being a huge fan of High Stakes Games even more.



To finish, I really recommend this anime for people who like to think about how to win or solve puzzles or find some way to find the loopholes in a game. Or people who love High Stakes Games. Or if you like smart protagonists like Ayanokouji from Clasroom of Elite or Senku from Dr. stone. Or even if you're not a big fan at least try to watch the first 6 episodes, not the first 3, the first 3 may turn off a lot of people because of the direction it looks like it's going to go but I'm serious, try to watch it, you might like it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 22, 2022

Mcsuper

Mixed Feelings

Before I start, personally, I haven’t watched a single death game anime, or even Squid Game actually, so I will not be making any comparisons to them. This is a strictly non-Squid Game comparison review. Ok, before you start saying “Who cares”, or “Who asked?”, let’s get into the review.

For a series that is supposedly about friendship, the friendship concepts were tackled a bit superficially, and it became more of a series about Katagiri Yuuichi’s wit and him being a scumbag to solve problems. I expected a bit more characterization overall, and it really does feel we’re just scratching the surface of this series. However, ... the plot twists and Yuuichi’s character were definitely fun to watch, and one of the more enjoyable series of this anime season, but a bit edgy for sure.

My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music: /10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20

*Spoilers below

STORY: 17.2/25

The story is about five friends that get into a game called the Tomodachi Game, or Friends Game, after one of the five incurred a twenty million yen debt, and to pay off that amount, the group must clear a variety of games that test their friendships, and reveal their true colours.

The first game, Kokkuri-san, is a game where the participants place a finger on a coin in the middle of a board. Then, a question is asked, and the participants place their fingers on the coin and push it towards the answer they think is correct. The questions are simple, but as expected, someone sabotages the game. This was by far the most boring and basic premise of the show, and very predictable.

The next game, Bad-Mouth Sugoroku is a game where people bad mouth each other and submit the cards privately. The revelations, such as someone participating in compensated dating, and someone doing plastic surgery, are made to pit them against each other. This game was drawn out pretty long, and felt pretty shallow. It made the group of friends seem like they weren’t very close in the first place, since something pretty trivial, like doing plastic surgery, could cause a rift between the characters. A lot of these revelations create shock value, which in my opinion, is not a very good way to advance the plot.

The third game was a simple hide and seek game, except the hider can’t move, so they can’t get any food. It felt like a battle of wits between the two teams, but in the end, it was a pretty anticlimactic conclusion, with violence just being the answer to everything. Expected a bit more from this.

There are other backstories that I won’t go into here, but even though I have said a few negative things about each game, there are still positives, in that the suspense factor is handled pretty well, even if it relies heavily on shock value. Yuuichi’s struggles are always fun to see, and his ways to get through each game are enjoyable as well.

ART: 6.2/10

The animation is fine, but a bit lacking. The expressions could have been handled even better to evoke that sense of “evil” from Yuuichi, and all the other emotions from the other characters.

MUSIC: 8.9/10

Huge fan of both the opening and ending from this series. Nana Mizuki and Saji do a great job, and I never skipped them. The two themes were definitely a highlight of the show.

CHARACTERS: 11.5/20

The characters were introduced very poorly, and the developments for most of them seem to just be scratching the surface of their characterization and backstories, but I have to say Yuuichi carries the cast, and I’m sure you agree. He has the most distinct personality overall, as he creates most of the shock value. He is a scumbag, but he’s not completely heartless, as we saw in the third game. He does some crazy things, and he’s fun to watch, but it gets a bit repetitive.

The other characters each have their distinct personalities, but they just aren’t the most intriguing to watch. Tenji is arguably the more interesting one out of the remaining four friends, but as I said, we’d need Season 2 to see more of their backstories and developments.

ENJOYMENT: 12.3/15

I did enjoy this series despite its flaws, it’s what I call “popcorn entertainment”, just watching chaos unfold every episode.

THEMATIC EXECUTION: 10/20

This show really struggles at executing the theme of friendship well. If they are such good friends, they shouldn’t be fighting this easily. They know they are being tested in a game, and rifts in friendships is what the management want, so why play into their hands?

The romance theme is just there to be another chaos creator. Of course everyone likes someone in the friend group, it just makes everyone lose their minds, and that is pretty realistic for sure.

The world building, pretty atrocious. Rules need to be explained better, and there can't be that many convolutions that feel shallow.

OVERALL: 66.1/100

A decent show which had good plot twists and a good main character in Yuuichi, but falls short on some story elements that I think could have been paced better to create a better plot. If you are a fan of mind games and plot twists, this is a solid one to watch, and if there is a continuation in the future, I’ll definitely watch it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 21, 2022

mistersunday

Not Recommended

Tomodachi Game feels like the ‘chocolate money’ of the anime medium. The problem with chocolate money is that it’s not real money and the chocolate is mediocre at best. If you’re really craving chocolate it’ll probably satisfy your urge, but it’s unlikely to make a notable impression. Tomodachi Game is reminiscent of that lackluster feeling. If you’re in the mood for an anime with a high-stakes game at its core then it’ll probably do, but you’re most likely going to forget the majority of its plot within a week of finishing it. Then we arrive at the ‘fake money’ aspect of the show, which in ... this case would be substance, that should be listed on the back of the package’s ingredients as “missing”.

Tomodachi Game is not one of those shows that attempts to tackle too many issues at once and fails to develop them properly. The premise is not ambitious, which is why it’s a little baffling to me that the pacing feels rushed and the storytelling lacks any kind of meaningful depth. The plot is pretty standard and doesn’t require countless episodes to be fleshed out properly, so I’m not sure why the story remains so superficial throughout the anime’s 12-episode run. The upside is that the story gets to the point very quickly and doesn’t go off on too many tangents. Ultimately, if you’re looking for a simple anime about a high-stakes game then this might be a good bet. I would like to stress the word “might” in the previous sentence because I think part of the appeal of a high-stakes game is that the games are designed in an intellectual way. You should be able to insert yourself in these situations and feel perplexed by the mechanics or the rules. I think Tomodachi Game also lacks in this department. The games are designed in a way that doesn’t make them intriguing. The second game especially feels like a bad board game. What’s also disappointing is that the strategies that the characters use to beat these games are kind of terrible? They’re very circumstantial, relying on social skills and human nature rather than attempting to craft a systematic strategy to win. It doesn’t feel like the characters are genuinely beating these games, but rather that there is a predetermined outcome set in stone and the circumstances lead them to this result. In this sense, the anime doesn’t feel organic and it may be harder to suspend disbelief while watching it.

Tomodachi Game isn’t a bad anime per se, it’s just not a good one either. It’ll satisfy your craving for chocolate, but the chocolate itself is pretty unremarkable.

Story: 4/10
I haven’t read the source material but I feel like there are several loopholes in the story. Certain aspects of the plot don’t really get explained properly. Perhaps if you’ve read the manga it makes a bit more sense, but as a standalone work this story lacks coherence and development. The storytelling also feels very reductionist. For an anime centered around intellectual games the story is quite simplistic. Where is the nuance?

Art: 7/10
The art style is very standard, I don’t have much to criticize but the animation in certain scenes could be a bit more smooth. However, I think the art style as a whole is successful in setting the right atmosphere when needed.

Sound: 7/10
I actually really enjoyed the opening theme song, and the voice acting was good too. Everything else about the soundtrack is forgettable.

Character: 3/10
The characters were all over the place. They also felt very one-dimensional. Even when the twists in the story happened, their execution felt forced and awkward. The cast as a whole is just very uninspiring, I can’t think of a single character that will stick with me.

Enjoyment: 4/10
My enjoyment wasn’t nonexistent, but it was definitely below average. I didn’t have particularly high expectations and yet I was still disappointed.

Overall: 4/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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