Sit back relax, put on a headset, turn on a camera and do a livestream as you are reading this as I present to you the anime review for Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu], or by its English name, The Ones Within. Lets begin.
Story: 6/10
The story begins with our eight main characters (who are all lets players by the way) completing the game “Nakanohito Genome” and after getting the message “We will come get you,” they wake up; seemingly in the middle of nowhere with giant animals for some reason. They are greeted by a man in a llama mask (or a head, your guess) by the name of Paka and tells our main cast that they are selected to do a real life lets play of Nakanohito Genome and reach 100,000,000 views for the viewing public's entertainment. Once they do that, they are all free.
I wouldn’t blame you if you got some Danganrompa vibes immediately after watching this show. The shows premise and vibes are similar to that of Danganrompa but it manages to differentiate itself rather quickly by explaining its setting and the narrative. Instead of a murder mystery, its some real life lets plays. The lets plays are the core of the show with the cast spending about one or two episodes completing a lets play challenge so that they can reach the 100,000,000 view mark and go home with the stakes getting higher and higher. Although I do wish with the challenges were more diverse instead of being another version of a survival horror challenge. Granted it does do that occasionally like a dating sim or a simple puzzle game, but it is mainly a different version of a horror lets play almost every time. If you want to raise the stakes, a puzzle platformer or even a shooter could do that with the right context. So I just wanted them to be more diverse.
The challenges themselves though, despite my criticisms, are still entertaining with their different spin on things every time so we don’t always get the same challenge they present to us. My favourite one is when they have to hide from 3 sister maids inside their rooms for an hour. If the maids spot you once, they blind you. If they spot you again while you are blind, they gouge your eyes out. The only way to unblind someone is by getting touched by someone who isn’t blind. It adds some real tension to the challenge knowing that something extremely painful will happen if you are not careful. The show kind of relies on these challenges though to add some urgency because outside of the challenges, there is little urgency. The characters are in no rush to get out of where they are, which is strange that they are forced to do this task and have no other choice doing so but are in no rush to get out of doing it? It makes up for it by moving at a good pace but I feel like some more urgency would help give a better realisation of where they are right now.
Of course, them having no idea where they are or why leaves some mystery aspects to the show. The main mystery of the show, Paka and the truth behind Nakanohito Genome is alright. It adds an extra layer to show that makes you intrigued about the truth and why this island hosts giant Pandas, Daemons and killer, shape shifting plants but I never really felt that this was something I really wanted to know and I just waited to see what would happen. The more intriguing mystery was the mystery behind one of the main leads, Yuzu Roromori and why she is infatuated with our...well I guess the main main protagonist of the series, Iride Akatsuki. That was the more, “I want to know more” mystery that kept me watching because with how well our characters interact with each other, what would happen if they all knew Yuzu’s secret.
Characters: 7/10
So I only mentioned it at the end of the story section but without a doubt the best thing about this show for me was the chemistry between our main leads. It made for some of the more entertaining moments of the show. Whether it was Iridie and Anya slowly growing friendship or
Yuzu being a total s**tstirer towards Karin, the chemistry between our main leads just works. So I like the chemistry between the characters, its just that their development is rather lacklustre. We don’t know much about them throughout the show but we do get some reveals about their past and perhaps some connection as to why they are here. But other than that, there is not much else. Their growth is dependant on how well they interact with one another. While you could say they succeeded in that regard (and you would be right), in terms of personal development though, they hardly change.
Paka perhaps being the most mysterious character in the show would make him one of the main core factors of the show. The thing is though is that I really didn’t care much about who he really is and why is he doing this. I only see him as a plot device to get the main cast from one lets play challenge to another. He’s shown he wants them to succeed but at the same time, will punish anyone is violating the rules. So is he a meddling director? Or something else entirely? So there are some aspects that make him an intriguing character, but also one where the mystery around him isn’t really that interesting.
Animation: 5/10
The animation for this show was fine if a bit generic. Not bad but certainly not impressive. The art style was rather generic and didn’t really have a rather unique style that I think could have benefited here given its premise and setting. A missed opportunity really. The character designs are more sensible than I expected yet they still match the characters personality and background. It is nice they didn’t go ridiculous but they are a bit bland.
Sound: 5.5/10
You can say a similar thing to the ost in this series. It’s fine but its not something I will particularity remember in the future. It does it job to set an atmosphere but its not noticeable enough to grab you get your attention. So it is rather meh overall.
The opening, "not GAME" by Tasuku Hatanaka has more style and a better song than the animation and soundtrack combined. It certainly shows off what kind of personality the characters have and the vibrant use of colours is refreshing compared to what we get from the show. The song also has a nice rhythm to it and keeps pace with the visuals that makes this opening very solid.
The ending sequence, "Boku wo Mitsukete” by fhána also does well at portraying the character’s personalities but not as well as the opening I would say. The song is nice and calming while we go through the ending so like the opening, rather solid but not as good as the opening.
Conclusion:
I really like this show, but only if I ignore the flaws. If I watch it at face value, then I can get enjoyment out of this series. But since I’m reviewing it, then I have to say that the show has quite a bit of flaws to it and only a couple of things from the show is done really well, in this case, its the character’s chemistry and the lets play challenges. The mystery isn’t all that intriguing, the character development is lacking and the animation and soundtrack is rather mediocre. This show is definitely one of those shows that if you don’t think about it too hard and take what you get, it’s a fun show. And despite my criticisms, it is a really fun show to watch. So I’ll make a rare exception where i’ll actually give this show the “Watch it” recommendation because despite its flaws, this is one of the more fun shows to watch this season.
My personal enjoyment: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 6.4/10 Recommendation: Watch it
