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
