Darwin's Game:
I have always been a fan of Death Game Anime, as there is a certain amount of tension by the pure construction of it's premise. However, in recent years, we unfortunately got quite a few lackluster adaptations of great survival game manga, like Alice in Borderland or Magical Girl Raising Project. So when I heard Darwin's Game is getting an actual promising adaptation, I got instantly hooked. That said, Deathgame Anime will possibly always have a bad reputation with the mainstream audiences, since seeing people die for entertainment is(somewhat understandable) horrible and for many almost unwatchable. That said, Darwin's Game still is an anime like every other one, with it's own flaws and strength I want to get a big deeper into:
Story:6
Darwin's Plot is very straight forward and simple. Imagine writing your own story about a deathgame. You decide on the heros, the villains, the setting, the goal ... Now think about how to connect all these different dots in a straight line. That is basicly how Darwin's Game feels. There are no roads that would take longer than needed to get to the endgoal. There are certain checkpoints you want to get to, but instead of trying out something unexpected and unpredictable, it doesn't take risks and only focuses on the most basic aspects. This kind of storytelling has a huge downside, but also a huge upside I want to point out:
The big downside about this plotform is there is nothing extra. No emotional exploration, no deeper theme exploration, no world building, no ongoing and bigger situation the viewer might want to figure out themself, no mini arc or pause from the action. The main drawback is that what we see is everything that happens. Nothing feels truly surprising or out of view, as everything is connected to what is going on right now. Don't get me wrong, it's not necessarily bad, but there should be a certain amount of mystery surrounding the world to keep the viewer interested. If everything that exists is what we see in this world, then everything new will feel unfitting and out of place.
The big upside Darwin's Game has with this kind of storytelling is that the story always makes logical sense. If I think about the current situation, the most obvious road is taken and I feel like I understand what's going on. Moreover, I feel like what is going on is real, and that draws the viewer more into the world. If characters suddenly make stupid decisions, it will be nothing but unsatisfying as well as it breaks the atmosphere. The way the story is written this season, it worked out fine as a closed up story, since we follow kaname's eyes who just suddenly got into this world and doesn't understand it yet. So despite it's negatives, the story still is really well written.
Characters:5
The most important thing about almost any kind of story are the characters. If we don't care about the characters and feel nothing for them, we won't feel a thing for anything else in the anime either. And Darwin's Game features a small amount of characters with a basic amount of build-up that's needed to care about them. Similar to the way the story is written, we don't get more that what is absolutely needed for the characters to work. Which is often a problem mmost apparent featured in our protagonist.
Kaname is your typical survial main character. He starts off very afraid and weak, but quickly adapts to his surroundings and grows within it. However, he adapts too fast which it makes him feel inhuman. To be fair, Darwin's Game is not a story about how his surroundings change kaname, but how kaname changes his surroundings. It still doesn't make his personality better, but you at least may like the kind of story the show is going for. Suzuka on the other hand is your typical "queen", she's strong, skilled and independent. Unfortunately, she quickly falls in love with kaname after she was beated by him(which doesn't make sense as he was a newcomer and she was the "undefeated queen") and there isn't much to her besides that. The other main characters are more interesting and deeper. They react more human, are more often overwhelmed with situatuions and do way more relatable mistakes. And with the time comtinuing, I mostly cared about them rather than our 2 protagonists.
Animation/Soundtrack: 5 & 5
The animation and art style are really good. In many chases, it highlights the power and forces involved in the fights very well and draws you in into it's insane high-pressure athmosphere. However, outside of these scenes the animation sometimes looks cheap and lazy, and very generic and not outstanding. The music and sounds within the show itself is also good and memorable. Both of those areas are covered really well and won't keep you either mindblown nor disappointed.
Enjoyment: 7
The final aspect of this anime is the enjoyment it's constantly able to create. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge fan of a genre to begin with, but I was constantly entertained troughout it's whole run and even after this, I was looking for more. A huge reason this anime is so entertaining are the high stakes fights, which are made interesting using multiple different methods:
On the one hand, the fights have a supernatural element to them, the so called "Sigils". They are basicly special abilities given one each to every player who enters the game. They spice the fights up, making every fight different from the last while keeping other weapons like guns still in focus. That makes the fights more grounded and any enemy even with useless sigils dangerous. That said, the powersystem of the "Sigil" is not perfect in every way: Since the Sigil are randomly given to every player, some have absolutely broken abilities like looking into the future or teleportation, whereas others have almost useless abilities like realising a lie. It may be great in the hands of a talker going through peaceful talkings, but because they are given at random, it could also land in the hands of someone who doesn't think or talk too much, which makes it almost useless. To be fair, this might force the user to actually get creative with their ability, but at the same time it completely breaks the powerlevels of some characters. Another Problem is that the abilities are "just there". There is no characteristic bond between the ability and the users personality, so link or anything that makes the "Sigil" more than just a plotdevice for more entertaining fights. That's so unfortunate, as a well thought out powersysftem might lift the anime on it's shoulders all alone, something darwin's game didn't realise.
On the other hand, the fights also feature a consistent level of strategic importance: It's never just the one with the better Sigil who wins, but the one who uses it better. Or the one who get's more creative and adapts better to his/her surroundings. Or the one who prepared better for the fight. Either way, it makes the fights more interesting and you more invested. I mean, if the character uses ways that where already hinted at to defeat their enemy, then we as a viewer might also be able to figure out the best way to survive. And if it truely is the way we expected, we feel proud of ourselfes. And if it isn't what we expected, we still don't feel cheated and want to rewatch the episode to exactly see all the hints given. After all, isn't that what truly counts? Being invested and interested in the anime.
Overall: 6
Darwin's Game is a really good anime while being anything but special. For that exact reason, anyone who thinks he/she might like it will most likely end up liking it. And the ones who think they won't like it before watching it will most likely end up that way too. So if you're interested in this, you should really give it a try.