Reviews

May 13, 2024
Mixed Feelings
THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

There has been a trend in the anime industry in the last few years, especially post-pandemic. There is just more and more anime coming out then ever before. Every single season is absolutely packed with a giant flood of (mostly mediocre) shows. Naturally, some shows will fall under the radar and “Tomodachi Game” was one of them for me.

Story – 7/10

This is a classic death game anime, a genre that has been absolutely milked to death in the 2010s, with a lot of infamous examples that range from incredible (“Danganronpa”) to...what did I just watch? (“Euphoria”). Tomodachi Game is somewhere in the middle. The show does not spend any time on trying to explain how the death game comes to be in the first place and rushes right into the plot. Every single game in the show has a certain set of rules to it. Especially the tag-game is really interesting and was probably my favourite arc. The mind games get pretty intense in this one, and the show is trying everything it can to stay realistic. I had a lot of fun with the death game itself and thought the resolutions were really well thought out. This is a very dialogue heavy show with little to no action and slow pacing, but it still manages to build up excitement arc for arc.
However, the big problem I have with the show is the whole story structure itself. I won´t go into spoilers, but the final episode and everything that happens before felt extremely random. The story seems to have no idea where it wants to go next and I seriously hope it won´t turn into a convoluted mess later on.

Art – 6/10

The animation itself is pretty solid. There isn´t much action here, so the screenplay itself is very laid back. There are instances where the art changes a little bit, especially during some of the more dramatic scenes, but other than that, there is not much to say here. The character designs are pretty boring and clearly inspired by other anime of the genre (Our main protagonist literally feels like a mix of Kirito from “Sword Art Online” and Light Yagami from “Death Note”).

Sound – 7/10

The opening is pretty good, but I thought the ending was better. The show reuses a lot of tracks during the dialogue scenes which can be a turn off to some people. I liked the way the show builds tension with the music, utilizing a very deep bass synthesizer. Other than that, there is not much to say in this category

Characters – 8/10

My god, it has been quite sometime since we got a black-haired, genius, edgelord protagonist and I am absolutely here for it. He fulfils every single cliché of the trope and is, like most of his clones, absolutely insane. But even I have to say that his deductions and mind games were really interesting and he managed to trick the audience a lot of the time. There is also an ongoing mystery about his past, that I am eager to find out more about.
The other characters are mostly fine. A lot of them where extremely cliché and even those that are a bit more interesting where written in a very inconsistent way (Looking at you, Tenji!).
Also, because the death game starts in episode one, there is not much time to explore the relationship of these characters beforehand. It is actually quite hard to believe they were actual friends considering what happens later on in the show,

Enjoyment – 9/10

I binged this show very quickly on a long train ride. This has some extremely high entertainment value, but the plot and characters themselves are pretty weak. I will watch the second season (if there will be one, let´s hope for it!). This is a great show for anyone who likes stuff like “Danganronpa”. If you can´t turn off your suspension of disbelief, maybe skip this one.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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