You never know how an anime season will shape up until you get a few weeks in. So far, I’m discovering a lot of good shows this season, including the fast-paced and extremely violent Darwin’s Game.
What if you signed up for a mobile game in which you did battle with other users, but instead of a harmless online head-to-head combat inside the mobile app, you actually had to fight them to the death in the real world? And what if each player received a single random superpower called a sigil when he or she signed up for the game, like the ability to summon weapons, manipulate metal hooks telepathically or become invisible? And the only way to leave the game was to die? That’s the premise behind Darwin’s Game, a new shounen series based on the manga by artist FLIPFLOPs and animated by Nexus.
I’m a funny kind of fan. Despite the fact that fighting and combat forms the backbone of many shounen stories, I’m usually not a fan of any show that’s centered around fight scenes, because they usually become formulaic, with too much posing and filler to hold my interest. That’s why I tend to avoid combat-heavy shows, preferring to sample the greater variety the shin’ya anime time slots provide. So when I get into a new anime centered around battles, you know there’s a lot more to appreciate than just the fight scenes.
Here are four reasons why you should give Darwin’s Game a try!
High-quality animation and high-stakes action. Everyone is talking about an interesting kind of “body outline art” that appears to be chalk outlines of murder victims which are appearing everywhere in Shibuya, but we learn that these are the remains of players of the game who have been defeated.
Potentially the best “seasonal waifu.” Shuka, the mysterious girl Kaname defeats and turns into his ally, is totally insane, very much like Akane Shinjo from SSSS.Gridman. And she shares the same voice actress as Akane, too, the lovely up-and-coming star Reina Ueda.
The extra-long first episode shows dedication by the animation studio. I like to notice when studios go out of their way to signal their dedication to a project, like when they pre-announce a second season while the first season is airing, or when they release a figure before the show has even started, as the studio behind Interviews with Monster Girls did. The first episode of Darwin’s Game is a huge double-length powerhouse of action, which draws fans in very nicely.
Great sound and soundtrack. It’s rare for the great sound design and score to stand out in an anime, but the music and sound quality of this show is amazing!
Are you going to give Darwin’s Game a try? Tell us on Twitter!
We love it when the traditional meets our favorite anime with an awesome result. We’ve got a new line of traditional yunomi green tea cups on the site featuring your favorite Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure characters. Order yours here!
