Darwin's Game (Episode 1) - First Game

A mysterious message from a missing friend leads Kaname to download a game to his phone, but he soon learns that it’s more than just a game and there’s no way to quit… well, you can die!

What happened?

Once the game had downloaded, Kaname experienced a weird hallucination where a snake slithered out of the screen and bit him on the neck. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in the nurse’s office. Deciding to take it easy, he took off for the day and headed home. Still curious about the game, he opened it up and found a challenge. Without thinking, he accepted the challenge and suddenly found himself in a life and death struggle with Banda, the mascot from the local baseball team. Kaname’s friend intervened and managed to buy Kaname some time, but was injured in the process. Somehow, Kaname managed to win and had to watch as Banda was erased, literally. He ran to find his friend, but he too had gone. Kaname needed some answers and ended up turning to another gamer, Shuka for help…

Darwin's Game Episode 1 Banda the Rookie Hunter

What was your favourite element?

I really enjoyed the animation and the use of music and sound effects. It may seem like an odd one to choose, but it really brought the tension of the moments to life and turned what was a fairly average story into something far more engaging. I also enjoyed that we were thrown into the deep end along with Kaname and are working things out as he does. Too often, shows will not give the viewers enough credit and try to overexplain and force-feed us information. It was a double-length episode and I’m not entirely sure why, because I looked at the clock at what seemed like a good point to stop and it was exactly the midpoint. I’m not complaining, but I know it can put people off. For some twenty-four minutes is the limit!

Darwin's Game Episode 1 Shuka the Undefeated Queen

What have you learnt?

I’m going to talk about learning about the game with Kaname again. Too often, stories try to open with a lengthy piece detailing exactly what is going on and sometimes, that’s fine. It is really refreshing, however, to be allowed to experience it along with the character. Kaname came into this knowing absolutely nothing, like us, and straight away that creates a link between the viewer and the main character. We’re learning about the situation as they learn and it’s great. Like Kaname, I want, no, need to know more. I’m hoping it will maintain the tone that it’s set and the standard of the fights. I’m looking forward to more and that’s because it hasn’t spoonfed us all the answers.