ID: Invaded (Season One)
A specialised team of detectives use a top-secret machine to enter the minds of serial killers in an attempt to catch them, but another force appears to be working against them. Just who is John Walker?
What did you watch?
Unlike Darwin’s Game, ID: Invaded released two episodes at once instead of a double-length episode. In theory, this shouldn’t make much of a difference, but it does, even though I did watch those first two episodes back to back. It’s all a matter of psychology and it seems appropriate that the series with id in the title applies it to the release schedule. Surprisingly, this wasn’t one of my original shows I was planning on covering and it just so happened that I had some time to kill… Anyhow, there will be spoilers and I’d advise against reading on unless you like spoilers…
What happened?
The brilliant detective, Sakaido awoke in a strange place with no memory of where he was or even who he was. It wasn’t until he stumbled upon a murdered body that it all started to come together, even in this strange and fragmented world. There was a murder to solve and he was the brilliant detective. Outside of this disjointed reality, a group of analysts watched and recorded the events, making notes of every detail. Nothing is ever there by chance. After some time, Sakaido tracked down the murderer, but then another more sinister person appeared.
John Walker was in all of the ID Wells created by the Mizuhaname. His appearance was scrambled but his signature appearance remained the same. Could John Walker be creating these serial killers and if so why? The arrival of a new victim sent chills through the analysts as they realised it was one of their own. Then, the MIzuhaname created a new ID Well and Sakaido was extracted from one and inserted into another. It was there only hope of catching the serial killer known as the Perforator. Within moments, Sakaido was killed but it was long enough for them to track down the Perforator. Now that his work as the brilliant detective Sakaido was over, Narihisago returned to his cell.
What did you think?
I really enjoyed ID: Invaded. The mix of science fiction and the supernatural made for an intriguing series. It was a lot of fun trying to piece together the clues to work out who was John Walker and what was going on. I don’t think we quite got all of the answers, but this season ended very well and was probably one of the highlights of the series. Obviously, it’s fairly dark as we’re looking into serial killer’s minds and finding out what causes them to kill while trying to track them down. On top of the John Walker mystery, there were so many more things to work out that I rarely found any of it dull.
What was your favourite moment?
For me, the standout element in the series was the ID Wells. Every one of them was twisted and insane, but they made for some intense and intriguing moments. Even the ones that seemed fairly mundane had a darker tone to them. For example, the Gravedigger’s ID Well featured an eternal train that was oddly calm, but it was also the train that the Gravedigger’s mother had jumped in front of when she was a child. So, that meant that this eternal train that rolled around a loop forever was forever running over her mother. I think there are so many ways these ID Wells could be used that this series has potential to be interesting for a very long time.
What was your least favourite moment?
I’m going to call it my least favourite moment, but it was also incredible. Narihisago entered an ID Well within an ID Well and in this new reality, his memories returned. It was a carbon copy of the real world and it was from the time before his daughter was murdered. He’d been in this ID Well for two years doing his best to track down John Walker and taking care of the various serial killers with his advanced knowledge and his gift for talking them into killing themselves. He was about to go after the Perforator when he was stopped my Hondomachi who had entered the same ID Well before Narihisago even though she’d only just arrived there. It all came flooding back to him. He phoned his family and spoke to them for probably the last time. It was a brilliant and touching moment, but also incredibly sad and devastating.
Who was your favourite character?
This is a very hard one. I loved Narihisago and found his story to be incredible. That was another of the mysteries we got to piece together and seeing what happened to him and his family was heartbreaking. Even worse, it seemed like it was all orchestrated by John Walker to keep his group of serial killers in check. He was a great dark character. His intentions were good, but he also wasn’t able to forgive those that he perceived to have done wrong and while he didn’t actually kill them himself, he certainly had a way with words that would drive them to kill themselves.
Who was your least favourite character?
It was probably Matsuoka, especially when he told Hondomachi why he had recommended her to become a brilliant detective. That was another of those outstanding moments. She’d looked up to him and seeing him toss her aside like that must have been hard for her to take. The visuals of that scene were amazing and the jet trail appearing to go through her head was perfect. In the end, Matsuoka’s intuition had been right on the money and he was integral in the final scene, but he could have handled the Hondomachi situation much better in my view.
Would you like some more?
This series was one of my favourites from the Winter 2020 season and as such, I would love another season. At present, there is no official news on a second season and as this title isn’t adapted from a manga, light novel, or game there isn’t any source material to go from. That, of course, means that a new story would need to be created specifically for that purpose. I”d like to think that they would have something in mind, especially with the care they put into this season. It wasn’t just an intriguing and engaging story, but the visuals were spectacular.
What have you learnt?
I’m a big fan of the grey characters and Narihisago definitely falls into that category. There’s almost something unnatural about the characters that are perfect and do no wrong, no matter the stakes. I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t make choices that wouldn’t benefit themselves over others. Sure, there is a scale of things and some people are way too far into the darker end of it, but there is a lot of potential with characters that will do things outside of the normal heroic path.
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