Infinite Dendrogram (Saturday Spin-off) – Every Action!

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is Newton’s third law, so what does it have to do with the anime series, Infinite Dendrogram. Probably nothing, but are you willing to take that chance?
What’s going on?
I recently finished watching Infinite Dendrogram and while it wasn’t quite the action-filled blockbuster I was expecting, it did have some nice ideas that I am about to take and propose something new and interesting with. This is, of course, a part of my Saturday Spin-off series of posts where I look at characters and ideas from anime series and come up with things to expand the universes or create new ones entirely. Anyhow, let’s get on with this idea.

What’s the pitch?
A gamer enters a new VRMMORPG and starts to get a feel for the world and how it works. It’s billed as being a world filled with infinite possibilities which seems like a marketing gimmick, but what if it were true. Every decision made by the gamer spawned new missions and goals. No matter what they did or how inconsequential it escalated. Now, this might be fine in a solo player game, but in an MMORPG there are thousands of gamers logged in at once and every action by every gamer is create new possibilities.
The virtual world grows and grows until it can no longer be contained within the system. Somehow it spills out into the real world, merging them into a nightmarish reality full of monsters and bosses. These gamers must now return to their own world and rescue from the endless computations of a sophisticated AI that has taken the game to a new level entirely. This time, however, it’s not a game and the future of humanity is on the line!

Where did the inspiration come from?
In the very first episode of Infinite Dendrogram, Ray bumped into a Tian, or a non-playable character and activated a quest. This seemed like such a cool idea that I fully expected it to be a much larger part of the series. I certainly wasn’t expecting quite so many meals and exposition dumps. Another thing I like about this idea is that it merges the game world with the real world and could make for some interesting situations where gamers could be split between the worlds trying to take down the enemy from both sides. I would also make it a lot darker, but that Infinite Dendrogram did have zombie children and a monster with a bag of heads for snacks…

Other posts in the series
- Rin and Myura (Isekai Cheat Magician)
- Valkyrie (Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious)
- Susamaru (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
- Hinawa and Maki (Fire Force)
- The Exercise Video (How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?)
- Cain Madhouse (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts)
- Shizuku (Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest)
- Kohaku Lost? (Dr. Stone)
- Chio’s Daily Commute (Chio’s School Road)
- The Noob! (Overlord)
- Shizu (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime)
- Noir (Fruits Basket)
- Sniper of the Dead (Highschool of the Dead)
- Liu Xuelan (Darwin’s Game)
- Two Minds, One Body (The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?)
- Plundered (Plunderer)
- Japanese Mochi! (Fruits Basket)
- Pokemon NO! (Pokemon)
- Every Action! (Infinite Dendrogram)
- Hunted to the Ends! (Somali and the Forest Spirit)
- Is It Wrong to Use Sex to Try to Beat a Dungeon? (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
- Two Blades (Jormungand)
- Regeneration (The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor)
- Samurai School for Girls (Project A-ko)
- Meet the Takagis (Highschool of the Dead)
- Far From Fantasy (High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World!)
