Darwin's Game
Darwin's Game is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by FLIPFLOPs. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine from December 2012 to October 2023. An anime television series adaptation produced by Nexus aired from January to March 2020.
Premise
17-year-old high school sophomore Kaname Sudō accepts an online invitation from a friend to play an app game called Darwin's Game, unaware that it involves a fight between life and death. Those who play the game are given a Sigil, an ability that varies from player to player. Trapped in this game of relentless murder and conquest, Kaname determines to clear the game, and to seek out and kill the Game Master.It is revealed later in the series that the Game Master is one of many in the multiverse and is actually benevolent, albeit in the greater good way. Monsters called Greed are infiltrating worlds and eating and replacing people, bringing about repeated Armageddon. Darwin's Game is meant to train Champions to eliminate them.
Characters
Sunset Ravens
One of the clans in the game, to which our heroes belong. Unlike most, they are very benevolent and utterly forbid the game to be played in their territory, Shibuya.;Kaname Sudō
;Shuka Karino
;Rein Kashiwagi
;Ryūji Maesaka
;Sui/Sōta
;Liu Xuelan
;Ichiro Hiiragi
Others
;Hamada;Kyōda
;Shinozuka
;Suzune Hiiragi
;Banda-kun
;Wang
;Keiichi
Media
Manga
FLIPFLOPs launched the series in the January 2013 issue of Akita Shoten's manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Champion which was published on December 12, 2012. The series was compiled into 30 volumes from June 2013 to January 2024. The manga entered its final arc on January 11, 2020. The manga ended serialization in October 2023.Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the 16th volume of the manga on November 8, 2018. The series is directed by Yoshinobu Tokumoto and written by Shū Miyama, the writer of the FLIPFLOPs duo and also original creator of the manga series, with animation by studio Nexus and character designs by Kazuya Nakanishi. Kenichiro Suehiro is composing the series' music. The series aired from January 3 to March 20, 2020, on Tokyo MX and other channels. The first episode was listed as a one-hour episode and had an advanced screening on the night of December 24, 2019. ASCA performed the series' opening theme song "CHAIN", while Mashiro Ayano performed the series' ending theme song "Alive". Aniplex of America licensed the series, and began streaming the series on FunimationNow, AnimeLab and Wakanim from January 3, 2020, and on Crunchyroll and HIDIVE from February 2, 2020. Funimation produced an English dub for the series. It ran for 11 episodes.Reception
The series had 10 million copies in circulation by January 2024.Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime: James Beckett was critical of the premiere's "extended running time" being filled with "overdramatic slow motion shots and dubstep music" for a story that insists on its "edgy coolness" without being "exceptionally novel or interesting" besides emitting "hardcore Future Diary or Big Order vibes," calling it "a well-animated and decently directed slice of nothing, and it almost put me to sleep, making it the first show of the season I wholeheartedly recommend skipping." Theron Martin commended the episode for not having the "common hallmarks" that King's Game was riddled with by having "more interesting and immediately likable characters", and praised Yoshinobu Tokumoto for supplying the premise with a "techno and rock-based musical score, inventive scene framing and perspectives, and surprising good action animation". He noted that it gets bloody throughout the runtime, saying, "If you can handle that, though, then this series has more promise than I would have expected." Rebecca Silverman praised the premiere for elevating both "plot and production values" than other survival game stories, but was critical of several suspensions of disbelief moments throughout the runtime, concluding that: "If it is a genre you enjoy, however, this is definitely trying to put its best foot forward." Nick Creamer was positive towards the "efficient and energetic" pacing through the premise's rules and the battles having "dramatic appeal", highlighting the second fight for its "solid action animation" and "sense of urgency and discovery," but felt it was indistinguishable in terms of "worldbuilding or narrative setup" and the characterizations of both Kaname and Shuka, concluding that: "If you're a fan of battle royales, and characters like Shuka aren't a dealbreaker for you, I'd give it a shot."