Summer 2019 First Impressions – The Ones Within

Akatsuki Iride and seven other charismatic game streamers wake up in the world of a mysterious free-to-play game called Naka no Hito Genome. Now they are competing in real-life games with life-or-death stakes, but clearing several game tasks could earn them 100 million lives.  – ANN

Streaming: Funimation and Hulu

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: One fateful night, several “Let’s Play” video game streamers are offered the opportunity to participate in a special top-secret gaming session. Streamer Akatsuki awakens in a forest soon afterward, and he and a fellow streamer are soon pursued by a giant panda. Akatsuki’s thoughtfulness wins out when he identifies that the panda isn’t hostile. After clearing the obstacle, they’re approached by Mr. Paka, and alpaca-headed individual who fills them in about their special status.

Akatsuki and seven others were chosen to participate in this real-life streaming event, the goal being to grow a viewership of 100,000,000 individuals. They’ll be completing tasks in small groups to obtain genomic objects for some unspecified purpose. The first goal is to complete the 3 requests of “Kokkuri-san” (the Japanese equivalent of using a Ouija board to summon a spirit). While the others in the group are rightfully spooked when the spirit appears, Akatsuki’s kindness and offer of friendship allows them to fulfill the ghost’s desires.

Impressions: If you know me at all, you’ll know that I think that having too many expectations going into a viewing is often detrimental to the overall viewing experience. If the piece of media fails to fulfill those specific expectations, often the result feels hollow. I think at the outset this series reads a bit like a battle-royale or at least some genre with a bit more danger and higher stakes. Some of the characters in this first episode come across as being ready to fight at a moment’s notice, prepared to address any potential danger by resorting to force and violence. Instead, it’s the protagonist’s kindness that turns out to be the most valuable puzzle-solving tool.

One of my favorite anime series of the past 5 years or so was The Perfect Insider, the story of a professor, his student, and a reclusive scientist who turns up dead within an extremely locked-down laboratory environment. The series reads very much like a mystery, where the professor and his student piece together clues to solve the apparent murder. As the series lingers on, however, the mystery-solving component becomes less and less important. The story becomes more about human psychology and specifically the nature and consequences of genius. I enjoyed the show’s transition from mystery to philosophy, but I know a lot of other viewers weren’t pleased with either the change or the difficult nature of the murderer’s personality as it was revealed late in the story.

I’m very much the type of person who can appreciate being led by the arm by a story once I’m engaged in a piece of entertainment, which I realize is a little bit atypical when it comes to reviewers. I’d rather analyze themes in hindsight once the story is complete then try to make predictions about what should happen as it unfolds. That’s just how I roll.

My feelings on this episode were pretty positive, but as I peeked at some of my usual internet haunts, I realized that I was somewhat in the minority. I think some of the more revealing comments I found were those that commented on Akatsuki’s personality, criticizing the fact that his compassion and kindness turned out to be the solution to the team’s “ghost” issue rather than logic or problem-solving. I get that – when the series has an ensemble cast with vastly different temperaments and strengths, one might expect for them to have to get over their differences and use those strengths to logic themselves out of trouble. My arguments about “logic” versus “feelings” are probably well-known at this point, but I find that people’s typical value systems often lend more weight to logical outlooks and solutions and oppose things that are more emotional in nature. I, on the other hand, enjoy stories where characters’ humanity is the deciding factor.

I don’t know how many people actually watched more than a couple of episodes of The Lost Village, but at the time of its broadcast it was ridiculed quite a bit for being sort of silly, featuring irritating characters, and not really adhering to any one genre or tone. I watched the series back then and had the opportunity to watch it again recently, and this episode reminds me of that series quite a bit. This episode is goofy, a little awkward, doesn’t end up nearly as dark as it seems like it could have been. Here’s a secret, though – I really enjoyed The Lost Village partly because it was sort of quirky and didn’t adhere to expectations. The protagonist was kind of a naive, emotional goofball and the climax of the story involved coming to terms with past emotional wrongs rather than solving a more mundane mystery. If this series chooses the path of human emotion rather than puzzle-solving, I certainly can’t fault it for that.

This first episode is quirky, a little silly, and definitely goes against expectations. I can understand why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Personally I think the characterization could use a little more nuance (thus far a few of the characters could be described as “needlessly-blunt assholes”) but I think they’re good foils for the protagonist. I’m certainly more interested in the series than I was beforehand. Take that how you will.

Pros: Problems are solved with empathy and compassion.

Cons: Tone is a bit quirky. Additional characters are one-note.

Content Warnings: Imagery related to fire and burned flesh.

Grade: C+