Spring 2022 First Impressions – Tomodachi Game

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Yuuichi and his four friends are inseparable in spite of their varying circumstances. Yuuichi doesn’t have much money to his name, but he works extra hard to come up with the fee so that he can join his friends on the upcoming class trip. Soon after the funds are turned in, however, the class learns that the full amount was stolen out of a locker. Following that, the class reps (who happen to be two of Yuuichi’s close friends) suddenly go missing. Some days later, Yuuichi receives a letter from one of them, beckoning him to a late-night meeting outside the school gate.

As it turns out, this is a ruse to get all five of friend group members in one place. They’re kidnapped and taken to a mysterious location where they’re told that they can participate in the “Tomodachi Game” to wipe out their collective debt. This immediately throws suspicion on the group members – could one of them perhaps be the thief? Eventually Yuuichi decides that friendship is more important than the potential for monetary loss in this situation, and the group is brought to the first game room. All they have to do is agree on a “yes” or “no” answer to pass and have their debt erased, but it seems that there’s some kind of sabotage taking place after the group fails multiple questions in a row. As they reach their last chance the group seems poised to figuratively eat one-other alive through suspicion. Can a burst of inspiration from Yuuichi save them all from failure?

Impressions: It’s been a while since I’ve watched an anime premiere that could best only be described as “stressful.” While I’m decidedly not a fan of fiction that seems to take a cynical view of human behavior, there are times where this sort of psychological examination through character action can be pretty compelling. Kakegurui is an example of a series that I think mostly tends to get this balance correct; while the series is decidedly grotesque in a lot of ways, it feels more like a story about specific characters’ misbehavior and manipulation, as well as occasionally a discussion of wealth and class, than some indictment of humanity as a whole.

I wouldn’t claim that Tomodachi Game, after one episode, is a good example of this kind of storytelling; it’s simply too early to tell whether it has anything bigger to say, or whether it’s simply another death game style story that revels in feelings of discomfort and stress. But I can say that, whereas with a lot of similar series I find myself either rolling my eyes or becoming immediately disengaged from what the story is trying to force-feed me, I was genuinely becoming invested in the fates of these characters by the end of the premiere.

I’ve spent some time trying to figure out what it is about this episode that has managed to break through my fairly substantial defenses, and I think I’ve landed on something very personal to me. Unfortunately I’ve had many issues with self-esteem over the years, and I often feel like I’m not great at upholding friendships. I tend to lose communication with people I don’t interact with on a regular basis (thanks, Covid-19), and my brain starts to come up with all sorts of ludicrous reasons why these people “aren’t talking to me anymore” (never mind the fact that I could probably do the reaching-out myself, but when you’re convinced that people just don’t want to be around you, the idea of reaching out at all makes one feel like a potential pest or inconvenience at best). I think it’s very easy for certain people, based on personal traumas, to rationalize “what other people might be thinking” even if those things aren’t true. Being forced into a position where, by nature, close friends are the most natural suspects to a crime creates a situation where it’s easy for one’s brain to run away with even the most insubstantial information.

This isn’t the best premiere I’ve seen lately, nor is it the prettiest. But despite what I’d characterize as a somewhat cynical worldview, I thought it was at least interesting to watch – something that I certainly can’t say about many other premieres.

Pros: While it’s somewhat corny, I’m glad we get some brief glimpses of the two oppositional philosophies governing Yuuichi’s worldview. It looks like both the pursuit of wealth and the pursuit of friendships and relationships were instilled in him as important forces by different members of his family, making this more a story of those two oppositional forces battling within him as he attempts to get himself and his friends out of their situation.

Cons: The group is tormented by a creepy mascot character – something that all of these series seem to incorporate. I get that this is supposed to make the situation feel unsettling, but I think it would be even more effective for the mysterious game-master to exist out-of-sight instead of as this copy-cat-ish concept.

Speaking of out-of-sight, we’re quickly introduced to a couple of young women who seem to be monitoring the group from a position of authority over the games. Their reasons haven’t been explained yet, but I can’t imagine the explanation is anything more complicated than some expression of sadism (at least in the case of the pink-haired one). I generally dislike this sort of mechanic, because what kind of people find glee in others’ suffering? Not the kind of people I really care to know more about. I assume the situation is more complicated but these moments really detracted from the overall experience for me.

Content Warnings: Psychological manipulation. Class/wealth struggles.

Would I Watch More? – This is a tough one. Out of everything I’ve sampled thus far this season (which hasn’t been that much yet), this episode has stuck with me the most and made me feel things I don’t normally feel, which is definitely quite a feat. On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure I want to buy what it’s selling.