OP Sequence

OP: 「ANSWER」by Mayu Maeshima

「過疎ゲーの住人」 (Kasogee no Juunin)
“Living in a Dead Game”

Out of the frying pan and into the fire might be an overplayed idiom at times, but something tells me it’s an appropriate phrase for the comings and goings (and oh most definitely goings) of Full Dive. When the evolution of Best Friend Killer is Running Best Friend Killer, darling you know you’re in for a good time.

If last episode wasn’t enough to reinforce Kiwami Quest’s, erm, unique method towards gameplay, I dare say this week sums it up even better. From the retention of pain to the invocation of fatigue and running of machine learning algorithms that give new meaning to stubborn NPCs, it’s a game that certainly wouldn’t last long in practice (and indeed we already have that line cropping up), yet makes for some absolutely hilarious circumstances. While there’s nothing new under the sun in Full Dive, stuff like Hiro getting literally chased to within inches of his life by the one true fruit cutter Alicia was glorious to behold – and that’s before remembering she has also gone full suicidal, death do you part yandere. Need additional reaction faces? Oh you’re taken care of here. Full Dive may be same-old at heart, but it’s got the execution down pat.

What will be interesting to see, however, is how Full Dive weaves these pieces into a larger story. The first elements of that already appeared this week for example, as Reona in all her fairy glory pointed poor Hiro to his first player encounter with Ginji whose only help for Hiro is throwing him to the wolves. Escaping the starter town is pretty much going to be the first arc here (given how much it’s been discussed), but how Hiro manages that without losing an arm and a leg in the process will be interesting to see. Not to mention getting around to answering how many other players are floating about in convenient invisible avatars, because that’s quickly turning into a thing for one reason or another. Another interesting aspect too will be how much Full Dive decides to delve into Hiro’s real-world life and the perceptions and implications of gaming as a hobby and personal release, but outside of tsundere sisters pulling naked bathroom scenes I don’t expect too much in this regard.

After all, comedy is pretty much the name of the game right now, and if that cliffhanger is any indication, Hiro is going to be providing plenty more when next week rolls around.

 

Preview

8 Comments

  1. Interesting premise so far, but I haven’t seen the hook (for my interest) yet.
    Unless the next episode adds something, I don’t expect much more than
    I’ve already seen… I’m not getting the comedy aspect of it either; it’s kinda
    dark to me.

    I mean the series can’t possibly revolve around his trying to elude Alicia —
    my gut tells me something’s gonna happen and she’ll become an ally
    (I’ve been wrong about things like this before, though).

    … and why the hell is Ginji still playing after all of this time. Could he (in his
    real life) actually be getting something out of the game, or is he just a
    NEET waiting for a Jobless Reincarnation?

    Just pointing out the elephant in the room.

    mac65
    1. Guaranteed this won’t be some prolonged chase scene over 12 episodes, there’s just no way of keeping that interesting long enough even with a resident yandere.

      From the synopsis I expect things to eventually switch into Hiro’s desire to actually beat the game (of which we got the first glimpse this episode), but definitely agreed, the show is taking its time getting to that point and it will have to touch on it soon or risk audience boredom.

      As for Ginji definitely the latter. Notice he can apparently get drunk in the game, which given the ultra-realism at work implies a similar level of inebriation to real life. If that’s the case, I could easily see why someone like him would stick with the game – much easier fuelling that habit in-game than in actual life lol.

      1. ~18:23

        “It tastes like cola. It’s not booze.”

        “Wait, how is he drunk on this? He’s strange.”

        …and a bit of a mystery still unless he’s a disposable character who’s
        only meant to out our protagonist in the series. Anyway, here’s hoping
        it gets better more coherent in the next episode!

        mac65
  2. I drop this Anime

    What is the meaning for a Anime of a VRMMO Game, where the player is just useless and to realistic? What their plans to reproduce an Second World? Well, you see where Second World is about, Roboblox do not count

    Worldwidedepp

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