Kamierabi God.app

Do not ever download and open suspicious apps or strange notifications. Because by doing so, you might end up becoming a candidate in a death battle to become God! Oh wow. Plot sounds as cheesy and generic like other battle royale genres but yeah, need to know what kind of app does that since we’re all so reliant on our Smartphone. And so in Kamierabi God.app, our chosen candidates will be given some sort of strange power from the app as they hunt down other candidates in the field until there can only be one. Oh well, makes you wish for easier times when you could just make 3 wishes upon a genie’s lamp!

Episode 1
Gorou Ono is made by his friend, Yutaka Akitsu to film him. Akitsu jumps off the edge! What a scare because there’s a hidden platform below. This is to see Gorou’s reaction and you bet Gorou is not happy. Classmate and crush, Honoka Sawa seeks Gorou’s help in some online social media thingy in which he gladly helps her out. On his way back, he notices a black cat crossing the street. Nobody giving a damn because they’re looking at their phone! And why is the cat looking back at him?! And just like that, the cat gets run over. Nobody cares. Return to your mundane life. Back home, he notices his phone is displaying a strange message. Something about he has been chosen and thus is allowed to have a wish. Thinking this is some scam, he nonchalantly wishes to do something ecchi with Sawa. Well, be careful what you wished for because wish is granted. Next day, Gorou is somewhat a celebrity because his video of Akitsu jumping off is viral all over social media. Gorou didn’t realize he accidentally posted it when he was helping Sawa. Obviously the duo get suspended for a week from school. Sawa feels bad about it and hopes to make it up to them. Akitsu lends him the key to his video arcade place so they can ‘date’. There, some hentai game accidentally got displayed on the screen. Gorou then unzips his pants and start to masturbate on Sawa!!! She allows it?!

That’s when this little imp, Lall congratulates him for his wish coming true. She starts to explain about this death game in which participants must kill each other to become the only God. Oh, did she mention she is his partner in this game? Gorou is not amused as he runs away. He realizes the hospital he frequents to is no more. What’s this about for his wish being granted, something is being compensated. Some karma thingy. He gets mad and lashes at all this nonsense when Sawa approaches him. Well, she’s not going to give him a blowjob. She’s going to kill him! Luckily he dodges and that poor passer-by got killed. She extracts a huge sword from his corpse to hunt Gorou. Gorou pleads to her to stop, thinking she too has been scammed. But she beats him up and claims she is doing it on her own free will. He runs as she mocks he isn’t even trying. Where’s his weapon? Since Gorou is so stressed up, Lall tells him to just die and avoid all the suffering. Yeah well, life is unfair. So is the whole world. Everybody dies every day and nobody cares. God isn’t going to save you. Just like that he gains an interest to stop Sawa. Before she attacks, he uses his book to summon some weapon to pierce through her. Game over. Next day, life seems to be normal. Sh*tty, that is. Mom is still an alcoholic and everybody treats him like trash. Lall mocks him this is the twisted karma on him and he would’ve been better off dead yesterday. But wait. Sawa is still alive?

Episode 2
Apparently it is one of Gorou’s wish to resurrect Sawa after he killed her. Lall calls this a foolish move since this gives her a chance to kill him. But it’s his wish so whatever. At school, everyone witnesses a girl being burnt alive. Yup, that gas mask dude is definitely a candidate. But he soon disappears. Because of this incident, the school will be closed temporarily. Karma has it that everyone is now bullying Gorou. Akitsu still remains his pal, though. Sawa wants to talk to Gorou privately and she is not happy about him resurrecting her. It makes her feel all weird. Because of that, she wants to form an alliance with him as she knows his ability is powerful and is scared of it. Lall warns him not to as she can tell she will betray him. However Gorou agrees to her alliance as long as she doesn’t kill him. Sawa then calls out to Akitsu eavesdropping. Looks like he is a candidate too. She has to teach the guys about the app because it tells about their abilities as well as other candidates. There are other functions but it is locked for now. We learn Akitsu’s ability is to see 5 seconds into the future while Sawa’s is to materialize a sword from any sort of meat. They have to get running because that gas mask guy is back and is burning down the whole place to entrap them. The guys just being freaking useless as Sawa uses her ingenuity to save their asses. She further explains the candidate is doing this to drag them into their zone. The stronger the fear, the better the chances. Hence this morning’s killing was to instil fear. Akitsu sees the vision too late as Gorou falls through the floor. He realizes he is now in gas mask’s zone as Gorou narrowly avoids his flames. One hit and he is a goner. Gorou seeks Lall’s help as she warns him doing so will further twist his karma until the misfortune becomes fatal. Gorou is willing to take the risk of living with some misfortune than dying here. With that, Lall uses her power to rewrite the laws of physics to repel air from gas mask. He now suffocates to death. In the aftermath, his body is not found (could’ve escaped) and Gorou collapses from exhaustion.

Episode 3
Is Gorou kidding that he hasn’t decided to fight and become God yet?! He is already in the damn game! Lall has to remind him it is kill or be killed. This means killing others even if he doesn’t want to. Akitsu suddenly pulls off a prank to steal his handphone. Lall panics since that is the source of his power. Without it, he won’t know about the other candidates too. Gorou stays calm and knows Akitsu will not betray him. Flashback 2 years ago shows Gorou was ostracized by his class for punching some popular guy. Even his parents regretted having him as a child despite all they need to do was apologize and avoid a court case. The only one who supported him was Akitsu who was a stranger then. Akitsu knew Gorou did it because that guy badmouthed about his parents. He was impressed with it. Gorou became emotional since nobody was on his side. Akitsu laughed his ass off. That’s how they became friends. Gorou finds Akitsu back at his home as the latter gives back his phone. See? No harm done. Gorou talks about them running away from everything. Flee to overseas and if somebody challenges them, they can just fight them off. Akitsu likes that idea since he isn’t fond of fighting and doesn’t want to see him die. Which is a pity as he is going to kill him now. Gorou has his arm chopped off as Akitsu reveals his true ability of moving items through timelines. As long as it exist in this space, he can materialize it here. He cuts off Gorou’s power as he knows it is to link up with something. As Gorou is seconds from death, it is like he revives and regenerates. Using his power to make something not exist, this sends Akitsu to his defeat. This is when Akitsu reveals he saw the endless future shortly after he got his powers. In all of them, they were brutally killed. However there was this 1 timeline in which there was hope. The one with Gorou winning. He hopes he can win to change this sh*tty world. He is forced to resort to this as it was the only way to alter the future. Gorou screams as Akitsu breathes his last breath. RIP, my friend.

Episode 4
Gorou is depressed after killing his best friend. Lall tries to cheer him but he is in no mood to talk. Uhm, so is he not going to resurrect his friend? Is it too heavy a price to pay? Ran out of wishes? Or perhaps the future will return to being sh*tty if Akitsu is alive? Anyway, Sawa visits and she can tell he killed Akitsu although Gorou will not say why and it’s a secret between them friends. She is here to tell him of this rumour that someone in their school who is nicknamed Little Angel is able to make your desires come true. There are accounts of those who actually got their wish in 3 days. As suspected, Angel might be a candidate so they are going to check this out. While looking about, Gorou stumbles upon this spunky lab coat girl, Chika Nojima. In short, she begs him to join her science club (or is it occult club?) to avoid being shut down. It seems she isn’t a candidate either. Not sure how she talked him into joining forces with her. She brings him to spy on this gloomy guy, Tatsuya Amano who is the supposed Angel. But soon, Kouki Ama grabs him away so Chika forces him to go stop it. Gorou’s move? Run away! Not going to risk his life fighting this bully! Later Gorou trades info with Sawa. Speaking of which, Kouki and Tatsuya just pass before her so she goes to confront them. Sawa attacks Kouki as she knows he is a candidate. Gorou and Lall discuss about Tatsuya not being a candidate because one could easily tell by the dangerous vibes all around as emitted from their power. Gorou tries to contact Sawa but she isn’t picking up. Uhm, she got killed?! As Gorou tries to investigate the posts on Angel, it seems there have been no updates from those who posted their wish came true for weeks. He gets a distress call from Chika for him to come help her since somebody is going to kill her. Then he gets a message to come to school because Angel awaits.

Episode 5
Gorou heads to school and almost gets attacked by Chika. Yeah, she thought he was the perpetrator. Thanks a lot. Suddenly they are being attacked by, uhm, masked zombies?! Sorry Chika, those aren’t aliens. They are saved thanks to Kouki as he brings them to hide in his student council office. Oh, haven’t you heard? He is the student council president! Kouki explains he was acting like a jerk to avoid more victims. 5 years ago, he was a bully victim. Understandably he wanted such people to cease from existence. However grandpa told him as they didn’t understand his point of view, he too didn’t understand from their point of view. So Kouki made some changes and somewhat became a delinquent to see from their side. Hence the reason he came to this school (which prides itself with student liberties) is to help such people find something that they can be proud of. When Kouki became the student council president, Tatsuya was his vice. He too was a bully victim when Kouki saved him from such. However Tatsuya thinks the rest of the student council members are trash and should be rid of. This doesn’t sit well with them and despite Kouki trying to mediate between them, they end up beating Tatsuya. A few days ago, those members became obedient thanks to an app Tatsuya got to rewire their personalities. Yes, he is a candidate. He has manipulated many of this school and wants Kouki to help him in their dream to clean up this school of scumbags. Especially playing the part of Angel, he rewrite their brains to make them think their wish came true. Of course Kouki wasn’t pleased and confiscated his phone. That is why without it, Angel wasn’t operating for weeks. Kouki messed up when Sawa confronted him. He dropped the phone, allowing Tatsuya to take it back and do Sawa in. Now they are in his zone. WTF this revs up Chika as she goes out to fight the zombies?! This science stick sure comes in handy. They arrive at the hall where Tatsuya is now playing God. He is trying to convince Kouki to join his side. Too bad he won’t. He understands but what he is doing is wrong. This makes Tatsuya sad as he believes he is not wrong in all of this. He is still hell bent on eliminating scumbags. With Chika’s help to free Gorou, he is able to use his power to drop Tatsuya into the abyss. Even at this point Kouki tries to save him. Tatsuya is impressed but realizes his loss and forfeits himself from this game. Kouki depressed for failing to save him. As Chika leaves, we see her meet up with a comrade. Turns out she too is a candidate and is not detected simply because she turned off her phone! Her ditzy act is all to gather info without busting her identity.

Episode 6
A year ago when a fan tried to tell his feelings to his favourite idol, Iyo Futana, the moment he entered her room, she is dead! Gorou is chirpy has hell because today is the day Iyo has her comeback concert. Screw Lall’s talk about being closer to God after Tatsuya’s defeat. Nobody gonna kill his vibes! Iyo is his goddess!!! He tries to invite Sawa but after that embarrassment, she doesn’t want to do anything for a while. And so Gorou invites Kouki. To his surprise, he can see Lall and this means he is a candidate. Apparently Tatsuya transferred his candidacy to him. You can do that. Or you can forfeit and die. Kouki doesn’t understand it all but he isn’t going to stress out on it. Iyo personally comes out to personally thank everyone and be a little patient more as the show hit a little setback. Gorou is so happy to see her that he needs to go pee. All the public toilets have a long queue so he has to sneak into a private one. That is when he hears Iyo talking to her manager about the cancellation of the concert. She is against it as she worked so hard for this day. As she frets about it, she realizes Gorou eavesdropping and this he is the one who is made the bomb scare claim. Lall then calls Iyo’s bluff and knows she is a candidate. Then a bomb goes off. Gorou still brings her to safety despite she is the enemy. In the concert hall, they see the perpetrator. Iyo then realizes he is the one who killed her a year ago! This Iyo is actually that fan who has impersonated her. His power is to mimic anybody including their memories, feelings and pain. He laments that day when Iyo took her own life because she couldn’t take it anymore the pressure from the stalker. She couldn’t tell anyone for not wanting to let them down. Now he is going to kill him but Gorou stops it. Despite all the hardships, he doesn’t want her to go down this road and will always cheer for her. Iyo accepts this salvation and to top it off, Kouki gives that stalker a good punch. In the aftermath, Iyo’s concert is reduced to online viewing. Nevertheless, Gorou is happy. Now we know where that silly dance came about! Perhaps he can die happy as Iyo personally thanks Gorou for bringing her back to her feet. Yeah, literally he starts to cry blood! It’s no joke! The twisted karma has taken its fatal turn for the worst!

Episode 7
A flashback when Sawa was young, she was ingrained with the family rules. F*ck, how many were there?! Sawa receives a call from Kouki to come to the hospital since he is in bad shape. She isn’t interested but changes her mind. It is because this is a chance to kill him. Sure, they made an alliance but she didn’t say about not killing him. Of course Kouki won’t let her and with Lall calling out her true colours, she threatens to mince her. This makes Sawa scared and runs away. Kouki tells Lall off for that threat even though it was a lie she can use such power herself. Lall is worried that all the misfortune is falling into place. Gorou doesn’t care about the price to pay ever since Akitsu died. But Kouki promises he will not betray Gorou as he is a friend. The more pressing issue now is Sawa. Speaking of which, as she tries to leave this place, she bumps into Chika who is looking for a friend supposedly sleepwalking. Sawa doesn’t detect her as a candidate and makes her way. She realizes too late as she enters a zone. It brings her back to those childhood days. Because her brother, Kouta broke the rules, he was locked in this room without food or anything for days until mommy and daddy said so. This of course brings Sawa a lot of trauma as she regrets not being able to save him. Back when she was small, she couldn’t reach the numerous locks. Now she just cuts through them. But it’s empty. When she hears her parents returning, she is stumped because she killed them before. Oh well, time to go kill them again. She returns to reality as Chika talks about parallel worlds that has no bearing on this one. Sawa realizes Chika is a candidate but this parallel world belongs to this wheelchair ridden friend of hers, Ryou. With Sawa claiming she will be God to save Kouta so they can all be happy, this initiates a fight between them. Surprise but not surprise at all, Chika reveals she is that gas mask character. She starts burning down Sawa and in pain, she realizes she doesn’t want to die yet so she stabs herself. No, not to kill herself but to use her own meat to revive. This time Chika’s flames don’t work on her. Sawa won’t kill her and makes her swear an allegiance. Otherwise she will kill Ryou. Scared Chika agrees but notes what kind of game the guys are playing because the last time Gorou also didn’t kill her. Too bad she jinxed it because she gets killed off by Ryou’s brother, Kyou. He doesn’t like the idea of collusion as it is too early for it. He leaves with his sister. So he isn’t killing off Sawa?

Episode 8
Keita wants some mangaka, Chokubo to change his story. Of course he refuses. Because of that, Keita makes a few taps on his keyboard and turns his life upside down. He is now a wanted criminal. Kouki has cooked this massive meal for Gorou to celebrate his recovery. Believe it, he can actually cook. You think nothing surprises Gorou anymore? Wait till he sees Iyo bursting out from this huge present! Yeah, that’s the reaction. I bet he is feeling more than better now. As Iyo’s agency has ideas of her doing some game streaming, Gorou would be glad to help her. He remembers that hentai game on Akitsu’s TV and takes precaution not to show her. Too bad Iyo already turned the TV on. Welcome to a new gaming? Kouki tries to pull the plug but the porn is still on. You know what this means. A candidate. Even more shocking a girl named Mitsuko pops out from the screen! This is not part of the game! Meanwhile Chika is still alive because Sawa healed her. Now that she has confiscated her phone, she has her spill the beans especially her comrades. Chika mentions about Ryou and Kyou. But they are nothing compared to Keita who is just insane. In short, his power allows him to manipulate any info and turn lies into truth. Mitsuko pleads Gorou and co for help because her friend, Mikipiyo is being held hostage by Keita who stalked her. She tried to tell him off but you can guess what happened next. Mitsuko is finding other candidates who will help fight this crazy guy. Speaking of which, he calls Mitsuko and knows that she is trying to form an alliance. He throws her a challenge to come rescue her friend in 3 hours or she goes boom. Oh, he has branded them all as terrorists so you bet the police are hot on their tails. Mitsuko’s power is to teleport them to places she knows she they take refuge at the playground. At the same time, Sawa finds them and also reveals about Chika. She proposes all of them form an alliance and a deal that whoever becomes God, will grant all their wishes. Can’t say no to this deal, right? But time is up. Police drones have found them and Keita relishes to play this game.

Episode 9
Well, looks like nobody here has got offensive power to fight the drones. Iyo’s barrier shields them from their fire but she won’t last long. Hence they have this desperate idea for Mitsuko to teleport them away. Don’t care where, just anywhere! As she begins, she realizes she messes up. Meanwhile Keita tries to talk to Mikipiyo who is ignoring him. Still being the haughty jerk he is as he offers one last time for her to be his girlfriend. Or die alone. Okay. It’s her choice. He returns to track the rest but can’t seem to find them anywhere on the face of this Earth. Just then he gets a call from Chokubo that he decides to draw the manga he wants. Keita is amazed and looks at this week’s issue. As he turns the pages, Mitsuko suddenly pops out and punches him! We go back an hour earlier, it seems Mitsuko messed up imagining some manga cover as she, Gorou and Iyo ended up in Chokubo’s apartment. Although he tells them about the lies on him, he doesn’t care anymore. It’s not like it’s going to change things for the better. He is on the verge of giving up as he tells the rest his story. Keita was a fan of his works but forced and imposed his ideas into his manga. We all saw what happened when he refused, right? However Iyo believes there is one work that Keita is still infatuated with because she noticed he still spouted lines from it. Thus the idea of Mitsuko popping up from a manga page at where Keita is. However Chokubo pointed out this week’s issue is not scheduled to appear this week. In that case, Gorou will use his power to put that issue back this week. Once that was done, Mitsuko began her trip. Keita is beaten up and Mikipiyo freed. Jerk still claims this is all unfair. So taking hostage was fair? She forces him to undo everything. Once that is done, she teleports him to South Pole. Have fun admiring the aurora. If you’re wondering where the rest are, looks like they got the short end of the stick. Kyou handing their asses to them.

Episode 10
Flashback a year ago, Chika found it troublesome since her parents had high hopes for her in taking over their hospital. She stood at the edge of the rooftop. This made Ryou thought she was going to jump off so as she tried to stop her, almost causing both of them to fall off! WTF?! Chika’s great luck and strength pulled them back up. Ryou lectures her about killing herself although pessimistic Chika believed all that she had done will amount to nothing. Ryou disagreed. As long as she kept living, she will one day find her dream. And now in present time, looks like she is on the verge of death. Kouki is facing off with Kyou who narrates the kind of world he wants to make. Obviously not the kind Kouki approves. Ryou makes him mad on purpose so that he will have the killing intent. Kouki beats him to a pulp until he is dead. But as Chika warned, he isn’t. Just like that he and everyone else gets impaled. Gorou and Iyo are making their way as the latter talks the strangeness of the candidates having superhuman powers and thus did God not foresee this mess? And what the heck is Lall? Well, little imp tells them not to think too much about it and fight each other to the death. Gorou explains about Akitsu’s death and the reason why he is still carrying on. But Lall brushes it off that his wish is anything like that. Lall is reluctant to say and Gorou doesn’t want to push her. It could be too late as a portal in the sky opens and blood rain starts falling right before Lall wants to reveal some big secret. Lall then fears the worst. Yeah, I thought she knew all about Gorou? So why she gets upset he didn’t tell her? Apparently karma has now slowly taken his senses bit by bit. And now bodies and falling down. We see Kyou talking to Ryou about some Schrodinger cat thingy. Basically, because Ryou is God, she can tell what kind of cats are in the box without opening. So if she is God, what is Kyou? God’s cat. He poses the question what will happen if that cat in a parallel world opens its own box. Gorou knows using more of his power will let his senses chip away. But he is well aware of the risks as Lall agrees to support him until he becomes God. He shuts off the portal.

Episode 11
Flashback to a year ago, Kyou talked to Ryou about the stars in the sky. They talk about some of its answers and Kyou’s conclusion is that the light of those hasn’t reached them. It will take a long time and the only one who could see or knew these starts is someone who lives forever. Like God. Unfortunately, Kyou is suffering from some disease and knows his days are numbered. One day it got bad enough for him to be hospitalized. Dad told Ryou to be patient since he will be sent to a faraway hospital for treatment. Ryou understood and waited. But as the days passed, she could obviously see the frustrations growing in dad. Something about wanting a cure and not some weird hieroglyphics displayed on his computer screens. He became obsessed in finding whatever cure when Kyou’s condition worsened. He sank into depression as Ryou snuck into his room where the computers are. Suddenly they told her she was the chosen one and to have a wish. Spooked, she ran out. Not sure how she could spot Ryou at the distance when it’s so dark. So as she tried to get to him, she got hit by a truck. In comatose state in hospital, she dreams about all the things she could’ve done with her brother. But the most important being she wanted to watch the stars with him from anywhere. And just like that, her wish of having her brother back materialized. Gorou sees all these memories as he leaps into the parallel world. Kyou confronts him to talk and wants him to join them in rebuilding a new world. He reveals Ryou’s power to materialize any ifs and non-existent realities into parallel worlds. And in such parallel worlds, Kyou has the power to control them in any way he likes. He can even link and overlap them. However he cannot cure Ryou’s condition. And that is why he needs Gorou’s powers. What do you say we join forces and screw this tournament? Gorou rejects him and Kyou sees that coming and thus is prepared to rob his powers. They fight and since Gorou has lost his senses, can’t fight well. Even if Kyou gets killed, he respawns himself from another parallel world. Since Kyou wants a happy for his sister where she can’t get hurt, Gorou tells him to talk to her directly and attacks Ryou. This makes Kyou panic as he rushes to protect her. At this point, Ryou awakens and is in a daze. This is where the parallel world starts to crumble as they return to reality. The public is now scared seeing dead corpses and blames Ryou for this and beats her up! A weakened Kyou can’t do anything. Gorou has paid the ultimate price as he can’t move and pleads Iyo to save Ryou. However she doesn’t recognize who the f*ck Gorou is.

Episode 12
With the other characters streaming in, Sawa thinks Gorou is the enemy and wants to finish him off. However Iyo and Kouki caution her because they feel something isn’t right. Something is missing from their memories. Sawa couldn’t care less and in her b*tch mode, wants to kill this f*cker. But WTF?! Lall gets in the way and gets stabbed?! Even so, Sawa continues to b*tch about everything including becoming God and getting her wish. Lall tells her to STFU because God is one who listens to the wishes of others. And the only person who fits that is Gorou. Now we see Gorou having a monologue about his sad life. Some talk with Kyou about the sad facts of reality that things won’t change no matter how hard one tries. Because of that sealed fate, people tend to give up. So what is the value of life? Then it is Akitsu’s turn to talk about something similar. And the real tragedy that hit Gorou’s family: His mom having an affair with another man and looks like she got pregnant from it! Gorou found out and threw up? Then a talk with Lall as he remembers about his true wish. Something about wanting others to entrust their wish to him as to show that he is wanted. Not just Akitsu’s but everybody else. Lall calls someone who does that as God. Now Lall continues to lecture about how she was never her fate to be born but yet Gorou wished her a happy future even when God wouldn’t save her! She thanks Gorou for caring for her and because of that, she can become the price of his power by fading away. She hopes to meet for real next time. Lall becomes Gorou’s power as he awakens as, uhm, God? Because everyone around him soon gets zapped into nothingness! When Ryou is the only one left, she immediately stops him and sternly tells him off her wish belongs to only her. Not sure what power she used but everyone returns and only both of them disappears. Meanwhile in South Pole, Keita curses his luck. If only there was internet so he could mess with some data to get him rescued. Then he realizes something in his phone. Now we see a politician calling out the recent terrorist attacks as a failure from the current administration to handle such crisis. He vows to make the change to reflect the true will of the people! Uhm, is this Gorou adult version?!

Karma-geddon!
Well, if the ending was helluva confusing, don’t worry because even before this season ended, they announced there will be another one coming up. Rather, I was confused why this was only a single cour because before this series started, I read somewhere stating this was going to be like 2 cours. I thought I read wrongly on my part. Looks like they decided to split it into another season. Yeah, we need to take a break from all the sh*t f*ckery that has happened in this season! Watching it consecutively in 2 straight cours might make you go crazy! Don’t want to be responsible for unrepairable damage, do we?!

So yeah, honestly I had some hopes that this series would be interesting. Long story short, it failed to live up to my expectations even if that expectation bar was set low enough. I mean, thinking this would be some sort of battle royale where people put their lives on the line, this should be interesting. Yes, candidates do put their life on the line but there weren’t enough people dying! OMG. Am I such a bloodthirsty sadist?! Blame Squid Games for upping the bar on such survival games. On the surface, this series had an interesting concept for it. Using you Smartphone or app on it to play life or death games. However the execution and how it played out was just disappointing. It was never really explained in detail (maybe it did but I wasn’t listening?) and I went through the entire season confused and blind. Until the very end, I still don’t know how the app really works or even see how the characters truly used it. Heck, the even more pressing issue are the strange and confusing abilities that the candidates draw up. I don’t even know what the rules to it are. Therefore in most cases, it felt like the producers were just winging it or writing the whole thing on the fly as they go by. To be fair, this anime was originally written and not based on any manga, light novel or game source. Goes to show how hard it is to write a good story in today’s era, eh? Yeah, somebody didn’t use the God app here to write a better story!

Thus as far as I can see for this season, it was just some long draggy drama between the characters we are introduced as they fumble along the way while playing this confusing and uncertain game. Heck, the rules themselves seem so flimsy and it’s like nobody even stops to think about it like circumventing them or finding a loop hole. I give you an example, is there any time limit to play this game? Because if there is none, there could be a point where everybody just won’t fight each other and carry on with their normal lives. Rendering the game to be endless. But hey, that’s not breaking the rules, right? Then there is the mystery behind this app or why certain candidates get chosen. Maybe it will be explained next season but as far as this first one is concerned, it leaves a lot to be desired. And why do we see the candidates all mostly from the same school or area?! Is this thing an international game or is it just confined locally?

And if multiple Gods are allowed (talking about making alliances so that our characters we love don’t have to kill each other), then what is the point of having this game?! You don’t need to kill to be God, so let us all be Gods together! Do you see what I mean?! As seen, Chika could switch off her phone and still not pay any penalty. So can we all just switch off our phones and ignore the game?! What happens if we change phones?! Lots of such questions are boggling my mind right now but I am going to play the patient game and see what they have to offer next season before I jump the gun in talking trash about this anime. Yeah. So for now I have to put up with this season’s strange story flow of our characters introduced, forming strange alliances as they fight the antagonists of the day. Yeah, that’s basically the formula I see this season has.

One of the biggest controversies that most viewers would have is the visuals. Ah yes, this show is rendered entirely in CGI. Yup, the dreaded method of today’s anime visual standards. It would have not been an issue especially like yours truly to b*tch so much about it had they at least put in some decent quality. It is not impossible. For instance, Trigun Stampede and Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall both have satisfactory quality and the entire season was done in CGI. But for this series, it serves to remind us the abomination why we hate it so much! I don’t know if they don’t have the budget and hired amateurs to do the rendering but as you can clearly see that the models were like incomplete or something. It’s like nobody applied the final texture and sometimes the scenes look like it is still work in progress. The guiltiest one in this department are the extra or background characters. The way they animate them, makes them feel like soulless NPCs! I know they aren’t important characters to begin with but come on, at least have the decency to make them look like decent human beings! Yeah, unfinished render. WTF. Looking like mannequins come to life. Are you even serious, people?!

I don’t know with the bad CGI, can I even say that this is at least slightly better than the promotional poster? Oh Jesus, when I first looked at the promotional poster, it was hideous and ugly as f*ck! Yes, I did not actually want to watch this anime at first and was going to give it a hard pass. But then I thought I should give it a chance after reading the synopsis. Oh you know, don’t judge a book by its cover! I guess that didn’t work here. But had I done so, I wouldn’t have come to a conclusion of how bad this show is. Anyway, making it worse were the character designs at least on the promotional poster. They were so ugly like as though they have some sort of skin disease! My God, WTF man???!!! It gave me an impression this was going to be some sort of horror theme! Yikes! Look at those abomination! Who the f*ck drew them?! Hence comparatively, they look better in CGI. I’m sad that I have to say that. Uh huh. What if that was just a psychological tactic to make us admire the ‘better looking’ (term used very loosely) CGI effects. This show is animated by Unend. Never heard of them? Yeah, a new studio and this is their first works! OMG. This is the level of quality on their debut? Not leaving a good impression here… I hope their name didn’t jinx them because it will be The End for them! HAHAHA!!! Sighs…

And now moving onto the characters, unfortunately they don’t impress me. Sure, everybody has their problems and their wishes especially our main character Gorou who is leading a pitiful and sad life. Whatever. Doesn’t he look like a wimpy version of Shingeki No Kyojin’s Eren?! Anyway, Gorou being the main character is forced to shoulder some sort of burden and also he must have that sort of justice that cares for everyone because that is one of the ingredients that made him the main character. He isn’t perfect and has a lot of flaws but somehow I just can’t seem to like or support him. Because he is also given some sort of ultimate ability that I don’t really understand how it works. Basically it’s like the God power of all God powers and he can do anything he wants but will pay a great price. Yeah. I might be wrong but that’s how I see it. And it is all for the sake of plot convenience. In a pinch now? Yeah, Gorou will do something with his convenient powers to save the day. There. Problem solved. It remains to be seen what has come of him but my guts ring hard that he will be back. Some twist will allow it. I know. Because he is the main character. Or is he not?

Then there is this Lall. Strange little flying imp who is said to be Gorou’s source of power. Yeah, why don’t other candidates get something extra and cute like Lall? All I can see is that Lall’s character is to be some sort of pet mascot or sidekick to Gorou. Oh you know, main character and his little sidekick needs to have some sort of amusing banter and that’s why they created her. Thing is, she too doesn’t know much about the rules and at this point I just want to scream BS at everything. Yeah, it’s like they couldn’t come up with an answer for us so they conveniently make her have no memories of her life before she came into existence. That’s why I said she is more like some comic relief sidekick. But my conspiracy theory of Lall as seen from the last episode: Could it be that Lall is Gorou’s unborn step sister? From the way she says things, it is highly likely that she is so. Otherwise, why still stick around him?

The other characters are also barely winging it. Sawa being the b*tch girl because we need somebody selfish and aggressive. To counter that, we have Iyo who is sweet and gentle but I am confused, is this the dead Iyo or the fan who is impersonating her? If it’s the latter, then it’s not the real Iyo, right? Whatever. Don’t want to think about it. Then there is Kouki who is the other guy in the group so it won’t look like an obvious harem. So he is clueless in the game and just winging it too but despite all that, has his own sense of justice and Gorou’s backup just in case. Then there’s Chika the reluctant ally. Feels like her character has fallen from grace ever since she was revealed to be the gas mask character (which isn’t surprising) and if I should say, lost her oomph. She wasn’t fun anymore. Then there’s Mitsuko… Oh I don’t know, she came in relatively late and there’s not much about her except she as trying to save her friend. So is Mikipiyo part of the group now or not? Oh wait, is she even a candidate?

Obviously other characters who aren’t part of this group would be deemed the antagonists. Too bad they feel one-dimensional. Kyou looks like your typical overprotective brother would do anything for his sister even if it means destroying and changing the world. Nothing exceptional because that’s what bad guys mostly do as opposed to heroes who are the opposite as they would kill you just to save the rest and many. Heh. But are the siblings really the bad guys because just like other candidates, they too have their own wishes they want granted. But I guess they’re better than Keita who is just a sleazebag, right? From the looks of it, we haven’t seen the last of him.

As already said, the powers and abilities of the candidates are not explained well so we don’t really know how this game or its system works. This means the action scenes are just mediocre and the problem already compounded with the CGI visuals and this makes the movements and all looking really weird. So yeah, just conjure the power and some flashy effects whatsoever, there, you have your candidates fighting. Are you satisfied? Not! And the worst offender of all? Personally it is not enough people dying! This season only actually had 2 candidates dead! I was expecting at least 10 people! Oh yeah, the series would then be filled with lots of uninspiring characters but whatever. Let me see some deaths! HAHAHA!!! So the only ones dead include Akitsu who is Gorou’s friend and typically as such scripts wrote, best friend must sacrifice himself so main character can realize something and move on. The other dead guy is Tatsuya who technically withdrew but he is as good as dead. So next season can we introduce more characters and have bloody deaths like Squid Game???!!! PLEASE???!!!

Voice acting feels pretty normal. Ayane Sakura as Lall feels a lot tame here. It could be just me because I felt that she too wasn’t really impressed in voicing her character and thus Lall sounding like Lall. Same can be said for Aoi Yuuki as Ryou but then again, it could be just me. The other casts are Kazuki Ura as Gorou (Shouta in Shuumatsu No Harem), Sara Matsumoto as Sawa (Towa in Hanyou No Yashahime), Tomori Kusunoki as Iyo (Makima in Chainsaw Man), Gakuto Kajiwara as Kouki (Asta in Black Clover), Natsuko Abe as Chika (Lonti in Leadale No Daichi Nite), Chiaki Kobayashi as Kyou (Mash in Mashle), Ai Fairouz as Mitsuko (Takechiyo in Hanyou No Yashahime), Shuuichi Uchida as Akitsu (Terafune in Fuufu Ijou Koibito Miman), Yuuki Shin as Tatsuya (Jinn in Edens Zero) and Shou Karino as Keita (Chifuyu in Tokyo Revengers).

One of the weirdest things this series has to offer is the opening theme, Scrap & Build by Elaiza. This song sounds like some sort of comical carnival and doesn’t fit the series at all. But considering how appalling everything is, maybe we need this weird song to make us raise an eyebrow and go WTF in a different way. Especially the opener where Gorou does his strange Iyo dance. WTF indeed. At least the ending theme, Bleed My Heart by Alisa is more bearable. Even if this song doesn’t fit the series but at least this hip hop with funky bass line and is sung entirely in English makes me want to shuffle my feet at times. Yeah, after seeing all the atrocities, maybe I need to hear such songs to wind down.

Overall, this series could have been better as it had the potentials but it screwed up from the start and what we got is this dreary mess including which the disgraceful CGI effects takes the largest chunk of the cake. You bet it was disappointing alright as it has wasted its chance to make something good out of it. Especially a concept of using Smartphone apps, something that is so indispensable from our everyday lives. Of course there is next season and while I still hold some hope that things will get better like fleshing out the mechanisms and the characters better, I am at the same time going to lower the expectations bar even further! Thank goodness I am not a candidate in this sh*tty game because my wish is just to simply end the whole damn thing right now! It is also a good thing I am not Smartphone savvy and I have no clue about the apps I have on my phone. Oh f*cking hell, I just block and disable all unknown apps from installing on my phone!