Review of Darwin's Game

Wow, I can't believe the manga is 8 years old already! I've been waiting for so long for an anime adaptation of Darwin's Game, and here we are. And I was not disappointed at all, the anime lived up to my expectations. STORY Darwin's Game is a modern survival game like many others, but it succeeds where most anime of this genre fails: it uses EVERY ASPECT of survival. It's not just battles to death: the characters must survive BY ANY MEANS, be it through alliances, betrayals, sacrifices, bargaining, or flight. The main character, Sudo Kaname, gets sucked into this death game and does everything he needs tosurvive. He gets powerful allies, begs for his life when needed, or straight kills his opponents.

This first season focuses on the formation of Kaname's clan, the Sunset Ravens. It's mainly character introduction, and it doesn't go much further than that... but frankly, it doesn't need to. As an introduction to this world, it is perfect. Each character gets enough screen time, the D-game is explained clearly and the story is set up, as the goal of the main character is not only to survive, but to destroy the D-Game.
As a first season, it is perfect.

My only complaint is this season is too short. Eleven episodes (although the first one is 40 minutes long), that's just not enough. If they ever make the second season, I hope it will be longer.

Ah, I've got another complaint: I HATE it when post-generic scenes are key scenes. They're easy to miss if you have the reflex to skip the ending. I'm lucky I read the manga, so I quickly realized it when I missed a scene, but an average watcher will just feel lost and clueless.
I'll say it here: DON'T FORGET TO CHECK IF THERE'S A SCENE AFTER THE ENDING. It makes the transition from one episode to the other, you will miss KEY SCENES if you skip it.
Darwin's Game is not the first anime to use this idea, and it is just retarded. The fact that it's after the ending doesn't bring anything relevant, and just makes these scenes easy to miss.

ART
The anime was surprisingly good. I wasn't convinced by the trailers, but the animation is much better than I expected. The fights are cool, although not ground-breaking. The shaders are great, those really make it beautiful to watch.

SOUND
I love the ending, and the OST works during the episode. But it's nothing outstanding either. It just works.
The seiyuus are great, but that one is obvious, lol.

CHARACTER
This point is where Darwin's Game both shines and fails in my opinion.
I love those characters. They are charismatic, memorable, have some clever powers and strong personalities. But this manga introduces WAY TOO MANY of them.

This issue didn't occur in the anime for now, since it only had time to introduce the main characters. But it will happen later. The story will keep introducing characters without really developing the current ones, which is a huge waste.
For now though, there's nothing to complain about.

ENJOYMENT
I really liked this first season. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it sets up the story perfectly. It introduces the main characters, sets the direction the story will take, and it is really polished. I really recommend this anime, and if you liked it, I definitely recommend the manga, which is phenomenal when it's at its best!