Review of Darwin's Game

Story: 6/10 - The way that the author has written the characters to use their powers is generally pretty fun and creative. - The story was interesting and full of action which made me want to watch more. - The pacing of the story felt good to me. - Personally, not a fan of the fanservice (showing Shuka naked etc). - There’s a few pretty big plot holes but I felt okay with sort of turning a blind eye and just enjoying the rest of the story for what it is. E.g. Shuka while being extremely proficient at controlling her Queen of Thorn sigil, does not have other enhanced abilitiesthat would allow her to dodge bullets, yet is able to dodge and deflect bullets. Also characters sometimes monologuing rather than opening fire straight away. But these elements are understandably added to put more juice into the action and drama.
- One of the bigger plot holes that bothered me was how underprepared all the background characters were for a fight. All the experienced characters must have a decent amount of cash, and the game is deadly, so why is the only person investing in bullet proof gear Ryuuji? It’s rather silly that not a single other character thinks about becoming better clad if they’ve been playing the game that long.
- The other big thing that bothered me: it’s really stupid that Rain is okay with openly meeting people that she trades information with in public and gives out her name and what she does so easily. What if someone betrays her? Torture her for information? It seems really risky to do it for no reason when she is so weak in fighting power. She was hiding her identity earlier on in the anime, but then she she goes around telling everyone she meets for the rest of the anime her identity with zero qualms. For someone so intelligent, she sure is silly.

Art: 4/10
- The art style is nothing special.
- Sometimes the animation looked a little wonky and cheap, e.g. prolonged shorts of characters shooting in the same direction, shooting hundreds upon hundreds of bullets without reloading while monologuing.
- None of the characters had any amazingly stand out designs to me.
- I liked Ryuuji's mask design and Rain's jacket.
- The fight scenes with movement (swinging around) had transitions done well and felt smooth.

Sound: 9/10
- The opening and ending songs are good. I especially like the ED.
- The OST was pretty funky.

Character: 6/10
- I found all the characters pretty alright in general. They're not particularly complex, but the characters work well and complement each other.
- None of the characters felt that fresh to me except for Ryuuji as he's an older plain looking man who is not eccentric or supremely powerful), yet is still a main character and not just made a fodder character and who is made compelling by his common sense and thinking rather than much special ability.
- It’s refreshing that the main protagonist is motivated by the death of his male friends and that he values his bros so much.
- I wish they gave Shuka more outfits. As supposedly a girly girl who loves shopping, she only ever wears one dress. I feel like Shuka's eccentric personality would be better expressed and added to if she changed dresses each fight.
- I don't really get why Shuka was so obsessed with Kaname as he didn't do anything *that* cool imo, even if it was her first time losing she could have easily beaten him if she had taken things more seriously. But I understand that she needs to be impressed by him because it's a shounen.

Enjoyment: 8/10
- Despite my critiques, I found the anime fun to watch and finished it all in two days.

Overall: 6/10
TL;DR: It’s not supposed to be that deep, so all around it’s just a pretty fun battle-royale sort of slightly trashy fun action anime. It delivers what it presents itself to be successfully.