It’s time for a rant about the first episode of new anime, Genome– The Ones Within. Long story short, this show has no originality and is completely nonsensical, but I’m still watching it because it’s so ridiculous and bizarre. It’s still not as bad as King’s Game!

Story: 5/10

The story is about 8 young gamers and streamers who are abducted, taken somewhere remote, and made to play a real-life version of the online game Genome– The Ones Within. An audience is watching this real-time “stream.” The kids won’t be released until they make it to a hundred million views.

It’s unclear what this game is about. At first, the one responsible for kidnapping (an absurd character named “Paka” in an alpaca mask) says they’ll need to fight gigantic animals, whose existence no one questions. We’re talking about rats bigger than humans. Then, for some reason, four of the kids play Kokkuri (with a real and very dangerous spirit, of course), while the other four… just wait around, I guess?

As you can see, the story is all-over-the-place. It’s also riddled with silly humor and gags. And it’s not even a real survival game by my definition, because the kids don’t have to kill each other, and there is no tension, nor proof that they’ll be killed if they don’t participate in the game. Everything is just oddly light-hearted and strange. The storytelling quality was low. Since this is only the first episode, I’ll be generous and call the story average.

Characters: 4/10

The characters were boring and shallow. There is, of course, the angry boobs girl who calls everyone BAKA and slaps or punches them for no good reason. There’s the plain-looking male main character and his personality that’s always cheerful and so sugary sweet that it makes my teeth hurt. There’s the cool guy, the quiet guy, the smart and sciency glasses girl, etc. etc. There’s nothing remotely interesting about any of them so far. Seriously, the most entertaining character is the alpaca man.

Art: 5/10

The art wasn’t absolutely horrible, but it looked rough, jerky, typical, and cheap. I did notice some creativity in colors, angles, and quick cuts, such as when the scene suddenly cuts to Paka on the floor with one of the kids holding him and knifepoint. Even still, I think the animation and character designs are average at best. Then again, I don’t have a good eye for anime art or quality, so I could be dead wrong. For all I know, these are stunning visuals. 😛

Sound: 6/10

A 6/10 qualifies as “fair / fine,” just a step above average. That’s how the sound seemed to me. There are talented seiyuu likeYamashita Daiki, Uchiyama Kouki, and Tsuda Kenjirou, but to be honest, I’m getting tired of hearing their voices everywhere. I do think both are doing jobs with their roles; however, that’s only to be expected from seiyuu like them. The opening song was alright, but just not my thing. The ending song which played during the last few scenes sounded good, though. I didn’t notice any instrumental music that I partcularly liked.

Enjoyment: 6/10

I laughed several times while watching because episode 1 was simply so absurd and silly. I especially enjoyed the silliness of Paka. I think this is going to be one of those “so bad that it’s really funny,” shows, so I’m sticking around for more. I don’t recommend picking up Genome unless you enter with no expectations at all.

Overall Score: 5.2/10.0 Mediocre

This is 7mononoke of Anime Rants. Thank you so much for reading this post today! Be well and take care of yourself. Mata Ashita!

Images from: Nakanohito Genome (Jikkyouchuu). Dir. S Oonuma. Silver Link. 2019.