English Dub Review: Darwin’s Game; “Fragile”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The battle with Wang and the Eighth clan reaches its conclusion as Kaname steadily bluffs his way into trying to clear the event. 

Our Take

Kaname’s bluff is as elaborate as one would expect and goes off about as well as one would expect optimistically. Unexpectedly, not only is the fishing line on this lure quite short, but it also doesn’t take very much effort to successfully pull in the catch. Not even ten minutes into the episode and Kaname wins the entire event in hand. 

The previous episode had a similarly lopsided plot structure, where the tail end of a prominent arc was cut off at the last minute and shoved into the beginning of the next episode. Last time it was Hiiragi’s fate, which was relatively insignificant at the time; but this time, it’s the conclusion to what has been at least half of the show so far. 

Kaname’s prize is an innocuous phone, which grants him a conversation with the game’s “master.” In addition to a big boatload of points, the game master also grants Kaname a special privilege of his choosing. The discussion and deliberation of what this special privilege could possibly be unlocks some useful exposition. 

Of course, Kaname’s first request is to simply leave the game, which, of course, the game master does not grant. The game master says that the only two ways to exit the game are to either kill him or to “clear” the game. The game master does not specify at all what “clearing” the game entails, and one wouldn’t expect him to be especially forthcoming. But, surprisingly, Kaname does not question the game master at all about it when he mentions it. Kaname’s goal is to leave the game with as little bloodshed as possible, so shouldn’t ascertaining the clear condition be something he should prioritize? From the name, “Darwin’s Game,” one might intuit that the point may be to simply kill all of the other players, but it probably, hopefully, isn’t as banal as that. 

The game master gives examples of other privileges he has granted to players in the past. A notable example includes giving a player control over the gambling den from which the rich clientele spectate. The other examples fall within the realm of giving one player some level of adjudication over others. The thread woven between all of these is one of personal greed and dominance. Perhaps this is related to the clear condition; to attain control over all of the other players, not necessarily through violence alone.  

Either way, none of the aforementioned methods of clearing are in Kaname’s playbook. What he asks for and is ultimately granted is not revealed. In addition, Kaname also receives a brand new type of Sigil, which is also not specified. All of this intriguing information being carefully locked away steadily heightens the tension as we make our way through the next part of the story.

The end of the episode reveals that the next few scenes all take place two months after the event. 

Sui has moved in with Shuka, who is meticulously looking for a safe-enough safe house for the clan. There’s not much to this scene apart from the blatant fan service. 

Rein very clumsily sees that Hiiragi’s daughter, Suzune, receives the money from her father’s life insurance policy. After her failed attempt by using the conniving insurance company employee, she sheepishly approaches Suzune afterward. She doesn’t give her the honest truth that Suzune needs, but she does lay the groundwork for what may be a burgeoning friendship. It’s interesting to see her rapport with Hiiragi might continue after his death. 

This all comes to a head at the Danjo boxing gym, where Ryuji is convalescing. At the beginning of the episode, Ryuji had hastily squeezed in at the last minute during his confrontation with Wang that he joined Kaname’s side because Wang killed his younger brother. As we see him interacting with the characters at Danjo’s gym, we see that there is a lot more of his story left to be told. These conversations at the gym are perfectly fine, so it would’ve made more sense for that little splice of Ryuji’s past to have occurred here rather than being suddenly dispensed in the heat of battle.

We’re briefly introduced to Danjo, the owner of the gym, an earnestly overzealous martial artist who claims he can take down a tank in a one-on-one. The confidence this guy exudes is insanely strong. There are only three episodes left, but hopefully, this guy gets to fight in at least one of them. 

Then we see Kaname at the end, who has been receiving training from Danjo during this little time skip, appearing even more overeager than Danjo himself. Kaname wants an alliance with Danjo’s clan, to which Danjo proposes a fight. Kaname gladly accepts, confident with his training and his new Sigil. 

Bringing up the animation at the end once again, the quality of it initially appeared to drop even further. In particular, the mouths on Kaname and Wang look mismatched with the rest of their facial features, like they were pasted on at the last minute. But after the treasure hunt arc ends, the animation quality picks up again for events after the time skip. It looks like they might have had different people doing different batches based on the part of the story, so hopefully, this next part got more of the budget. 

A swift but decisive end to one arc brings the swiftly decisive beginning of a new one. Kaname is more prepared than he has ever been, as his next opponent appears to be as well.