English Dub Season Review: Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! Season One

Overview:

Due to an accident a few years prior, the high school student Hiroshi Yuuki now immerses himself in full-dive RPGs as a form of escapism. After failing to acquire the latest version of his favorite game, Hiroshi stumbles upon a game shop and meets its beautiful clerk Reona Kisaragi who convinces him to buy a copy of Kiwame Quest so that they can play together.

Our Take:

This is a tough show to review. It definitely has some good points and it’s not terrible but it does do something terrible. And that is to not reach its full potential. There is so much room for this show to grow and the last couple of episodes have some interesting developments happen but I doubt we will ever get to see them come to fruition.

This show is what I like to call “Isekai Lite” kind of like Sword Art Online where yes they are technically in another world but it’s just a video game world. Still gives you the typical isekai feel and I think technically it is but that’s the easiest way for me to sum this show-up. One thing that makes it very different is that Hiro is not your typical overpowered protagonist. In fact, he might be underpowered. Trust me if you watch this show you will feel bad for Hiro at some point.

One thing this show really has going for it is the voice talent. They really got some top-tier talent in this one, though they don’t all get the opportunity to shine. Johnny Yong Bosch plays the lead character, Hiro. Honestly, this might be my least favorite role of his. He does a great job but the character just doesn’t get to shine much so it makes sense that the voice actor wouldn’t get many opportunities either.

Natalie Van Sistine voices the other lead Reona. I haven’t got to hear her too much but I think she did a pretty good job here. Reona is kind of a garbage character and I think that comes through in the voice acting. Feels like a weird thing to compliment her on but she portrays the character well.

The person who really blew me away was Kayli Mills’s portrayal of Alicia. She almost always voices the cutesy characters and Alicia definitely starts that way. But after her brother is accidentally killed by Hiro, her character does a complete 180. I love me some yanderes and that is essentially what Alicia becomes and I love it. What makes me love it is Kayli’s acting, she is amazing with the anger, rage, and craziness. Definitely want to see her in more roles like this in the future.

The animation of the show isn’t much to write home about. I don’t know if that is the studio’s fault or the story that they are adapting. There were two action scenes that the animation really blew me away and to be fair they are the two most memorable action scenes. There were others to be sure but they didn’t last very long to leave an impact. One area this studio shines is in how they do the eyes of the characters. I imagine you will probably be enamored with them too.

The plot is absolutely frustrating to me. It has so much potential but doesn’t really do anything until the last couple of episodes. Hiro gets absolutely shit on throughout the whole thing. And no me liking the last couple of episodes doesn’t mean that changes. Even during his “hero” moment, he gets the short end of the stick. At one point in the show, Hiro pees his pants (spoilers I guess?) and I kid you not it is referenced all the way up until episode nine or ten. At first, it’s funny but it gets old quickly.

Full Dive feels like a show that doesn’t know what it wants to be. It tries to be funny and when the jokes land it is really funny but that is rare. The action is there occasionally but it’s usually Hiro getting destroyed so that loses some of its strength. I don’t need my hero to be overpowered but show some progress. It has some sprinkles of romance but it’s so half-hearted and the motivations behind it are terrible. I don’t feel like I wasted my time but with how interesting things are set up for a potential second season that we will never get I do feel slighted a bit.