Imagine if you could challenge all mythical gods, fair and squire, and hold a chance to win against them. The anime God’s Game We Play is just about something like that.
First released as a light novel written by the author Sazane Kai, later a manga series, and after that, it emerged as an anime produced by Liden Films and directed by Tatsuya Shiraishi.
It has a unique approach in theme in which humans challenge idle gods in games, fair and square, to earn some perks to fight the abominations roaming outside city walls.
There are some clear rules stated If one or many humans together as a team claim 10 victories against gods humanity will win and can wish for anything from gods, however, if any human suffers 3 losses, he/she will lose his/her chance to challenge again.
With such interesting rules incorporated in the plotline, one may think nothing could go wrong with this series, well none of the plots are foolproof, and there are also other aspects to factor in making a good anime, and God’s Game We Play series plot is also no exception.
So let’s see what may have gone wrong with this series.
Table of Contents
Animation Quality And Character Design Is Too Stiff In God’s Game We Play
Liden Films, being a production studio, that produced animes like Tokyo Revengers, more quality animation could be expected from this series, which in all honesty isn’t quite present in God’s Game We Play.
With somewhat dull movements and equally dull visual angles, God’s Game We Play series doesn’t do justice to the theme it presents.
The movements of all the characters seem stiff lacking fluidity, even transitions in the scenes are not something that lets you immerse in the story naturally.
All the animation sequences lack impact which could make this seemingly uniquely themed story more interesting.
However, it tries to complement the lack of good animation with a vibrant and catchy color pallet, which backfires, due to the less-than-generic character design, which is also a major flaw of this series.
Characters are placed in each scene in common and hurried ways, which is contradictory to the story, making the gap between the narrative and presentation large.
There Is Nearabout No Existing Character Building Arc In God’s Game We Play
One of the most important phases of any anime series is its character-building arc, and it isn’t present in the anime God’s Game We Play, which was a must-required arc for an anime like it, since its characters are the king of the story.
Not having a character-building arc it becomes incomprehensible to understand the clear intention that drives those important characters of this series to move forward.
Though each important character reveals their goal nearly in every alternate episode, that feels like some empty claim with no solid backstory to back those facts up.
Forget other characters, the characters of the gods are not established with enough details, in fact, they are presented in such a way, that it feels like human characters are playing against, some OP NPC.
Even if we look at the protagonist, it feels as if he drops out of nowhere, without any proper explanation, with just some details and reasons for his appearance.
All in all, the characters presented in the story of God’s Game We Play are severely lacking in their settings.
Pacing Of The Story Is Too Hurried In God’s Game We Play
The third most important factor that the anime God’s Game We Play lacks is balanced pacing, which could be solved by including fewer story arcs this season and giving more time to each story arc.
All story arc concludes very shortly, just after the initiation, not showing the struggle of the protagonist and the other characters against gods, as if each game is too easy to win, which is not entirely the case.
The protagonist may be confident but still, he must have gone through many trials to win those games against gods, which couldn’t be felt due to the fast pacing of the story.
Even the introduction of each god is severely lacking since the conclusion of the story takes priority over anything else.
So it can be said that the fast pacing of the story becomes detrimental to the story.
The Story Is Too Predictable In God’s Game We Play
This story according to the theme was supposed to be a unique one breaking the norm of the combination of adventure and fantasy genre, but what it actually does is, add the game element to the story, otherwise, everything remains the same.
While it should be expected that, the story of this anime, in which a game element is added with God, should be more unique than the anime like Record Of Ragnarok, however, it remains the same and even more generic than that.
This anime gives the vibe of a puzzle-solving game stream with a hint of a cliche mystery-solving detective show, which isn’t helpful for the story.
Although I said the story has a mystery-solving element, those mysteries are nothing special, which could be guessed easily.
Even if those mysteries couldn’t be guessed, the revelation of those mysteries is so impactless, devoid of any tension or twists and turns, that it feels very bland at some point.
So, in totality, the entirety of the story is so predictable, that it loses its charm that its theme potentially had to entice viewers.
An Unsatisfactory Ending Arc
The ending arc of the anime series God’s Game We Play is so predictable, dull, and abrupt that it feels as if the anime just went on hiatus in the middle season.
Not having any conclusive ending is one of the major flaws of this anime series.
There are some other flaws in the ending arc of this anime, such as it doesn’t present any cliffhanger for viewers to wait for the next season eagerly, well, there may not be another season, in that case, it is justifiable.
Another flaw is the selection of the arc itself, after continuing the story with not-so-unique but somewhat interesting story arcs, the ending arc becomes so bland without properly portraying the challenges.
Final Thought
After watching God’s Game We Play, it can only be said that the story it presents didn’t do any justice to the theme.
So, in another way of speaking, the title is not justified.
If you are interested in adventure anime, don't forget to check my blog post on Golden Kamuy season 1.
