Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. The Importance of Execution. I feel like a lot of animators and directors have forgotten this concept. This has become particularly true when it comes to isekai anime. Over the years we’ve gotten a lot of great and interesting isekai stories but at the same time we’ve gotten a lot of stinkers that were way behind the times. Like little effort was put into them and it was obviously made to make a quick buck. However, on rare occasions you get an isekai that actually has a good concept and idea, but the execution is done horribly. Case in point, The Ones Within- Genome. Written by Osora in 2014, The Ones Within seemed liked it would have an interesting premise. Out of all the worst isekai animes I named last year this is the one that comes the closest to not sucking, it could have worked. A bunch of Let’s Players who specialize in different games get stuck in another world sounds interesting. Hell, I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a reality game show based around this concept of Let’s Players competing against each other in a competition. The anime was produced by Silver Link (Baka and Test and Death March Fantasy) in 2019 who would spend most of that year trying to cash in on the isekai market and failing each time. This anime has a lot of people torn as some say it was a good anime while others say it was complete trash. Let’s find out which side is right. Let’s watch The Ones Within- Genome.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “not GAME” by Tasuku Hatanaka. Remember how I said 2019 had some great openings? This was one of them. The sound and speed of this song is just great. It feels like the opening to a Persona game. I especially the color palettes used in the opening. I like how each character has their own color that reflects their personality and character.
The ending is “Boku wo Mitsukete” by Fhána. I’m just gonna say it, I did not like this ending at all. It feels so out of place here.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with a bunch of Let’s Players receiving an invite to a game called The Ones Within– Genome (this sounds like a spinoff series in the SMT universe) by a mysterious sender and like idiots they all say yes (oh come on these are Let’s Players, they should know when they’re being trolled). They get knocked out and wake up in a different location. We focus on one player named Akatsuki the escape player who wakes up to a girl named Karen the horror player (well she does look like she escaped from Yandere Stimulator). Akatsuki knowing this set up knows that the right thing to do would be to call out to her to avoid a misunderstanding but the pervert inside of him tries to touch her and sure enough she wakes up and punches him (I know he should have gone with option A but option B was too good to pass up). The two find themselves in a mountain and try to find their way down when all of a sudden a giant panda begins walking through the forest (it’s both terrifying and cute at the same time). They run from it only to run into another player named Kaikoku the Sengoku player (I’m guessing he likes games that take place during the Sengoku period?). He just got done defeating a giant rat and tells them that the key to winning is to attack the eyes but Akatsuki tries a different approach. He climbs up a tree and instead befriends the panda as he noticed earlier that the panda wasn’t even looking at them when they were running from it meaning the panda was just on a walk and never saw them. After the panda leaves, the three players get approached by one of the game’s administrators Paka who has an alpaca head on a humanoid body (do you think he knows Inosuke from Demon Slayer?). Paka explains to them on their arm is a number which represents their view count (i.e the number of people currently watching them) and their goal is to get 100 million views during this livestream of the game (and if you get 0 you die. Calling it right now, the setup is just too good). After the opening credits (which is almost 10 minutes into the first episode) we cut to a classroom where we meet the rest of the players. We have the shy Himiko who specializes in nurturing games, the easily angered Anya who likes fighting games, the excitable and calculating Yuzu who likes puzzle games and speedruns, the cool Zakuro who plays stealth games, and the mysterious Makino who plays dating sim games all while saying little to nothing (than how does that count as streaming? This is why I don’t do let’s play videos, I’m mostly quiet when I play games unless I got someone near me watching). After the introductions, Paka introduces stage 2 of the game, the Ouija Exchange. In this game 4 players have to grant 3 wishes of a spirit. Akatsuki, Karen, Anya, and Zakuro get picked to play the game where the first wish is water. The second wish is the spirit wants a friend so Akatsuki volunteers himself (yeah, you’ll quickly notice that Akatsuki is the happy easy-going one of the bunch. And sadly he’s the one with the most personality of the group so far). The final wish is the spirit wants Akatsuki to die so that they can be together forever (woah, I don’t care how hot you are ghost lady but I’m not into that). She tries throwing him out the window but the giant panda saves him and then Akatsuki talks to the spirit where he promises that once this is over he’ll die for her (he’s lying of course, he has so many games to play). With that, the spirit passes on happy and we end the episode with them all in their dorm.
In episode 2 we go the next stage of the game which is hatching an egg and helping it get the boy of her dreams (I couldn’t make this up even if I was high). Since this is nurturing/dating sim game, Himiko and Makino get picked to participate along with volunteers Akatsuki (let me guess, he’s going to be main focus in the anime isn’t he?) and Anya. They all warm the egg up and it hatches looking like all of their thoughts combined. The girl’s name is Murasaki and she has the face and body of a panda, an honest personality, is wearing a schoolgirl outfit, and has an afro (again, I couldn’t make this make up even if I was high. I don’t even know where she stops at being a panda or a regular girl. What am I looking at?). I will admit it is cute and somewhat funny how Himiko and Akatsuki are taking this so seriously while Makino does. . .whatever it is he’s doing and Anya has no choice but to put up with this insanity. They take her to the school where it’s an all-girl academy and the school’s idol is the teacher Hikaru. Murasaki isn’t all that confident about her chances, but luckily, Karen and Yuzu step in to help her make sweets for Hikaru. Akatsuki and Makino go to spy on Hikaru where they find out he’s a narcissistic douchebag who doesn’t care for the girls. Before they tell the others this, Murasaki delivers her gift to him where in some bizarre twist he finds her beautiful and gets jealous of her (okay, is this one big comedy act and I’m just the straight man to it? Because, it would honestly explain a lot). She overhears his rant about her and he decides that she has to go. Makino comes to her save and forgives Hikaru as she just can’t bring herself to abandon him. With this, the stage is complete and Murasaki vanishes. As the episode draws to a close we find out that Yuzu has an obsession with Akatsuki.
Nothing much to say about episode 3. Last episode, Kaikoku and Zakuro broke into the restricted area of the tower while everyone was doing stage 3. They got discovered by Paka and as punishment, everyone has to kill a man-eating plant that’s trying to kill them (it’s like Little Shop of Horrors without the song numbers). The plant soon takes over the tower and forces everyone to retreat to the food storage area. They all manage to fight back using poison that Yuzu created (for yandere purposes I’m sure). They begin attacking the vines of the plant in the search for its core all while trying to take out the copycats of each other the plant makes at night when it becomes inactive. In the end, Yuzu reveals that Akatsuki is the core of the plant in human disguise (where was the real Akatsuki? No idea, he remains a mystery to me). How did she figure it out? Well, being a yandere obsessed with a boy you like has its perks in situations like this, as even the simplest of tasks such as turning off a faucet with the wrong hand is enough to give you away. Yuzu injects the poison which kills the plant and they pass the 4th stage. The real Akatsuki returns and all is right with the world.
In episode 4 the group goes to a village festival where their goal is to rescue a bunch of shrine maidens from a demon. They’re not meant to beat the demon as he’s too powerful for them and not even the alpaca is that sadistic (it would hurt the views). In order to lure out the demon they decide to use one of the girls as bait, but the demon only likes busty girls (oh Karin~). Karin says no (what good are you?) so Akatsuki and Makino are used as bait. In a not so subtle twist, we find out that the village is actually a village of demons (they kind of gave it away earlier on with the original shrine maiden having demon ears). Karin gets taken hostage by the village elder’s granddaughter and Akatsuki gives himself up as well in order to give Karin someone to cry on. Anya is pissed that he couldn’t help Akatsuki, but Yuzu says not to worry as they’ll track them down thanks to the tracker she put on Akatsuki (if this anime is trying to show us the benefits of having a yandere stalker, they’re doing a good job).
Episodes 5-8
So in episode 5 Kaikoku and Zakuro go to rescue Akatsuki, Karin, and the other maidens. Akatsuki is able to escape his cage by slipping through bars but Karin can’t (because she is thicc as the kids like to say). Akatsuki reunites with Kaikoku and Zakuro where they see Karin is forced to be the maid of the village elder’s granddaughter who treats her like a doll. Our three boys split up in the hopes of finding where they keep the other shrine maidens and then form an escape plan. In the search, Zakuro comes across a bracelet that belonged to his twin sister who participated in The Ones Within game 2 years ago and just vanished. Zakuro joined the game in the hopes of finding and saving his sister. We also find out that Kaikoku actually comes from a traditional rich family. He was being groomed to be the next head of the family, but he didn’t like the fact that he was being treated as an ornament so he left. Akatsuki finds the shrine maidens as well as the keys to their cage only run into the village elder and get saved by Paka. The boys free the girls and Kaikoku faces the elder’s granddaughter to find out what happened to Zakuro’s sister where she says she doesn’t know what happened to her. Kaikoku leaves after scaring her, where she mocks him for being hated by his family.
In episode 6, the next game is finding the treasure in a pyramid. Only two people will be allowed to participate and it’s by lottery. Anya and Himiko get chosen where the only rule they have to follow is don’t lie (well Himiko, you’re gonna die because you’re with Mr. Not Honest). They get chased by mummies and wind up at the wall of truth where they have to answer three questions. The first question is who’s their first crush, the second question is naming 5 things they like about Akatsuki as they admire him the most, and the finally question is name their greatest sin to which Himiko shocks us by confessing she killed her big brother (and just when I thought they weren’t gonna do anything with this story).
Not gonna lie, episode 7 wasn’t a bad episode (truth be told, it’s probably the best episode of the bunch so far). It starts off with Himiko telling Anya about how her parents put her older brother up for adoption in order to protect her. We don’t get a reason why, but after being adopted he vanished without a trace. Police searched for him for 7 years and couldn’t find him, declaring him dead (if a person is missing for 7 years, they’re declared dead). So while Himiko didn’t technically kill her big brother, she feels that because her parents chose her over him she might as well have killed him (. . .okay, outside of that reason making no sense and sounding dumb, the rest of the episode is good). We then move on to the 7th stage where the group will be playing hide-and-seek against three scary sisters. The group is restricted to only using their rooms and have to play for 4 rounds. During each round, the group will be given time to hide and the sisters will check a room in order to look for them (oh so it’s like Dead by Daylight. Your goal isn’t to fight the monsters but instead hide from them and survive). If one of the sisters does find them, that person is given a special goggles which blinds them completely and if they’re caught again in the next round they’ll gouge your eyes out (okay, this is kind of scary. More of this please). Luckily, if someone does get blinded, they can be healed by another player who hasn’t been blinded and continue on within the game. The only way to pass this stage is for everyone to not be cursed by the end of the final round. The group decides that they have a 3 in 8 chance each round, so their plan is to go in small groups, hide in separate rooms that way in case they get found someone can un-blind them, and then when the final round arrives they’ll all meet up and hide in one room (hiding in one room for the last round is a good idea as it gives them a 1 in 8 chance of being found, but the rest of the plan sounds bad. Unfortunately, this stage comes down to luck as we really can’t underestimate that 3 in 8 chance. It may not be much, but the odds are bad and there’s really no bullet-proof plan to go through each round safely. If it was me I would put one person in each room, have those who didn’t get found move out and cure those who got blinded for the first 3 rounds, and then all meet up to hide in one room for the final round and bet on the chance that the sisters don’t check the room we’re in). As the game begins, we see the girls hide in one room, Akatsuki and Anya hide in another, Kaikoku and Zakuro hide in another, and Makino just sleeps in his bed. The first round begins where the girls, Kaikoku and Zakuro get found and thus become blind. Akatsuki and Anya un-blind Kaikoku and Zakuro for the next round but get blinded in the second round and almost caught again in the third round. By the end of the third round everyone gets blinded except for Makino who makes everyone un-blind and they survive the last round to win the stage (what a good episode. There was suspense, strategy, and comedy all balanced out. If only the earlier episodes were like this).
Nothing much happens in episode 8. It’s hotsprings time as it’s time to go to the open air bath only for Paka to mess with them. He switches the signs so the girls wind up going to the boys’ side and the boys have to hide or risk being pummeled by Karin. The boys of course get discovered and Karin beats them up. After this, Kaikoku discovers that his grandpa is in critical condition back home. Desperate to escape, Kaikoku enters the forbidden levels once again only to get captured and imprisoned in the White Room.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9, after everyone finds out what happened to Kaikoku they go on strike refusing to play any more games until Kaikoku is returned to them (he’s the sexy boy, losing him will affect the view count). Paka gives them a chance to rescue Kaikoku in a game where they’re given 72 hours to find the combination to the White Room with their only clue being one piece in a 30,000 piece puzzle (you bastard). Paka is obviously targeting Yuzu (why, I have no idea. Though to be fair she is the most suspicious of the bunch). While everyone gets busy trying to put the puzzle together, we see Kaikoku find a secret tunnel in his room which leads him to an underground facility where he meets other Let’s Players named Nanami, Hiro, and Sakura who just happens to be Zakura’s sister. Kaikoku learns that everyone is on an island out at sea with the location unknown. Back with the others, Yuzu slowly comes to the realization that they won’t solve the puzzle in time and is about ready to give up until Karin reminds her that she doesn’t have to do this alone. Yuzu gets the idea to use math to solve the puzzle and she starts to make progress on figuring out the combination.
So in episode 10 Yuzu with the hidden assist from Paka manages to solve the puzzle to unlock the door to the White Room and Kaikoku returns not telling anyone about the dropouts but promising to keep in contact with them from time to time. Yuzu collapses from exhaustion and gets taken to the infirmary where Kaikoku comes to visit her and wants answers on who she is (we already know you’re an Akatsuki stalker so don’t even bother lying about that). Yuzu confesses that she was hired by Paka to monitor everyone (behavior, thought patterns, etc.) and report them to Paka. While she admits she’s on Paka’s side she doesn’t want to be everyone’s enemy (than you best stop being a furry and get on the winning side).
Episode 11 gives us Makino’s backstory (sort of). With Kaikoku back, they move on to the 9th game where Kaikoku, Yuzu, Himiko, and Makino have become chibis and the others have to take care of them. The goal of the game is to raise the affection level of the chibis to the point that a flower sprouts on their head. In order to win the round, 3 out of 4 have to sprout. Surprisingly, it’s Karen who takes the lead here as she’s able to get Himiko, Yuzu, and Kaikoku to sprout flowers. However, Makino hasn’t sprouted his flower yet and if it doesn’t sprout he’ll continue to be a chibi. Everyone tries to get Makino’s affection to rise but they have no luck (we’re dealing with an emotionless child, this is like trying to get a reaction out of a British guard). We get a glimpse into his past where we see he came from a broken home where his parents would always argue with each other and ignore him. His only salvation was his next door neighbor Sumire who was like a big sister to him. Makino loved her, however, she was in love with someone else and that really hurt him (okay. So, your first crush was in love with someone else, how does this tie-in with the current situation?). Akatsuki speaks to the sleeping Makino telling him to accept it and move forward saying that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. This manages to work as Makino sprouts a flower.
In the final episode, Paka gives them a bonus stage which is a casino. The whole point is just to win awards with most of them being pretty lame except for a golden ticket which will give them anything they want. Most of the episode is pretty uneventful until Akatsuki plays the dice game and falls into a pitfall trap unable to return and if he doesn’t return he’ll be labeled a dropout from the game. Everyone decides to pitch in all their coins to buy the golden ticket and wish Akatsuki back (huh, we should have called it the Dragonball ticket). They bet it all in a game called High and Lo where they win, buy the ticket, and wish Akatsuki back. The season ends on an open note with the group about to do stage 10 and we get a shot of Akatsuki’s older brother.
Final Thoughts
So that was The Ones Within- Genome. Is it good or complete trash? Well I’ll give the anime this the idea and concept are good but the execution of this is terrible. We focus way too much on Akatsuki and not the other characters. We never learn that much about them such as what they’re like in the real world, how they became Let’s Players, their family life, etc. We get a little bit of that with some characters but not all of them which is what I wanted to see. The games are also just random. The games never really allow the characters to show off their specialties, game knowledge or work off each other to meet the goal. It’s frustrating to watch because they could have done so much with the games. Plus, a majority of the games just feature the same characters over and over again which gets boring and uninteresting over time and aside from episode 7 there’s much strategy and suspense in these games that show off the skills of the Let’s Players. Another major downfall with this anime is that they bring up a lot of stories but really don’t do anything with them like Yuzu’s obsession with Akatsuki and many other stories that they present but don’t really tie them into the story at all. Those that do get stories aren’t really all that interesting. They all just have drama in their life which is nothing different or interesting from other animes I’ve seen in the past. Finally, this anime is confusing to watch. I left confused more than I did entertained after each episode. From what I can tell the anime skipped over a lot of content which would explain why this whole anime is never explained properly and left me confused in a lot of areas. The animation and music are nothing special. I actually liked the animation for the opening more than I did the animation from the anime.
Final Score
The final score for this anime is a 4/10. It’s not complete trash but it’s still a bad anime. The concept and idea for this series can work and is very good. However, the execution is just horrible and random that it kills all enjoyment in the series. This is an anime I can’t recommend, but if you are interested in the series than see if you can find the manga as I’m sure everything is explained better there than it was in the anime. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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