Normally, I’m allergic to Sword Art Online-style VRMMORPG anime, or at least they give me chills. Except for a brief affair impersonating a hot cat girl in Final Fantasy XIV, I’ve stayed away from the MMORPG genre, mostly because I have a full-time job and a wife who would kill me if I sacrifice all my time. and energy for online grinding. Even though Good Night World is almost entirely set in a VRMMORPG, it at least tries to do something deeper and more interesting with this setting.
Although “real dysfunctional family accidentally role-playing as a fully functional online family” has the potential to be a painfully contrived storytelling device, there are some explanations. (finally) given later in the story makes the situation less shockingly absurd than when it first appeared. First, each member of the Akabane family is sworn to secrecy about their real-life identities, and the characters they portray are quite different from their real personalities.
Main character Taichiro plays the sword-wielding, wide-brimmed-hat-wearing Ichi, the main muscle of the Akabane family. Much of the plot is witnessed through his eyes, and at times, he is an unlikable character. The real Taichiro is a haggard, starved man from self-neglect, with loose, unkempt hair, terrible posture, and bloodshot bulging eyes. His bedroom was disgusting—dark, dirty, and full of black trash bags. Due to his poor family relationship, he locked himself in his room for six years and used PLANET as his only entertainment. Taichiro’s favorite word is “damn”, so you should get used to him uttering profanities like “Stupid world, stupid family, everything is shit shit shit shit !!”He is an emotionless teenage edgelord gamer with the poorest, most repetitive vocabulary. I don’t like him. No problem.
Taichiro shares a house with his younger (but taller and generally more successful) brother Asuma Arima, who plays online as “AAAAA” because he doesn’t bother choosing a personal name. Taichiro has an inferiority complex towards his brother and Asuma looks down on Taichiro for his poor lifestyle choices. Powerful computer programmer father Kojiro Arima appears to inhabit his workplace as a developer for PLANET, and in the game plays Hiro Akabane, a strong, silver-haired father figure with Scary reputation compared to other players. Ultimately, Sayaka Arima is an absent wife and mother who seems scattered, coming in and out of the house as she pleases. She plays May, the Akabane family’s housekeeper and healer. She spends more time raising her online sons than her real-life sons.
PLANET as a game feels painfully generic, and the first half of the movie follows incredibly banal details about the various politics and intrigues between different groups fighting in a clan war . This part of the story is most similar to other generic VRMMORPG stories. If this continues all the way through, I will quit the show and never look back. What do I care if the Pirate Guild loses or disbands?
Luckily, with episode six, the specific plot points, great lines, and unusual concepts culminated in a surprising twist that pulled the rug out from under viewers’ feet. Suddenly, the world becomes much more disturbing, with deeply disturbing existential implications after the true nature of player character Pico is revealed. Previously, I had written off Pico as an annoying, whiny girl who was inexplicably trying to get Taichiro’s attention, but her ultimate fate was truly disturbing. hesitates and questions every “truth” the film has established so far.
From this point on, the story becomes much more engaging, shedding most of its boring MMORPG baggage to become more like an extended episode of Black Mirror, complete with digital consciousness replication , nested virtual worlds, eternal inescapable pain and existential terror.. Yet Taichiro has never been less annoying.
Despite its welcome move into darker, meatier territory, the story never manages to flourish. It’s hampered by a vague plot, poor character writing, and subplots that are inexplicably left out or inadequately explained. For example, Kojiro’s father’s young female assistant, Hana Kamuro, seems to be set up as an important supporting character, but the story omits her entirely. Her relationship with Kojiro and her motives are never fully explained.
Likewise, the true identity of the final villain,”Black Bird”, is a bit tense and lacking in logic, mainly because the rules of the world are too strict. liquid and undefined. The ending itself, while emotional, is so ambiguous that it detracts from its message. Is anything we witness “real”? Does any of that really matter? It’s difficult to discuss without giving too much away, but I have a slightly empty feeling that what was supposed to be a big “twist” ending was undercooked and lacking in thought.
Studio NAZ can do that. a reasonable job is producing useful animation. The performance looked completely fine, nothing outstanding. It doesn’t fall apart as hard as their recent poor, unforgivable Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer adaptations. Likewise, the music is unforgettable but relevant enough. The English dub is decent but nothing impressive. Everything about Good Night World screams:”Mostly okay, I guess!”
Overall, this is a pretty engaging show, with an initially silly premise and an unlikeable main character that takes a while to get going. It peaks in the middle with some obvious existential terror but ends with an ending that could have been a lot stronger. As a casual watch on Netflix, it was okay, but I doubt it will make it into my long-term memory.
