Anime Review: The Ones Within Episode 1

The Ones Within

Studio: Silver Link

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Streaming: Funimation

I’m not exactly sure what’s happening in The One’s Within (Nakanohito Genome). The anime focuses on a group of gamers that get kidnapped in what appears to be a game and must win in order to go home. It’s based on the manga of the same name and is produced by Silver Link (Kokoro Connect, Baka To Test). While the concept is familiar yet always interesting, I’m not so sure if this one hits the target.

The plot is interesting, and the cast of various video game streamers is diverse and fun enough. Each character is a famous streamer that focuses on a different genre, and unsurprisingly, their personalities line up with their favorite game genres. Their supposed captor is a man with the head of a llama, which is as weird as it sounds. The anime reminds me of Danganrompa, but it doesn’t have nearly as much charm. The episode suffers from rocky pacing that jumps from scene to scene just a bit too fast. Very little is explained, which isn’t usually a bad thing, but it just isn’t working here. The show goes from the characters waking up, to a giant panda attack, to a classroom in just a few minutes. It’s jarring and the breakneck speed makes this a little too hard to understand.

I want to like this show though because it has a little bit of magic to it. A decent amount of comedy comes with the random pacing of it all. I enjoy it in a kind of sick way, but I can also see how bad this show actually is. The protagonist is a dense idiot and possibly the worst thing in this show so far. Still, I laughed at the ridiculous situations (Sometimes the laughs were genuine and not at the quality of the show) and was strangely entertained. A couple of the characters were fun with their quirks, and I would like to see more of them.

Production-wise, The Ones Within is actually solid. The animation is above average, the art is nice, and music throughout is catchy. I won’t say anything truly stands out in this episode, but there was nothing offensive about the quality of the show. There are a few weird moments with some weird camera angles for the sake of fanservice, but there wasn’t anything straight up ecchi in this episode.

I didn’t hate the first episode of The One’s Within, but I can’t recommend it. Those who want to see something bizarre might enjoy this show, but it isn’t for everyone. If the shoddy pacing can stabilize over the next few episodes, this could be a little gem. Otherwise, The Ones Within is an easy pass.

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