Even with Tomodachi Game becoming a popular anime, there have been many anime series about trust being tested to great extremes. Alice in Borderland, Danganronpa, and Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor are just some of the most notable manga titles that encourage a fight to the death for individual survival.
But even among elimination games, Tomodachi Game stands out because the consequence of death isn’t there. Instead, it offers something worse than death for anybody living in a capitalist society: debt. Falling into debt is the consequence of losing to this “game” and is the reason the characters are thrown into the game in the first place.
Fans are eager for a second season, but unfortunately, there has been no confirmation for a new season from Mausu Studio or the creators of the manga. Regardless, fans could continue reading the manga, and there’s plenty of material there for another season, so it may just be a matter of time until the announcement. The last episode of the anime ended at Chapter 25 of the manga, which is ongoing up to date with more than a hundred chapters already published.
Yuichi Katagiri has four close friends in high school, and they’re set to go on an exciting school trip. But before that could happen, somebody within his friend group had stolen the funds for the trip to pay off their debt. The five friends are then pulled into the “tomodachi game,” or friendship game, by a mysterious puppet named Manabu from a canceled cartoon.
Things immediately took a dark turn in this anime, but the manga only gets much darker from that point on. Yuichi’s past is nothing to scoff at, and it explains his conflicting personality during the progress of the anime. Tomodachi Game is criticized by some as edgy, but amidst the over-the-top reactions of the characters, the anime is still fun and refreshing to watch because of its edginess. Amusing is one way to describe these high-stakes shows, but “fun” is a rarity given the suspense that usually shrouds the episodes. This makes Tomodachi Game a unique series to watch.
(featured image: Mausu Studio)
