I heard that this is tied to a video game? I’ve never heard of a game called “Dark Machine,” though. Welp, time to lean on Wikipedia to help me out:
“Dark Machine is a Japanese mixed-media project produced by Project Carbuncle. It includes a video game that uses Web3 elements, including integrated cryptocurrency and an NFT marketplace.”
Crypto and NFTs? Ew. But is the show any good? Eh. The episode opens with Rudra stealing data of a mecha from what I assume to be the bad guys. Somehow, Rudra can also run straight down a vertical edge. Don’t ask me how. Elsewhere, Kairi scatters his grandfather’s ashes. He soon arrives in Golden Valley, a place where goods and services can only be exchanged for alma, probably the in-game currency for this random ass game this show is trying to promote. Yes, this is yet another special economic zone. It’s a convenient setting in fiction for this kind of bullshit.
Before Kairi’s grandfather passed away, he had one last request: hand a certain photo over to Senki. We quickly find out, however, that Senki is just a title for the best player in the esports that dominates Golden Valley. Not only that, the photo features a man who looks a whole lot like an older Kairi and a woman with half of her face missing. Welp, who wants to bet that the current Senki is Kairi’s father or whatever? I mean, why else would some random esports jackass care about a photo?
At some point, the minions chasing after Rudra have the sights set on Kairi. She apparently slipped the stolen data hidden in a pair of sunglasses into his pockets to get them off her tail. A bunch of mayhem ensues, finally resulting in Rudra “borrowing” Kairi’s jetski, which the characters oddly refer to as a bike. This leads to Kairi chasing after her, but then diving headfirst into the water when Rudra’s friend gets knocked off her “bike” and is now in danger of drowning. I like how Rudra is just watching as her friend might die. She is strangely confident that a complete stranger would save her friend. Actually, she’s more interested in the fact that Kairi can run super fast and has a good eye. Y’see, these are important qualities to, uh, the video game they need to play.
After some obligatory introductions, Kairi blindly signs a contract that puts him under Rudra’s employ. At her behest, he has to compete in the esports with the same name as the anime. In fact, she puts the data she had stolen on the line. If her team can win, then the goons chasing her will have to give up on getting the data back. Somehow, the bad guys agree to this? Victory in an esports matters that much? But also, Rudra is betting everything on Kairi, who has never played the game before! Also, she doesn’t even know if she can trust this guy, and vice versa. The other two members on the team naturally protest, because who wants to play a high stakes PVP match with someone with no experience? But he can run fast, yo!
As it turns out, Dark Machine is just a 3-on-3 (technically 7-on-7 in the actual game that has yet to come out) mecha arena shooter. There’s a map with crystals that you can mine for points. You can also just frag each other for even more points. Again, I don’t really understand how Kairi running fast factors into this, but it does somehow. It just does. You know the drill: they’re losing at halftime, but thanks to the protagonist’s natural talents, they make a furious comeback in the second half, shocking everyone who is tuned into this single game! As the episode draws to a close, we see blood coming out of Rudra’s mouth. Maybe she has a terminal illness or whatever.
I guess I don’t know what I really expected, but the premise feels really flimsy. Nah, man. I can’t see a game like this ever taking off. It’s gotta be dead in the water, right? I also think in this day and age, you really have to lean into the sex appeal and not just for the dudes. Look at Marvel Rivals and just how slutty both sides of the aisle are. People are drooling over both the female and the male characters. But even then, this is just grabbing the baton from Overwatch and running with it. Mecha alone isn’t going to cut it except for anyone who really, really likes mecha anime. But even then, it’s not even featuring any of the machines from popular franchises. It’s an original thing. The anime itself features a plain, uninteresting male lead and the female lead looks like a little girl. I just don’t see it working.
As for the anime itself, I dunno. It’s too early to say anything conclusive, but Kairi doesn’t have a personality yet. All we get at the moment is that he really, really wants to fulfill his late grandfather’s request, but why? Is it that important? My mom could tell me on her deathbed that she wants me to have kids, and I’d just nod silently, knowing that it’ll never happen. But I digress. The second episode is going to have to do some heavy-lifting, because it needs to not only establish Kairi as a protagonist worth rooting for, it also needs to give us convincing world-building. Can the show do it? Well, I wouldn’t put my alma on it!