Synopsis: Four members of a broken dysfunctional family are unaware that they pose as a “happy family unit” in a VR game called Planet.
*Disclaimer: My observations are anime-exclusive since I haven’t read the manga. If anyone has perspective from reading the manga, feel free to share in the comments section below.
Storytelling Execution
- The anime places more emphasis on suprise twists and shock value rather than telling a compelling story with engaging characters.
- The story’s plotlines lack clear direction with too much exposition dumping and not enough building up of character relationships. The world-building is way too underdeveloped.
- The overall series pacing is either too fast or too slow from episode to episode due to the low episode count. The series should’ve extended to 24 episodes or more to space out the story, allow the audience to breathe, and form emotional investment in the characters.
- There is an overabundance of internal monologuing throughout the show rather than showcasing facial emotions.
- I would’ve liked more time during the Planet sequences to solidify the Akabane family as a group before revealing plot twists.
Characters
- The side characters of Pico, her crew, Leon and Sasumata were more interesting than the main cast.
- Taichiro and Asuma’s sibling relationship needed more development within the story aside from a couple flashblacks.
- Taichiro’s friendship with Pico needed more devlopment then a few flashbacks.
- Everything is Kojiro Arima’s fault both in the real world and within Planet. He fails to take accountability for his actions until the end. His relationship with his assistant Kana drew parallels to Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko from Evangelion. Both are negligent fathers who had affairs with women they work and tried to recreate their departed loved ones through experiments. Gendo tried to bring back Yui but ended up creating Rei Ayanami while Kojiro, made an AI version of his daughter May possibly out of guilt and remorse for her death.
The main difference between them is that Gendo Ikari had way more screen time and character development building up to his redemption whereas Kojiro Arima’s “redemption” is rushed due to his lack of character development.
The father son relationship between Tanjiro and Kojiro is wholly underdeveloped.
Female characters such as Kana, Pico, and May are seen as disposable and they’re killed off easily to inspire and motivate the male characters to action.
Themes: The argument of virtual connections vs real life connections was briefly touched upon during a fight scene but there was no deep exploration of it. Only surface-level conversation. A point about people feeling more “alive” in a virtual world rather than being “dead inside” in the real world would brought more depth to the argument.
Blackbird of Hope
- In the show, The Blackbird of Hope is a symbol for death and transformation. His true backstory is crammed in a few episodes before the end instead of being slowly revealed across the episodes.
- It would’ve been nice to see more of Leon and Sasumata’s friendship growing up with each other.
Conclusion: Good Night World is an anime that has strong start with much potential for world-building, building character relationships and exploring deeper themes but it ends up being wasted potential due to its aimless plot, uneven pacing, underdeveloped world and character relationships.
Personal Musings: 