# Darwin's Game (2020)

> An ordinary high school student is pulled into a deadly app-based game where players fight with superpowers called Sigils.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/72990

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 11
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, action, mystery
- Network: AT-X, Gunma TV, TOKYO MX, BS11, ABEMA
- Cast: Yusuke Kobayashi, Reina Ueda, Nichika Omori, Yumiri Hanamori, Taku Yashiro, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Ai Kakuma, Ai Kayano
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11405390/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, propulsive, dark, suspenseful

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive, with viewers appreciating the high-stakes survival concept and the action sequences of this single-season anime adaptation.

## Synopsis

Darwin's Game (2020) is a Japanese animated survival thriller series created for anime television and broadcast across several Japanese networks, adapted from the manga of the same name. Ordinary high school student Sudou Kaname receives a mysterious invitation to a smartphone app and soon finds himself inside a deadly contest where players hunt one another using personal superpowers called Sigils. Kaname is the engine of the story: he wants to stay alive while he works out the rules of a game nobody has explained, and every episode turns on a new, more powerful opponent who forces him to improvise. The eleven episodes are built from brisk battles, tense confrontations, and quiet moments of strategy and suspicion as Kaname encounters other players, including figures voiced by Yusuke Kobayashi as Kaname, Reina Ueda as Shuka, and Nichika Omori as Rein. The series is a single continuing arc with a supernatural edge and a shonen sensibility. Its tone is tense, propulsive and often dark, with a constant undercurrent of dread about who is pulling the strings. Fans of Btooom!, Alice in Borderland and Mirai Nikki will find resonance in its death game premise and its power-driven combat.

## Shows like Darwin's Game

- [Tomodachi Game (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/113760)
- [Shangri-La Frontier (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/127786)
- [Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59495)
- [KAKEGURUI TWIN (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/114159)
- [Death Parade (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55134)
- [Ajin (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/57696)
- [Alice in Borderland (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/62738)
- [Platinum End (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/95732)
- [Alice in Borderland (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/92064)
- [Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/64430)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt