lovexyou
4 years ago·Jun 28, 2021
59
/ 100
4 years ago·Jun 28, 2021
Let me start off by saying that I still don’t understand why this show, of all things, got such a reaction from me. I’ve somehow taken more notes for this show than I have for the ones I genuinely liked this season, to the point where halfway through part of my experience was just jotting down my reaction to each new episode. It wasn’t even with the intention to make this review, I just found it fun to think about it. So, after thinking way too much about a slightly above average anime, let’s begin. Warning for incredibly minor spoilers, so minor that they don’t even spoil the first episode.
Full Dive is about Hiroshi Yuki, a high school boy who blames his problems on everything and everyone except himself. He starts off the series as someone who’s just a few bad days away from becoming a shut-in, often bullied by his peers and getting no sympathy from his one friend or his teachers. He used to be into track and sports in general, but seemingly got burnt out from it and now is spiraling into a slight depression from realizing that this is it, this is all life is.
And so he dives head first into an obsession with full dive RPGs, in part to avoid his problems and in part to live out the good and happy life that he thinks he can no longer get in reality.
One day he stumbles into a shop when trying to find the newest installment of his favorite video game series, but ends up buying a different game instead. A grindier, harsher, more realistic game than any game he’s ever played before. Problem here is that with his terrible luck, he may have ruined his first playthrough immediately after starting, and for plot reasons can’t reset the game.
Honestly? That’s a loaded question.
With a heavy heart, I must tell you the problem with Full Dive: it sucks. It’s a parody of parodies, half of its jokes are jabs about an idiotic situation that makes little sense, the protagonist is really unlikable half of the time, every single female character has one or two personality traits, and we’ve got sexual harassment as a recurring joke (I’ll explain this later, but it’s probably not what you think.) But I look at all the crappy parts of Full Dive, at how obvious it is that it’s not good, and all that does is make me more confused as to why I liked it despite all that.
Full Dive has good moments. It has some incredible moments in its story and progression, some heart wrenching scenes and some touching character growth. There is ten out of ten material stuck inside the swaths of a four out of ten show. It is absolutely terrible sometimes, but it also manages to be amazing at others. The level of quality is really inconsistent, but it hits some great highs.
In my honest opinion, the first episode was a great intro to what you were getting into, both the good and the bad.
I cannot tell you it’s worth it, nor that it’s good enough to put your time in. Outside of a passing recommendation for those who were already interested in isekai (or isekai-adjacent shows) there isn’t much here to justify watching 12 episodes. But if you just want something to kill time with, and you don’t care about watching the best anime in existence, then this is a good show for you. At the very least, watching the first episode alone should be able to tell you if you’ll find it enjoyable. I do think the highs make it worth watching, but the first episode is good enough in setting things up.
Hiroshi Yuki, otherwise known as Hiro, is a very unlikable character. And why is that? On paper, he’s pathetic to the point where you kinda feel bad for him. He’s almost given up on real life, living mostly to play his games even when they have long stopped being fun for him. There isn’t a single person in his life who’s willing to be kind to him outside of social politeness. He has no dreams and no hope for a good future, to the point that he refuses to think about a career. It is heavily implied that he doesn’t think he can attain happiness through real life anymore, that he’s messed things up too badly and that even outside of school he can no longer navigate the real world. That he’ll mess things up for himself, again and again, so it’s not worth trying.
And what is it that he did that caused everything to turn to shit, the catalyst to his depression? Why, peeing himself during a track tournament, of course!
This is technically a spoiler, but it’s also one of the worst parts of the show and I would’ve loved to have a warning before it happened, at least to know that things were taking a very bad turn. So, if you’re still reading this to know if it’s worth watching, this is the worst bit of the show.
One of my biggest criticisms of the early parts of this anime is that it does not know how to frame Hiro until much later. It doesn’t know if he’s a pathetic guy that doesn’t deserve sympathy and should be laughed and gawked at, it doesn’t know if Hiro is a victim of circumstance, it doesn’t know how to present him at all. Granted, it gets better at framing it’s protagonist later on, but this episode in particular is very rough because of it.
I don’t understand what the show wants its viewers to think about the central protagonist. Are we supposed to look at the set-up and feel bad for him, even if pissing his pants during track is quite funny out of context? Are we supposed to laugh at him anyway, become the bullies or the bystanders, as a way to recognize that we all can push someone into a sort of “trauma”? Is it just a comedy scene with a long set-up?
No matter how I look at it, I just don’t like how this was handled. Making this moment a joke really weakens his character growth, but it’s also such a dumb joke that I don’t find it funny even outside of it’s context. Comedy is subjective and all that good shit, but it seems like a lot of people think similarly to me. It’s a bad moment that makes you want to quit watching, the amalgamation of all the problems this show has, the worst of its worst. The story is damaged by its comedy, and the comedy is damaged by its story. There is no proper balance between the two. Out of everything that they could’ve used to pinpoint his social isolation, this is the least charitable one.
Now let’s move on to the Oh No It’s Problematic section of this review. A recurring joke in this show is that the manager of that video game store that started off this whole show, wants to get some of that teenage dick. Her name is Reona, she kinda starts off as waifu-bait, her personality is being a bimbo and having huge boobs, and she’s overall a bad female character.
Weirdly enough though, I didn’t find her as annoying as most waifu-bait characters. For one, she actually has a purpose in the story, she affects both the plot and Hiro’s life, she isn’t tied to him as if she’s just there to be part of his harem, and she very much acts like an individual. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still framed as part of his harem and most of the comedy that revolves around her is either about her having huge knockers or about being an idiot who’s worth is tied to having huge knockers, but she's alright outside of this one thing.
The joke is that Reona really wants to sell this shitty game to someone, so she flirts with Hiro until he distractedly buys the game, and later convinces him into not returning it by saying that if anyone could beat the game she would just fall in love right on the spot and would just have to marry that guy. And you know what happens when you get married, riiiiight?
Hiro is both interested and very afraid. I originally thought this moment was really funny, because she does convince Hiro to take the shitty game and it’s hilarious when he realizes he got swindled by being too horny. But then the joke keeps going. And you come to the unfortunate realization that Reona wasn’t kidding.
There’s quite a few moments where some inappropriate touching happens, and while at first he’s flustered but very interested, it goes on to a point where he would really like it if she stopped. She doesn’t stop, but they eventually become friends and become more comfortable with each other. It’s alright for the most part but whenever this joke comes up it basically plays out like he’s being sexually harassed by an adult and it’s funny because he’s a dude getting sexually harassed by a woman. Oh ho ho! What a novel concept!
On the one hand, sexual harassment as a recurring joke was always going to make me uncomfortable even if it was funny. On the other, it’s just a cheap joke and is one of the worst bits of comedy the show has to offer.
So my main gripe is that it’s bad comedy that justifies the sexual harassment that’s going on as some good ol’ fun between two semi-friends (ignore the age gap, please, I beg you.)
You know, I really would’ve liked it if this show was bad and that was it. It’d be so much easier to have dropped it, to just move on with my life, if it was shitty and with no good qualities. Enough with that negativity though, let’s talk about what works.
The extreme realism of KQ isn’t just a gimmick to get people to watch Full Dive. It also doesn’t exist as a solely comedic element of the show. By all accounts, the reason why Hiro hates this game isn’t because it’s worse than real life--it’s because it reminds him too much of it.
The realistic fantasy proves that he’s pathetic, that if he lived in a fantasy world rather than his own that he would not be the awesome protagonist that everyone fawns over. He isn’t strong or cool, he often makes things worse for the NPCs. His own belief that nothing is his fault is actually what is making his experience crap.
Within the world of KQ, he has come to the realization that he is shitty. That he’s the main reason why his own life is shitty. He always stays in his comfort zone, completely quits on things if it’s even slightly hard, and most of all treats other people terribly. He’s a scared kid that lashes out, but he’s also a teenager who’s had a relatively good life and yet completely shut down when things got even remotely difficult.
He is depressed, though it’s so obscured by comedy at his expense that it’s hard to tell it’s not just the set-up of a joke. He’s the main reason why he’s slowly turning into a shut-in. He makes the active choice to be closed-off, to let himself go too far when he gets angry, and to treat people terribly when they annoy him even slightly. Worse of all, he’s convinced for a while that it’s not his fault when he faces the consequences of his own actions. He thinks life is just set up against him, that he had no choice in the matter and can’t make things better for himself.
(It’s a bit hard to tell here, but he’s looking at the track practice.)
I think Hiro’s character development is the main reason why I like this anime. He comes to realize that even though things are shitty, he can be an active participant in his own life, that he has control of his actions and behavior. He doesn’t immediately change, it’s really gradual and even though there’s a moment where it hits him, he had already started acting differently even before that moment. The way he deals with this realization is oddly realistic.
The reason why this works is because it’s not immediately obvious that he has a shitty personality, or even that he’s depressed. While he starts off as pretty unlikable, he’s still relatable and while his behavior is exaggerated for the sake of comedy, he still comes off as an average dude just living his life, a bit lonely but still alright. The nuance of his character is not immediately noticeable, so when it does develop into what it is, you kinda see yourself in him even if you don’t want to.
Full Dive is actually really interesting as a character study, but the comedy has the unfortunate effect of derailing the plot half of the time. While it’s worth watching as a low-stakes show that doesn’t require much thought, it’s not any better or worse than most anime. It is, however, better than the average isekai, and it’s good at being trash. I like it, despite my gripes with this show, and I recommend it as something to kill some time with.
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