Battle in 5 Seconds After Meeting was first aired in July of 2021 and was produced by studio SynergySP. It was adapted from the manga by Saizou Harawata. The show follows our protagonist Akira Shiroyanagi and his journey through a death game. He finds that the world is mundane and boring and wishes for his life to have more excitement. He gets his wish when he has been pulled into a death game where he and everyone else he faces have access to extraordinary abilities with the simple goal to survive.
This anime was a nice quick fun one. I enjoyed how straightforward the concept is. It’s nitty gritty and very quick to get to the action. Less than like three minutes in and people are already being thrown around in the first episode. Its great because of how simple it is. From the first episode you can tell this anime is done with dumb fun in mind. And shows with dumb fun are phenomenal. I find a hard time locating anime with fun and dumb. Dr. Stone was a dumb and fun anime with a great premise and Battle in 5 Seconds After Meeting has that damn fun feeling while looking serious. It is a dumb premise that is overused but it’s quite fun.
Death game anime is really fun. I thoroughly enjoy the topic of these shows as they have so many ways to go about it. Btooom! Was another amazing anime with similar premise but one hell of an amazing twist for it. The idea of survival with bombs as your weapons is phenomenal. And the main reason I am not talking about it is because of some of the sexual themes. If not for that Btooom! Would be my next review.
Another show akin to this that is brought up a lot is Future Diaries. Future Diaries plays like a death game where the phones of the players can dictate and show the future through various means. It works with helping them outsmart each other to win this death game and become ruler of the universe. It is very strange and another reason why I won’t be covering it is sexual themes. I’m sensing a pattern here with death game anime.
Regardless Battle in 5 Seconds After Meeting has its own relative charm as in it holds nothing back. Our protagonist is shown to be a genius from the first minute we see him. This helps us understand why he adjusts so well to the game. Not some hidden power or some breaking moment that changes him. He’s a genius from the beginning.
Now I typically don’t enjoy a show with an overpowered character but in this case he isn’t overpowered. He’s just clever. Incredibly clever at that. His ability to quickly analyse and come up with a plan sets him apart from the other contestants. Typically, our protags have the run and gun strategy in mind while Akira actually strategizes.
Finally a protagonist that isn’t a whiny little brat! I’ve been waiting for this one for ages friends.