Dorei-ku The Animation

Title:Dorei-ku The Animation
Dorei-ku: Boku to 23-nin no Dorei
奴隷区 僕と23人の奴隷 The Animation
Overall:Unevaluated
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Zero-G
SUZUKI Ryouta
YAMAMURA Hibiku
There is a device, called an SCM, which can effectively turn one person into another's slave. It fits into a person's mouth, much like a retainer, and two persons each wearing one can engage in a contest. The losers will find themselves unable to resist the urge to obey whatever commands the winners give them (although there are some limits). Somehow SCMs have found their way onto the streets of Japan, and various people are attempting to employ them for one reason or another.

? episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Stretch [series:3516#628]
(Five episodes watched):

As I have said before, there's nothing like a seemingly impossible plot device which is taken completely seriously to make a show intriguing and plausible and cause it to take off (provided the writing is good enough that one can suspend disbelief). As I watched episode one of this show, which I had known nothing about beforehand, it struck me that this anime was looking like more fun than Devils Line, which had gotten good reviews and which I had just watched. The SCM reminded me of the notebook from Death Note. The story bounces back and forth between two plotlines, each involving someone getting involved in SCM for the first time. That technique seemed clever and cool to me. These were ongoing characters rather than ones who would only appear in one-episode short stories, which was another thing I liked. Perhaps best of all, the premise actually made a good deal of sense once you accept that such a device might be invented someday. For example, one character, Ohta, has thought up a fairly clever plan to protect himself just in case he ever loses an SCM match. The characters in general seemed sophisticated and interesting. I had no idea what to expect going into this show, but emerged from it intrigued and optimistic. This is why I give the first episode of almost every new anime each season a chance.

Episode two in general was interesting and kept me engaged, except for one thing--why did the girl with the eyepatch agree to take part in an SCM match when she basically already had the one thing she wanted most? Why risk losing that? It didn't make sense. This would be a problem that would reoccur several times: why do people who seem to have at least a basic idea of what they are getting into engage so casually in such risky business? Would you risk becoming enslaved just because you presumably have a 50-50 chance of winning a slave for yourself? I definitely would not. In episode five a guy agrees to take part in a duel because a kid he barely knows asks him to--that is absurd. It makes about as much sense as selling your soul to the devil for some short-term benefit.

But putting that aside, I remained curious where this was going. The commonplace trickery and cheating sort of reminded me of Kakegurui. Revelations like one thing a master can't do is manipulate the emotions of a slave were interesting, too. As I watched the first part of episode three I was surprised at how clever this show often is. It managed to find all sorts of new ways that this betting business can be repackaged in original and intriguing stories, at least for now. I might be wrong, but I'm feeling an engaging longterm plot coming together, in which a relatively small set of characters continually undergo changes of their master/slave status relative to each other, and that intrigues me. Most shows would be pretty episodic and unremarkable. No doubt one reason why I'm enjoying this is because the characters have well rounded personalities rather than being just good guys and bad ones. I can even feel sorry for the guy who was a gigilo and tried to exploit and enslave eyepatch girl.

On the other hand, there could be so many loopholes in the basic rules that I may lose track of what's going on and become confused and frustrated. For example, slaves can duel too, but the results are 'temporary' (or is their master counted as the winner)? And a dog can wear an SCM and engage in duels? I don't know if that will register in my brain. More and more characters are introduced and I become confused regarding who is a slave and who is a master and so forth. Additional characters don't seem as rounded as the early ones were. It's the old problem of many characters with shallow personalities rather than a few with well-rounded ones; quantity rather than quality. It looks like two sides are forming, the larger and evil one led by the mysterious 'Ryuuou' and the smaller one led by the main characters. Each side is recruiting (enslaving) people to fight for it. But what I would most like is to learn some more about how this SCM thing was invented, if there's any way to escape from being enslaved, what it feels like to be a master or a slave, why there's a version for a dog, etc.

Last updated Saturday, May 19 2018. Created Monday, April 16 2018.

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org