Infinite Dendrogram

In the year 2043, <Infinite Dendrogram>, the world's first successful full-dive VRMMO was released. In addition to its ability to perfectly simulate the five senses, along with its many other amazing features, the game promised to offer players a world full of infinite possibilities. Nearly two years later, soon-to-be college freshman, Reiji Mukudori, is finally able to buy a copy of the game and start playing. With some help from his experienced older brother, Shuu, and his partner Embryo, Reiji embarks on an adventure into the world of <Infinite Dendrogram>. Just what will he discover and encounter in this game world known for its incredible realism and infinite possibilities?

(Source: J-Novel Club)

Nemesis Main

Oono, Yuuko Japanese

Mukudori, Reiji Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Starling, Shu Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Mr. Franklin Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Adler, Marie Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Holmes, Rook Supporting

Koichi, Makoto Japanese

Fusou, Tsukuyo Supporting

Lesseps, Hugo Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Xunyu Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Babylon Supporting

Takada, Yuuki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Yamanaka, Takahiro Producer

Kitada, Nobuhisa Producer

Yokota, Masaaki Producer

Reviews

Apr 15, 2020

JoeEagar

Recommended

I enjoyed Infinite Dendogram. Yes the main character is badly written, but the others make up for it. I didn't care what happened to Ray Starling, but I found all the other characters compelling, from Marie the alleged journalist to Hugo and Franklin to even Nemesis.

It's an enjoyable and light-hearted show, especially if you pretend that someone other than Ray is the main character. Unlike many shonen shows Dendogram doesn't surround Ray with people who worship him--Ray is treated as either a friend or a lovable little brother, a welcome break from "the sun" trope that's been done to death in shonen. ... This is what makes the other characters so compelling and is why they're able to compensate for the shallow tropeyness of Ray.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 15, 2020

Marinate1016

Mixed Feelings

Dendrogram is a show that had potential, but failed to ever really live up to it.

More often than not with anime adaptations of isekai and VRMMORPG Light Novels, we see that they’ve only reacted acted as promotional material for the LN. Dendrogram doesn’t break that mould at all and while a fun watch for me personally, fell flat for long stretches.

The world and characters that the show introduces are interesting, however rarely are fleshed out and rarely are we actually made to care about them or their struggles. The notable exception to this is Nemesis who I personally really liked.

Even without having read ... the LN(will do later), I can tell large amounts of the story were condensed and omitted for the sake of an enjoyable anime experience. When making these adaptations it’s always a gamble as to what parts should or shouldn’t be omitted, but it feels like in this case NAZ did not get it right and that we were missing things .

I quite enjoyed the art of the show and thought the character designs(done by White Fox) were all really nice. Animation wise, the show is quite weak. At times I felt like I was looking at a PowerPoint presentation. This is consistent throughout the show and even the final fight felt that way. There’s not a huge amount of CGI, but when done I felt like it was subpar.

For me, an anime does not have to be some masterpiece for me to really enjoy it. Dendrogram is certainly not an objectively great anime in technical nor narrative aspects, however it did manage to keep me entertained and I looked forward to it weekly. If you are not a fan of VRMMORPG you will not enjoy this show. Hell, even if you are, there’s a good chance you still won’t like this show. The first episode is pretty much how it remains throughout, so that’s enough of a barometer.

Dendrogram gets 6 Superior Embryos out of 10 from me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 15, 2020

TheDeedsOfMen

Not Recommended

"It would leave a bad taste in my mouth."
‒ Ray Starling

You know what, Ray? This anime leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and you are one of the chief culprits. Infinite Dendrogram promises infinite possibilities, but instead we get Ray Starling, a piece of cardboard masquerading as a human being, a robot that gazes upon the world with an empty light in his eyes, an empty husk of a man who delivers the most generic lines imaginable.

"My battle's far from over. You can't stop my pace, my sword-wielding arm ‒ not yet. Not as long as I see tragedy before me ‒ tragedy and ... you!"
‒ Ray Starling

What next? He might as well say "Halt, you fiend! My blade shall thwart your evil plans!" because it would not surprise me anymore.

Ray is a typical hero to the extreme. He is so selfless and altruistic that he makes angels blush. He is a white knight who swoops in to rescue people in obvious distress, often random children kidnapped by heinous villains. He never has to make any difficult decisions because the villains are always obvious. Ray also likes to deliver simple, cheesy rants about justice and helping people, completely unironically, of course. This includes his catchphrase "It would leave a bad taste in my mouth." What would leave a bad taste, you ask? Not saving people in need; what else?

Ray goes further than that though. He refuses to grab the valuables of a villain he defeated, considering it blood money. He is even reluctant to accept a cash reward for his actions and tries to convince his party members to take his share as well. And this happens not just once but twice. That's ridiculous. You fought hard for the money; it is alright to accept it sometimes. Not to mention that he could always use it to improve his equipment, which would help his altruistic efforts in the future, so his refusal doesn't even make sense from a purely altruistic viewpoint.

That is not all. Many characters find Ray interesting simply because he sees the world of Infinite Dendrogram as real, which isn't even unique to him. Several other characters feel the same way, yet they are not treated with the same level of interest. Ray is also one of the most promising new players in the game, though still underpowered compared to the more experienced players. That doesn't stop him from saving the day though. As a side note, the game is also ridiculously imbalanced. Even though it is not particularly rigged in Ray's favor, the fact that it is rigged in general should result in endless complaints from the player base. Oh, and one more thing. Ray happens to get a girl as his Embryo, Nemesis (his unique special weapon that evolves over time). That's right; his weapon can transform into a girl because we had to use that trope as well. Maiden Embryos are not unique to Ray in-universe by any means, but it is still convenient.

Ray was generic in the light novel already (yes, I have been reading it), but in the anime most of Ray's internal monologue and backstory have been cut, along with general narration. So we lose all the context and he becomes even more of a generic hero. So generic, in fact, that he has no personality left. I would excuse you if you thought he was secretly a robot all along. Many of the other characters have also taken a hit in the adaptation, and their personalities have taken a turn for the bland. Near the end, they try to deliver backstories for some of the characters in the form of short flashbacks. Not the most subtle form of infodumping, but it is better than nothing. These flashbacks outline the original motivations of the characters in entering Infinite Dendrogram in the first place. Usually this involves various ways of escapism, but it is not enough to salvage their characters. The flashbacks are mostly loyal to the novel, but it doesn't really help when the original backstories were almost as short. Rook's backstory seems particularly implausible and makes me wonder why any of it was necessary.

This is the result if you take source material that already has problems and then rush the adaptation and butcher whatever was there. The source material already had many of the same issues, but it turns out that trying to squeeze 5 volumes of an infodump-heavy light novel into 13 episodes is a bad idea. Who would have thought? The script went from long-winded explanations in the novel to explaining pretty much nothing in the anime. Most of the info-dumps related to the world are cut, leaving only the bare essentials. You won't understand how some abilities work. You won't properly know the side characters or even the main characters. You won't even know the names of some of the countries. It is that bad. Good luck understanding what is going on, why it is happening, and what the context for any of it is. If the main point of your novel is world-building, having an anime adaptation without it simply means that you are airing an empty shell. They might as well just put "Read the novel, idiot!" on-screen.

Or take the comedy. The novel already has the tendency to make jokes that are too obvious. For instance, encountering a bunch of thugs in a back alley while they are trying to kidnap a child and then pointing out that the encounter is clichéd. It is better to be aware of the cliché than not, but an even better idea would be to write something else entirely. In the anime, the scene loses every last bit of nuance and self-awareness. In the novel, the jokes have the subtlety of a brick to the face. Now replace the brick with a pile of bricks and maybe a sledgehammer, and you have the anime. We have slapstick comedy like Ray catching fire or enveloped in a cloud of toxic gas. We have his brother wearing a bear costume and ending almost every line with "kuma" (or "grizz" in English), which is bear-ly ever funny. (Yeah, that was a bad one too.) We have Nemesis eating too much. We have people over-reacting to every single thing. We have Ray finding or purchasing too many of the same now-useless item several times, which is a bit funnier in a kind of blunt way (maybe?) but can't exactly carry the show either. There is a character who literally says "xD" and "lol" on-screen, which may produce a quick cheap laugh out of sheer surprise. We are hip on the interwebs.

More generally, the show over-explains what is obvious while simultaneously leaving many important points unexplained. (The latter parts were probably in the novel.) Sometimes the characters are having awkward and unnatural conversations about information they should already know and have no in-universe reason to repeat.

"There certainly was a lot of bickering yesterday."
"Everyone kept trying to..."

These conversations take place purely for the sake of the audience. It is a lazy and poorly conceived method of delivering exposition. Sometimes characters even explain what they are obviously visibly doing at the moment for no reason. This includes pointless villain speeches in which the bad guys explain their current plans, and people talking to themselves out loud.

Franklin tries to provide more of a central antagonist to the show. The problem is that he ends up looking like a cartoon villain who acts evil for the sake of evil itself. You know, the wacky evil mad scientist. His motives are poorly developed too, both in-game and in real life. Even with the short flashback of his background, it is hard to see why exactly he'd end up with goals like that. Furthermore, the inner workings of Dryfe (a country) are barely addressed in the anime, just like the inner workings of just about anything, really. Franklin also likes to deliver lengthy villain speeches to explain his current plans, to show off to everyone that he is evil and strong, and to scare the good guys into giving up, as if the latter has any chance of working.

The show also tries to focus on whether the world of Infinite Dendrogram is real or not, including whether the tians (NPCs) are living, sentient beings. While this is generally a good idea, not much comes out of it and it is too little too late. As a moral aesop, it is also a bit on the obvious side, though better than simply the power of friendship in its most generic form. I kind of wonder though. It seems implausible that so many people would not consider the tians sentient when they so obviously are.

I don't want to dwell too long on the visuals, but let's note that they are not great. The animation quality isn't the best, and it looks lazy sometimes, with unnatural movements. But what struck out to me even more were the designs. So many places, characters, and creatures look so generic. These are some of the most generic goblins I have ever seen. The boss monsters look generic as well. Plains, roads, the crypt: they all look generic. The common criminals look so clichéd that they might as well be wearing shirts with "thug," "ruffian," or "scoundrel" printed on them. The evil wizard looks comically evil and not in a good sense. His scenes, which were already generic in the source material, become a laughingstock in the anime. The mecha looks fairly generic too, but at least it is on the realistic side, at least by mecha standards. The bigger mecha looks less realistic but still fairly generic. Ray's red-black coat is a fashion disaster and not in a funny way. They point out that it looks too edgy for him, but a bigger problem is its sheer ugliness. This is your fancy new coat, Ray? Really?

We get to very briefly see a few of the capitals of the other countries, which was nice. If only we could see them more. The opening song is alright, but the opening visuals reuse animation and awkwardly try to hide it with the excessive use of flashy effects all over the screen. Hey, at least they managed to draw my attention with the visual onslaught.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining. Because the show is so rushed, at least it will only take 13 episodes to finish, so it is faster than a more decent adaptation would have been. Always look on the bright side, right? You could watch it out of curiosity to see just how generic a protagonist can be and maybe scratch your head at some of the visual designs and adaptation decisions.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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