Arisu Ryohei is unemployed and spends most of his time playing video games. One day he meets up with two friends in the middle of Tokyo. After some mild hijinks they hide in a cubicle in a public lavatory... suddenly the lights go out and they can no longer hear the general hubbub of the busy city. They emerge to find the city empty. Not long afterwards signs lead them to a building, where they are joined by two girls. Here they are forced to play a deadly game, after which they are awarded a playing card. It emerges that they will be forced to take place in such games on a regular basis. Later we are introduced to Usagi, a skilled climber, who later joins up with Usagi. They gradually learn more about the games and what the cards signify while trying to discover if there is a way back to their previous lives.
I really enjoyed this series; little time is wasted with set-up; the viewers are thrown into the action along with our protagonists. We know as little about the world they are in as they do and only learn more as they do. Early games make it clear just how dangerous this world is; just because a character is introduced early does not guarantee their survival. The scenes within the games are very tense, and frequently quite gory; there is also a fair amount of fan-service as characters wear beachwear in later episodes for reasons explained in the series. The way the dynamic between the characters changes is interesting; especially after our surviving protagonists find a location with many more players. The cast, both main and secondary does a solid job making the fantastical situation believable. The effects are mostly good but a couple of times the CGI is a bit obvious. As the final episode ends many questions are answered but more are raised; these people's problems clearly aren't over... hopefully there will be at least one more season.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
