I’m a tech guy. I see sci-fi and psychological genre tags, I click. That was how I discovered this anime.

Story

ID: INVADED has one of the most intriguing first episodes ever. The way the pilot episode introduces the Mizuhanome system and the main characters psychology and thought processes hooks the user in from the first episode.

Ergo, “first impressions matter”. I was instantly hooked. As the story progresses, I gained a more complete understanding of the scenario. Yet, I continue to be surprised by the elements thrown at me - at one point, I stopped trying to guess what would happen next. However, the main overarching mystery (the “John Cook” guy) in the story was not well-written; by the end of Episode 2, most of the characters have already been introduced, allowing us to use process of elimination to obtain our main culprit.

Later on in the story, things go from “sci-fi” to “fantasy” - this transition could have broke the anime, but it was well-executed enough such that the story setting did not change too drastically. To some extent, the changes “made sense”.

Character Developments

To be frank, there were not much character development to speak of; normally, that would dock some points for me. However, in “ID: INVADED”, character development would dismantle the essence of the storyline - in other words, having consistent characters is what makes the story more engaging. This is mostly proven by the main character having the same psychology when in the real world versus inside an “id well” - you’ll understand what I mean when you watch the first episode.

Conclusion

With a good art style, a reasonable closure to the anime, and soundtrack that barely gets in the way of storytelling, I believe that all-in-all, “ID: INVADED” was a rewarding watch for me. There is enough mystery to spice up each episode, although the overarching mystery could have been written better.

Give it a watch should you have the time!

Happy Coding

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