When making an anime about people playing a video game, there’s usually some twist that adds tension. Sometimes it’s being trapped in a real version of the game world. Other times, the video game itself is a death game where if the players die in the game, they die in real life as well. But in Infinite Dendrogram it’s not the players that are in danger, it’s the NPCs.
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Infinite Dendrogram is the story of a young man who takes up the identity of Ray Starling in the VRMMORPG Infinite Dendrogram. Two years late to the party, he starts as a newbie and soon enough gains his own AI partner/weapon. He then sets about exploring the supposedly infinite possibilities of the virtual world.
While there is a punishment for dying–as he finds out firsthand–it’s simply being locked out of the game for 24 hours (72 hours in-game time). While that’s certainly annoying, it’s not really enough alone to build any tension. That’s where the NPCs come in.
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Inside the VRMMORPG, the NPCs are all but indistinguishable from other players. The ways they move and talk seem absolutely real. And they even seem to have emotions. The first NPC Ray meets is Liliana Grandria, a young yet powerful knight hunting for her missing sister. She’s in a complete panic, just as any real person would be in that situation. Sympathetic to her plight, he takes her quest–despite its high level of difficulty and then learns from his veteran player brother the real way the game builds a sense of danger.
While players respawn after a day, NPCs do not. When an NPC dies, they are gone forever–be that the lowliest peasant or most powerful king. Moreover, quests have a realistic time limit. If they simply do nothing, it’s likely they will fail the quest and the young girl, AI though she may be, will die–and her sister will be left to do nothing but mourn.
Or to put it another way, this is not a death game for the players. It is one for every single NPC.
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In the broadest sense, the partner AIs and the NPCs, in general, are a trap. They seem real so the players will become emotionally invested in them and their problems–to feel pain when they are hurt and fear what would happen should they die.
This, in turn, makes the player death penalty become a much bigger deal. If you die in the middle of a quest, you’re gone for three days of in-world time. Not only will the battle be long over but even the fallout will be days in the past. Any NPC you were trying to save will be long dead.
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Because of this, the first episode of Infinite Dendrogram is simply teeming with tension as Ray, at a measly level one, attempts to save a little girl from giant, man-eating worms. If he fails, he will emotionally feel that he allowed a young child to die–regardless of him “knowing” she’s just part of a game. All in all, it’s emotional blackmail at its finest–not only for the characters in the anime but for us, the viewers invested in their adventures, as well.
Infinite Dendrogram can be seen on Funimation, AnimeLab (AU/NZ), and Wakanim (EU).
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