He is summoned to a completely different world, and meets other teenagers like him: Karin Sarayashiki, Kaikoku Onigasaki, Himiko Inaba, Anya Kudou, Yuzu Roromori, Zakuro Oshigiri and Makino Aikawa.
The eight teenagers are welcomed into what is known as the 13th Avenue, headed over by a strange man with an alpaca mask calling himself "Paca", and are informed of their task: to work together in clearing stages of the game and retrieving the "chromosome", a keycard-like token of completion, to subsequently reach 100 million viewers in this livestream where death and injury can all occur.
Henceforth begins their trials in clearing this game, but what lies in wait for them is not only dangerous obstacles, with each member having a hidden past and dark secrets of their own.
[16] The series is directed by Shin Oonuma and animated by Silver Link, with Kento Shimoyama written the scripts, Mizuki Takahashi designed the characters, and Junichi Satou of Fhána composed the music at Lantis.
While searching for a way out, they are suddenly pursued by an enormous panda, which Akatsuki manages to befriend due to his friendly nature and convince it to leave peacefully, much to the amusement of game master Paca, a mysterious man in a suit with an alpaca mask.
They are subsequently brought to the Genome Tower, and introduced to five other participants, Anya Kudou, Zakuro Oshigiri, Himiko Inaba, Yuzu Roromori and Makino Aikawa, all of them online game streamers that received the invitation and wound up here.
Paca explains that all of them have been chosen as active players in the game, and are being broadcast live 24/7 in order to attain 100 million views of their gameplays, lest they will spend permanent imprisonment in a White Room of endless waiting that would drive anyone insane.
For the third stage Paca introduces them to a nurturing-dating simulation game to raise an attractive girl from an egg to be the flawless Lady Murasaki to capture the heart of the school's prince Hikaru Genji.
Meanwhile, Yuzu invites Karin to go to the open-air onsen with her on Floor 30 while questioning her relationship with Akatsuki and pretending to seduce her, but this was all just an act revealing that the players truly are being watched everywhere as the view counts shoot up exponentially.
Murasaki is accidentally charmed by Makino after gazing into his eyes but everyone persuades her to go to school anyway, with the girls (and Iride dressed as one) infiltrating the classroom to watch out for her.
Kaikoku and Zakuro reveal that while the others were playing Stage 3, the two of them snuck to Floor 51 after discovering that the entire city is completely vacant save for the players.
However, as they were found out, Paca sets an S-level difficulty stage for them to conquer next as punishment, called "Exterminate the Mimicry Man-eaters" and sealing them within the Genome Tower.
The monsters multiply extensively in their chase, frequently imitating the appearance of their comrades to fool them, but the group successfully manages to meet as the sun sets.
Akatsuki reveals that the Mimicry Man-eaters operate based on sunlight and due to night falling, are currently inactive, allowing Yuzu to arrive with a bunch of countermeasures.
Yuzu digs out a bag of poisoned needles and hands them out to the boys to kill the monsters the next sunset, while leaving the girls and Makino behind to protect their food source.
Anya, annoyed Akatsuki asked Paca for sleeping pills, punches him and begins to isolate himself, feeling as though he is a burden and unused to being helped.
A flashback shows that Kaikoku was treated like a tool by his grandfather back at the Onigasaki house due to being the next heir, causing him to rebel and run away from home.
Stage 6 moves to the isolated ruins of Karakara Desert, where a girl and a boy must proceed through the dungeon and retrieve the fifth chromosome from the guardian of the temple.
Himiko uses her flash grenades to break through as Anya fends off the remaining mummies with a steel pipe, emerging into a crumbling bridge.
Outside the temple, the rest of the members relax with cool drinks due to the heat and having nothing to do, wherein Paca reveals that he suffered from burns all over his body years ago, hence he cannot expose any skin.
Stage 7 escalates quickly into a game of hide-and-seek with "the three Curse-stealing Sisters" Misery, Isabella and Carrie, tall monstrous triplets with an eyepatch each that operate based on a bell rung every 15 minutes.
After the stressful Stage 7, Paca allows the players to take a day off and recommends the open-air hot spring on the 30th floor of the Genome Tower.
The boys frantically attempt to arrive at countermeasures but inevitably cause a ruckus and making themselves found by Karin, who promptly beats them up.
Himiko stumbles on the scene and breaks up the fight using her flash grenades, which much to Paca's glee, causes the view counts to shoot up exponentially.
She then requests that she manage on her own (with Karin left as a body pillow) when there is 30 minutes remaining; in the unlikely chance that she fail, everyone will use the last-resort method suggested by Anya prior to the stage's beginning.
Paca takes pity on her and helps her fill in the border of the puzzle, before leaving a final piece behind and warning her not to forget her master again as a "Recorder".
The fourth reviewer, Nick Creamer, praised Shin Oonuma's direction for adding "visual diversity" to the episode but criticized the overall bland artwork and unsalvageable story for carrying "archetypal" characters that deliver "simplistic and obnoxious" comedy.
[25] She commended the show's "visual panache" for delivering atmospheric horror in its episodes but felt it wasn't enough for this "poorly-written Danganronpa imitator" to distract viewers from its "subpar script" having "poor pacing", tonal inconsistencies and unmemorable characters to engage with throughout a story that gives a "non-ending" for its conclusion, concluding that "[I]t never tries to stand on its own merits, which are few and far between.