I picked an interesting follow up to Pet because in a lot of ways these shows are very similar. Mind you, it wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened this way. The gist of it is that ID: Invaded features characters diving into the psyche's of serial killers in an attempt to discover information about who they are, their motives, and other things. And this is where you do have a pretty big hurdle to get over to enjoy this show.
See, in this world when you have the intent to kill someone, you leave behind a detectable particle that is actually affected by the world around you. Not in a way anyone can tell just by looking, but these particles can be dispersed by the wind and no longer able to be detected. By detecting these particles, the police force can gather them up and create what is called an ID Well. Wells can only be created from serial killers, and only serial killers or people who have attempted to kill multiple people (Including themselves) can dive into these wells. This gets so weirdly specific it can be a bit difficult to get into. That said, if it's not enough to break your suspension of disbelief, you are in for a great ride.
The description of the show itself kind of spoils the first episode's twist, but it's a bit unavoidable to talk about it. See, the episode starts with the Brilliant Detective Sakaido waking up in a strange world where nothing is whole. His body is falling apart, and the world around him is floating around almost as though they are in pieces. Pulling himself together, he finds a corpse and he remembers two things. One is that he is the Brilliant Detective Sakaido, and the other he is here to solve the mystery of the dead girl, Kaede. You quickly learn this world is the Well of a serial killer, and when someone dives in they have no memories of their life and instead have the one goal of solving the murder. Each well it is always the body of Kaede they find, and each time they lose all memories. They do, however, remember the experience within the Well upon exiting.
The show is presented largely in two parts, the investigation in the well and the police force on the ground who are investigating reality. The reality portion, while the least interesting aspect, is still very fascinating at times. There is a killer who is drilling holes into people's heads, for example, and the rookie girl gets caught. I don't want to spoil it, but the way she is able to do things in reality that gives away the position of the killer in the well is fantastic, and pretty hardcore in its own way.
One thing I kind of like about the show is how well it portrays how everyone works together as a team. While you would imagine Sakaido would be the lead main character, something that isn't entirely off base, the way the focus shifts around from character to character it feels like no one really takes priority over another. It's rare for there to be a show that does so good at changing focus between characters like this, and in a way, it kind of reminds me of Psycho-Pass and the shifting between Akane and Kogami.
To go back to the comparison to Pet at the beginning, it succeeds exactly where I felt Pet failed. Like Pet, the various worlds and abilities you may have in each well are determined by Metaphor, but at the same time it never feels like what you can and cannot do is nothing more than convenience, as well as doing a fantastic job at reflecting the villain's psyche. Everything makes sense in the context it's presented, and it makes for a lot of really fantastic scenes, and it never feels like the show just pulls something straight out of it's ass to justify what's going on.
This is all backed up by a fantastic cast of characters. As mentioned, there is an interesting requirement to become a Brilliant Detective, so there is an interesting challenge in getting you to care about the people who become Brilliant Detectives, that being they have, to some extent, and intent to kill. You have Sakaido, who has in the past talked serial killers whose well he has entered into Suicide, the Rookie girl who becomes Brilliant Detective Hijiriido for reasons I don't want to spoil (It's easy to see coming that she will be a Great Detective pretty early on), and my persona favorite, The Great Detective Anaido, whose real name I can't reveal without another huge spoiler. I love every single one of them, and one of my favorite bits is seeing the interactions between Anaido and Sakaido. Despite them doing things that could arguably make them terrible and irredeemable people, I just love every moment they are on screen together as this fantastic detective duo.
Don't get me wrong, the whole cast is fantastic, but those three really do make this show for me. Great characters like them elevate a show from great to a classic, and that's what I think this show is going to be looked at in the future, at least to the group of people who saw it. It's a show that I feel has not gotten nearly the attention it deserves. There is no doubt in my mind the show is going to at least make my top five of the year just because of the odds of that many shows better than it coming out. If you can, give this show a try, and I doubt you'll regret it.
