RESIDENT EVIL: INFINITE DARKNESS Review: Hopefully, We're Just Getting Started

Yesterday, Capcom’s first four episodes of their Resident Evil anime series was released onto Netflix and they were packed full of lore preparations! It seems that Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness takes place in 2006, two years after the events of Resident Evil 4, and Leon is working with the same President whose daughter he saved in 2004. This only plays a small role but is great work for grounding us in the timeline in which the show takes place.

Before getting into the details, let’s first discuss the graphical quality of this anime. Honestly, if they would have called it a CGI show, I don’t think I would have noticed the difference. The multiple CGI movies that they have done feature similar quality in the art style, but it does seem to be more polished than the other movies. This could just be due to skill improvement and technology advancements, but that is pretty much the aesthetic quality that you can expect from the whole show. It is well done, don’t get me wrong, but I am not seeing what the difference is between this show that they call an anime and their CGI movies from before.

Spoiler-Free Breakdown

In this series, we learn of the many characters that will take place in the conflict and kick off the lore within the first four episodes. While we do get a start to finish for a major plot point of the characters, we are left off with another cliffhanger that will take us into the next series of events.

It has the expected mixture of conspiracy, a power-hungry rich guy with a dumb yet disastrous-bound plan, a group of rebels, and Leon caught in the middle. Leon was originally dispatched to meet with the Secretary of State and the President as one of four top agents for a mission, but this mission is put on hold due to the immediate outbreak of zombies. Once the scene is clear, they are briefed on their mission and sent out to achieve it.

From this point, any more information I give would be a bit spoiler, so instead, I’ll tell you what you can expect to see.

Leon will be dropping his lines that only someone telling themselves while they are alone would think are cool, per usual for him. A couple of twists that are more of a side plot nuisance to push the characters toward their main goal. Loads of talking about the details of what the characters have been through and why they are doing what they are doing. And, of course, action with a pretty cool epic fight in the fourth episode that really escalates the excitement.

Expectations

They left us on a bit of a cliffhanger with knowledge of something deeper happening with our stubborn, rich friend who caused a lot of problems. Not only that, but some of the characters from the first main conflict that is resolved in these first four episodes are still alive, so what are they going to do next?

We also never got to see much of Claire, aside from his bit of investigations she went on, in which she found plenty of information. What is she going to do with this information? What was her overall goal when it came to meeting with the Secretary of State in the beginning? It seems she is trying to stay away from any combat and bring good to the world, but it is very likely that this won’t be the case since she is within the same city as Leon.

Conclusion

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness has definitely dropped a solid first four episodes and I highly recommend fans of the series watching! However, I was surprised that there was any amount of conclusion to the show already and am a little worried that this is all they had planned. If it is, why didn’t they just make this into a movie since it is altogether just over an hour and a quarter long? One hour and fifteen minutes is a solid movie length, but four episodes is not a solid show length.

On that note, I really am expecting to see more episodes coming for the show in the future, but we don’t have a schedule or notice for when more will be dropping. For now, make sure you go ahead and catch those first four episodes. From there, we will all just keep our fingers crossed and our Netflix’s updated as we wait for the next few episodes to come out.