ID: Invaded is an anime original series produced by NAZ and licensed by Funimation. It was directed by Ei Aoki and written by Ōtarō Maijō. A manga adaptation has since been published and it illustrated by Yūki Kodama.
Sometime in the future, The Mizuhanome System was developed. This is a highly-advanced device which enables humans to enter the mind of a criminal. It isn’t as simple as entering their mind and figuring out who they are though, rather, they enter the id well, an unconscious area of the killer’s mind, which is often a bizarre assortment of their memories, thoughts, and desires. The people in charge of using this device are a special police force called, Kura.
It is there job to send someone into the Mizuhanome and then analyze what they see and experience in these psychological planes. Not just any human can be injected though, they must have killed someone before. You are also no longer yourself in an id well, you wake up without memory of who you are or what you’re doing until you are faced with the trigger: Kaeru, a young girl who serves as the pseudo murder victim. From there the brilliant detective fully awakens and works to solve Kaeru’s death within the Mizuhanome so that the outside force can figure out the killer’s identity.
Our main brilliant detective is Sakaido, known in the real world as former detective Akihito Narihisago. Following a devastating tragedy, Narihisago ended up a killer and now operates as Kura’s best brilliant detective. Even though he comes off as unemotional and cold, Narihisago takes being a brilliant detective very seriously. Not only is he fueled by his hatred of serial killers, but he genuinely wants to save the victims. Tamotsu Fukuda, a serial killer turned brilliant detective, and Koharu Hondomachi, assistant field analyst to Kokuryu Matsuoka, serve as Narihisago/Sakaido’s main support.
This show has a lot of parallels to Psycho-Pass with it’s use of technology that analyzes a person’s psyche to flag and track down criminals, and that there is one over-arching villain hidden among the numerous cases the police must solve. The main differences are that ID: Invaded focuses on “intent to kill” and not just someone being “at risk” for violent behavior, and that the series deals with specifically serial killers.
ID: Invaded never has a “down” episode. There isn’t a single time where the story and cases aren’t being propelled forward. Some cases take 1 episode, some take more, but with each case we are pulled further into the psychology of these killers and closer to the truth of who is influencing them. There is also a mystery surrounding the Mizuhanome that fits nicely into the plot without feeling like there’s too much going on. There’s a lot of emotion in this show. I’ll admit, a few episodes made me cry. It also isn’t afraid to deal with sensitive subjects, nor does it spend too much time on them, rather, it’s like it acknowledges these things exist and are terrible, but the focus is on what comes after and how to move on.
The music in the series is incredible. In particular, the ending them, “Other Side”, and insert songs, “UP,” “Samurai 45,” and “Butterfly,: are all done by crazy talented musician, Miyavi (Takamasa Ishihara) and can be found on his 2019 album, NO SLEEP TILL TOKYO. Seriously, I immediately went and listened to the whole album, it’s awesome.
OVERALL SCORE: 9 / 10
