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An anime about a glorified game of Tag with sidequests broadcasted on TV. This anime went under the radar on its release because of its "old" artstyle, subpar animation, inaccessibility and poor marketing. "Run for Money: Great Mission" is inspired by the japanese reality competition show of the same name, which not many may have watched (myself included). This, however, is a different experience from the original show. Watching the anime I felt nostalgic, for this is the kind of show/cartoon I'd watch on TV as a child, although after finishing the whole thing, I can't recommend others to go through with it.

The music is ... one of the strongest points the anime has. Each theme is distinct and comfortable to hear. I'd love to explain it better and list some examples, but the OST is simply impossible to find online. There is a good mix for hype instrumentals and range, including some character-exclusive music (like Sawyer's theme, or Sigma's). The Hunters have their own sound design, making them feel like a proper disruption to the game's flow.

The visual aspect of the series is...weird. The characters give this 90's vibe that evokes that previously mentioned nostalgia, with colorful designs that blend urban clothes and some "action" elements like shoulderpads or spikes. The animation is not a strong point, which sadly harms this fast-paced action series. The Hunters are animated with shameless CGI, which in my opinion is a risky but endearing choice, though many people would feel weirded out by it. Even if you dig the style, it is nothing to write home about.

Talking about the characters in general is incredibly frustrating. Some characters are charming and with lots of cool interactions, mostly main characters like Luna, Sigma, Penta or Hal. But MOST of the cast is, simply put, filler. Each game needs to have aprox. 16 participants, and some characters are taken out or changed to add variety, but none of those add anything of interest to the game. Some minor characters have this specific niche that makes them extremely useful in One scenario before being caught. Others do simply nothing.

The "Great Missions" are the sidequests that add a backstory to each stage's setting. For example, the first stage takes place in Shibuya, with the missions themed around the players fighting a kaiju-like monster like godzilla. These Missions take protagonism above the "Run for Money" tag game, involving NPCs and constant secondary challenges that the players typically participate in. They are...ok-ish. It is apparent the missions distract from the "main event" that was supposed to be the Hunters catching the Players. However, they fulfill a nice role of creating a sub-plot inside these games that would, otherwise, be fairly straightforward. As the series progresses, there are some Great Missions that shake the formula a little, or that raise the stakes a lot. A nice precedent the series leaves early on is that not ALL great missions will be cleared, so it leaves some room for unpredictability. Of course, the missions involve NPCs that can't create deep, lasting stories outside their own stage, so it also feels pretty inconsequential.

The narrative of the anime as a whole is bittersweet. I'll drop a SPOILER WARNING HERE in case you want to jump in blindly. We get a cute, endearing relationship between Sawyer and Hal living in a Moon Colony, whose environment is contaminated, creating this disease that the brothers want to overcome by living in a nicer place. There is forshadowing dropped about other characters, and about the game itself. My opinion, as someone who has watched all 97 episodes, is that it's delivery is frustrating. The story comes to a halt whenever a Run for Money game starts, and whenever it moves in an unexpected direction, it tends to go nowhere. The second half of the series introduces several plot points that raise the stakes and creates interest, but they are either short-lived or not used properly. The last stage specially has a non-sensical premise only for the sake of using all the forshadowing the anime delivered.

My final thoughts are a mess. On one side, I'll it I enjoyed watching it. I got emotional once or twice, getting actually invested whenever the story took a sudden turn, slowly enjoying the journey. On the other, I also it I wanted to drop it once or twice, and losing momentum made it hard to come back to it. Some stages felt eternal and with little to no sauce to it. I have additional notes and comments in my list, if you are still interested on it. I honestly believe this is the kind of show a kid would watch while having lunch after coming home from class. And maybe that's all it was meant to be.