REVIEW: ‘Viral Hit’ Episode 1 — “First Upload”

Yoo Ho-bin (Satoshi Niwa) is a young man tormented by bullies. His daily life is filled with pain, misery, and struggle. When not being abused by his classmates he struggles to support his mother’s cancer treatments. But when one bully finally pushes him too far, he may find a solution to his problems in Viral Hit Episode 1.

The first half of this episode goes hard to establish Yoo’s utter bleakness. His classmates heap every indignity they can think of on the young man. From being made the butt of jokes in NewTubu (YouTube) videos to open assault in the middle of class, Yoo never gets a moments peace when his peers are around. When he isn’t being actively beaten down, the world wears down his mental state even more. Yoo struggles to pay for his mother’s ongoing cancer treatment with his after-school job at a fast food restaurant. He barely manages to scrape by, even as his abusive classmates rake in tens of thousands of Yen off their videos.

While the clear objective of Viral Hit Episode 1’s opening is to make Yoo as sympathetic as possible, it goes a bit too far in its efforts. The series treats his assaults as daily occurrences in the middle of class, yet no teachers are around. If a child is mysteriously gaining bruises and becoming noticeably disheveled randomly in class, you’d think someone would do something. Even if no one is willing to talk, at the very least, you’d think the room would never be left unattended long enough for things to escalate as they regularly do.

The animation reinforces the severity of Yoo’s beatings as well. His terror and fear as his classmates loom over him, delivering numerous kicks to his person, is palpable. Moments of quiet after the assaults have ended bring tear-filled scenes that bring a whole new meaning to the term “ugly crying.” The viewers feel Yoo’s misery due to the clear and effective work.

The final scene of the introduction to Yoo comes at his home. One of his abusers, Woo Ji-hyuk (Nobuhiko Okamoto) pressures Yoo into letting him stream from his home. Not only that, Yoo gives him his mother’s bank account information so he can collect his profits. That Yoo would allow Woo into his home at all feels ridiculous. Let alone giving someone he knows to be completely untrustworthy access to his mother’s money. What little there is. It feels like the show is so busy making the worst imaginable situation for Yoo that it doesn’t care about how unfeasible the circumstances become.

Woo finally crosses a line when an accident causes Yoo to spill hot ramen on him during a stream. Believing Yoo has disrupted the internet feed and cost him 30, 00o Yen, Woo begins pummeling Yoo again. Yoo lies helpless before his abuser until Woo states that Yoo caused his mother’s cancer. With this final straw, Yoo rises from his huddled place on the floor and delivers an uppercut that sends Woo reeling. A full-blown fight between the two breaks out. Unbeknownst to either, the stream is still active. Only the monitor is unplugged.

Viral Hit Episode 1 returns to Yoo the following day as a phone call wakes him. It’s Woo, demanding that he take down the video he uploaded of them fighting. Upon investigating, Yoo finds that the video went up and has already amassed a shocking 10,000,000 views. At one-tenth of a Yen per view, he has one million Yen coming his way. He is thrilled. Woo, however, is not.

Once the former bully’s call with Yoo ends, we see him arrive at school. Everyone has seen the video of him struggling against Yoo. His mystique is shattered and no one cares about anything he says. When he tries to assert his dominance over another student, Woo soon finds himself on the ground getting the same style of thrashing he was giving Yoo just the other day.

Woo is devastated. While I’m not sure if the series actually expects the audience to feel sympathy for the punk, it fails if it’s trying to solicit that response. The karmic nature of Woo’s predicament makes the viewer struggle to feel for him. He thought such beatings were awesome when he was giving them.

In the final scene of Viral Hit Episode 1, Woo confronts Yoo after school. While this meeting quickly leads to another brawl between the boys, Woo reveals he hasn’t come to fight. Showing a video he’s made of their confrontation, Woo tries to convince Yoo to work with him on a video channel. They’ll go around and give bullies their comeuppance on live media. Assuring Yoo they’ll be a hit, Woo expects him to take a terrible 90:10 spilt in Woo’s favor for the proceeds.

While the numbers eventually reverse themselves where the money is concerned, that Yoo is willing to work with his former tormentor at all is laughable. That Woo won’t be trying to screw him over at every turn seems inevitable. Even if Woo is sincere, that Yoo is willing to believe it feels implausible. How can he work with a guy who gleefully laughed as he beat him, saying horrible things about his likely dying mother in the process?

While Viral Hit Episode 1 gives its all to make the viewer feel for its desperate protagonist, how it goes about it often fails. Between crafting too brutal of a scenario to feel plausible and having Yoo make some highly suspect choices, the narrative strains the viewer’s willingness to accept its scenario. Hopefully, future installments will balance these elements better.

Viral Hit Episode 1 is streaming now on  Crunchyroll.