And you thought your dreams were weird.
Haruto Tsukishiro's life is changed forever when he enters a mysterious Dream Land dominated by powerful magical entities called "Witches". To survive, he gets the assistance of research professor Katsumi Kanzaki and a mysterious white-haired girl called "Lily." With their help, Haruto must outsmart the witches and find a way to return to the real world.
18if is an anime series produced by GONZO, part of the media franchise The Art of 18. It premiered in July 7, 2017.
18if contains examples of:
- Adam and/or Eve: Eve herself is apparently the dreamer behind the real world, with the reason why conflict is so prominent being due to her belief that she cursed humanity to suffer when she partook of the Fruit of Knowledge with Adam. In the final episode, it's implied that Haruto was Adam.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Kanzaki's cat persona in the dream world was originally black and Puss in Boots-like, with a rather serious appearance. In this series, his design is more cartoony and has ganglier limbs, and his fur's been dyed to white.
- Adventures In Coma Land: Played with; a good deal of Haruto's wandering through the dream world is adventuring through other people's Coma Lands to wake them up, but Haruto himself can't wake up unlike Kanzaki. It turns out Haruto was in Coma Land from the start, but that doesn't compare to the hugest Coma Land of all: Eve's coma contains the entire universe in it, and she's perfectly content to keep sleeping until Haruto started waking people up.
- Alternate Universe: Some of the circumstances are the same as those in the game, but the protagonist and circumstances are different, in addition to having Lily around in this adaptation.
- Anti-Escapism Aesop: Zig-zagged. Haruto wakes several people up by telling them the Dream World doesn't compare to confronting your problems head-on in reality, like with Airi using the world to binge or Mirei living the college life she never got to have. Despite this, he's perfectly fine with others using it to escape, as he learns to see Jane's lucid dreaming as just another lifestyle, helps Mana kill off her parents' murderers in her dream, and gives Kayo the last week she always wanted. The end even inverts it, with the Witches convincing Eve not to destroy the world because she can live the life she always wanted in the dreamscape.
- Art Shift: While each episode has its own director and animation style, Episode 7 is done in The Snack World-like CGI.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rather than go back to the waking world and continue living his life, Haruto decides to head to God's realm with Lily/Eve to be with her forever. He promises to return to visit his friends in their dreams, though.
- Clip Show: "The Thorn Cross Association" serves as this, with Kanzaki and Haruto reminicing about all the witches they saved and how they are connected to Eve.
- Don't Say Such Stupid Things!: To awaken Yuko from her sleep, Haruto bluntly tells her to stop trying to be the person everyone expect her to be and search for her own happiness.
- Dream Apocalypse: According to Ehyeh, the "real world" is actually the dream of Eve. Once she wakes up, this trope will be unleashed on all of humanity.
- Dream Land: The basis of the story.
- Dream People: The dream world is populated by creatures that can be manipulated by Witches.
- Dream Weaver: Haruto functions as this for the Witches, though his degree of control depends on the Witch he encounters. Naturally, the Dream Witch is capable of this ability in her own dimension.
- Dying Dream: Episode 3 is this for Kayo.
- Forced Sleep: According to Lily, the girls that become witches suffer from "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome", a condition that puts them to sleep and they cannot wake up unless they get help from someone inside the dream.
- Freudian Excuse: Eve was just wracked with guilt over eating the Fruit of Knowlege, combined with just following around whatever Adam said. Upon awakening in her dream world and finding that all her problems were amplified, she wanted to tear the place apart and start over.
- Genre Shift:
- Episodes 1, 4 and 7: Fairy Tales.
- Episode 2: Dark Fantasy.
- Episode 3: Tragic Romance.
- Episode 5: Slice of Life.
- Episode 6: Shōnen.
- Episode 8: Drama
- Episode 9: Music Stories.
- Literal Split Personality: Lily is the only person who knows how to kill Eve because she is Eve — specifically, the Eve before she ate the Fruit of Knowledge.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Because they are in a dream, the characters realize any injuries they suffer ultimately are harmless.
- Mr. Smith: The Dream Witch, better known as Jane Doe/Hanako Sumitomo. She uses the name primarily for her blog, citing her love of the mystery behind names like that.
- Jane: People have heard the names before, but do they ever know the ones who own them?
- Mystical White Hair: Lily, the girl that assists Haruto, has white hair. Haruto even says her hair is her most defining feature.
- Mythology Gag: Several to the original game:
- The On the Next segments are styled like the level progression screens, where Lily jumps past level markers to get to the next Witch door. "Guilty Pleasure", the second stage select theme, also plays during this segment.
- Stray Sheep make regular appearances as plush toys, charms, and episode announcers during the after-credits sequences.
- The Witch of Episode 1 is the first Witch Haruto encounters in the game. She would have gone on to assist Haruto with her powers under control.
- Mari still runs the Succupus, though only Kanzaki visits.
- The song that plays on the Wizard of Oz audiobook in episode 7 is the game's title theme, "Madoromi".
- The Witch of Sound's house has a colorful, checkered picture resembling the game's title screen.
- Named by the Adaptation: Before this series, Haruto was given the rather nondescript title of "Protagonist".
- Not Quite Dead: Kayo, who died in episode 3, lives in the dream world and briefly manifests in the real world to help the awakened Witches. Haruto himself has been in a coma for the duration of the series and when he passes into the afterlife, he says he can come back to the world of the living any time he wants.
- The Nudifier: After Yuko loses her magic powers, her clothes disappear. Fortunately, her lady parts are covered by conveniently placed lights.
- Our Witches Are Different: The term "Witch" is used to describe women who suffer from "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome" and acquire powers to shape the dream world however they see fit.
- Painting the Medium: "Threshold" is the only episode with Japanese subtitles animated into the scenery, reflecting the Witch of Sound's deafness in real life.
- The Professor: Kanzaki has been researching the properties of the dream world and sees Haruto's journey as an opportunity to further his research and save his sister.
- Scenery Censor: Haruto spends the latter part of episode 9 naked with several objects covering his crotch.
- Shout-Out: Episode 3 might bring Date A Live to mind to some people. The protagonist, voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki, dates a superpowered girl to give her the chance to experience happiness. Said girl's tragic death mirrors those of Rinne and Mayuri.
- Episode 9 follows suit with Haruto pretending to be a girl to get through to a traumatized Idol Singer, similar to Shido's ordeal with Miku.
- Talking the Monster to Death: When Eve regains consiousness and starts wreaking havoc on reality, the Witches get her to stop by sitting her down and asking her why she wants to destroy it. They manage to convince her it's not all bad, and she happily goes back to her own reality on the promise that she can come back whenever she feels like getting away from it all.
- Theme Naming: The prince and his adviser in "And Now There are None" are named Pol and Pot.
- Title by Number
- Unfazed Everyman: Haruto is not exactly surprised by the fact that he is trapped in a dream world populated by witches. He just goes along what with Lily and Kanzaki tell him because there is no other alternative. The Witches also turn into these when they wake up, with a couple acting completely blase about getting help from a ghost.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: With sufficient willpower, people can use dreams to influence the real world. One of the killers of Mana's family attempts to use this to his advantage but Haruto kills him.
