Aug 29, 2022
Another one of the entries that seemingly boomed from nowhere, and this one had managed to grab my attention from the get-go. At first, I thought “Are You Real?” would be some sort of mystery show with two humans stuck in a world of monsters, and their job was to escape this weird world to return to their own. But I was pleasantly wrong.
The human-like monsters. The monster-like humans. “Are You Real?” is never about exploring the world. Instead, it’s something a lot simpler, and dare I say, a lot more important: human relationships. Each of the monster resident is “someone” of their own right, with their own lives and personalities, and deep down they’re just like any other human out there - something that our protagonist Kiro has realized throughout the story.
Speaking of whom, the cast of “Are You Real?” is phenomenal. Kiro and Ai especially - our pair of humans among monsters - are the highlight of the story, and the perfect foil of each other. They both represent the ugly, selfish, judgmental side of humans, but the two develop in opposite paths, and if I may, akin to what humans do in real life. Some would soon learn to accept their differences and move on, while others dwell on it and turns more to themselves, or in Ai’s case, someone to project themselves into. It’s a bit of a missed chance for me to not give Ai the conclusion that she needs (either learning to be like Kiro herself or to fall further down and be a complete villain), but considering the time limit, word count and everything else, the ending as it is is still a good enough stop.
All in all, while the theme of “school” isn’t too well-presented in this story (imo), “Are You Real?” is an incredibly strong entry with masterful storytelling and themes, and combined that with its layered cast makes this one a tough contender for any other story within the same prompt.
