Good Night World

In the online game Planet, a formidable four-player team known as the Akabane Family has built a close-knit “family” that exists only behind their avatars. Unbeknownst to them, the people filling those roles are connected in a far more complicated way: they’re a fractured family in real life, each carrying their own distance and dissatisfaction at home.

A reclusive older brother, an accomplished younger brother, a father dismissed by his children, and a mother absent from her responsibilities find in their guild a fleeting sense of warmth they can’t access offline—and they don’t even realize who they’re really playing beside. As their exploits in Planet escalate through monster battles, conflicts with rival guilds, and the schemes surrounding the game’s ultimate goal, “Black Bird,” the boundary between the virtual world and their real lives begins to unravel.