Bus Gamer

One day, Toki Mishiba receives a letter in the mail promising him a large sum of money if he participates in a game. Initially dismissing the message, Toki becomes intrigued and decides to sign up after noticing fine print that says players' safety will not be guaranteed. It is not long after that he meets Nobuto Nakajou and Kazuo Saitou—the teammates assigned to him in the "Business Game," also known as "Biz Game."

The members of the trio quickly form a shaky alliance and call themselves "No Name." Bound by nothing but their shared desire for an obscene amount of money, the three step into the dangerous world of the Biz Game, where they must fight against other teams over a data disk containing vital corporate secrets in order to advance and survive.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mishiba, Toki Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Nakajou, Nobuto Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Saitou, Kazuo Main

Takahashi, Hiroki Japanese

Ichinomiya, Keiko Supporting

Neya, Michiko Japanese

Oomori, Hiroyuki Producer

Okamura, Takema Producer

Fukao, Satoshi Assistant Producer

Toida, Mami Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jan 1, 2009

MikariStar

Recommended

Bus Gamer was made by the same author of the well known Saiyuki series. Thus you can expect handsome men and fun battles, which the anime does provide.

Toki Mishiba, Nobuto Nakajyo and Kazuo Saitou, three strangers in need of a large sum of money, form a team in an underground corporate sponsored street fight. The goal is to steal a disk containing secret information from the opposing team, while protecting their own disk.

The team has its variety in fighting styles and motivation. Each character is shrouded in mystery and the short series slowly reveals hints of why this mismatched trio so desperately needs cash ... to the point of risking their lives in an illegal street fight.

To say anything about the characters would spoil the series, however, the series itself only scratches the surface of those potentially interesting characters. My only complaint is that it feels very much unfinished with only hints of their past being revealed and their main rival hardly getting started on the chase.

Though the series does show enough to let us get a taste of what it's like and leave us wanting more. So if you don't mind being left with the feeling of lack of closure, check this out and you'll at least enjoy what little is available.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 21, 2008

Monkey_D_Luffy

Mixed Feelings

Story:
The story of Bus Gamer isn't a bad idea, but three episodes was definitely not a sufficient amount for the story to develop. As you can read from plot synopses, these three guys come together as a team to participate in a dangerous underground (not literally) game between companies to earn money, the ultimate prize being 1 billion dollars. They all are steadfast in their desire for the 1 billion, but...well, I don't want to spoil anything, so let's just say the ending leaves you totally hanging as to if they achieve that goal or not. This definitely should have been 13 episodes, not just ... 3. If they allotted more episodes, story would've gotten an 7, but since they didn't and decided to end it abruptly, it gets a 6.

Art:
Nothing special here. It's not terrible or anything, but I believe it could have been better. Still, it's not really something to complain about, since I suppose there is worse. No more comment on the art really, that about sums it all up.

Sound:
Most people seem to enjoy the OP and ED, but that's all the music category's got going for it. The background music is really just standard, average, whatever you want to call it. It's just nothing special. Sound effects are just standard and normal, as expected. The voice acting, again, is just standard. The music section doesn't really stand out in anyway, so really I was gonna give it a 6, but because of the OP and ED themes, I believe it is worthy of a 7.

Character:
Characterization was a disappointment, seriously. As far as the character designs go, that was okay, because they did display three pretty differently styled people who would probably never be friends. However, the problem is really the similarity between Nakajou and Mishiba. When you just have three central characters that the whole story revolves around, they need to have contrasting personalities to make them likable (take Samurai Champloo for example.) Saitou was very different than Nakajou and Mishiba, so he's in the clear. But the other two are practically mirror images of each other, personality wise. Also, they tried throwing him some of the characters' pasts into the mix, but it really just didn't work because they were just small clips that revealed close to nothing.

Enjoyment:
After all that, I still gotta say it was at the least fairly enjoyable. The action is by no means the best I've seen, but it was different because it's not like the main characters had any sort of super powers or anything, it was just straight up street fighting really. You can also get a few chuckles out of it, not many though. You'll probably be disappointed at the end that it was only three episodes, but for just three episodes, it was pretty enjoyable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 27, 2008

Ranivus

Not Recommended

Well its a good idea for an anime since i've seen it done in American movies like 20 times (Smokin Aces and any other B-movie involving a mysterious company to fund human death matches) Unfortunately this anime isn't a very good example.

The story, standing at a whopping 3 episodes it's surprising to see how much action the managed to fit in. The side story apart from all the action is very poor at best. I couldn't tell if it was emphasizing more on seriousness or comedy. Regardless, the idea of an unlikely team to survive human death matches didn't translate so well. (Mediocre)

The characters ... are pretty ridiculous in my opinion. It's almost comical when the viewer tries to tell them apart. "No-eyes, one-eye, and two-eyes" is probably the best way to tell them apart. And their personalities go from 'hard-boiled, to less-boiled, to comic relief. Nothing real impressive it might have been cooler if they replaced the comic relief for a cooler type. (Decent)

The art is of average quality, think of Saiyuki as a decent reference in terms of art and animation quality. It's made in 2008, but looks like its from 2001. Lots of pointy hair and poor color quality. (Poor)

Sound is pretty non-existent. The fight scenes are just alot of thuds and thumps and swipes and such. Although the girls might like all the grunting and groaning thats in the show. And the background music is pretty forgettable. What is even worse is the rock and roll op and ed. For future reference, organs and rock music don't mix (ref: OP theme). (Poor)

Overall its an unimpressive anime but the pain watching it isn't so bad since it's so short. Maybe (thats a big MAYBE) if it was longer it could be decent. Personally I think another production studio should try this untapped style of storytelling.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Bus Gamer Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) mitamaking - Apr 20, 2008	96 replies	by Ashhk »» Oct 25, 3:13 PM
	Poll: Bus Gamer Episode 2 Discussion Miss_Golightly - Mar 31, 2008	46 replies	by Ashhk »» Oct 24, 3:54 PM
	Poll: Bus Gamer Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Miss_Golightly - Mar 15, 2008	60 replies	by Ashhk »» Oct 23, 3:30 PM
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