Feb 10, 2022
WARNING! This review is written by person who usually only read/watch positive and lighthearted works. May not be well-versed in the genre.
*SPOILER FREE, really minor spoilers included*
Btooom! is a manga which you may not find very unique. We already have stories with very similar concepts, but I really enjoyed it and can recommend it!
Right before that I tried to read "Battle Royale" manga. One of the first if not the first works in this genre and it was a total absurd and grimdark mess. My main complaints were grotesque evil characters, exaggerated darkness of the whole story and overall "I don't believe in it =
...
I don't care about it" feel.
So when I started reading Btooom! I didn't have any expectations at all, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the story/setting was written.
First of all we meet our main character Ryouta Sakamoto, NEET, has bad relationship with his family, only cares about computer games and online stuff. Full package of typical protagonist for this story. But the further you're into the story the more likeable and relatable he becomes. And don't worry he is likeable enough since the very beginning, so you don't need to read half of the story before you'll start to like this character.
One of the main strengths of this story is characters and their realistic behavior. All of the chars really fleshed out and you grow to like or at least understand them the more you read and I'm talking even about side characters now.
The setting and rules of the game itself are quite interesting too, I really liked it, tho sometimes I had questions about minor moments.
Since this is spoiler-free review I won't indulge in the story itself, who'll die, who'll survive and what twists and turns this story will make - read the manga and you'll find out.
One of the most problematic parts of this genre is explaining "HOW THE HECK THOSE BATTLE ROYALE GAMES ARE EVEN POSSIBLE IN OUR WORLD?"
Some stories don't even try to give us explanation, some do try and fail miserably. This work tho, hm, I would say it tries harder than I expected, it still sorta fails to make the whole "big evil corporation stuff" truly believable, but it still gets point from me for really trying. Big corporation thing is actually big part of the plot especially near the end.
Talking about the end, ohhh welll, it's really disappointing ending to see after this really interesting story. I've read light version btw. It's nice ending to wrap the story up. Our main characters alive and happy, but for some reason it feels rushed and not that satisfying as it supposed to be, but the story itself is still very worth it, so don't let my opinion to stop you. (and maybe the dark ending is more compelling, because author seems to like it more)
My last part is about level of darkness in this manga. I'm talking about gore, emotional and physical abuse, of course. It is on perfect level imo, not too absurd and dark, but dark enough. Author is not sadist and not tries too hard to make our characters suffer, so even if dark stuff is not your cup of tea you still can enjoy this. The story even has romance as pretty big part of the plot, wow.
Overall, I recommend it, but imo you shouldn't expect masterpiece.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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