Btooom!

"This is where tomorrow brings a new game. It's time to learn that pain is gain. Ready FIGHT!"

Survival games have been very prominent in Japan. Normally, survival games will involve who gets killed and who will become the last man standing. Some of the survival games like Mirai Nikki, Fate/Zero, Danganronpa and others.

STORY (5):

Ryota Sakamoto is a NEET which stands for Not educated, employed or trained. He plays a new game called BTOOOM! and he became one of the top players. One day, he woke up in a deserted tropical island and he realized that he is trapped in a real-life game BTOOOM with ... other players including Himiko, Ryota's in-game wife.

Each players have a green gem which represents their life and if the gem is removed, the player might die. Basically, it is like a survival game. In order to win, you have to collect all the gems and make it out alive.

Basically, it is your typical survival game.

ART (6):

The animation is good. It portrays a dark and serious tone.

SOUND (6):

I loved the opening song "No pain, no game" while I liked the ending "Aozora". The opening plays like a rock and roll tune. The ending gives a smooth tune.

CHARACTER (4):

The characters are by far the weakest. Ryota and Himiko were predictable. Ryota can sometimes be a badass. Himiko is a typical damsel in distress. Although I sincerely understood her past when rape is a terrible thing to go through.

Kosuke Kira was a tragic character who lived a tragic life in his childhood.

Masashi Miyamoto looks like a soldier with a magenta pirate hat.

Kiyoshi Taira was a good character who helped Ryota and Himiko survive through this game. Although he didn't leave much impression.

So far, it is sad to say that the characters are bland and uninteresting.

CONCLUSION (5):

I didn't enjoy this show a lot but I did appreciate the way how they make use of people being trapped into a virtual game where the only way to win is to be the last man standing.

Even the ending leaves no resolution to the plot. Normally, I see this in most anime I watched. There was no resolution.

That's all I have to say. If you enjoy survival games, you might enjoy this too.

I am giving this anime a 5 out of 10.

Popular anime with the concept of survival game (example: Mirai Nikki, etc) gave birth to a lot of anime who want to be famous too without changing the concept but change it slightly to create originality.They try to be great as their successor. One of those anime is Btooom! , came from studio Madhouse (king of anime studio) makes this anime has a heavy burden to be displayed. A lot of people expecting Madhouse's greatness, which make Btooom! looks very small in their eyes. Btooom!tells us a story of 22 years old Sakamoto Ryouta, this guy is the top scorer of the game Btooom! placed ... # 10 worldwide ranking. He somehow stranded on an island in the south (The island is somewhere in Indonesia because there are Komodo Dragon in the island). He had a bag with strange equipment (like a bomb), his goal there is to survive a game of death in order to get out of from the island. The concept is the same as the others survival game, they're using some kind of bomb with different types. There is some element of romance in this story that makes this story becomes a little more colorful.

A story definitely has flaws somewhere, no exception in BTOOOM !. Honestly, with this concept Btooom! already able to compete others anime with the excitement that presented in this mind battle.The individual psychological element also exposed pretty well, also the pacing fairly balanced but not perfect. However, this anime has a lot of flaws, one of them is the flashback. It is true, the flashback creates a story or a character more interesting than before. We can know the characters past from there, but the flashback in Btooom! greatly reduce the intense tension that exists and disrupt the plot. There is some fan service anime that came out of it, the bad thing is, they using the main heroine forced to do fan service alone and using it as a plot device. Another downside is the cliff-hanging ending that and not too satisfying, either because of lack of episodes / costs or because the manga still ongoing which makes you all become disappointed because of the ending.

The animation looks very different from other anime, some characters are drawn in a semi-realistic design, but there is some are not and even though there are some people who said that the character designs like-pieces of cardboard, but, at least, it still tolerable. Set in the tropical forest, the environment is very beautiful, shiny, and semi-realistic. The explosion of the bomb and other visual effects are also quite good. In terms of sound, Btooom! above average. Opening song "No Pain no Game" sung by nano is quite popular among fans and really good to hear. There is nothing wrong of how the seiyuu dubbing the characters, and the sound effects are quite adequate.

Flashback is indeed one of Btooom! flaws in terms of the story, but also gives the power to explore the existing character. We have our protagonist Sakamoto Ryouta, a professional video game player and selfish until the massive character development happened to him makes to be more concerned with other people. Our female lead, Himiko also got some character development that could sufficient be seen as the story goes. Furthermore, there is some people who also trapped on the island are getting a little character development. We can see the reason why they can be stranded on the island.

Btooom! may be highly favored by fans but may not be preferred by some people. But if you are looking for a unique battle setting that using strategy, and if you are a fan of survival game, this anime is the right choice for you. Although not great, Btooom! managed to attract its audience with the typical concept.

Ever imagined what happens to Yagami Light if he doesn't pick up the Death Note?

BtOOB! (not a typo), is the story of a 22 year old NEET. 5 years ago, Yagami Light picked up the Death Note, only to find out that it is, in fact, a hoax. As a result of failing to rid the world of criminals, Light's father was buried by the Police forces' busy work schedule. His parents then divorced due to the neglect of the family, with his mother remarrying to another male. In the chaos of the family disputes, Light, bored of life and no longer inspired by ... his father to continue pursuing to be a Police Officer, found himself the MMO BtOOB!.

Present time, Sakamoto (his new surname) Light is the top Japan player for BtOOB!. Being in a totally different family environment allowed him to hone his skills as a gamer, using his innate genius for psychological warfare to rise through the ranks in the MMO quickly.

...and that is the untold synopsis of BtOOB!, which would have made the anime much more awesome if that were true. This anime, in actuality, is disappointing.

BtOOB! (still, not a typo) is a typical island survival series with many problems.
It is a series you might enjoy if you are willing to look pass the fact that :

a) physics in this world is shit.

Right from episode 1, you are introduced to bombs that explode RIGHT IN YOUR FACE, but yet are unable to scathe you in anyway unless it is convenient for the plot. The characters in this show prove themselves to be super human, as you often see them escaping bombs at point-blank that are shown to blow off the walls and entire floors, without a scratch. Despite being a NEET, Sakamoto has seemingly unlimited stamina and is able to perform athletic stuns that even normal people can't do. Like, jump off a wall to a hole in the ceiling and climb up. Then use one hand to pull a full grown woman off the lower floor!
Also, BIM that bounces off BOOBs.

b) ALL the names of side characters and antagonists come from olden days Japan, because the only way to find names for them is to look through a Japanese history book

GAME TIME! Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btooom! and look at the list of antagonist and side characters. NOW GUESS WHICH JAPANESE HISTORICAL FIGURE IS HE/SHE?
Answers:
Taira Kiyoshi ----> Taira no Kiyomori
Masashi Miyamoto ---> Musashi Miyamoto
Nobutaka Oda -----> Nobunaga Oda
Masahito Date ---->Masamune Date
Hidemi Kinoshita ----> Toyotomi Hideyoshi (also known as Kinoshita Tokichiro)
Kinoshita + Hide
Yoshiaki Imagawa -----> Yoshimoto Imagawa
Yoshihisa Kira ----> Shimazu Yoshihisa
Anime char is father of Kosuke Kira, so he changed the
surname to fit.
Mitsuo Akechi ----> Many from the Akechi clan, all names go by
Mitsu(insert) Akechi
Shiki Murasaki ----> Shikibu Murasaki (only character with different Kanji)
Isamu Kondo ----> Isami Kondo
Misako Hojo -----> Masako Hojo
..... and the list goes on. Characters are given these names for absolutely no reason, nor is the setting in anyway related to these historial figures. No references to the lives of these historical figures were made, so we can only assume that the Japanese history books were the author's sole source material to create names. In which case, i am interested to know the name of his/her children, considering that the author's Surname is the same as the Inoue clan.

c) Despite being a psychological game, characters are stupid and tricks used are too simplistic to be interesting.
Placed in a survival island, you would expect to see psychological tricks similar to those seen in Death Note. Especially when interesting varieties of BIMs are introduced. Poison gas BIMs are shown to destroy large quantities of forest life and corrode whole human bodies, but the only strategy shown was ''throw it there! the wind is blowing that way!''. Remote control bombs are present,
but where they are placed make you question the intelligence of the character. (Seriously, under a pile of wooden planks that stands out in an abandoned building?) Even the basic impact-exploding BIM feels useless due to the fact that characters are never hurt unless it works for the plot.

Many other problems can be found in this anime. Truthfully, it was only enjoyable because of the many problems it had, and i'm tired of listing them after the above wall of text. It is like playing ''spot the mistake'', but over 12 25 minute episodes.

Now the anime has ended, btw its a good thing the said apocalypse didn't come true , how did I rate it????????????????I rated every category a 6. So why give it a devil's number? Well, the thing about this anime, is that it gave me more of a mix reaction to it, it something like a that you can't appreciated it fully and you can't hate it totally. Ok so what we have here is an anime whose theme is a mixture of your typical on-line FPS game and it's plot basically has a lot of combined similarities from the movie ... "The Condemned" and "The Hunger Games" which people where sent into some hellish contest where it is a matter of life or death. However the director of this anime, Kotono Watanabe's method of killing were too lame, e.g. a stab from Date's back with a sickle would have already damage his spinal cord, puncture his lungs and cause sever bleeding, instead he was able to move around like he only have a scratch, beside don't we the audience wanna see him suffer an agonizing dead? Here are other lame killing facts in which studio Madhouse should have considered:

1. Komodo dragons, usually do not stalk their prey after they've bitten them, usually when a prey was bitten the komodo dragon simply just follow the scene and it takes 2 weeks before the prey dies of infection from the dragon's bite, dragons tend to stay away from humans, in fact most encounter are usually accidental, also these big lizards are also scavenger which means that the will also eat the carrion and human corpses. Oh, and some people do consider the Komodo dragon a delicacy, in fact some people in Komodo Indonesia did one time hunted these big lizards for food.

2. The Homing BIM should have 2 counter rotating propellers, now, I'm no physicist, but it is a fundamental law that every hovering aircraft be it a toy, a gadget should follow. It is the same principle as a Helicopter.

3. In order for a corrosive-BIM to be effective on a 6 block radius, the amount of sulfuric acid that should be used would around 30,000 gallons.

4. If someone has to have all 4 fingers cut away simultaneously that person would die from a loss of blood unless the cut fingers were cauterize immediately. And to have one's hand blown up would also kill a person due to massive blood loss so it is quite odd that Shiki was able to survived after loosing her hand from a self inflicted explosion.

Most of the characters in this anime represent the everyday people whom we know or whom we encounter that we either don't like, don't get along and those that we wanna get even with, which we wish that they go to hell, like:

Kiyoshi Taira: a boss from hell.

Masashi Miyamoto: a toughie, a war freak and a criminal.

Nobutaka Oda: Sakamoto's classmate and a typical asshole.

Masahito Date: a malpracticing doctor.

Hidemi Kinoshita: a typical everyday bitch.

Kōsuke Kira: a delinquent.

Mitsuo Akechi: a sex perv.

Sōichi Natsume: a defense lawyer in which the police and people seeking justice would love to hate.

Himiko: The campus scapegoat, in which she wasn't suppose to belong in hell.

Ryōta Sakamoto: a good for nothing NEET and if I were her mom, I won't even hesitate to nominate him as a way to kick him off the house.

The enjoyment and overall of this anime maybe a bit lame on the action side but still this is one lame action pack anime that is still worth watching, but not something that deserves a high rating, then again it is also something that should not have a low rating as well. Mainly because Madhouse studio focuses more on the evil of man that the blood and gore. So overall this anime is fairly entertaining. If any of you don't get how I've rated every category of this anime, the here it is again:

Story: Fair 6.

Art: Same

Sound: Same

Character: Same rating as the first one.

and so does the enjoyment and overall.





Ya know if such thing like that does happen in real life then there will be one MAL user in which I'll make a placement for him/her to be nominated to go to that kind of hell. Then again he or she ain't worth it.

Despite Moral Values which are supposedly instilled in all human beings, Violence and Lust are two sensations that will always be prevalent no matter how much of a saint you claim to be. Taking the violence route, deathmatches are activities that people enjoy watching to appease this sensation, however since this activity is not something that is practiced in a modern world anywhere, most shows like Mirai Nikki for example will try to involve some sort of supernatural event to give the story more depth. Therefore it was with great surprise when I stumbled upon btooom and discovered it threw away such ethics and ... presented itself as a genuine real-world deathmatch, but without this monumental backing, is it something to take seriously?

Sakamoto Ryouta is an unemployed 22 year old who spends most of his time alone at home playing the popular online game btooom, which is an online MMO where players use bombs to battle each other. With his skill he has risen to the status of one of the 10 best players in the world. However, one day he awakens to find himself on an island and later on discovers the island is a real world representation of his popular btooom game, with playing the game in real life his only chance of escape. On the surface, the story of btooom seems a bit…silly, attempts at indulging a friend will have them questioning the very concept of the show, ‘a deathmatch using bombs’ isn’t something that is assured to strike a fancy with most people, however if you should give the show a chance you’ll soon discover it falls under the ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ category.

The rules, mechanics and strategies in btooom unlike the story are actually very well thought of. Firstly we have different types of bombs, the series encourages the use of strategies and an impressive aspect is how a player has to choose his strategy depending on what type of bomb they possess, players have to switch between stealth, guerrilla or trap tactics and even sometimes deception, and most times choosing the right tactic may be the difference between life and death. Players also have surgically attached to their hand a sonar system that when used gives them the ability to detect other players over a certain distance, an impressive fact about this is that you can only detect a moving player, a motionless player will not be detected by the sonar but in turn the player who uses this ability will be detected by other players within its range, motion or motionless. This places the heavy burden of decision making and also brings forth the idea of taking a gamble in order to survive, so players ultimately have to decide whether an action is worth it or not before taking it, a great deal of rationalism is required.

As mentioned earlier, btooom’s choice of presenting itself in a modern world setting with a slight emphasis on the reality that it is an event that could take place in real life may be its undoing. The series gives us a weak excuse as to how and why they ended up on this island and when viewed from a different angle it won’t be wrong to view the story as a weak idea of giving us a reason to watch people kill each other. However if you were to overlook the weak story introduction, btooom has some interesting concepts.

In order to leave the island however, a player must gather 8 chips surgically attached to each player and can only be removed when a player dies. This revelation ultimately encourages alliances but the real interesting question the story poses on the players here is; who do you trust? We all know that humans are quick to betray and go for the easy way out and this aspect of the show although not playing too big of a role as it should have, didn’t disappoint. The show introduces the players to us as everyday individuals but it showed very little of the psychological strain brought about by their situation. It did indeed showcase this initially but the characters seem to accept the reality of their situation too quickly and move on while any normal person might breakdown from the experience.

The art style used in btooom is very good indeed, as expected of powerhouse studio madhouse, the art is very dark as expected to depict the nature of the show and the quality hardly drops for even a second. Character design is also done very well with art style similar to shows like deathnote, all the characters look wonderful and through the art one can already spell out any future intentions a character may harbor. Animation was also quite decent; those of you who will slow motion play an explosion of a bomb will be impressed at the reality of the visuals. The most important factor in the animation aspect of the show is the timings of the bomb, being a manga adaptation, we only see a bomb thrown in one panel and exploding the next but in the anime, timing is an essential issue and it wasn’t something that was slacked on. However there are times when the countdown is slower than usual thereby giving our protagonists the chance to make some last second escapes, a deux ex machine from the animators. The blast range of the explosions also seemed to be disproportional a times, as a bomb of the same type will cover a large blast range in one scene but a smaller one in another.

Nano sings the OP theme titled ‘no pain, no game’, an upbeat j-pop song that went well with the mood of the show. The ED entitled ‘Aozora (blue sky)’ by May’n is a slow paced j-pop song that seemed out of place for a show that showcases people trying to end each others lives. Sound effects especially that of the explosions were done well with seemingly tiny variations between the type of bomb used, the sound of the sonar in particular I found to be quite resourceful.

The characters in the show seemed to lack depth, the series was unable to instill in its viewers a reason to care about them even when thrown in dire situations, it did try to show us a bit of their past but it was mostly an afterthought that did very little to explain why and how they behave in the present. Our protagonist, Ryouta is your average shut-in who believes the whole world is as is viewed on the internet. As such when thrown into this situation he still holds this strong sense to do right and also easily has faith in others and quick to trust, although this quality of his may tend to be a slight annoyance as he puts his faith in people who obviously wish to cause him harm. Himiko, our female protagonist was introduced to us as a school girl with a dark past, the series went a bit overboard to demonstrate to us the harshness of the island as himiko is more than once subject to lustful intentions of some male players in the game and some female viewers may find themselves unhappy with this addition.

Although it had a somewhat weak story telling initially we can’t deny it has a sense of originality and despite its adopted antics from a few video game mechanics it still manage to feel fresh. If you’re looking for a deathmatch anime, there are better choices but btooom is definitely amongst one of the decent ones. In my opinion though, btooom may have been released for the wrong media type, it is indeed a decent anime but with a few improving of storytelling concepts and certain mechanics, just as depicted in the anime, btooom would have made a wonderful video game.

‘The new Hunger Games!’ they said. ‘The modern Battle Royale!’ they said. ‘If you liked Sword Art Online, you’ll love this!’ Etcetera, etcetera. Being a huge fan of the aforementioned media, you can imagine my excitement when I first came across Btooom!. Was my excitement justified?

It had a significant amount of hype, normal people being dropped onto a mysterious island with a bag of bombs and told to fight for survival? I was pumped! Ultimately, I was let down. Let me stress, Btooom! isn’t a bad show, it’s decent, in fact. However, with all the hype, I just expected a much better anime than the ... one we got. Let’s break it down;

The plot of Btooom! can be summed up pretty simply. Our protagonist, Ryo Sakamoto, wakes up on a mysterious island with a huge hole in his memory. After being attacked by a man armed with bombs, in a manner that is very similar to the online game Btooom!, he quickly realises he is in a real life version of the game that he is so proficient at. After that, we follow his life on the island, seeing if he can use his vast online skills when faced by the real situation. Like I said, the plot isn’t all that complicated, but there is huge potential in it. Potential that, in my opinion, is wasted. This series only has 12 episodes and it’s a classic case of an anime having to rush it’s pacing in order to cover enough of the manga. 12 more episodes and this show would’ve been a lot better. Pacing is the major issue, undoubtedly. Too slow at the beginning, Ryo took too long to accept his situation, and too fast towards the end. Another major theme of the plot was the idea that ‘people are awful’. It began to ask us questions about the true nature of humans, especially with the idea that each person on the island was sent there by a person that they’d hurt. This was undoubtedly one of the best aspects of the show, I loved it! But too much of a good thing and it gets boring and guess what happened! (it got boring)

The character’s really drive this anime, as opposed to the basic plot. They’re varied and interesting, which makes it a shame that only Sakamoto and Himiko, the main female character, experience real development. The backstories are interesting in the main and the battles and subsequent clashes of values are the high points of Btooom!. Again, the show disappoints as the various antagonists and side characters are dispatched quickly and we are treated to more scenes of Himiko and Sakamoto awkwardly interacting. It’s no Katniss and Peeta that’s for sure.

The backgrounds and character designs are nicely done. The art is solid, with the island’s features well animated and each character standing out. Truthfully, I liked the flashback scenes of Japan, nice animating there! The sound too, I have no major complaints. Opening is a bit generic but it fits and May’n singing the ED! Plus points! Unfortunately, like the rest of the show both things didn’t really stand out from the crowd and are good as opposed to groundbreaking.

Mindless action is the best way to describe the events of the show, which is a real shame considering the potential the plot has. As someone who likes to be challenged or at least surprised by my action anime, Btooom! is a disappointment. If you have some spare time and want to watch something light and straightforward, this is for you. If you want to watch something fresh, unique and gripping, there are plenty of better shows out there. Maybe my expectations were too high but this show can be best summed up in one word. Boring.

The challenge someone must face with this series is that even if the plot idea and the art is nice, the people that created this Anime might not be very experienced in real life.

The setting is a beautiful island and the plot developing has a nice speed.

In addition, however the action of the characters is inappropriate for intelligent grown-ups. It doesn't matter how obvious a situation might appear (for example if they are getting attacked, or have to choose sides in a conflict), they always struggle with understanding what is going on. Also their social competence seems more fitting for middle schoolers. This goes for ... each of them, not only those who spent most of their time in virtual reality.
Women can only take the roles of victims who need the help of men and psychos who are dependend on men as well. This is no series you should watch if you are a liberated western woman.

Story: 5
Even though the setting is very promising, the series quickly falls into the same category as every anime that centers around obsessed online gamers finding themselves into a world, where the game is actually a reality. With that in mind, there's an awful lot of similarities to other anime that render this a commonplace show.
Art: 6
Since the first episode, there was nothing spectacular art-related thing to see. In my honest opinion, this anime's style looks cheap. Modern, for sure, bust nonetheless cheap.
Sound: 3
Engrish at its worst. When will the Japanese realize they are better off singing in their native tongue?
Character: 6
Even though the ... main female character, whose past is analyzed in the second episode, is surprisingly changing when entering this strange reality, the main male character of the show is a douchebag who does not respect his mother, and even threatens her. What kind of role model is this?
Enjoyment: 6
BTOOOM! is an enjoyable anime at first, despite its lack of originality in the long run.
Overall: 5
A mediocre show that promises a lot, but delivers, unfortunately, very little.

Uninspired. The story follows every "fight each other on an island" trope in the book. The animation is average at best, though character designs leave something to be desired. The blonde haired lead protagonist is only there so that the main character can get his dick sucked for love and really, if I wanted to see that I'd be watching a different kind of anime. To me, she feels like a self insert for this new wave of feminism that thinks every man wants to rape them. I got told this anime was supposed to be for adults, yet it tries to force rape, murder ... and video games down my throat every single episode like a fifteen year old boy writing fan fiction for a Quentin Tarintino film.

This show is like if they tried to put Yagami Light into Sword Art Online but with the WRONG personality.

6/10

Can't speak for the manga but the anime is pretty mediocre.
It has a READ THE MANGA-ending, and gosh do I hate those. The characters seem intresting enough, but I never really bonded with anyone exept the MC and his gril. They gave characters they wanted us to feel sorry for way to little screen-time, which is understandable considering the shows lenght, but it's also legitimate critique.

It's nice for a 12-episoder, and if you like kind MCs then you might enjoy it alot.
But in this type of ... setting I want a character willing to kill the fucking brat. Someone with a darker tone, less naive and willing to utilise their knowledge from the get go.
Not some kid with half his brain from Yagami and the other half from Tinky Winky the telletubby.

The story had just as much potential as SAO and all other game-turns-real-stories have. Which is alot, also unfortunately wasted in most cases.

Later Edit: Now I read it so now I CAN speak for the manga!

Don't read it. (jk it's alright, nothing special, MC still turns from zero to hero in half a page with no explanation as of how)

“Everyone grows up being told the same thing. Be nice to others. But beat out the competition.”. Hideo Kojima

Heart of Darkness.
Heart of Darkness.
And would you look at that: more Heart of Darkness.

The most analyzed, critiqued, and influential piece of literature in the past hundred years next to Faust. Joseph Conrad’s novella has bred and beget an entire form of psychological horror that to this day we are still experiencing. For a more familiar example on the site: know the boom that happened in Isekai after Sword Art Online came out? Imagine that, multiplied by about twenty.

Though, who could blame authors and artists for borrowing so ... heavily from the work? There is something that keeps bringing us back to the idea of what happens when all commonplace rules of society falter, rather, deemed obsolete. We’ve seen it from apocalypse movies such as 28 Days Later. Darwinistic death games in Battle Royale. Psychological test in SAW. It is of my firm belief that we enjoy seeing people struggle and go to great ends to preserve their existence when society’s juxtaposition of morality vanishes, because it allows us to get a look at our own Heart of Darkness that we refuse to acknowledge because it rarely ever has an excuse to be unshackled and analyzed of our own free will.

What will you do, Dear Reader, when pushed to your absolute, psychological, breaking point - just to live? You may laugh, sure, go ahead, I can’t stop you. Tell yourself that you’ll do fine. Your altruism will prevail. You’re a fine, head-strong and confident young man or woman that can conquer any nihilistic threat. You’re special. Believe in yourself and you will succeed. Or will the only way to survive be to evolve into something even worse than the threats you were faced with?

That’s the Heart of Darkness. And Japan is no stranger to taking shots at it. . . this shot, though, doesn’t exactly hit the mark. You’ve more than likely read the synopsis of this anime, so I will not bore you with details. Instead, I will talk about how as good, if not unoriginal as this idea sounds, it’s akin to a rampaging bull in a china shop at times.

Btoom! Is a limp, but interestingly overzealous, and confused attempt at showcasing these themes. Let’s start with our main character; Sakamoto Ryouta. He’s an easy sacrificial lamb, so to speak, for this setting. Has a dark backstory riddled with insecurities and self doubt only for the one thing in this world to give him a hint at ersatz happiness, that being his skill at the online video game: Btooom! To be his saving grace in this death game, that being that the battle royale, winner takes all, fight to the death is based around this very video game. An easily relatable concept for many of us, could you imagine surviving on Skull Island just off your skills of playing Minecraft? It’s clear that Sakamoto is meant to be the average viewer of this show. Here’s where the problems start to come in: He’s not realistic. Yes, it has often been studied and detailed that people with rather niche, for lack of a better term, hobbies and interest, such as video games, seem to statistically have better problem solving skills, regardless of that, he at times pulls plans out of a hat that come off as Gary-Sue-ish. He rarely ever has to make difficult choices that would backfire in some way shape or form, and sure, that’s because he’s damn good at the game, but at times the plot and story seem to bend over for him. It’s sadly not the best representation at least physically of us, the average viewer, trapped in this setting. Thematically it’s contradicted.

Now let’s talk about our next Clarice Starling: Himiko. *sigh* Himiko. Talking about her has been a fascinating turmoil for me. On one hand, the throughline of suffering under misogyny and sexual assault are blunt topics but damn worth talking about in this specific genre of horror, looking to be a critique at Japan’s own cultural and odd bias towards young women, a context which I surely do not have the knowledge at this time to speak about, yet, I find myself trapped in an odd appeal to ignorance saying such things because on another hand, with my own western viewpoints in media of sexual assault, and experiencing it personally myself, her story comes off as shock value more than anything the author wants to get across or showcase for the viewer. In basic, Himiko’s struggle through the show is not engaging, she’s a martyr for the male gaze. Simple as that. No offense, but boo-bloody-hoo. What is she supposed to be for the viewer? Women standing up to the male gaze? The show’s attempt at telling us that women in Japan need more laws and protection as these unfortunate events happen too often? If I sound confused, don’t blame me, this show is confused about what it wants to tell me about Himiko. O.o I have no problem with seeing a character suffer in the slightest, as long as the pathos is permeated with an ideal and or argument that can reflect in our day to day lives and, therefore, garner sympathy as well as speak about. When tragedy is produced without this, it becomes as insignificant as the death of a fly.

And once again, the show fails at executing any of these throughlines in a satisfying way, with our two main characters. You’ll notice I have not mentioned the other characters; that’s because there’s no reason to. They’re mostly tropes or just lesser variations of our main characters that become even more hollow since the show is barely concerned with them. I will say this: boy I could watch Kira all day. He’s unapologetically one of my favorite parts of this show. I have a soft spot for broken psycho and sociopaths. Though as someone who has also read the source material I would love for someone to give me an opposing opinion on this. Fact is, Btooom to me, fails at what it sets out to do, and to top it off: pollutes the show with, or in many respects… entertains the viewer with some pretty cool shit.

I guess that’s what you can call Btooom, baby’s first psychological, darwinistic death game. The animation while in my opinion not Madhouse’s best does get the dark mood across which to be fair is all it needs to be, this isn’t Claymore or Hellsing Ultimate it’s an occasionally slow paced trek across an island, so when the action does come on screen, Madhouse per-usual lets out many if not all the stops by having beautifully animated-. . . I want to say fight scenes, but more so explosions, seeing the various particles and debris from the bombs flying through the air admittedly had me replaying scenes a few times just to recall how badass and awesome they looked. The camera work outside of these scenes are sadly a little sloppy, it’s almost as if there’s two different teams animating the show; one that does everything besides action and terror; and the other team that does the action and terror. You can guess what team I favor more.

The music to be frank is nothing to write home about besides the opening, even then, as a former, die hard NANO fan, while this is one of her best songs, it gets a little repetitive, what really compliments it is director: Watanabe Kotono, and from what I know this is the only show she has ever produced that she had near full control over. . . and maybe that shows in the product.

As I said before, Btooom is overzealous and is severely lacking direction most of the time, even more than its original source material which I was a, let’s say, “here-here”, fan of. It at times feels overwhelmed as to what it aims to do so instead caters to a lowest common denominator near the levels of insult. Oh, to make matters worse: this show only has twelve episodes and leaves off at a cliffhanger that, shocker, you will never know the end of unless you go to the original source material. Have fun with that. Have fun with the show throwing a baseball at you for daring to become even slightly interested despite its massive flaws.

So. . . should you watch Btooom!? Eh, sure why not, on a really boring day. The best comparison I can think of to Btooom! Is those b-movie adaptations of Atlas Shrugged, or any b-movie in general. A cluster of ideas that do not mesh, just clash, but can give the viewer sparses of entertainment throughout. And is that really a bad thing? Nah, not exactly to me. It’s a decent attempt into the medium surely, just nothing to truly covet or talk about for an extended period of time besides: “Oh, that’s cool. And that’s kinda bad.” Perhaps that’s the reason this show has kinda faded into the nethers of 2012? While at the time people were talking about it as it was airing, I have seldom heard a soul mention it since, It continues to be a dull smear in Madhouse’s archives.

But hey, even a mediocre product has its uses. In this case, introducing people to works that tried to do what it did: but better. So, go find that other media that exists in the Heart of Darkness: 28 Days Later; Spec Ops: The Line; I Have No Mouth Yet I Must Scream. I have a feeling if you even slightly enjoyed this show, you’ll fall in love with them.

Give Btooom a chance one day, then go watch something much better.

Ask yourself, What would you do if you woke up one day on a deserted island with nothing but your clothes, a pouch with eight Bombs in it, a weird green gem attached to your hand and now you are expected fight for your life to get off this island. This sums up the basic story of BTOOOM!

Our main character Ryouta Sakamoto is one of the best players in the world in the online game "BTOOOM!" where you are only allowed to fight with bombs. In real life Ryouta is a NEET who has a damage relationship with his family and has fled into the ... virtual world of "BTOOOM!" where he is a celebrity and even has a girl friend.

But his world is turned upside down when he wakes up stuck in a parachute in a tree on a deserted island having lost his memories. This soon turns into a deadly game where you can trust nobody and your best friend is yourself. During the series he meets other people who also has been dropped onto the island along with him in his quest to get of this god forsaken island and figure who is behind this sinister game.

The art of this series is really quite good and it reminded my a bit about the art style from Death Note. The series was produced by studio madhouse which makes sense in that case.

The acting is really standard from anime in general and the soundtrack isn't really much to write home about. I'd say that the sound is the shows weakest part.

Another thing that stood out about this show was the characters who were all really well developed and everyone had at least some change done to their personalities over this 12 episode series. I'd say that the most enjoyable thing about watching "BTOOOM!" is seeing the characters changing over time and interacting with each other.

Overall I really enjoyed this show and I would recommend it to you if you like psychological action series or movies like Battle Royal.

(Don't worry, this review is spoiler free)

Story 6/10: The story is a good run of the mill survival game. Although now a days, that's not a very creative plot they added their own little spark that other survival anime series don't have.

Art 5/10: Art wise is very interesting. After watching series like Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni and Sword Art Online, the art style is quite different and most certainly stands out. However other than Btooom! is animated in a different way, it doesn't have anything special that stands out about the art.

Sound 6/10: I personally think that one of the best things about ... this series is the soundtrack AND ESPECIALLY DAT OPENING!

Character 4/10: I think the characters are very boring and over used. The main character is a sterotypical heroine that has no interesting personality. The love interest is annoying claiming that because of her past that every man in the world is awful and lewd. As a matter of fact, I think the characters with the MOST character would be background characters that we rarely see.

Enjoyment 5/10: Personally, I enjoyed watching this series! Until the end. I personally think that the creators we're just too lazy to write a proper ending. Because there is too much potential adventure to happen for it to end. Granted, this would be a perfect ending for the end of season two, then later have a season three. However it's been 4 years. They lost the interest of it's viewers.

Overall: 5/10: This series wasn't really my cup of tea. I didn't enjoy it as much as people said I would. But I think anyone who is reading this (Who hasn't seen the series already) should watch Btooom! to learn what a mediocre at best series looks like.

Dominate on Counter Strike or Battlefield? Perfect, now we'll force you to join it for real! Btooom is a twist on the Battle Royale premise where ordinary people, who have been selected as "unwanted" by others, are dumped on an abandoned island and forced to play the video game Btooom in real life. What is Btooom? It's a game where people utilize bombs and "sonar" pulses to find and destroy each other. Luckily, our protagonist is one of the top Btooom players in the world. Will his "virtual" experience help him survive the real version of the game?

First and foremost, viewers beware, this series' ending ... is as compete as that in HSOTD. Imagine watching the original Battle Royale halfway and just stopping; that's pretty much the current conclusion for this series. Second, if you're tired of how mainstream video gaming has become in anime, avoid this as well. Third, if you don't like the protagonist "magically" surviving what can only be described as certain death repeatedly I'd pass on this as well. For all of you who this has not yet dissuaded, continue reading.

Animation:
The animation quality of the series is mixed. Overall lighting is above average and there is a good range of beautiful island scenery and darker, more tense moments. The drawing clarity and detail could be better at times but it doesn't necessarily stand out as a negative. One thing I did notice was how miraculous it was that the main characters still had clean clothes after days of fighting and blowing each other up. As for character styling, the main heroine has somewhat wide eyes that remind me of Key's old works. It was also convenient how her Btooom game avatar was close to how she looks in real life whereas Ryouta looks like a generic dude.

There's substantial sexual abuse, violence, and some gore in this show that make it inappropriate for those under 13. The camera does turn away at critical moments, and at one point utilizes an ugly black filter that covers half the screen- talk about laziness... Expect plenty of explosions, blood, and effects.

Sound:
Btooom utilizes a heavy rock jpop OP, which then strangely changes to a new OP by the same band in the last episode as if to signal a new arc. The ED is a cool down, mellow piece that has a distinctively unpleasant tune for me. The BGM fares better with an interesting mix of brass and some vocal work similar to the fight songs in Persona 4.

The cast is fairly average overall. I think it would have been a bit more realistic if every other person on the island didn't sound like they were already insane.

Story:
While it's true that there are now pro racing car drivers that were picked for their virtual driving skills, I don't think that carries over so well here. The idea is that the company that created Btooom is abducting "unwanted" people to do research for an unspecified purpose, perhaps some form of the battles between players in Zetman. Looking past the not-so-realistic premise, the show plays as a relatively entertaining thriller that's told from the perspective of multiple participants- each one trying to guess the intentions of everyone else.
The story often uses flashbacks and monologues to give background or explanation, some of which is overused.

Plot-wise, expect a fair variety of plot twists and cliffhangers. After awhile, I stopped being thrilled by the survival aspect of the show and migrated more into a guessing pattern as to how the protagonist would miraculously escape the next impossible situation. There is a huge plot shield on important characters, and it really takes away from the overall experience. As mentioned before, the story does build in tension until the last episode where it just sort of stops. No one rides a roller coaster to the top of the hill and decides "OK that was a great ride let's move on". I'm assuming that there will be a follow up but, regardless, this was poor execution.

Character:
Our protagonist, while a god in the virtual world, is just an average NEET in the real world; he's afraid of dying but doesn't want to kill anyone. Sound like anyone? Indeed, also like Kira Yamato, Ryouta is able to summon what amounts to SEED mode when he's pushed to a corner, somehow magically gaining foresight and instant athletic reflexes. There is supposed to be development with the characters as they grow to trust and interact with each other. However, Ryouta is just your typical anti-social dude who (strangely enough) trusts everyone without second thoughts. The story does play a bit with romance as Ryouta and Himiko had previously met in the online world but it was downplayed and ultimately had very little impact on where the story goes.

As for supporting cast, most of them are all antagonists and vilified to the point that it makes Mirai Nikki look good, which is quite saddening. Due to the huge plot shield and minimal character exposure/weird character behavior I found it quite difficult to connect with the characters.

Value:
While a fairly entertaining thriller early on, Btooom implodes when it comes to plot progression and character interactions. It fails to sell its premise and serves only to mock gamers. I may modify this if ever a second series appears but in the meantime, it wasn't worth the six hours.

5 / 10 STARS ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

i’m not too sure where to start as this is my first review on MAL but, i’ll give it a go.

I’ve been an anime fan since around 2011 and this particular anime has been hovering around on my to watch list since about 2014 so you can understand how excited i am to get around to watching it.

I’d like to start on a positive, the opening is so good?! it’s that good that it’s better than the show itself i’m my opinion. i also love the art. the premise too, i love the premise.

now for the not ... so good parts.

this show was so painstakingly BASIC as far as ‘oh shit i’m trapped inside a game’ goes. i even preferred sao?! (okay, maybe not)

i didn’t fall in love with either of the characters, both of them were so boring and plain and painfully predictable. not even just them two either, the entire fucking cast of characters. plus they introduced so many characters for no reason and built up their stories like they’d come in handy?!

the guy was your run of the mill protagonist, neet/gamer who has no friends and games all day who will then go on to being an absolute mad lad who gets puss from the hottest chick there is. also i want to note the fact that he probably doesn’t do that much exercise in his day to day life so i’m not too sure how he ran for so long in the game and for a school dropout (?) he sure is smart. apart from well, the fact that it took him a good 10 minutes to figure out what the timer on the bombs were for (hmm..maybe it’s counting down for when the bomb will explode ?! i thought you were good at this game)

okay the girl. she had such a good setup. she could’ve been the baddest bitch but no. she started off so strong, not needing a man and all that but then at the end of the series she depended on men?! okay miss. i work alone.
also i hate them kinda shows where the guy accidentally sees the girl naked and apologises and then the girl slaps him round the face and calls him a pervert?! if a guy accidentally saw me naked id be like “that’s embarrassing. lemme cover my titties up real quick” not “damn you perv, lemme roundhouse kick you in the face so you can get this cooch on full display AND in HD”

and the other characters aren’t worth mentioning because i forgot a lot about them :).
i hate the sheer willpower i had to finish this only to be set up with that kind of ending as well?! i want to know what happens next but i’m also not interested enough to buy the manga.

okay this review was a mess but thanks for reading 😳💕

Um... okay then. This was... eventful? I mean, it wasn't bad. But it wasn't astounding either. However, it had enough action in it to hold my attention the whole time, which is a feat by itself (lately I've had the attention span of a goldfish).

The story was fine, though with the shortness of the series and the many plot points that they had to cover, they ended up not getting to even explore all the possible plot lines they could. It was also very predictable.

The art was pretty good, but nothing remarkable. It seemed that everyone except the 'gorgeous' heroine was drawn well, ... ironically. I had many problems with her design, but I can't put my finger on it.

The explosion sounds and the voiceacting was decent for most of the characters, except for Himiko, again. The songs were amazing.

The characters were almost good. I know that sounds rude, but the thing is that every character had so much potential, but it was somewhat wasted. Each had a backstory and a life, that much was for sure, but the backgrounds weren't very well explored. Even the main character's background was only explored briefly in the last episode. Some of the characters could have been very fleshed out and entertaining, but it never happened.

I enjoyed most of it overall.

Would I watch it again?
Probably not. It was good enough the first time around, but when you already know what's going to happen and there's that many plot holes and no ending, there isn't any motivation to rewatch it.

Would I recommend it?
If you like explosions and hot girls pairing up with gamer guys and some light explosion gore, sure. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IF YOU DO NOT LIKE UNFINISHED STORIES, GAMING, BLOOD, BOMBS, ETC.

I would like to say that this looks like it was inspired by Sword Art Online though.

Anyways, have a nice day everyone!

"Btoom!" is one series of the increasingly popular "survival game" genre. It comes with a few downsides, such as extensive fan-service, and sexual content that is only appropriate for 17 and up, in my opinion. There's nothing particularly special about the art or the sound; however, the storytelling was well done. The various battles and predicaments in the survival game are just original enough to get you excited and curious. The main characters, if not terribly deep, are developed enough so that you can sincerely cheer them on as they try their best to survive. My favorite aspect of the series is the process ... by which candidates of the survival game are chosen. I can't give spoilers, so, if you like battle royale, you'll have to see for yourself and give "Btoom!" a try.

Slade’s Quick Review
Fun fact every character in the show used all their creativity to create the title of this anime… Btoooooom! In case you were confused that is supposed to be the noise a bomb makes not a new pokemon. If you like mind games that are over convoluted and a plot so forgettable that I already forgot it, then boy do I have show for you! I watched this show a while ago to fill the future diary void and I don’t think it worked cause I still re-watched future diary 3 bloody times. IDK the art seems good I guess I don’t remember ... the soundtrack being anything great or anything for that matter… did this show have music or was it just all bomb sounds?

Heads up! This anime just stops mid story. If you cant stand cliffhangers or uncompleted anime watch it at your own risk. OK on with reviewy stuff.

Video 1/1: The art is a mixed bag I think, the quality seems a tad lower than it should be, but on the other hand animation is really smooth.

Audio 1/1: I'm not great at judging sound stuff, but it seemed to rather well be done when it mattered, and wasn't a problem the rest of the time.

Story 2/3: This is where we get to the crux of it, BTOOOM!'s story is great, and I mean it, the premise is ... intriguing, the sequence of events is compelling and the characters all act in ways that make sense. No one is comically evil, no one is fairy tale good. Every character makes their decisions based on their past, their perceptions of the present and an expectation of future outcomes. Like real people do! No one does something just because it is important for the plot to move forward. Furthermore the characters speak in sentences of length befitting the situation, unlike how in some anime people are cripplingly verbose in the middle of a fight and the fight just suddenly lulls to allow this character to speak a whole paragraph.

On the bad though, due to the shortness of the anime's run, the characters seem, to me at least, a little undeveloped. I think that had they not rushed out to make this and instead waited for the manga to finish then they could have had a longer schedule, thus extending the character building scenes and also (obviously) not had the story suddenly stop in the middle.

I really like animes based on games. Some of my fav. were SAO, Overlord, Log Horizon, AccelWorld and No Game No Life. At first I was really into this one too, I watched like 8 episodes in a row. But the thing that bothered me kept getting worse. It was the lack of logic. Just stop trying to make sense of everything and you may like this anime.

I like animes where I can identify with the characters myself. I love it when I can predict the reactions of the main characters or at least make sense of it. It really frustates me when this IDIOTIC ... main character does this random ass things. I mean like, come on, even after being the freaking BEST player in Japan, why the hell does he rely on luck so much. Also there's just too much unnecessary drama. I never understand the logic behind explaining the plan to your enemy. Like seriously, why??