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‘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.

When I first heard about this, I was excited. Really excited. The lack of zombie anime is something that really disappoints me and so I immediately added this one to my list. It was an enjoyable and very nice watch but by the time I finished it, I was kind of disappointed. Let me tell you why:

It started off with a bang. Immediate zombie killing action. It grabbed me and had me wanting more. I had high hopes this could go on to be one of my all time favourites. This wasn't the case, unfortunately 'fanservice' reared it's head. There was even a whole episode, ... in a short anime at that, dedicated to fanservice. In the middle few episodes, it was fanservice and more fanservice. The anime was in danger of falling very low. Luckily, it managed to pick up again.

Story: 6/10

A group of high school students frantically escaping zombies using swords and bats? Oh the potential! The story showed a lot of promise but because of the middle episodes, it was like the story had run out of time. Maybe if the series was longer, the story could have been great but the sort of rushed vibe I got from the last few episodes means it was decent, not epic.

Art: 10/10

I thought the art was fabulous. The zombies were designed perfectly and the characters looked very sharp and were well defined. The backgrounds were very nicely defined and the art was really excellent. Though the breasts were excessively large lol

Sound: 10/10

Realistic sounds when the zombies had their heads bashed in. Very nice ending themes...... the opening was EPIC! I loved it and still have the full version on my ipod. The sound really added to the anime.

Characters: 7/10

Mixed bag. Takashi and Kouta were great. I really liked their characters and they seemed kinda badass when they fought. The girls...... meh. Takagi annoyed me with how she treated Kouta, Shizuka was fun at first but then grated me a bit, Rei was awesome at first but then kinda turned pointless towards the end. Though her relationship with the creepy teacher was interesting. Saeko was good. She would have been one of my favourites if it wasn't for the whole, 'fighting turns me on' thing. Takagi's parents were kinda cool, liked them. The teacher I hated. He actually seemed like a complete bastard. All in all, a mixed bag.


Overall: 8/10

Yes, I gave it a good score. The art, sound, the fights, the enjoyment factor, were all plus points. The sad thing is that the excessive fanservice means that instead of being a 'Masterpiece', this anime is just very good.

This is actually my first ever review lol.

Well what can I say? This series was just pure awesome. I admit the only reason I watched it was because it had mediafire links. But boy, am I glad i did. 43 excellent, laugh-out loud episodes.


The story itself sounds at first pretty standard. Its basically about a group of students who try to get rid of a teacher who is trying to teach them about life, like I said, pretty cliche. However, that's where the cliche ends. The teacher, Eikichi Onizuka, is a 22 year old virgin, who became a teacher with the sole purpose of getting ... laid either with a high school girl or a fellow teacher. He might sound like a creep but after the first episode it is impossible not to find him awesome. I watched all 43 episodes and I think I laughed about a thousand times.

The series' main theme is undoubtedly comedy but there are also some real emotional moments. Some episodes are really serious. They discuss the controversial subjects of bullying, blackmail, corruption and abuse of authority so while it is a heart warming comedy and relatively old it really details some of the major problems in society.

The animation is decent for an anime that is fairly old and I was impressed by how much the supporting characters were developed. My only complaint was that the last two episodes were a bit rushed and didn't follow the manga as well as the others. Overall, however this is an awesome anime and a definite must-see.