"Btooom!" falls into the somewhat lesser-known genre of survival anime, where various people compete in an every-man-for-himself game where the only goal is to, well, survive, namely by killing all of the other contestants. Unfortunately, as far as examples of this anime I've watched go, this one ranks among the bottom of the list, with there being very little here to make it stand out from other anime of its kind, even if it's still not terrible by any means.
Story (6/10):
"Btooom!" revolves around a death game based on the titular fictional combat video game, where contestants have to kill each other using various bombs supplied to them, and take chips embedded in the bodies of the ones they kill. Why would anybody do this? Well, because they've all been forced onto a remote island, and it's only by collecting 8 such chips that they will be allowed to leave and return home. The protagonist of the series is Ryota Sakamoto, a 22-year-old NEET and one of the top players of the "Btooom!" video game, who suddenly finds himself on the island with no memory of how he got there. Soon after, he discovers that he's been nominated for the real-life version of his favourite game, and the person who sent him to the island was none other than his mother, who was tired of his unwillingness to do anything with his life and wanted to teach him responsibility. What's more is that pretty much every contestant was sent to the island because someone had a grudge against them, and this is apparently not the first time something like this has happened! Anyway, shortly after arriving on the island, Ryota bumps into a teenage girl called Himiko, who unbeknownst to him, is his fellow "Btooom!" player and in-game wife. While Himiko starts off distrusting Ryota (for reasons outlined in the Characters section below), the two ultimately decide to team up and find some way to get off the island while also killing as few people as possible.
Exactly how the death game works is explained well enough. Each contestant is given various supplies, with their main weapons being special bombs called BIMs (hence the name "Btooom!"). Each contestant is given one type of BIM each, though nothing is stopping them from collecting other people's BIMs after they kill them, meaning that overtime Ryota and Himiko are given access to more types of bombs in addition to the ones they start off with. What's more is that the chips embedded in their hands, in addition to serving as the very thing they need to collect in order to win, act as sonars which they can use to locate other players, either to stay clear from them or to set up ambushes. The pacing is also quite decent, with the first two episodes detailing Ryota and Himiko's home lives and them ending up on the island, as well as telling us the basics of what kind of characters we're dealing with. From there, the series generally doesn't stay in the same place for too long, with most opponents being defeated in no more than an episode or two.
If there's a serious problem with the story, it's that there's ultimately so little to it. Everything I highlighted in the first paragraph of this section pretty much sums up the entire plot, as there are very few twists and turns or things you don't see coming. In a way, it feels very much like the games of old, where excuse plots were the norm and the only goal was to kill everything in you path. All in all, even with the various backstories of the characters, the story never feels like it's anything more than a way to pit various people against each other and have them kill each other with bombs. It doesn't help that the various questions you'll almost certainly be asking yourself are still left unanswered even towards the end, like who the sponsor of the death game is, what he could possibly gain from doing all of this, and exactly how he and Ryota know each other.
Art & Animation (8.5/10):
"Btoom"'s visuals are definitely the best thing about it. The characters and environments are all very well-drawn, the animations are consistently smooth and the fanservice is basically non-existent give or take a few moments, of which include the rather infamous "Bim-Booby Bounce" scene. It's not amazing-looking, especially when you compare it to the likes of "Hunter x Hunter" or "Parasyte", but it nevertheless meets the standards that I've come to expect from Madhouse.
Sound & Dialogue (8/10):
"Btoom's" soundtrack is barely even there a lot of the time, and it's not uncommon for there to be long periods without any music at all. What's worse is that the music that is there isn't all that notable, and even the opening is passable at best, though the ending theme is a fair bit better. The only truly memorable track I can think of is the song that plays at the start of the final episode, "Exist", which just made me wonder why that wasn't the opening for all episodes. Similarly, the voice acting is good, but not fantastic. Tyler Galindo does a respectable job as Ryota, as does Brittney Karbowski as Himiko, and the dub has a decent cast all around, though nobody I would rank among my favourites. In short, everything about the sound design does the job it's supposed to do and little else.
Characters (6.5/10):
When we’re first introduced to Ryota, he comes off as pretty unlikable, being a selfish loser who spends all of his time cooped up in his room playing an online game and acting cold and indifferent towards his mother. Nevertheless, it’s clear as early as the first episode that he does have some morals, as when he first comes to the island, he’s horrified by the idea that he has to kill people in order to survive, as while killing people in a game is one thing, actually doing it in real life is quite another. As such, Ryota tries his hardest to avoid killing his opponents, generally resorting to disarming them or putting them in a state where they can’t harm him. Overtime, he grows to realise that the way he lived before coming to the island was just his way of running away from reality, and he makes steps to sort out his life, becoming a lot more selfless and mature as a result, as well as more pragmatic when it comes to fighting enemies. Ultimately, however, while I did like him (more so than any other character in the series), there isn’t really anything that stands out about his character, since many things about him have been done both before and better.
Then there’s Himiko, who can easily be described as Ryota’s opposite. At home, she is shown to be a friendly, if somewhat shy and reserved, girl. However, unlike Ryota, Himiko has no qualms with killing in order to survive, even saying at one point that everyone on the island is her enemy, especially men. This is due to the fact that shortly before meeting Ryota, she had to put up with men forcing themselves on her TWICE, once right before coming to the island and once after arriving. As such, she is understandably wary of Ryota at first, which certainly isn’t helped by the pretty bad first impression he made, though she does warm up to him overtime. That said, I often found myself very frustrated with her character, as her competence seems to zig-zag all over the place, with her being a badass one episode and a helpless damsel the next. And hey, if the idea of a romance between a 22-year-old man and 15-year-old girl sounds off-putting, I don’t blame you, because I personally found their romance to be kind of forced, especially considering how people act online is often nothing like how they act in real life.
Other than the main duo, there isn’t an awful lot I can say about the cast of characters without giving away spoilers, other than the fact that it consists mainly of a whole lot of villains, some sympathetic, others total psychos. And while these villains are given decently developed backstories, it means that you’re given hardly anybody to root for besides Ryota and Himiko, who as I already mentioned can be quite unlikable themselves. All in all, even with a fair amount of character development and good drama, the cast of characters never managed to get any higher than “average” for me.
Enjoyment (6.5/10):
“Btooom” can be quite thrilling and entertaining, especially with the variety of bombs making for a number of creative fights. Still, it’s obvious from the very beginning that the series is not for the faint of heart, what with Himiko being forced on twice over the course of a few days and a number of characters having really dark and depressing backstories. And while it doesn’t take away too much from the series, one must wonder what the characters hope to gain from escaping the island, since it’s shown that there’s nothing stopping them from getting sent back there if they piss off someone else.
Overall:
“Btooom” is definitely not one of the better examples of the survival genre. While the animation quality is great and the fights can be quite entertaining, the actual story is thin and underdeveloped, the characters are often hard to like and the sound design is nothing remarkable. Ultimately, I’d say it’s worth a look if the premise sounds like something you’d enjoy, but if you go in expecting any real depth, then you’d best be prepared to be disappointed.
Score:
6+8.5+8+6.5+6.5=35.5/50=7.1/10
