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Btooom! Review


RazorDan

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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.

  • Story 5/10
  • Characters 6/10
  • Art 8/10

  • Sound 7/10


ATTACK Rating: ** ½ (Boring)

Edited by RazorDan
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I did like it. So i went on to continue the story in the manga. I know some might look down on me but the perversion level skyrocketed. The anime didnt show as graphical as scenes as the manga does. I mean the pycho path of a boy gets a b**** after he realizes one of the group members is an AV actress. So I dropped the manga but i really would have liked to have continue the story.


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Seriously the manga is that different? Might check it out cuz honestly the show just seemed bland to me. What did you like about it Koby?

I took a quick skim of the manga up until where the anime stopped. The content is relatively the same. They've cut out some of the explicit content and some backstory; added in their own content here; changed the flow of how events take place, but overall, as far as I've read so far, overall, everything that it's in the manga, happens in the anime with a bit of censorship here and there.

I'd still read it, as the dialogue is slightly different and there's a little more back story to some characters that fleshes them out a tiny bit more.

Something that I've learnt from reading the manga that I find most surprising is that there's a seven year age gap between Ryota & Himiko, 22 and 15 respectively.

Edited by The Question
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  • 7 months later...

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