Opening songs
OP 1 - No Pain, No Game (Nano)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Aozora (May'n)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Psychological, Mystery, Romance
Episodes: 12
Now, this is certainly something that I regretted not watching for so long. "Btooom!" was an anime that aired way back in 2012, and certainly, its charm still shows to this date. Well, as for WHY I didn't watch this back then...I mean, for f**k sake, the show is called "Btooom!". WHO, in the right mind, would want to watch an anime called f**king "Btooom!"?! Well, shitty name aside, "Btooom!" is actually one of the most edgy, tragic, and at the same time, most beautiful anime I've ever seen...in quite awhile at least. Sure, the story has some minor gripes here and there, but other than that, the anime nails almost everything else to great degree. If you enjoy the survival game type animes, then "Btooom!" is certainly one that you'll need to give a shot. Strong characters, great action scenes and an amazing sense of urgency manages to keep the show exciting...making "Btooom!" a fun ride from start to finish.
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| Let the game begin. |
The opening theme is "No Pain, No Game" by nano, and to me, this song was THE entryway to all of the great Nano songs out there. I'm not too big of a fan of Nano songs, but "No Pain, No Game" kicked it out of the park, it fits the anime so well with its epic, adventurous feel. The ending theme is "Aozora" by May'n, which is a ballad. You know me, I don't go too well with ballads...I'll skip this one.
Rating: 8.0/10
It's a fun, fun show with some serious themes. I'm never too fond of the survival game themed animes...or shows for that matter, even the big hit live TV shows like "Lost" didn't appeal to me too much, so I went into "Btooom!" completely blind. Admittedly, I found the idea of fighting with nothing but bombs to be quite boring and uninteresting, but the way the show does it is so brilliant that I eventually opened up to the idea. If "Btooom!" excels in one thing, its the smart, well crafted, action scenes where the combatants try to cleverly blow each other to smithereens using the many different kinds of bombs. I enjoyed almost every scene where characters tried to kill each other, there are plenty of well written fights that I highly recommend this show for. Other than that, the story, is fairly simple, though each character has their own little back story, some are interesting, others...not so much (I don't really like the protagonist's back story). Ultimately, its the fight scenes and some interesting character interactions that keep this show interesting. Unfortunately, the really interesting characters aren't fleshed out too much in this first season (Nobukata and Kira are my favorites).
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| A girl must have her essentials: a stun gun! |
Sakamoto Ryota is a 22 year old, unemployed young man who has been doing nothing but playing an online game at home all day. That game is "Btooom!", a smash hit MMORPG that involves players killing each other with bombs in teams. It is in this highly popular game where Sakamoto excels, so much so that he is one of the most well renown players in the world, spotting a rank 4 team of his own, all with highly skilled players. He is even married in game to the virtual love of his life. Anyway, it seems like Sakamoto's NEET life was perfect, that is, until one day, he wakes up in the middle of an island for no apparent reason. He has no memory of what happened before he woke up, and he is instead attacked by an unknown man who throws a bomb at him. Desperate to defend himself, he finds that he himself, has some bombs of his own. Forced to defend himself, Sakamoto kills his opposition with his bombs, and finds out that the bombs are the very same bombs used in the game, "Btooom!". He is forced to survive on this island with other hungry competitors, each trying to kill one another with the bombs in the game that he loved so much...except that this time, his life is on the line.
"Btooom!" perfectly captures the survival game feel and throws us into an unfamiliar setting that has a lot of potential. The first season ended on a great note and I honestly cannot wait to see more, as they expand on more of the characters and hopefully clear up a lot of the stuff that we don't know. This show genuinely, and I cannot wait to see more.
