Btooom!

Plot

A young man gets transported into a video game he plays called Btooom. A plot is uncovered involving an organization that aims to conquer the world by dominating the virtual world.

Cast

Unfamiliar with anybody involved.

Verdict

I've never read the original Btooom! Manga so I have no basis for comparison, I took it for what it was and it is a very mixed bag.

It starts strong on account of the premise being fairly interesting, being a gamer I doubly appreciated it and I was engrossed however it's quite goes from decent to average faster than you can say Call of Duty is overrated and though I was interested in the direction it was going I found myself thankful it was only 12 episodes.

The anime is dark, there's no goofy voices, over the top expressions or standard anime tropes here which I appreciated as I despise that stuff. It was gritty and hard hitting, but something was missing.

Then there's the perviness of it all, there are a couple of very eye brow raising scenes. You know the ones, the stuff you'd never see in anything American yet seems the standard in Japan, perverse and creepy for the sake of it, even the hero who we're supposed to be rooting for gets in on this action.

And then the biggest flaw? Yep that's right, the show gone cancelled on a cliffhanger so Btooom! Is an unfinished story rendering it a quite pointless watch.

Could have been a memorable enough anime, the ignorance and selfishness of the creators doomed it to mediocrity.

Rants

As an avid gamer since the mid 80's I appreciate stuff like this, especially when it's clearly made by gamers (Unlike most Hollywood efforts). The trouble is gaming has changed so much over the years, the primary change being the online element. I miss couch coop! Modern online gaming is offensively toxic to the point I find it best to mute everyone the moment I go into a new game. Whether it be League of Legends, Call of Duty, the worst community of all time Town of Salem or Among Us which wow just use the Pride banner in there and see how that plays out! You think people are vile behind their keyboards on social media? They're worse behind a controller.

The Good

Solid premise Surprisingly decent characters

The Bad

Inconsistent quality Ends on a cliffhanger Some senseless perverseness.

A video game taking over the Neet's life isn't new, nor is the Neet being forced into a dangerous situation because of the video game, and "Btooom!" Death match isn't groundbreaking but the characters hardships and growth are surprisingly well done.

The male protagonists growth is measured and reasonable based on the situations he faced, however the real standout is the female protagonist. After facing hardships before being dropped on the island she's forced to relive the experience again, subjected to the humanities feral side. Although less than perfect I was impressed the anime addressed the issue of rape, the trauma survivors live with and the guilt survivors who escape suffer through.

Pros:

• Depth, imperfect but it's there.
• Good character growth and realistic responses.
• Fairly consistent animation.
• English Dubbing.

Cons:

• Not a fan of the female protagonist's voice at times.
• Predictable.
• No second season.
• Dialog seemed "stilted"' in early episodes.

I am waiting for the next season and I like the story so much.....

I watch a lot of anime, when I mean a lot I can proudly say I have covered about 50 different series at the least. This one ranks up there, with the suspense, difficulty and tactical awareness of the game, and the whole bringing out the crazy in normal people plot. A must watch. I rate this on similar lines as death note, dead man wonderland, Mirai Nikki, high school of the dead just to name a few.

If you are into anime series that constantly keep you at the edge and do have a sense of realism and plausibility all through the story or 'world' that has been created, then this is for you. If in turn you like more fantasy heroic idol worshiping anime's as bleach and naruto or one piece, then you should look else where because this is some serious stuff.

Ignore the negative reviews because of some ecchi scenes But it has good plot and charactorism The only different between squid game is the money issue😅