Y’know, a premise doesn’t have to be smart. Hell, it could even be dumb for all I care. When the characters are also dumb, however, the story had better be a comedy or a parody. Otherwise, it feels like the narrative will quickly fall apart. Unfortunately, BTOOOM! neither feels like much of a comedy nor a parody. And as the weeks go by, I have a feeling that the characters will just get dumber and dumber. Ah well, still better than Sword Art Online, right?!
Notes:
• It feels like shows will employ a cold open just for the sake of it. All we see in this week’s cold open is that Himiko has a lot of food. Alright…? It isn’t anime-related, but this is one of my favorite cold opens in recent memory. I just think a cold open should function like an amuse bouche; in other words, it should get you excited for what’s to come. What you see here doesn’t really convey anything other than that Himiko’s running away, which isn’t a very interesting event all by itself.
• Great breast physics there, Madhouse!
• Wow, really? A fart joke? Even pulp stories have more class than that.
• So the only way to escape the tropical island is to collect seven more of those green chips embedded in the back of people’s hands. Man, it’s been years since I’ve seen Battle Royale, but I can’t shake the feeling that there might be some interesting parallels to be made between the two stories. Maybe someone else has already capitalized on this same idea though… so it’d be no fun if I end up doing the same thing.
• The chip they embed in your hand won’t come out without surgery, but it’ll naturally fall out if your heart stops… right, that still sounds a little fishy. I still say there’s a small chance everything isn’t real.
• While the villain was busy explaining the rules of the game to the participants, Ryuta apparently interrupted the man with a tirade about how it’s just a game, so you never know… maybe that’s the twist. Maybe Ryuta was the only one to see the ruse from the very start, but thanks to a few convenient voltages to the brain, he’s forgotten everything.
• Ryuta thinks to himself, “It’s a group of the best game creators in the world. Their system won’t have any contradictions or ways out.” Why not? Why should we just assume this to be fact? It’s the same ridiculous contrivance you find in Sword Art Online. Nothing’s wrong with this game because the creators are just that good! Hint: no one is that good. There are plenty of lazy writers though!
• So when the fat guy — who seems kind enough — suggest that they team up to find an alternative way to beat the game that doesn’t involve killing anyone, Ryuta calls the fat guy naive! I mean, isn’t that just hilarious? Why would you trust the villain anyhow? Just because he tells you that collecting eight chips will get you off the island doesn’t mean he’ll stick to his word. I mean, would the creators of this twisted game really want a survivor to return to the mainland and reveal all the sick, twisted details to the entire world? Naw, that would just be naive. I’d say the only way to win the game is to not play.
Oh, the villain said there’s no food or water to be found on the island? Was there not a waterfall at the start of the episode? Oh nevermind, it was probably one of those rare saltwater waterfalls. And I’m sure a lush jungle wouldn’t have anything edible in it. But before you make the mistake that I’m quibbling over the show’s lack of realism, I’m not. I’m quibbling over the characters’ intelligence. It’s fine that the island magically lacks any sort of food or fresh water. On the other hand, while it’s certainly possible that the villain was telling the truth, why would you just believe him?
• I often see the eyes of a character completely disappear, but this is the first time in a while where I’ve seen only a single eye disappear.
I guess this is the show’s way of conveying deviousness or something, but it just looks silly.
• Ryuta instantly discerns from a single conversation that the old man might actually be better at the game than him. Nope, not naive at all!
• Ryuta then reasons that the creators are airdropping supplies because people would otherwise be too busy looking for food on the island to play the game. Oh. My. God. It’s also a stupid strategy to head straight for the food because everyone on the island can plainly see the suitcases descending from the sky. You’re just needlessly putting yourself into a potentially dangerous situation when you could just opt to learn how to forage for food in the wild.
• It’s certainly a good thing that the suitcases full of food also happen to be indestructible to the BIMs.
Well, didn’t I just say it was a bad idea to head straight for the air drops? Meanwhile, a black character (or one that looks black) quickly dies as soon as she is introduced.
• When Ryuta and Taira have almost made their way to another suitcase, Ryuta takes the time to check for enemies using his radar. Why didn’t the guy who set the trap from earlier do the same? Was he just supremely confident that only a single player would stumble their way to the first suitcase?
Wasted potential. Yeah, I’m probably going to sound odd here, but I’m serious.
Think about it: A show where the protagonist of the sick murder game has been playing a nearly identical game on the computer for a long time, so much so he is able to realize that there’s far too many similarities to the videogame for this to be reality. However, everyone just believes he’s in denial and either attacks him or avoids him because of it. Yet by continuing to test the lies the creators of the game, he is able to convince others that everything is a facade (to an extent), and so, with him at the helm, the group has to find the way out of the false reality while fending off against the more crazed and ignorant of the contestants.
-It’s like the Matrix…only less stupid.
You could have a scenes like where he convinces the girl that you can’t drink the water because it’s not real. You visually get wet, yes, and so your brain at first is tricked into believing you’ve gotten wet, but the sensation of feeling the water, of the breeze cooling your wet skin, of your damp clothes sticking to you, isn’t there. Hence, it’s not real. It works on a few levels, too, since it would show that the “all powerful creators” are only human and can’t program EVERYTHING. No game dev can, no matter how genius. At some point the simulacra to real life will break, either by the gamer pulling back away from the setting to analyze things or by a body going rag-doll and floating into the air ala Elder Scrolls.
…But I severely doubt this show will go beyond copying Battle Royale (or rather, the basic premise Battle Royale used which is a classic). I’ll stick to more intelligent shows that deal with the concept of reality, like the ever introspective SAO, where we discuss philosophical quandaries such as “What would it be like to be a magical elf fairy?”
You thought The Matrix was stupid?
YES I AM
Yes you are what?
“I mean, would the creators of this twisted game really want a survivor to return to the mainland and reveal all the sick, twisted details to the entire world? Naw, that would just be naive. I’d say the only way to win the game is to not play.”
Not to say that I defending this show but to be fair…who would believe him? A game addicted NEET comes into the police station to tell them them that he played a real life game of BTOOOOM? Sounds credible. Even if a normal person said the same they wouldn’t believe it. At most he could put it on the internet and it would become a rumour. But without proof it would be nothing more than that.
First, let’s reexamine our choices. I can either become a murderer, and hope the evildoers keep to their word (unlikely), or I can try to play it defensively, i.e. kill only when I have to, and hope I can escape without having to become a murderer. Frankly, I’d take the second option because I’m not a killer, and neither are most people.
Second, Ryuta has a phone on him. It has no signal, obviously, but he doesn’t need that to take pictures or even record short videos of his experience.
Third, even if no one would believe the survivors, why would the creators risk it? They’re already evil enough to force people to kill each other. Why not just kill the survivors too?
Finally, there are rumors of people disappearing. At some point, someone’s going to have to start noticing.
I mean, I get that it’s a pulpy story meant to garner cheap thrills. That’s fine. I don’t need the show to be realistic. I just think it’s no fun to watch a dumb character unless he makes me laugh, and Ryuta doesn’t make me laugh.
1: While it isn’t promised the evildoers will keep their word it is the only logical method of escape. It’s their game. The only thing you can do is play by their rules. Because while Ryuta’s assumption that the game is perfect because it was made by a game company is flawed, the logic that someone wouldn’t do something this big without thinking of alternative methods of escaping. At the moment the only way is to get a boat and row is some direction and hope it leads to land. That would require them to make a boat. It would also require that the evildoers will not interfere with their making of a boat. And praying that they don’t have helicopters or patrol boats around the island.
2: I am sure if he asks nicely they will let Ryuta return to civilisation without checking is pockets or removing his personal belongings….
3: That logic works the other way as well. Why do they need to? They aren’t a risk without proof.
4: They have the money. Bribing Police and people to cover it up isn’t hard. Also this is based under the assumption that this game will be a common occurrence. This may be a one time event.
The story is stupid, I agree. But I find the surgical implant and bombs more questionable than the game itself.
1. I think you’re missing my point. The point is that I’d rather be hopeful and not be a murderer than be “logical” and try to escape when the chances that the creators keep to their word is low anyway. People in this situation are more than likely to team up than go for each other’s throats. The show, and stories like it, however, presume that humans are ugly creatures.
2. I’m not saying that the game creators would let him return home with his cell phone in tact. You’re saying that nobody would believe a survivor. I simply raised a possibility of how a survivor might tell his or her story.
3. Even if the risk is low, you face the possibility of being really screwed should the survivors somehow convince other people about the existence of the game. Why would you even allow the tiniest risk of that to exist? Of course, you disagree with me because you think there isn’t any risk whatsoever. But hey, I would not risk the chance that there is not a risk.
4. You seem to have an assumption that human nature is ugly.
1: There’s no difference. Killing is killing regardless of it being for defence or not. You are imposing a view of a situation under that impression that in that situation you would think the same way you would now. Frankly your belief in humanity is just naive. The internet should have taught you long ago that the world is full of idiots.
2: You are dodging the issue. You proposed that the creators wouldn’t possibly let him go. I bought up that he couldn’t do anything without proof. What’s the point of bringing up a cellphone with evidence if he can’t take it off the island?
3: No publicity is bad publicity. Even if the survivors convinced some people the only result would be that the game would gain popularity due to an infamous rumour.
4: I am judging this based on the level of humanity shown in the story. This is a show where people sell each other out for a ten thousand Yen. This is within the realms of believability and therefore valid.
What?
Whatever, dude. I can’t possibly disagree with you more, but this conversation is fruitless since we have such polarizing views. I’ll just stop here.
Perhaps the stun guns to the head dropped their IQ points significantly? or maybe it’s just fear? they are all too concerned with surviving that they can’t think past the obvious flaws in their thinking.
I think the latter answers are almost acceptable. Well, let’s see how far into stupidity this falls.
I don’t think they all got stun guns to the heads.
why don’t they just cut their chips out of their hands? Sure it’s painful but it’s not death.
Maybe we’ll see someone resort to this in the next few episodes.
In a lot of ways “BTOOOM!” reminds me of that other high-concept survival anime “Highschool of the Dead”. I liked that you used the word “pulpy” in describing the show to a commenter above because I think that’s exactly the kind of thing I expected going into this — lots of action scenes, over-the-top gore/sex and a few tactless fanservice scenes.
I think the biggest difference between the two series though is that HOTD had more of an — for lack of a better word — intuitive premise. I mean with a zombie apocalypse there wasn’t really much room for introspection and tactical planning — just aim for the head and hope it stays dead. With “BTOOOM!”, though, there seems to be some kind of half-assed tactical/survival component that kind of bogs down the action. I mean it’d be one thing if there were genuinely clever ways people used the bombs or the radar, but everything’s been pretty much par for the course. Honestly, it’s like everyone’s too worried about survival to use the bombs in any way creative — which really sucks ’cause, when you have characters as dumb and poorly written as these ones, their only real value is as explosive meat bags. Say what you will about HOTD, at least its new what its strengths were.
That was pretty much just a roundabout way of me saying that I think part of the dumbness of the show comes from the anime trying to do things out of its depth. I mean that battle of wits between Taira and Ryuta just felt so contrived, and what’s worse was that they were taking it waaaaaay too seriously. I mean the menacing shading effects and threatening inner monologues were just overkill. I don’t know, maybe that scene was just supposed to be super campy and I just didn’t get it.
Anyway, I’m liking the “what if” scenarios you’ve conjured up for the series so far. I like the idea that everything is fake and everyone on the island are just lab rats for some new game the creators of “BTOOOM!” are making. That is, if Madhouse decides to actually have an anime-only ending…
I think a show like this should be exhilarating. It shouldn’t be so dialogue heavy because it just doesn’t have the chops to pull that off. Instead, it should just be balls-to-the-walls thrills. Here’s an example of what I mean:
Films like Torque or Crank are anarchic to the point of being liberating. BTOOOM! is stupid but… you can tell it pulls its punches. It doesn’t deliver that cathartic feeling. It’s just mired in its pathetic logic. You bring up the lack of clever bomb usage, and you’re exactly right. Right about now, we should have seen at least five wacky ways for the bombs to eliminate people. Instead, Ryuta plods along as if he’s in some sort of tactical life or death game… but he’s no Desert Fox. For example, he just automatically assumes Taira is better than him for inane reasons.
You bring up the battle of wits, and I wonder if Ryuta’s resemblance to Light from Death Note is supposed to have any deeper meaning. Except whereas Death Note questioned a man’s right to play God, this is just
Battle Royale 2012 The Hunger GamesGrenadefest 2012.Oh yeah, the manga is ongoing, right? Oh well.
“Films like Torque or Crank are anarchic to the point of being liberating. BTOOOM! is stupid but… you can tell it pulls its punches. It doesn’t deliver that cathartic feeling. It’s just mired in its pathetic logic.”
Very, very true. That lack of catharsis was exactly what I was trying to get at with my previous comment. I mean take that “Torque” clip you posted — it was ridiculous, over-the-top and campy as hell. You could tell they just didn’t give a shit about things like nuance or physics or narrative immersion and they were so much better off because of it. The sad thing about BTOOOM! is that its basic premise is so ripe for that kind of stuff that it’s a shame when it doesn’t deliver.
“I wonder if Ryuta’s resemblance to Light from Death Note is supposed to have any deeper meaning.”
The resemblance actually kind of worries me a little. I can’t shake the feeling that the reason this one got adapted was because someone at Madhouse flipped through a few chapters of the manga and saw enough “Death Note” in it to give it the same treatment.
The idea is good. But the hatable characters ruined it all. This is Shit Art Online all over again.
The blonde girl may strip all she want during the opening song, but I doubt anyone would have affection for this character. The main character himself is the most naive fool I can see there. The others we have seen so far are fugly men and woman, and a crazy kid who’s totally not acting his age (not again! makes me remembered Mirai Nikki all over agaian).
Now. The plot hole. Why is there a crazy kid there when the radar showed that the nearest person is quite far away? The flaw in the so called perfect system? Could it be, you won’t be detected if you are diving underwater?
If you’re not the hero or heroine, you gotta be ugly.
Maybe there was a time lapse and they ran for a much longer distance than we had assumed. Maybe we understood what “quite far away” means to the characters in the show.
Another gantz???? =P
I’m… not sure that you people understand anime logic. Do you guys like ANY anime? If you’re about to come out and say shit like ‘why can’t all anime be stupid without using logic, and then have the smartest protagonist in the world?’, then I highly suggest you kill yourselves. Anime like this are trying to show how people react when cornered. If I put a gun to the back of your head and tell you to put your arms out in front of you and I’ll let you go, are you going to think of some cunning plan to get away, or try to rebel? No; you will put your hands out in front of you. If I then get you to walk forward, grab a kitchen knife, and tell you and another guy to stab each other before and I shoot you from my distance, are you going to stand and consider the options, team up with the other armed guy, or try and kill him before he kills you. Are you getting my point yet? If not, let’s say I then shoot your friend in the leg to show I mean business, how about then? It’s the same concept. They showed that they meant business when they used a taser on the protagonist. And they had them at close range in the helicopter, they’re now monitoring from a distance, but they can see everything that is happening, and will kill you if the game comes to a standstill. There are no flaws, you’re looking for flaws that don’t exist. They have no option to team up, sitting back will get them killed, and they won’t get chips that way. It may be a little far-fetched for the game to be faultless, however:
1) He has no choice but to accept it is.
2) Even if it isn’t faultless, I highly doubt the worlds best survival game producers are going to be outsmarted by a single, random, 23-year-old NEET.
3) It’s an anime, it’s allowed to be a little far-fetched.
People like you are the reason we can’t have nice things.