Every single episode, man. Every. Single. One.
Plot summary: Ryuta runs into two familiar faces and loses. He makes a getaway, but fails to realize that his enemies simply allowed him to escape. Our hero then leads them back to the hideout, and as a result, both Himiko and their supplies are stolen. Ryuta takes a peak at Himiko’s cellphone, and thinks that he may have met his e-waifu. He then saves Himiko even though the girl denies that she ever played BTOOOM! all that much.
Notes:
• It still slays me that an action game would have weddings. Can you imagine Halo players getting married? But anyway, it’s even funnier how the marriage here is fancier and more elaborate that what we saw in SAO! There are cheering fans, fireworks, fancy outfits for both players, and more. The only thing it’s missing is a cake! Why is it funny? Because SAO is supposed to be the show about the richness of the virtual world and how it can measure up to reality, but despite this, a goddamn action game shows it up.
• Oh Ryuta, you try to work together with everyone, but can’t you see that your opponent here is ugly?
Ugly people also have to be fat and jolly if they want to be good guys (e.g. Taira). Otherwise, fiction dictates that those who are simply ugly are evil.
• At one point, Mister Badass Mercenary turns to confront the BIM-less Ryuta, but in order to do this, he turns his back to both Himiko and Taira. That doesn’t seem very wise for someone who claims to have survival instincts. Okay, sure, Taira’s hobbled, but the girl has BIMs on her. Is he somehow magically confident that she wouldn’t attack him?
• Oh, I see he’s right. The other two are just staring dumbly at the situation.
• Haha, yes, I’ll just bring up balancing issues and blind spots to some gritty mercenary. I’m sure he’ll take me seriously! C’mon man, we’re beta testers~!
• Himiko grips her pouch of BIMs harder, ’cause if Mister Badass Mercenary turns to attack, she’ll be super ready, I guess.
• Man, Taira, that was the worst gank attempt ever. Meanwhile, Himiko continues to stand there and stare. What’s happened? Two episodes ago, she was willing to battle Ryuta to the death, but now she just gawks? I mean, it’s not as though she has to fight. It’s not as though she has to save Ryuta and Taira, but at least run. What’s happened to the girl since then? Why has she lost any sort of spunk to her character?
• Poor Taira, though. First his leg, and now his fingers. He’s… he’s our Lavinia! ;;
• Ryuta: “I have to go. I have to save her.” As if you weren’t gonna do so anyway, but we’ll throw in the e-waifu thing for dramatic effect.
• Mister Badass Mercenary is like, “You think I like rape? Hah, I’m so badass, I prefer torture!” but he restrains Himiko to the bed all spread eagle and shit.
• Also, Himiko’s “Let me die pure” thing… I mean, there are ways to write this without coming off as though you’re slut-shaming rape victims. Obviously, who wants to be raped, right? So why can’t she just say, “Don’t rape me!” Instead, however, it isn’t just the inviolable act itself that is heinous, but her purity that’s truly at stake here! Uh huh. And no, rape isn’t bad because it taints you. That’s stupid. Rape is bad because it has a lack of consent, which — along with the objectification of a human being — is thus dehumanizing, not because girls have some magical freshness seal that only their e-husbands are allowed to break. This is also a twofold problem, because if a boy ever says, “Uguu, my purity,” a lot of people would call him gay! But let’s face it: boys get raped too and it sadly happens a lot. The sexism cuts both ways, so why don’t we just drop the whole ‘purity’ business because it isn’t fair to anyone.
• A door had been booty-trapped to drop a BIM should Ryuta try to open it, but he luckily catches it before it hits the ground. Not a groan-worthy scene until Ryuta says, “That was a military-style trap.” Really? Really? Look at these military badasses own some poor girl on Youtube:
• Ryuta: “Of course there would be users sharing the same name.” Oh man, a game without unique names still had in-game marriages?
• I can’t be bothered to check the second episode again, but I’m pretty sure it revealed that Himiko is the person behind the avatar that Ryuta married. So why is she trying to hide it now? Is she ashamed of this too?
• Seems kind of silly to me that Ryuta used his one BIM on a short, old lawyer dude who screams penal codes in combat. And of course, Himiko gets caught again.
• AHAHAHAHAHA:
• So the gas catches up to Himiko, but her dangling legs are impervious to the defoliant because…?
• No one would ever balance a game out of a real life competition, so… I’m still holding onto the idea that our heroes are just stuck in some virtual world!
Remember what I said about liking Btoooom? I think I may have to retract what I said. I’m losing hope fast. The whole rape thing is getting REALLY annoying. I feel as if the authors actually enjoy seeing their character Himiko get into these awful situations. Makes me sick. Also, look at Himiko’s promo art. Ugh. Misogynistic sex symbol much?
Probably just giving people what they want to see.
Honestly, I think that’s the pathetically sad truth of it. Why else would they keep giving fan service shots of her after establishing her as this kind of character?
You are a hypocrite, I wonder if you can write a character without flaws as you are pointing out pretty obvious stuffs since people in this anime is broken in a mental way, of course they won’t think like normal people would … and if you do write a character without flaws, it will be a gary stu
When will your website closed down ?
Wow, you are an idiot. I’m pretty sure half of the characters are not so mentally broken that they couldn’t figure out some action to take that was more sensible. But unless you’re a retard, you’d see that that has not been eMinor’s only argument against the show. Quit being so blindly hateful of a site that challenges your precious animus. Also, the cyberpolice called and they said that this website isn’t in their jurisdiction. Tough luck.
You think I’m actually serious ?
Now I’m serious … DON’T TOUCH MY HIMIKO OR I’ll TELL 3000 ANGRY OTAKUS TO BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE … happy ?
I actually did think you were serious. Mah bad, sir. Or ma’am.
Lol need some popcorn xD
Anyway thing is eMinor doesn’t really challenge anything to make it worth considering, most of what he says is purely subjective and he misses the point of many things about anime in general
This shit made me laugh about as hard as the review. I had a rough day, too, so the laughter helped. Thanks, man.
I cracked up when he said “That was a military-style trap.” This show is so stupid. The only reason I watch it, is because it is a guilty pleasure for me. I also thought the Lavinia reference was pretty clever. The only thing that I’d like to point out about this review is that you left out the BS that “If you disarm another person’s BIM, it is considered yours,” rule. I might have missed it in the previous episodes, but I don’t believe they mentioned it at all until now.
I haven’t been keeping count, but I feel they’ve been introducing almost every mechanic this way. Like when they mention the gas thing after the bomb was already thrown, or the ownership thing exactly when he was having trouble using a BIM. I always think of death note when those slightly convoluted explanations come up, but this isn’t the right kind of show; they simply don’t work well here.
Honestly, if you try to see this as some sort of bastardized Death Note, it starts to make a little more sense. Like Death Note, BTOOOM! seems to pride itself on revealing the rules of the game one-by-one as if it would come to a shock to us or something. I mean, I don’t like Death Note or anything, but at least it was an intricate game or something. Ryuta’s gameplay tips, on the other hand, just seem silly and forced.
Sakamoto no know about the anime hair identity rule. If woman he met has same hair as the avatar, possibly her. If she has same hair and NAME as avatar. It’s her. Also, it’s just ridiculous that a manry MMORPS has a Marriage system. I mean, what’s their advantage when they get married? Will they just share bomb inventory space or something?
Himiko’s “Let Me Die Pure” shtick is getting old real fast and most of time I cannot take her all that seriously if she says that while ALL (and I mean ALL of her promotional art in the anime AND in the manga) of her shtick involves her assets one way or another. Add the fact that she’s Sakamoto’s love interest while we are supposed to root for her Misogynistic streak is just… a walking contradiction over here.
Also, I personally thought that Mr. Merc on his exposure towards the acidic gas bomb thing was ridiculous at best.
They get to share the same health bar. :D
“Every single episode, man. Every. Single. One.”
Hahahaa~!! I fuckin’ knew it, mate! I mentioned something like this in a previous comment. This show will never let it the fuck go. Oh how wrong it feels to be right…
I understood the first time she said something about “purity” and simply rationalized it as her trying to calm herself down or something. You know, like a mugged person thanking God they weren’t killed. But then it kept going, and now it’s just fucking rancid.
But hey, it’s BTOOOM!, so it fits. …guh
*Side note: You’re a gentleman and a scholar for bringing up why the “purity” nonsense is, well, insufferable and offensive nonsense.
Also, I’m pretty sure from here on out Himiko will be about as useful as a small shivering dog. Sure it has teeth, but that doesn’t mean it will ever use them. It’s just bark until something bigger barks louder, then it will shy away until the big bad meanie leaves or its owner comes to its rescue. Her sole purpose is to “OH NO SHE’S GONNA GET RAPED-oh not really. …OH NO, IT’S GONNA HAPPEN AGAIN-oh no, I guess not.”
– It’s what writer’s call “The Stupid Yo-yo”. You get a damsel and keep putting her in distress, thinking the audience will keep feeling the tension every time she’s kidnapped. However, it’s stupid because after kidnapping #3 (at most) no one -gives a shit- anymore and all tension is lost.
Oh, and let’s keep making the perpetual almost-rape victim into a fan-service machine. That’s good too. Keep on keepin’ on, you painfully talentless BTOOOM! writers.
Man, I fancy myself a bit of a writer, and I’ve never heard of such a term. Where do you find these concepts?
Heh I’ll be honest, mate. Most of my knowledge is self-taught, having learned a great deal from my own mistakes and successes and those of far worse (and far better) writers, and since that’s the case I grew accustomed to…making up my own terminology. Until my college professor I had barely anyone around to teach me these kinds of things, so in order to make up for that I tried to find ways to make learning easier for myself, and this was one of them.
Most of the literary concepts I mention do exist, but I actually…kinda-sorta…don’t know what other people call it. Hah
So, yes, mate, that’s the reason you never heard of the “Stupid Yo-yo”. Haha~
-On a side note: I learned a few years ago that it turns out a number of the better terms on TvTropes are terms I came up with on my own. The terms Big Bad, Complete Monster, and the like are terms I made when I was thirteen. I wonder if that says something about me, or about TvTropes.
I wish Himiko would just get NTR’d already. This whole purity bullshit is getting really old.
I’m sure you could find a doujinshi for that.
“Seems kind of silly to me that Ryuta used his one BIM on a short, old lawyer dude who screams penal codes in combat.”
If this were Deadman Wonderland I’m sure we’d get some short sappy backstory about how his obsession with being the most awesome lawyer ever left his family cold to him, so his wife signed his name to the list of Btoom participants…just seconds before his face is blown off.
I always remember him as crazy lawyer dude. It’s better that way.
But at least in Deadman Wonderland you would actually get to see the lawyer’s face melt off, blood, bone, skin, and everything, so in the end it would have been more satisfying.
I don’t need to see that. I want to believe he lived. He lives on in my heart.
You gotta throw in a dead cat somewhere. Ain’t got no pathos without a dead cat.
That making fun of the “military style trap” while showing a video of a silly prank being the same thing and “old lawyer dude who screams penal codes in combat.” Made my day
So freaking hilarious
Hahaha. Rape, again. Too bad Komodos don’t rape, huh.
Also I was shocked at the final scene.
There has to be more than one hundred people there!
What the hell is this?
This many people are conspiring to simulate a death game in real life?
Are we nearing the end of humanity?
Wait, this is all but Sakamoto’s dream….
Maybe that’s what they were trying to do!
Uguu, my purity~
Are you… are you ruined for marriage?
Maybe.