If you thought this final episode of BTOOOM! would bring any sort of sense of closure with it, forget about it – we’re going to need a second season…
What They Say:
The weapons available in this game, which has sold over three million copies worldwide, do not include guns – only bombs called BIMs. The player locates enemies on a radar and strategically launches one of eight types of BIMs to blow the enemy away. That’s all one needs to do to win. Sakamoto Ryota still has no job at age 22, and leads a rather dull life. But in the online game, BTOOOM!, he’s stronger and more highly respected than anyone else. However, the game he’s playing now is no longer virtual, but real. He’s been sent to a deserted island with only a BIM supply and no clue why he’s being coerced into fighting and killing. The players are now stuck in a real life version of BTOOOM!, not even knowing the reason why. The hunger to survive, the loss of morality, the madness that corrodes their minds, the intensely growing desires… it all blends together, only to be crushed to dust as the curtain rises on this explosive killing game.
The Review:
Having been attacked by a homing-type BIM, Sakamoto begins to think that Taira’s turned on them – his BIMs are homing-type, after all. Between his injuries and delusions he’s been having about his son and wife, Taira’s not exactly in great shape – but his desire to get home, and the realisation that if he kills Sakamoto and Himiko he’ll have enough chips to get home, has just pushed him over the edge…
You do have to feel for Taira, really. He lacks the skills or ruthlessness to make any sort of impact in the game, his unerring knack of picking up a new injury seemingly every. Single. Week. in the game has left him completely reliant on the good graces of others for his survival – and so his fear of being abandoned runs rampant whenever Sakamoto and the others leave him in total terror when they have to go and do other things. Under those circumstances, his descent into delusion and paranoia isn’t at all far-fetched – and so he turns on the people he’s been relying on.
On the one hand, this finally gives the people – like me – who’ve been wondering what purpose Taira served in the story their answer: he’s been a walking plot twist, waiting to happen. But his turn to the dark side also proves to be the catalyst for Sakamoto and Himiko to finally admit to their past connection, and move their relationship on to another level – in a way that surprisingly gives Sakamoto a chance to shine as someone who’s able to pass up a chance to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman. Given how he’s been portrayed for most of the series, I was genuinely surprised by the way he reacted to certain events – there’s been a definite growth in him over the season, and he’s clearly now not the loner who was dumped on the island in the first place. Now, if they could just given Himiko a chance to get past the ‘damsel in distress’ stage, I’d be happy – there are glimpes of that in this episode, but they’re more than countered by other scenes that have her being far too eager to be the sacrificial lamb than I’m really comfortable with.
While this is the final episode of the series, the way events at the episode are left hanging tells me that there’s clearly intended to be a second season (as yet unannounced, unless I’ve missed something), and the threads that we’re left with all point to some quite intriguing developments when / if the series returns.
In Summary:
This season of BTOOOM! has left me entertained and frustrated in roughly equal measure – the setting promises action & a level of conspiracy that it doesn’t really deliver on, other than in fits and starts, but it balances that out with some decent character development that was a pleasant surprise to find. I’m up for a second season, but there are some areas where BTOOOM! will need to up its game.
Content Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
27” Apple iMac, 2.9GHz Core i5, 8GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.8.2
