Since I have absolutely nothing to do due to the end of Saiunkoku Monogatari and Hatenkou Yuugi, I decide to grab the latest series that is out in Japan. One of the early birds of spring 2008, Bus Gamer, has already been broadcast. Taken from T.H.A.T Spring Preview, this is the introduction.
Bus Gamer was a short-lived manga series, created by Kazuya Minekura. It follows the story of three young men hired by a mysterious company to participate in a business game, a way for companies to gamble against each other for corporate secrets
It is definitely an interesting premise, but does it work out for me in the first episode?
Episode summary
Toki is the narrator, as he says that he only wants the money. He finds a black envelope in his post, as two other people, Nobuto and Kazuo received it. He explains that the Bus Game is a battle simulation game where gamers are selected by various corporations to compete three-on-three on a battleground which is usually inside Tokyo. It is written that they will have a reward, as Toki arrives in this room 1006, where they are told to gather. The person who gathers them, explains the rules. It is a game of three vs three, where the more games they win, the more money will be won exponentially. If they can win fifteen games, they can earn a million.
With Kazuo complaining about hunger, Nobuto says that he does not want to group with incompetent people who cannot fight. Toki asks him to say it again. It is clear that the two do not trust each other. Kazuo tries to defuse the situation, only to make it worse. The next day, they meet up for a meal as Kazuo tries to bring the three into a group but the two cannot accept it. Suddenly, Kazuo says that hunger is probably the reason why they are so cold, and asks them to eat ramen. Toki and Nobuto says that it is dumb and starts leaving. It turns out that all three decide to go to the ramen store because THEY are hungry.
Nobuto asks how much they want. Kazuo points his finger as Nobuto assumes it is 100k but he meant 1 million dollars. Nobuto decides that they should group but explains that privacy must be maintained and their aim must be to get a million. One of the corporate masterminds look at as a Bus game is about to start. The scenario is in an abandoned shopping complex. They are the away team, where they need to get a disc from the Home team. Nobuto is surprised that everyone came without arms. Kazuo says that he thought for a long while about what to bring, but he cannot call any of them since he does not have their number. Nobuto says that he does not want to be called for such a mundane reason.
An announcement indicates the start of the contest. The corporate businessmen discusses about the validity of the three contestants. One of them adds that the three are the only ones who reply to this strange email, clearly showing that they have a need for the cash. Back to the ground, it is peaceful til the “home town” makes a move to drop a camera onto Kazuo. Toki gives chase to someone on the second floor while Nobuto also goes over to help, telling Kazuo to shout if there is anyone. As Toki enters the room, he is attacked but he dispatches the enemy easily. Toki seems to be in an aikido dojo before, and he remembers how fighters should have a firm spirit.
Kazuo is ambushed by two enemies, but Nobuto attacks them with a pipe. However, as Toki gets down, the enemy that he fights recovered and tries to throw him off. On the ground floor, Kazuo finds the disk. Even though Toki evades the attack, he is dragged down by the enemy as he holds on to the ledge of the second floor. Nobuto runs over to help, only for one of the enemies to recover and point a knife at Kazuo.
Thoughts
All right, the good things. Bus Gamer’s action scenes are really not too shabby, since Toki’s attacking moves are inspired by Aikido. It is animated pretty nicely, and I wish that I get to see more of the action scenes rather than the introduction of more than 16 minutes. This anime, by the way, was around 22 minutes. I personally like how the characters in this anime do not feel that much of a deus ex machina. They are vulnerable just like any other normal human, and the fights feel realistic at least. It is way too short though, and I wish there was more.
Graphical design is good for this anime, and I am rather surprised that there is hardly any graphical degradation in the series. The story concept is also a good draw, since you start to wonder what is the reason that drives the three to join this brutal and vicious game. It is a game in which you have to do everything to retrieve the disk from the opponent, no matter how you do it. I just think that it might be way too short to have any strong character development, but it is a very good first episode.
Now, the slightly bad stuff. One key thing is how bloody boring the first 15 minutes are. I nearly wanted to close off the video file because it feels like a complete drag. Thank god that the last few minutes of this three part series make it all worthwhile. Nonetheless, it is almost a torture at the start of the show because it is dead boring and there is almost nothing worth viewing. One more thing must be the minor shounen ai vibes that I am feeling in the episode. For some strange reason, Kazuo just keeps blushing and blushing and blushing. I really cannot stand his annoying behavior, and he’s almost completely useless. He is probably either comical relief or something.
There are a lot of questions and I do not know how the direction for the next two episodes are. For me, I think that the concept is interesting, the graphics are all right, the characters are pleasant enough. There’s no reason for me not to at least give the second episode another chance. It’s only three episodes after all!
11 Comments
Well since it is only 3 episodes, I’m gonna watch this one. ^^
Not watching since the pictures don’t look too great, lols.
Man, I don’t know if I’m even gonna watch this. The art style looks like it has potential…but WTF. It’s like the animators broke their hands midway through. I mean, look at that “raven” it looks more like a cross between a raven and a penguin. I’ll admit, it’s scarier than a normal raven, but I’m sure that’s not what they were going for.
k
)
for one thing XP
kazuya actually steps between the lines of mainstream and Shounen ai for her character behaviours /yaoi for her conversation at times
she loves to do things that yaoi fan girls can go moe about
bus gamer is sorta in between esp the beginning (of the manga series anyway) when she randomly releases chapter and when saiyuki was just starting ( had high hope for saiyuki back then sob sob) and when she was doing araisou
(especially if you seen her illustrations for wild adapter, i will not recommend to let anybody’s parents or impz for the matter to browse through certain images LOL no green hair loli definitely, though your gf may like it
I would watch it because i like the seiyuu and well i am a yaoi cat
@Kai: Ya, it’s a worthy series for 3 episodes. There’s really no harm.
@Blissmo: Really? I felt that the pictures look ok for its kind of genre. It’s not depicting moe gals, so Kyoto style animation won’t be right.
@Rieuzedx: You know, I never truly notice about the raven until you mention it. That said, I literally just “doze” through the first 15 minutes until the action started. Yes, I was not too thrilled but the ending at least makes it worth it somewhat. Penguins are cute though, until you touch them ^^
@Neko79: Arrr, no wonder. It is really irritating for me to keep seeing Kazuo blush like a ridiculous idiot for every single line that he has. That said, I can identify a bit of shounen ai vibes but it’s not overpowering at the very least. I have not read any of her works, but I do not think that the yaoi aspect is very strong in this series.
It feels more like a typical shounen series.
all of her works are considered shounen (maybe, just maybe, not araisou)
violent, drugs, fighting, blood, demons, gore.
Big busted females XP short skirts and such
Which lead us to believe she was a HE when she first started.
then turns out the mangaka is a SHE
so from the images i i will say
FANSERVICE!for the females anyway
i will say she is pretty much one of the more popular mangaka on the alternative SA/yaoi trend of drugs violence angst that started from more famous Bronze and such.
Naked Apes is another mangaka duo that makes all us fangirls squeals, that is if you can take their extremely dark drug police theme manga , switch, and their super violent, blood, gore manga, dolls. They draw yaoi DJ of their main works XP
but naturally anime is more toned down, be it the general genre or the more specialized genre.
while reviving yourself with macross frontier XP
Can’t wait to see how mild Junjyou Romantica will get for it to be a TV series XP The manga is definitely yaoi compared to loveless and suki dakara which were previously converted into anime series XP
Impz should just blog JR for your girlfriend
No girls, not interested.
With all the bishis around, this is obviously a shojo in a shonen costume.
I didn’t get the shounen-ai vibes at all… either because I’m obtuse that way or because I have my eyes on my Spider Solitaire game for most of the anime.
I can’t stand that blond guy; he’s such a ditz. On the other hand, Toki is both good looking, cool, and voiced by the scrumptious Suzumura Kenichi. So I’m watching this, especially since it’s short enough to suffer through if even Suzumura-sama cannot save the anime.
ahhhhh u idiots! i saw it and liked it though long and boring i managed 1 episode… gotta say i was excited for more but 3 epiodes makes it sound a bit boring though :/ but i guess overall its ok u know it being about money and sincere guys getting the shot for fighting!!
i watched the first two episodes… its kinda cool, but with the games there are not much startegies and techniques, just fight sequences. But Toki is cool and good looking, but the blonde guy is so annoying…
The one thing I don’t get is 3 episodes? they can show their past, 3 is very short.
Hi
I love this anime and too bad it’s only 3 eps.. hope to see more of it