Btooom!

Btooom!

Cover of the first manga volume
ブトゥーム!
(Butūmu!)
Genre Action, Psychological, Romance
Manga
Written by Junya Inoue
Published by Shinchosha
English publisher
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Weekly Comic Bunch (June 2009 – August 2010)
Monthly Comic @BUNCH
Original run June 19, 2009 – ongoing
Volumes 16[1]
Anime television series
Directed by Kotono Watanabe
Written by Yōsuke Kuroda
Music by Keiji Inai
Studio Madhouse
Licensed by
Hanabee
MVM Films
Network Tokyo MX, AT-X, SUN, KBS, TVA, BS11
Original run October 4, 2012 – December 20, 2012
Episodes 12

Btooom! (Japanese: ブトゥーム! Hepburn: Butūmu!), stylized as BTOOOM!, is a Japanese manga series written by Jun'ya Inoue and serialized in Weekly Comic Bunch and later in Monthly Comic Bunch. An anime adaptation covering the first 50 chapters of the manga was produced by Madhouse and aired in Japan on Tokyo MX from October 4 to December 20, 2012 and was streamed with English subtitles by Crunchyroll.[3] It has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks.[2]

Plot

Ryōta Sakamoto is an unemployed 22-year-old young man who lives with his mother Yukie. He is one of the world's top players of the combat video game called Btooom!. One day, he awakes in what appears to be a tropical island, though he does not remember how or why he has been transported there. While wandering around, Ryōta sees someone and calls out for help. The stranger responds by throwing a bomb at him. Ryōta soon realizes that his life is in danger and that he has somehow been trapped in a real-life version of his favorite game. In the game Ryota meets Himiko, who is another Btooom! player — and Ryota's in-game wife.

Characters

Main characters

Ryōta Sakamoto (坂本 竜太 Sakamoto Ryōta)
Voiced by: Kanata Hongō (Japanese), Tyler Galindo (English)
Ryōta is the series' 22 year old main male protagonist. He is an elite 4 stars player of the Btooom! video game who was nominated by his mother, to participate in the real life Btooom! game. Years before the series present, Ryōta is rude and distant towards his mother, as she tries to force several jobs onto him. Since he intends to get a job at Tyrannos Japan, a group of game developers who wrote Btooom!, he deems his mother's interference unnecessary. He also has a troubled relationship with his stepfather, to whom he shows little respect. Even before knowing that Himiko was his in-game wife, he develops feelings for her, and after they find out the truth, they vow to find a way to return home together and become a couple in the real world too.
Himiko (ヒミコ) / Emilia (エミリア Emiria)
Voiced by: Suzuko Mimori (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)
Himiko is the series' main female protagonist. Her real name is Emilia. She is a high school girl who is also Btooom! player and was Ryōta's in-game wife, though they did not notice this at first. She has feelings for Ryōta and cooperates with him in the Btooom! game. Years before the series present when Himiko was in high school, she was befriended with Yoshioka-senpai and his band, which was well known and popular among the high school girls. One day, she invited her friends Miho, Arisa and Yuki to meet them in their apartment after school to which they accepted. Himiko then left to go her apartment that was located in the same building to grab some last minute snacks. When she came back, she came across the remnants of a party with traces of alcohol and drugs on the table. When passing by the bedroom, she saw two members of Yoshioka's band raping Arisa and Yuki while Yoshioka filmed them. Yoshioka turned to Himiko and tried to drug her as well by kissing her with the drug in tongue, but Himiko punched him in the face and ran away. As she ran, she saw Miho getting raped. Miho shouted for Himiko to save her, but Himiko ran out of the apartment where she quickly called the police. Eventually, she is nominated by former classmates to participate. Upon meeting Ryota in real life and discovering the truth about him, Himiko is able to overcome her fear of men. After professing their feelings for each other, Himiko and Ryōta try to have sex, Ryota comes to the realization it isn't correct to do it now, so instead they vow to return home to become a couple in the real world.

Opponents

Kōsuke Kira (吉良 康介 Kira Kōsuke)
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Chelsea McCurdy (English)
Kōsuke Kira is one of the Btooom! players. He is believed to be a 3 star player in the world of Btoom!. He is Yoshihisa Kira's son and is convicted of murdering 3 women then raping them at the age of 14. In the real life Btooom! game, he has a very sadistic nature and has no qualms about murdering others due of being abused by his father. He is once defeated by Ryōta and loses his BIM's to him but is left alive because of mercy. He wanders through the island and manipulating others to trust him. After managing to retrieve two of his BIM's from Ryōta, he kills Shigemasa Kusunoki and gets his set of seeker BIMs. Leading Heitaro Togo and two others to invite him and form an alliance that plans to escape together by eliminating all other players and claiming their chips. However, when trying to corner Nobutaka and Kinoshita, he is once again defeated by Ryōta.
Masashi Miyamoto (宮本 雅志 Miyamoto Masashi)
Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (Japanese), Jovan Jackson (English)
Masashi was a Btooom! player and a war veteran. He at first did not actively hunt people but after figuring out that killing is the only way to survive, he became one of the most formidable opponents. His sole setback is the tendency to rely on a combat knife and instinct instead of the tools provided, such as BIM and radar. In the beginning he travels with Isamu Kondō, Mitsuo Akechi and Himiko. He brutally kills Isamu Kondō by slicing his throat as he often spoke against him. After Mitsuo Akechi and Himiko takes his supplies and leaves him, he joined with Sōichi Natsume. He kidnapped Himiko and sliced Kiyoshi Taira's fingers off with his knife. He was killed by Ryōta.
Nobutaka Oda (織田 信隆 Oda Nobutaka)
Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura (Japanese), Crash Buist (English)
Oda is portrayed to be one of the most dangerous Btoom! players. He was Ryōta's best friend in high school and they often hung out together. Their friendship went downhill after Oda had sex with Ryōta's crush. Back then, he was competitive, good at everything, whether it be sports or grades, extremely popular with both guys and girls and always cheerful and somewhat insensitive. He dropped out of school and became a host, even owning a club, but his reasons for being nominated are still a mystery. He encounters Ryōta when they were trying to get to a food supply case and it does not take long for them to recognize each other. He intends to have Ryōta join his side, but has no intention of relinquishing leadership to him, until both he and his partner Hidemi Kinoshita are cornered by four other players and he intends to abandon her and escape by himself until Ryōta appears to rescue both.
Masahito Date (伊達 雅仁 Date Masahito)
Voiced by: Ken Narita (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
Masahito was a doctor who worked at the same hospital as Shiki Murasaki. He was involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit in the hospital and, after realizing Murasaki was willing to assist with the cover up out of her respect for him, manipulated the hospital management into making her a scapegoat in order to further protect himself. After having escaped the previous Btooom! game, Masahito was also chosen to participate in another iteration. After 3 days of travelling alone he comes upon Taira and treats his injuries thereby gaining his trust and that of Himeki and Ryōta. Later on Himeki becomes distrustful of him because of his knowledge of the game. When they travel to gather medical supplies, he tries to kill Ryōta but fails in the attempt and becomes heavily injured. Shiki Murasaki decides to forgive him and let him live and even treat his wounds though he betrayed her the previous time.
Kiyoshi Taira (平 清 Taira Kiyoshi)
Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Andrew Love (English)
Kiyoshi is one of the Btooom! players who speaks in the Kansai dialect. He was a real estate agent before his participation in the game. He believed he was nominated after arguing with a client. Taira is in the island with Ryota and Himiko, together they form a lasting alliance to get off the Btooom! based island by the makers of Btooom! He started off as one of the truly good adults and a friend. However, injury and despair later changes him. He had 2 chips that he had acquired from dead corpses and tries to kill Ryōta to acquire the rest. After failing to kill Ryōta, he runs away despite being called back by Ryōta and encounters four Komodo Dragons where he commits suicide using his seeker BIM.
Hidemi Kinoshita (木下 秀美 Kinoshita Hidemi)
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)
Hidemi is a selfish and frivolous Btooom! player who joins forces with Nobutaka until she is abandoned by him. She has a large forehead and is a cute 19 year old girl. Originally a famous model, she had a boyfriend who was an aspiring soccer star player, who was forced to quit from his career due to an injury. Following their break-up, she promised to keep in touch with him, but after one year without hearing from her, he committed suicide, with his family and several others blaming her for it, what certainly led one of them to nominate her. She was shot in the head by the pilot, while trying to hijack the helicopter.
Yoshiaki Imagawa (今川 義昭 Imagawa Yoshiaki)
Voiced by: Tōru Nara (Japanese), Joshua Sheltz (English)
Yoshiaki was a Btooom! player. He was killed by Ryōta.
Sōichi Natsume (夏目 壮一 Natsume Sōichi)
Voiced by: Issei Futamata (Japanese), Patrick Poole (English)
Natsume has a large forehead and a fair amount of wrinkles. He has small eyes and wears rectangle glasses. His hair is short and sided to the right. He wears like a stereo-typically lawyer, with a white, buttoned shirt and black pants, accompanied by black suspenders. He also started off as a docile person but turns aggressive due to medicals. In the beginning he travels with Yoshihisa Kira and Kōsuke Kira as he was their lawyer. He tries to give a positive outlook on life to Kosuke Kira but when he kills his father, Natsume parts from him fearing for his life. He travelled with Masashi Miyamato until he was killed by Ryōta Sakamoto.
Yoshihisa Kira (吉良 義久 Kira Yoshihisa)
Voiced by: Hisao Egawa (Japanese), Christopher Ayres (English)
Yoshihisa was one of the Btooom! players and the father of Kōsuke Kira who he abused. He was killed by his son.
Mitsuo Akechi (明智 光男 Akechi Mitsuo)
Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese), Mark X. Laskowski (English)
Mitsuo was a very large man. In the beginning he travelled along with Himiko, Masashi Miyamoto and Isamu Kondō. After Isamu Kondō was killed by Masashi Miyamoto, he along with Himiko ran away from Miyamoto taking away his supplies. He teaches Himiko how to use the radar to track people. He was killed by Himiko while attempting to rape her.

Other characters

Shiki Murasaki (村崎 志紀 Murasaki Shiki)
Voiced by: Rica Fukami (Japanese), Maggie Flecknoe (English)
A player from the previous round of Btooom!, a year and a half prior to the start of the series and a former associate of Masahito. She was betrayed by Masahito after she was made the scapegoat for his medical malpractice. Shiki was later picked to be a participant of the Btooom! and ironically teamed up with Masahito, who was also picked. However, she was betrayed again by the man after he blew off her hand containing the radar sensor. Shiki was able to survive her injuries and had been living on the island ever since. She currently wields a Kama.
Isamu Kondō (近藤 勇 Kondō Isamu)
Voiced by: Yasumichi Kushida (Japanese), Parke Fech (English)
Kondō is one of the Btooom! players who constantly spoke his mind and argued with Masashi Miyamoto. Subsequently, he was killed by Masashi early in the game. Prior to his participation, he was a Middle School Teacher.
Misako Hōjō (北条 美沙子 Hōjō Misako)
Voiced by: Mai Tōdō (Japanese), Brittany Deans (English)
Misako was a Btooom! player. She was killed by Nobutaka Oda.
Tsuneaki Iida (飯田 恒明 Iida Tsuneaki)
Voiced by: Junpei Asashina (Japanese), Leraldo Anzaldua (English)
A former sempai of Ryouta's who works in Tyrannos Corp. To contact Ryouta in secret, he provokes a failure in the systems monitoring the island and flies there with the excuse of fixing it. Before the systems are put back online, he reveals to Ryouta that the "real Btooom!" is part of a project to implement a new order in the world, backed up by powerful corporations, and to stop their plans, he must find a loophole in the game that renders it unviable to be put in practice.
Yukie Sakamoto (坂本 幸恵 Sakamoto Yukie)
Voiced by: Ayumi Kida (Japanese), Shelley Calene-Black (English)
Ryōta's mother.
Hisanobu Sakamoto (坂本 久信 Sakamoto Hisanobu)
Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English)
Ryōta's step father.
Yoshioka (吉岡)
Voiced by: Hiroyuki Iwasaki (Japanese), Johnny De La Cerda (English)
A young man Himiko knew and trusted. He was part of a band and convinced Himiko to introduce her friends to them. He later drugged her friends and attempted to do the same with Himiko but failed. Himiko caught Yoshioka and his friends beating and raping her friends and called the police. He was caught and charged.
Miho (ミホ)
Voiced by: Shiori Mikami (Japanese), Margaret McDonald (English)
Formerly the best friend of Himiko. She was beaten and raped by Yoshioka's friends after being drugged. As a result, she was forced to move away and partially responsible for Himiko's nomination.
Arisa (アリサ)
Voiced by: Noriko Ueda (Japanese), Rachel Logue (English)
Formerly a friend of Himiko. She was beaten and raped by Yoshioka's friends after being drugged. As a result, she was forced to move away and partially responsible for Himiko's nomination.
Yuki (ユキ)
Voiced by: Yukiyo Fujii (Japanese), Brittany Deans (English)
Formerly a friend of Himiko. She was beaten and raped by Yoshioka's friends after being drugged. As a result, she was forced to move away and partially responsible for Himiko's nomination.

Media

Anime

In June 2012, it was announced that the manga will be adapted into an anime TV series by Madhouse.[4] The 12-episode series premiered in Japan on Tokyo MX from October 4 to December 20, 2012 and was streamed with English subtitles by Crunchyroll in North America, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and South Africa.[3] The anime has been licensed for a 2013 home video release by Sentai Filmworks in North America.[2] The opening theme song is "No pain, No game" by Nano and the closing theme song is "Aozora" (アオゾラ) by May'n. The anime covers the first 50 chapters of the manga, which is still ongoing.

References

  1. ↑ "書籍検索結果、関連本“BTOOOM！　1巻”" (in Japanese). Shinchosha. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Sentai Filmworks Adds BToom! Survival Action Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Crunchyroll to Stream BTOOOM! Survival Action Anime". Anime News Network. 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  4. ↑ "MadhouseMakesTVAnime of Btooom!Survival Action Manga". Anime News Network. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-07-06.

External links