BTOOOM! - 01

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Someone corrected me when I first published the Fall 2012 Preview by pointing out that BTOOOM! wasn't set in a virtual world. After watching the first episode my only thought to that was "Who cares, it might as well have been."

It's not quite Sword Art Online. There is a Battle Royale feeling to the series and that does should give it a little more intensity and a feeling of gravity but I didn't get any of that. The blame shouldn't lie with MADHOUSE, a studio that always delivers high quality animation, but most likely with the source material which has got mixed reviews. I personally don't have any problems with the plot of the series but the protagonist.

The main character was just not likeable. When he was thrown into the situation without any knowledge as to what was going on I couldn't care for him at all or even laugh at him. The whole I was thinking how I'm so glad I'm not as obsessed with COD or Halo like some of my friends are (one friend in particular) that I would waste my days playing online in an attempt to become the virtual world's #1 ranked player; I have blogging to take up my time and I don't even spend much time on that. Out of all the main characters this year, I'd consider him to be the most annoying and if he weren't the main character I'd be wishing for his death to occur by the end of the next episode.

What follows the bad protagonist is an episode that made me yawn at every opportunity. I was originally only planning to watch this series for the action but as it turns out, the action is painfully boring much like the rest of the series. This is definitely MADHOUSE's fault for dropping the ball on an integral part to this series (I'm assuming). Too bland, too dull and that was just one fight.....

With my major problem being with the protagonist, I don't think I can actually continue watching this series with any kind of enjoyment. He's clich and will have some obvious character development in the works but if he's the centre of attention every time, I think I'd call it quits before the next episode even airs. For the time being it looks like the next episode is going to be about the female lead (infamous rape scene already ), which could go as badly as this one based on the preview alone.

Definitely one of the weakest episodes of the season, which does disappoint me a little because I thought MADHOUSE could deliver something decent with BTOOOM! I'll continue watching for an episode or two more but I won't be blogging it any more.