Bus Gamer!

[faded_lace]

Watched the Bus Gamer anime today (it's really short, only 3 episodes... because, apparently, all of Minekura's works save Saiyuki market TERRIBLY), and I have to say, as with anything else Minekura, I'm hooked. Which, in hindsight, really sucks, because there ISN'T any more, so I can never find out any of the deep dark secrets or anything like that. XP;; Damn you, Minekura. But I really liked it, and, as predicted, Mishiba is my favourite character. V was right, however, their personalities are very close to Saiyuki (Mishiba being Sanzo, Nakajyo being Gojyo, and Saitou, of course, being Goku... no Hakkai u___u;)... and of Minekura's works, this was the least ay, also upsetting. I feel like 1) the manga is probably gayer and 2) if it had gone on longer, the relationship between Mishiba and Nakajyo would probably have been developed further, but alas, it's hard to add Minekura's signature "_______ being gay" suffix to the description of this anime... o me miseram.

Bus Gamer basically briefly chronicles the escapades of three young men who are solicited by mail by some mysterious company to compete in the Bus Game, a game that rich corporate businessmen have invented in which a CD of information is given to a "home" team of three players to protect, which an "away" team must do their best to take and keep the CD at the end of a two hour time limit. For all intents and purposes, the team that walks away with the CD is the winner, the team whose members are incapacitated or dead is the loser. The corporates watch from afar via security cameras and bet large sums on which team will win, and the teams themselves are competing for an ever-increasing sum of prize money. Toki Mishiba, skilled martial artist, Nobuto Nakajyo, experienced street fighter, and Kazuo Saitou, pain in the ass, all respond to the mail solicitation and end up on a team which they name "No Name" or "AAA" for triple-anonymous. At first, they can't get along, but they all begin to open up slightly and become almost friendly to one another before the series abruptly ends. Of course, in the depth of character and subtle motifs, Minekura works her magic as always, and it really makes one wish the series continued. As for the anime itself, I was really rather impressed. Granted, it wasn't beautiful artwork, but it was certainly animated at a very acceptable level (as good as the animation for Saiyuki, in my opinion). I feel like, if this series continued, I would have become hooked and loved it almost as much as I love Saiyuki, and I strongly recommend giving Bus Gamer a shot if you like action, suspense, and, of course, Minekura. Kit's rating: ★★★★★

Also amusing: in episode 2, there's a little homage to Saiyuki. The main police detective, Keiko Ichinomiya, is taking out her anger on an arcade game which turns out to be a Saiyuki fighting game. She plays Gojyo, and takes out Kougaiji first before losing to Chin Yisou. It turns out that Saitou is playing Chin Yisou... don't know what that says about him. XD;; Afterwards they have a little conversation about using the shakujou. I was rather amused by this.

ALSO. If you were on the fence about watching it, you should also know that Mishiba is voiced by Suzumura Kenichi, Hitachiin Hikaru in Ouran, Nakajyo is voice by Suwabe Junichi, Keigo Atobe in Prince of Tennis, and Saitou is voice by Takahashi Hiroki, Kikumaru Eiji also in Prince of Tennis. I bet THAT won you over, right? XD;;

Hm.... someone should make more Minekura Caramelldansen. XD;;;