Bus Gamer (review)

[TheDanishGuy]

Bus Gamer has an interesting background. It started as a manga which failed serialization (Where the individual chapters are published in magazines to see people’s reactions) and only barely got into one tankobon (volume) which later became the 3-episode OVA I’m reviewing today.

Is it any good? Short answer: No. Long answer? Let’s find out.

We center around three people mysteriously selected to play a deadly game in teams for an accumulated prize of one billion yen. We are never told what the highschooler, the cool smoker, and the badass with a mysterious past need with that much cash.
They need to collect or protect disks labeled “Bus Gamer” and beat the other team. (Literally, if need be.)
They succeed fairly well, and learn to bond, sort of, along the way.
But oh no, there’s an intrepid policewoman on the case! Good thing she is a comedic failure.
She insists that youths getting into “accidents” all over town is no coincidence, but her boss is a jerk. Their banter is some of the better attempts at comedy in the series.
Do they get their prize eventually? Well, it’s only 3 episodes, so it’s up in the air, annoyingly.

Final score: 2/10



Final thoughts: Bus Gamer has a lot of interesting concepts, but expands upon none of them.
There is, for example, an unexplained incident involving a brother of one of the three.
It might have worked if the episode count had been doubled, but alas, that was not to be.
The pacing, however, is very good for something this short.
The highschooler exists largely as a damsel in distress (For those in the know on TV Tropes, a Distressed Dude) and the policewoman is barely touched upon, despite easily being the funniest character in the series. The character roster is rather generic, though. And at no point are they at or on a Bus, except during the ending theme. The music, however, is worth a listen if nothing else. Overall, I say don’t waste your time.