BTOOOM! Episode 7: Virtual Bride

Sakamoto gets back up to the base, finding only Taira — still bleeding — and Himiko’s cell phone. The supplies and the bombs were taken. Sakamoto grabs the phone and sees Himiko’s cosplay picture up-close. Sakamoto sees the name and realizes that she is his BTOOOM! bride. With that in mind, he leaves, with Taira still bleeding and unattended to.

I understand that he’s going to save someone he believes is his gaming friend. I understand that he wants to trust her. But why are you leaving your ally bleeding without at least helping him wrap the wound. Get Taira to take his shirt off and wrap the hand with the shirt. Taira’s not going anywhere anyways.

So, Sakamoto leaves the base — promising to return with the supplies — as Taira yells and pleads for him to stay to keep his sanity. Meanwhile, Himiko pleads with Miyamoto to take her life quickly so that she may remain pure (again, talking about wanting to remain pure). Miyamoto has other plans.

I’m not sure what to make of this. I don’t think he’s using her to bait anyone into a fight. As a matter of fact, when Sakamoto uses his radar to scan the building they’re in, Miyamoto first thinks that it’s either another player or Taira. He’s already assumed that Sakamoto is killed. So, for what I can imagine, he’s only really doing this so he and Natsume can get their jollies off of torturing someone. Sick.

Anyway, Natsume goes after Sakamoto, after being told to set his Timers to 3 seconds. At the moment, it focuses on Miyamoto as he tries to sense what’s going on without using his radar. He only hears the one explosion and, for some reason, believes that Natsume was beaten. With someone coming close to him, Miyamoto jumps out and attacks.

Yes, he pulls up as soon as he sees Natsume. And yes, Sakamoto is still alive. As a matter of fact, Sakamoto has made his way around the building on the roof (I think). He gets to the room with Himiko and opens the door, which was booby trapped with a Cracker. Sakamoto catches the bomb and disarms it.

Apparently, the Cracker now belongs to Sakamoto, according to the rules of BTOOOM!. When one player activates a bomb, an opposing player can disarm it. The disarming player can then use the bomb as they see fit. So, in theory, Sakamoto could have two bombs at his disposal (the Cracker and Himiko’s Timer he stopped in episode 5). However, it appears that he only has the Cracker with him.

So, with that out of the way, Sakamoto goes to Himiko, unties her from the bed, and reveals not only his name but that he knows her name. Himiko confirms that she’s heard of him but denies ever playing with his team. It’s understandable that she would lie, especially based on their conversations during the last episode. She’s still having trouble with trusting anyone right now so she’s not quite ready to let her guard down. However, it appears that the lie leaves Sakamoto unfazed as he’ll defend her no matter what she says.

With that said, they get spotted on Natsume’s radar. Natsume then takes off after them…

While acting like Beavis and Butt-head’s lovechild.

Luckily for us, Sakamoto takes him out with the Cracker he disarmed.

Himiko, on the other hand was not lucky, as Miyamoto had her at knife-point. However, he tosses the knife away and challenges Sakamoto to a fair fight. Frankly, even watching Miyamoto in this show, I don’t know him enough to think that it would have been a “fair fight.” Either way, Sakamoto, grabs the knife and instantly pays for it.

However, Himiko is able to save Sakamoto before he gets killed. She activates one of the gas bombs and runs away with Sakamoto. The bomb explodes with the gas surrounding Miyamoto and chasing Sakamoto and Himiko to a dead end. However, Sakamoto finds and reaches a  hole in the ceiling, allowing both to escape.

But it’s not over yet as Miyamoto tries to take them down with him. However, Sakamoto is able to distract him with a Timer, allowing him and Himiko to escape. Miyamoto tries to toss it away but runs out of time.

And right on cue, Sakamoto and Himiko separate, blushing.

But more importantly, we see the Game Manager speaking as an announcer in front of a large auditorium of computer screens of betters. And he also says that this is the third time around, with balance being the best it’s been.

So, let’s look at this first. Who are these guys that bet on games like this? I’m guessing that they’re a bunch of rich people, but who would be so inclined to watch people kill each other? And THIRD TIME? I know that Sakamoto talks about there being old blood in the base last episode, but this is the third time? Were the game manager and Iida in the game before? Were they winners? That would explain why they both have chips on their hands AND work for Tyrannos Japan.

Second, I think we’re starting to see the development of Sakamoto as a player in this BTOOOM!. He has gone from trying to surrender in the first episode (START) to killing with almost no thought about it in this episode. Granted the circumstances have changed each time he has fought someone. In the first episode, he was just trying to survive in an environment he knew nothing about. The fourth episode was just trying to protect an injured Taira. In this, he was trying to save the love of his life (or at least he thought she was before she lied to him). Speaking of which…

Third, just how long will it take for Himiko to start opening up to Sakamoto? Obviously, she has had previous incidents with men that would have kept her from getting close before. However, knowing who Sakamoto is, I think it could come rather soon. Heck, she already decided to save his life by taking on someone at least twice her size.

Fourth, what is the fate of Taira? Was he able to wrap his hand on his own? Did he bleed out waiting for Sakamoto to return? Hopefully, it was the former. I’d hate to see a good character get killed like that.

Fifth, what happened with Miyamoto? I thought the gas bombs were supposed to melt things that came into contact with it. Sure, he looked deformed, but how was he still able to move?

Finally, not sure who is showing up next but it appears that some new enemy will appear. We’ll see who it is next time.

BTOOOM! is developed by Madhouse, published by Showgate, and licensed by Sentai Filmworks. You can watch new episodes every Thursday night through the simulcast on Crunchyroll.