BTOOOM! Episode 10: High Level

WARNING: Due to the graphical nature of BTOOOM!, discretion is advised.

Spoilers below.

Betrayal is the name of the game as the action cools off again in this episode of BTOOOM! We get details about Oda and how he knows Sakamoto. We also get an update on Taira’s condition as well as, unfortunately, a fairly predictable ending.

But first, we start off at Tyrannos headquarters where the Game Manager, Iida, and two unnamed employees watch the action between Oda and Sakamoto. And as we scan over the two unnamed employees, we see the third guy from the Tyrannos shot in the intro video.

This is a series that lasts 12 episodes and they wait until the 10^th to show him for the first time? Sure, Kinoshita and Oda didn’t become featured until the last episode (The Strongest Player) but they showed them on the island before that. Both were shown in episode 3 (Survival) – Kinoshita in a montage with Date, both trying to get supplies – so you were aware of the characters before they actually showed up. This was just sloppy. Couldn’t they have shown him before, like when Iida was looking like a robot in episode 6 (Night of Sacrifice)?

Anyways, while looking on, we get some closure on what happened at the end of the last episode. Apparently, Oda did set a number of Detonators around the area he dropped the supplies. How is it plausible that he could set a trap with so many bombs in that specific area that he could predict where he would catch someone without an obvious trap? It makes little sense. I still think he blew up his own case to attack Sakamoto. What else would be in there? He doesn’t have any Fire bombs yet and Crackers don’t fit in a case like that.

But he set the trap – which makes no sense. As Sakamoto moved toward the bombs, you see Oda get his remote out of his rolled-up sleeve – plausible. And after the explosion, we see that Sakamoto had tricked Oda into thinking that he was on top of the Detonators instead of being farther away than he was since Oda could only see him move out of one eye – plausible. Oda bites on the remote and Sakamoto survives the blast because he’s about 5 yards away from the Detonators – plausible. So, out of four, they lose me on one aspect of this scene. But I’ve ranted enough on that. Let’s continue.

Two more volleys happen – Sakamoto with a Cracker that missed and Oda with a Fire bomb that the old guy from the last episode was holding to chase Sakamoto into the water. Oda claims the supplies, his gear, and the chips that he had.

But before he goes, he realizes that he knows Sakamoto, even calling to him by his given name, Ryouta. As it turns out, Oda and Sakamoto were friends back in the day.

Nobutaka Oda was a classmate of Sakamoto in high school. And he was pretty much the top student, being great in academics and sports. He was also a rather charismatic fellow. So, as you can see, he was pretty much the opposite of Sakamoto. But the two became friends and bonded over having single mothers.

One day, Sakamoto mentioned how he had a crush on a girl in his class named Aiko. Oda tried to get him to act on it, saying that if he stayed on the defensive that he could never succeed at anything. Sakamoto refused, saying that he liked things the way they were. But sure enough, someone acted before Sakamoto and everyone paid a price for it.

Aiko approached Oda and told him that she liked him. The two of them had sex. Aiko told her friend about it, who just so happened to be dating Oda. Oda gets chased out of class by his now ex-girlfriend. Sakamoto approaches Oda, who tells him what happened. Feeling betrayed, Sakamoto beat the crap out of Oda. Both would be suspended but wouldn’t speak to each other after Oda dropped out of school, becoming a Host with his own club.

I’d imagine that this made Sakamoto more closed off to the rest of the world, probably why he didn’t want a public job like working in a grocery store – something his mom was trying to push on him in the first episode (START). It can also explain why he was accepting of Himiko and didn’t push her to disclose any issues while in-game during episode 8 (White Ghost). He had his own stuff he didn’t want to talk about so he didn’t force her to do the same.

However, I’m wondering if this had any residual effect on his relationships. We never do see interaction with his mom before any of this stuff happened. It’s possible that he was closer to her before the incident with Oda. She’s not guilty of anything in the Oda incident but it’s possible that Sakamoto sees her as guilty by association. If she weren’t single, he would have nothing to bond with Oda over and the situation with Aiko wouldn’t have affected him as much.

Just a thought. Let’s just move on.