Btooom! Episode 6 – Night of Sacrifice

Summary:

Sakamoto Ryouta and team struggle to fight off bloodthirsty lizards.

Review:

The title sounds ominous but the episode itself isn’t too bad. At least no one dies.

The giant lizards from last episode, which are indeed komodo dragons, decide that they’re not too opposed to a humanitarian diet and take a bit out of Taira’s leg. Forget bombs, these things are the true menace. I, for one, would freak the fuck out if huge lizards tried make dinner out of me. It’d be like Jurassic Park except without the dubious honor of being eaten by an extinct creature.

Ryouta manages to scare them off with a bomb and he runs away with Taira while carrying an unconscious-yet-again Himiko on his back. Their progress is slow and the lizards from hell are hot on their trails, but the two of them still take a few moments to share compliments and concerns. Taira confesses that he doubted Ryouta when he left to fight and Ryouta announces that he will not betray Taira. But apparently, heartwarming moments of establishing trust are distasteful to komodo dragons because one attacks them. Ryouta and Himiko get separated from Taira who has all the food and most of the bombs.

It’s Ryouta’s turn to doubt his companion but Taira shows up in time to rescue them from another lizard. I find this aspect realistic. In a survival game where you’re supposed to kill each other, it wouldn’t do to trust another right off the bat. The way Taira and Ryouta develop their faith in each other through stages and end up thinking the worst in harsh circumstances thus feel natural.

Anyway, they continue running, still pursued by evil lizards and end up near a building of some kind. But they have to climb up which is quite hard thanks to a rusted ladder and Himiko being dead weight. After a moment of despair, Ryouta figures out how to use their environment to his benefit and uses corrosive gas to get rid of the lizards.

This episode also reveals a couple of important facts concerning the ‘game’. One can’t use stolen BIMs unless their original owner is dead. And they are being monitored by the people who set this up, one of whom has quite the interest in Sakamoto.

Back with our trio, Himiko wakes up and is understandably hostile to Ryouta. She seems to have developed a severe fear of touching/being touched by men. Taira develops an infection in his bite – Wiki tells me that komodo dragons are venomous so tough luck, Taira – and Himiko is forced to overcome her fear at least temporarily to hold him down while Ryouta disinfects the wound.

But their ordeal is not over as a radar sweep detects Himiko soon afterward. She tries to leave but Ryouta offers to act as decoy. He seems quite aware of how dangerous his constant helpfulness is. It was something he enjoyed in the game but in the real world version of Btooom, it’s potentially lethal. To make matters worse, his opponent seems to not be another normal player but the buff guy from Himiko’s old group who doesn’t seem to need bombs to kill people. A knife does the job just fine.

Will Ryouta survive?

Of course he will. He’s the main character. But I’m still interested to find out how.