Bus Gamer 1- Kazuya Minekura

[louiselux]

One highlight of the weekend was scribblemoose lending me Bus Gamer. Oh my god, I fell on it with such glee, not even realising it was out yet. I had no real idea what this was about before I read it-- except some sort of game was involved, clearly. But not with buses. It only makes sense when you realise, part way in, that bus is short for business.



Nobuto is the oldest - tall and dark with a scraggy chin beard. There are hints at a criminal background, he lives in a junk heap of an apartment and doesn't say much. I feel like I should know what his special skill is, but I just came away with the general impression that he is shrewd and tough and calculating. And he teaches shogi on his days off.

There is Kazuo, who is the youngest. He is puppyish and bespectacled and far more open and expressive than the other two. Nobuto calls Kazuo's game strategy skills 'fucking terrifying'.

The final member, Toki, is very very mysterious indeed and this includes his dress sense. He is skilled in martial arts, is studying web design and nearly always has a face like a wet weekend, or he's just sucked a lemon. He is committed to making huge amounts of money, but the reason remains unclear.

Essentially, they are picked, seemingly at random, to play the 'biz game', ie, a game funded by big corporations were two teams compete against each other to capture vital information. Each team holds a computer disc and the goal is to capture the other team's disc and to protect their own. As for why, this is something that the teams themselves don't know. When losing teams start to be killed, it quite quickly becomes clear that the biz game is not just some rich businessman's whim, but something more sinister.

So there is this odd set up. There is more, but I can't remember it on one read through. I do remember that quite a lot of the book deals with the three young men, who call themselves Team AAA, beginning to trust each other. As a team, they are very successful, but they are not friends.

There's also a woman police officer, whose name I also can't remember, whose interest in these unexplained deaths of young men is batted to one side by her chief. He tells her she should be thinking more about dating!

So... she stomps off in a rage to a games arcade, where she takes over a console and proceeds to wipes out any opposition, 19 players in a row. The game she's playing is Saiyuki, and she's playing Gojyo against Chin Yisou, which is sort of awesomely adorable. Challenger #20 turns out to be Kazuo, and he beats her. 'My poor Gojyo', she thinks, and then they simultaneously lean around the game consoles to look at each other. And look at each other. It's brain meltingly adorable, being a curiously mundane yet very dramatic moment. A little later, when Kazuo is giving her strategy advice about how to play Gojyo better, she mutters, 'Damn, and I thought I had him mastered'.

So that's the plot.

I admit I spent most of Bus Gamer going 'Look look! The Hakkai-alike is wearing a slinky fur collared coat, and now he is wearing a cowboy hat! And now he has a new cowboy hat!' and then, after some more gloating over the pretty, I played the inevitable game of 'So, is that one Gojyo/Sanzo/Goku?' It's hard not to, especially as Toki looks exactly like Hakkai. Possibly she will develop the character designs to move away from that - his design did look different in Salty Dog 4. But, you know, it's a fun game!

I've no idea when more will be available, but I like the characters a lot. The main plot-- the actual game-- leaves me a bit cold - it's the characters' back stories I want to know more about.

Comments

[elyndys.livejournal.com]

The main plot-- the actual game-- leaves me a bit cold - it's the characters' back stories I want to know more about.

I completely agree - I love the characters (and, of course, playing the match-up game, like every other Saiyuki fan ;) but the whole thing about the biz game is a bit... well, let's just say I find it a bit tenuous. Almost like she was distracted by something else at the time... ^_~

No thanks to Tokypop for including the phrase "meat flute" though. *shudder* I could've done without that! XD

[myroughdraft.livejournal.com]

"meat flute"?! D:

[corellianrogue]

Saitoh made me think of a weird cross of Hakkai and Goku, actually. Which was simultaneously adorable and terrifying. Nobuto gave me mild Gojyo vibes. Mostly, I just want to get to see more of the characters and why they want this money so badly.

The Saiyuki game actually made me squeal, and I spent most of my first read through doing the "Oh! Look! Look!" thing to my roomie. "Ooh! Gojyo flattened Rikudo! Ohoh! But then Chin Yisou beat him!"

And I second elyndys. I did NOT need "meat flute."

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Meat flute! That was odd, and it stopped me cold, because it made me think I'd misread Kazuo's character - it is him who says it, right? It didn't sound like him.

Plotwise, okay, I will let her off seeing as how she had other concerns. *g* And there's plenty of room in the plot for a bit of reinvention.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I got pretty much the same impression about Kazuo as you - the skill at strategy is pure Tenpou, but as if he's been reinvented as a cute bubbly kid.

The woman cop gave me some Gojyo vibes too. *g* But Nobuto, yeah, very much. Lives in a pit, sleeps around, is a bit of a tough. He hasn't shown much of the soft heartedness yet though.

[aluragayle.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Bus Gamer is so much love! ^__^ I'm excited that you got to read it!

and yeah, I had those moments too - the pointing and "oh look at this! and this! and this!!" when I picked up my copy a couple weeks ago.
*really wishes she'd snagged the japanese edition at Mitsuwa now*

bus Gamer leaves me tingly and excited for the possibilities within this setting/character history she's creating. I'm sooo glad that she's going to be writing more of these boys. ^_^ ♥

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I liked it a lot - I really need my own copy. Has she definitely said she'll be writing more then? If so, that's good news.

It's almost imposssible to read any of Minekura's stuff without playing the match up game, which, you know, either she's doing on purpose or not.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who was glad they didn't kiddify out meat flute?
Nobuto reminds me of Wolfwood -yes, wrong manga, I know. But I wouldn't be surprized if he was working for the enemy.
And, yes, Kazuo is an adorable Tenpou.
But it seems to me that Toki is more Sanzo than anyone else, even though he looks like Hakkai.
Although it's not really fair to play the Saiyuki-game to them, since they came first.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Toki's got Sanzo's hair. Sanzo's and Hakkai's faces are shaped similarly (Sanzo's a bit closer to a lightbulb), and they've both got those sad-shaped eyes, although Sanzo's usually droop a bit more.

[whimsy-chan.livejournal.com]

Has she definitely said she'll be writing more then?

She has! In fact, she is! The first few new chapters have already come out in Comic Rex. I think there's a community for it... bus_gamer_files. It looks like they've been posting scans and translations of the new chapters under f-lock. I don't think these new chapters are licensed yet, though. I hope they get picked up. I also wasn't that interested in the 'Bus Game' itself, but I'm terribly interested in the characters and their histories.

Also, I'm completely smitten with Kazuo. I admit it! 'Simultaneously adorable and terrifying' is the best description of him I've seen yet, and pretty much covers all the reasons why I love him. XD

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I didn't play the matching up game very seriously - mostly because I think the characters *don't* very much, if you see what I mean. Did they come first? I have no idea when she originally wrote Bus Gamer.

Meat flute! It's not that I wouuld've been happy if they'd kiddified it out, more that it struck me as an odd phrase for him to say. Although... it's a very teenage sort of thing to say, so maybe it does suit him.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

I've been teetering on the edge of temptation since Amazon tempted me with this just a few days ago.

I think you just pushed me over the edge.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I thought Toki looked like an emaciated (well, more emaciated) Hakkai having a terminally bad day, while dressed as a teenage fashion model. Which, you know, is sort of a ravishingly pretty effect.

It's so true, Sanzo's face is lightbulb shaped! And they both have that sulky downturned mouth - Sanzo often and Hakkai when he's worried.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Cool. :D It's worth it, especially if you're a Minekura fan.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

I don't have my copy at hand but yes, Bus Gamer came first. And the Saiyuki game is like the Ninja Turtles game -everyone maps to one of them.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Good stuff, ain't it? Though Toki smacks me with Sanzo vibes, actually, not just the character design, but the attitude. And the name, of course, brings in the WA love. Mmm, pretty Minekura boys.

[grendelity.livejournal.com]

Aaahh you make my brain hurt. I totally had Toki pegged as Sanzo and now I want to look, but I left BG in my dorm room. AGAKDSM. *sadface*

_{But I think Kazuo is the cutest thing evar. XD}

[emungere.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I really want to read this now. And meat flute is almost as bad as spam javelin.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I can't work out which imagery is better (or do I mean worse?) - blowing the meat flute or chucking the spam javelin.

Also, I think you will love Bus Gamer, if only for the awesome pretty that is Toki.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am slowly realising that everyone has him pegged for Sanzo, which really surprises me, because he is so much like Hakkai too.

He is very cute, but I bet he develops a scary side at some point. *g*

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Toki - you know, I never even noticed about the WA similarity. Shows how distracted I was by the pretty. *g*

Toki struck me as being withdrawn and watchful, and really Hakkai and Sanzo both have those kinds of traits.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I suppose Saiyuki is the place where she has worked out all her character fetishes and obsessions... which I think means it's likely we can find any number of cross references her Saiyuki characters and everyone else.

[grendelity.livejournal.com]

_{They always do, don't they? Though I read Toki's "Fucking terrifying" comment as it was terrifying that, when it comes right down to it, they can't beat Kazuo - not necessarily that Kazuo has terrifying tactics. *chinstroke* It'll probably be a very long time before the next volume's out, too. *le sigh*}