PS: Battle Programmer Shirase BPS is a comedy scifi series about a guy named Akira Shirase whos a freelance computer programmer that takes on jobs in exchange for rare computer parts. Because hes absolutely brilliant hes contacted often by many individuals to complete various hacking and security related tasks. In my First Impressions of the series I had some decent expectations as to what was to come. Between the retro animation style the nonchalant persona of the main character named Akira and the somewhat crude humour I thought it was going to be a good time. However the series ended up becoming super subpar by the end and I was left feeling disappointed. The retro animation sticks through all fifteen episodes and I never stopped enjoying the aesthetic of it. It complemented Akiras love of old school computers and some of the roguish comedic elements nicely. However beyond that the series really has no substance and that was its main downfall. Many government officials turn to Akira to help them prevent catastrophe thats usually in the form getting bustedor close to itfor participating in shady shit or having their shady shenanigans get hacked and hijacked by other programmers around the world. There is one antagonist who seems to be behind almost all the troubles that these Suits are having. His reasons for the attacks are absolutely stupid and occasionally quite random. I think it was mostly for comedic effect yet it came off as cringey more often than not. Because Akira never had any problems resolving whatever issues were tossed his way there was no tension between him and this antagonist. I dont mind overpowered characters and in this case Akiras incredible talents with a computer that go virtually uncontested became boring and predictable after a while. Another aspect I really disliked was the constant sexualisation of him and a little girl who also happens to be a relative of his. Akira is in his 20s early to mid and this girl is about ten to twelve years old. Every single episode has the same exact skit where she is found in a compromising position with Akira and then the person who discovers them goes on a tangent on whether he should report it or not. In the end they decide that the sexual exploitation of a little girl doesnt compare to national security. Its literally the same set of lines in every single fucking episode. The only thing that changes are the positions in which Akira and the girl are caught in these positions usually happen because theyre both clumsy morons who trip over everything. It becomes grotesquely tedious rather quickly and to be perfectly blunt I didnt find it funny only disturbing and awkward. I dont have any qualms about a loli being involved with someone who looks much older than them or many other strange romantic shindigs that tend to be typical in anime settings as long theres not a 10+ year age difference. A 25ish year old dude being romanced by a 10yearold and vice versa is so unacceptable. But thats just my own two cents on the gig. Overall BPS is not a great series at all and it has very few things going for it. Even then I dont think oldschool animation and a blas computer genius that is ridiculously undefeatable are worth the two and a half hours of show time. There are far better comedies out there to invest your time and energy into.
40 /100
11 out of 22 users liked this review