BUS GAMER

Bus Gamer is a Japanese manga series created by Kazuya Minekura, which only exists as a single volume 'Pilot Edition' due to difficulties in serialization. The manga has been licensed for North American distribution by Tokyopop. The series follows three young men hired by a mysterious corporation to participate in a business game where companies gamble against each other for corporate secrets. A drama CD featuring Kenichi Suzumura, Junichi Suwabe, and Hiroki Takahashi's voices was also produced. An anime adaptation premiered on the Japanese network KBS Kyoto in 2008 with three episodes, directed by Naoyuki Kuzuya, produced by Frontier Works, and animated by Anpro. The story centers around the "Bus Game," an illegal dog-fight style battle simulation where corporations select three-on-three teams to compete on a battleground usually within Tokyo. Teams are divided into "HOME" and "AWAY." The "HOME" team must protect a disk containing their corporation's secrets, while the "AWAY" team tries to steal it. The game is won by successfully defending or stealing the disk within a time limit. Businesses wager large sums of money on each game. The main team, "Team AAA," consists of three strangers, Toki Mishiba, Nobuto Nakajyo, and Kazuo Saitoh, who join the game for their own financial needs. Their cooperation is challenged by their lack of trust, but they must fight together to survive.