Customer Reviews

Big Eyes, Small Mouth: A Universal Japanese Anime Role-Playing Game

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fun, easy to learn, with lots of good advice. Role-playing Anime turns a lot of usual role-playing conventions on their head; for instance, a good anime character is probably two-dimensional with an outrageous name, and doesn't act any more consistently than the flimsy plot demands. This is a great game along the Teenagers From Outer Space, Ghostbusters, or Tunnels and Trolls line of thinking. Roll up a character, add some tags to give them form, and start acting up.

I do have a couple of criticisms. First, the combat system is surprisingly deadly for a game based on Anime; it's very hard to portray the slapstick martials arts of Ranma 1/2 with a rules system that doesn't allow for knocking out opponents. Psionic combat is unnecessarily complex. In the character creation department, some of the mechanics are a little vague; a few pronouns and articles would vastly improve the Special Attack and Special Defense rules.

The artwork is cute and entertaining. The in-betweener demi-comics are good illustrations of the genre. The book itself is durable, owing partially to its small size.

Not the best game ever made, but...

1) There isn't another game I've seen that genuinely competes in this genre. 2) It is a fun read. 3) For the price, it's really hard to say you can go too wrong.

I say: buy it.

love, kitten

Big Eyes, Small Mouth is a very big roleplaying game in a small book. The size of the product makes it affordable (and portable!), as well as a great gift or introduction to role-playing. The art is excellent throughout, featuring some terrific fan artists from all over the world. The rules are simple and laid out in a logical format. Character creation is quick and easy, but still very flexible, allowing any sort of game to be played, from futuristic giant robot battles, to high fantasy, to high school romantic comedies. The game is also well-supported with supplements and larger books that cover specific anime titles.

I originally picked up a copy of this book on a whim. It was incredibly cheap (for a commercial RPG), and almost pocket sized, negating the need to carry around huge tomes of rules and resources. And here I am, a year later, still playing this game like there's no tomorrow! The system is so basic it's genius! Although you will find expansive lists to help you design characters and settings, the rules allow you to modify to your hearts content! Finally, the most important aspect of this game is how it captures the flavour of the anime/manga genre, which many other systems cannot boast! --Cheap, easy, excellent. Buy it!

I picked up this book on a whim one day at the local hobbie shop. Who could pass up a small RPG game by a company I had never heard of. So I picked it up, the price was affordable. Opening it up I found a wealth of information and one of the most flexable systems I had ever seen. Take for example the Massive damage attribute. You could put that into any anime setting. It could be cybernetic, magical, or just big muscles. Thats just one of the many diffrent abilities you can have for a character.

I happened to find Big Eyes Small Mouth (original edition) at a used book store, and found it to be rather interesting. I had previously bought The Sailor Moon Role-playing Game and Resource Book by the same publisher (The Guardians of Order). so BESM's Tri-Stat system and general rules were quick and easy to learn, with the added benefit of being adaptable to almost any anime genre or character.

While the second edition of BESM is far more inclusive and detailed (and nearly three times larger than the original edition), the original edition is still a good match for those just beginning with role-playing games. Especially for the novice GM (GameMaster), BESM second edition contains so many rules and details that knowing how to sort through all the information presented and determine which are truly needed for a campaign and which can be set aside can be difficult. Novice GMs and younger gamers can especially benefit from the simplicity of presentation and the significantly fewer rules and details while still maintaining the creative flexibility necessary to present and participate in an original role-playing campaign. Those beginning their anime RPG experience with the original BESM sourcebook will have an easier time adapting to the second-edition sourcebook later on.

I was extremely impressed with this rpg! It is deceptively fun! For those of you who like a lot of complicated rules, this game proves that complicated rules aren't always a good thing! For those of you who like few easy rules, this game is perfect! You pick the genre, ranging from ancient japan to high fantasy, to even the far future. Wonderful illustrations from rising amateurs to pros!

This humble little book rocked my RPG world when I picked up on a whim. I love to collect small and odd RPG's. What surprised me was how great, simple, and appealing this little book was. I eagerly awaited the other two supplements to come out, and was not disappointed. Sadly, the first edition is no longer in Print.

However, the 2nd Edition Is everything the first one was and more. It is a complete game completely to itself, with no need for any expansion. You have to love a game system where they devote roughly only 40 pages out of the nearly 300 to the rule/combat/skill system. It's just great.!!

Big Eyes, Small Mouth is probably one of the greatest RPGs of all time. I used to play AD&D but i got tired of all those source books and confusing rules. There are a few points in the book where it is a little vague, but it is extremely easy to fix that with a rule of your own. Buy it today.

Despite the small size and numorus spelling errors(like I should talk)this book is fantastic. Not only does it capture the feel anime but its fantascticly flexable, and for any RPer thats whats important. Altho some of the art work looks like it was drawn by a 5 year old, for the most part its rather good. To close I recomend this book to any otaku Role player who wants to live out his/her favorite anime.

You want an easy to learn RPG where you can create your character in minutes (or however long *you* want to take in creating your character), and be playing at whatever pace you want, this is the one! The author's advice for Game Masters and players alike, "Watch lots of anime." is sound. I mean, how ELSE are you going to learn about anime characterization? And the artwork is supreme, featuring everything from standard anime/manga to the cutsy Super Deformed artwork. This book is a MUST for anime and role-playing fans alike. Go get it!