Battle Programmer Shirase

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Foreground: Akira Shirase, Misao. Background: Hideki, Oze, Yoriko, Sae, Saki, Jou. Not shown: Akizuki


*Overdramatic Swooshing*
"HISSATSU! DOUBLE COMPILE!"
*sequence rewinds, sits back down*
"Not that there's any need for that." *pushes button*

Battle Programmer Shirase, also known as BPS, is a comedy anime series about Akira Shirase, a computer nerd who lives on his own in an apartment owned by his niece. He is also a world-famous rogue programmer with super hacking abilities who doesn't work for money, though he will occasionally work for rare computer hardware and other otaku treats. His great-niece Misao lives next door, feeding him and providing plot complications as needed.

Ran for a single season of 5 episodes, broken into 3 segments of 10 minutes apiece.


Tropes used in Battle Programmer Shirase include:
  • Accidental Pervert - A running joke is that Shirase and usually Misao are repeatedly found in innocent but suggestive positions.
  • Action Girl and Badass - When she was in Middle school, Sae wiped the floor with three older Delinquents to save Akira. Later, as an adult, she steals a policeman's bike while completely drunk.
  • Adjective Noun Fred
  • Adult Child
  • Arc Words - What he lost, what he gained, and what he saw in the infinite outskirts of the Internet.
  • ASCII Art - The ASCII bunny virus that jumps from a monitor to a cell phone in the first episode.
  • Bridge Bunnies - Yon-chan's team.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer - Shirase, oh so very much.
  • Calling Your Attacks - Lampshaded, as shown in the page quote.
  • The Chikan - Saki compares Shirase to this when he has to grope her for her phone. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Colony Drop / Kill Sat - Or whatever you call "satellites being dropped from orbit to blow something up".
  • Color Failure - Shirase's first in-person encounter with Yoriko Yunoki was ... surprising.
  • Computer Virus - The basic tool of trade in the anime for both white hats and black hats.
  • EMP - The CDS Cannon.
  • Everything Is Online - Apparently the Japanese and the United States military keep nuclear warheads online, with only software firewalls and no physical disconnect. Now that's HARD CORE!
  • Fan Sub - The head director apologized for the show having to end, specifically addressing: "To those who enjoyed the show on TV and to those outside the broadcast area who took special measures to watch the show on their PC monitors and to everybody who watched it subtitled overseas without permission."
  • First Name Basis - Saki promotes Akira's status before he has to grope her for her cell phone. As any socially-conscious woman would!
  • Geek Physiques - Shirase and the King of America demonstrate the two standard body types allowed.
  • Gonk - Vandal hacker Oze Rintaro, aka the King of America.
  • Gratuitous English
    • "OH... NO!!"
    • "Jah, so long!"
  • Hollywood Hacking - It's really not possible for a computer virus to physically jump from a monitor onto a nearby cell phone. Rule of Cool, indeed.
  • Host Club - Saki works as a hostess in a host club. Don't worry if you missed that scene, the doorway is shown for exactly 1 second.
  • Kimono Is Traditional - For the marriage interview.
  • Mind Control Device - Used for the diabolical purpose of getting people in marriage interviews to fall in love.
  • Moe
    • Deliberately invoked with a doujinshi SCSI card.
    • Deliberately subverted with the cat-eared guy selling doujinshi to Shirase later.
  • Nosebleed - Schoolgirl Lesbians are just more than Shirase can take!
  • Odango Hair - Misao wears covered Odango to the marriage interview.
  • Otaku - Shirase appears to be versed in Anime and Manga, as well as Technology.
  • Overclocking Attack - This is used several times, via virus attacks and Techno Babble.
    • An entire building is attacked by overloading the power and detonating gas lines and gas tanks in the parking garage.
    • Power lines are deliberately severed via overload.
    • A virus attack causes electronic equipment to put out microwaves, resulting in an explosion. Because laptops and magnetrons are so similar!
  • Playful Hacker
  • Rapid-Fire Typing - Akira uses this to epic levels, using a variety of input devices, including a Chorded keyboard, a Mobile phone and six keyboards at once.
  • Running Gag - Several.
    • Whenever government agents arrive to enlist Shirase's aid, he is almost always in some kind of compromising position, usually with Misao. The agent then proceeds to have a total nervous breakdown at the implications before recovering and deciding to just ignore it completely. With a laugh track at the punchline. Said agent always has Single-Target Sexuality for "Isabelle Adjani, large-breasted foreign actress".
    • What zany Otaku-centric device will Shirase work for this time?
    • From the opening and closing intros, Mau Mau! What the heck is "Mau Mau", anyway?
  • Smoke Out - Ninja transvestite!
  • Techno Wizard - Unless you think it's normal to be able to electrocute someone with high speed internet?
  • Thanking the Viewer - See Fan Sub above for the odd variant.
  • The Thing That Goes Doink - Though not shown, a shishi-odoshi can clearly be heard running when the marriage interview begins, letting you know that Shirase is heir to some serious cash.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension - Despite the huge difference in ages, there's a constant undertone between Akira and Misao. Mostly this just powers the jealousy as each finds more acceptable partners.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
    • Akira defeats an American superhacker who uses a stolen supercomputer. With an outdated Cell Phone. One handed. With the same hand he's holding the phone with.
    • Later, he uses a phone to access a commercial server, hack a satellite, get his global coordinates, and arrange two remote arrests with the police. Mind you, he never sees the phone's screen and is only TOLD what kind of phone it is, with feedback being performed through the phone's silent vibrate ringer.
  • You Look Familiar or Inexplicably Identical Individuals - Akizuki, the continually-recast agent who hires Shirase in every episode.