Ranked #461

Bokurano

Title: Bokurano

Manga, Light Novel, Anime: Bokurano was originally a manga done by Mohiro Kitoh. It began running in Shogakukan's Ikki magazine in 2004, and is still running at present, at a total of eight collected volumes. It has yet to be licensed Stateside.

A light novel entitled Bokurano ~alternative~ written by Renji Ohki and with character designs done by Mohiro Kitoh began running in May of 2007, and is still running at this point in time, with three volumes released this far. It also has yet to be licensed Stateside.

The anime series clocked in at a total of 24 episodes, and was done by Studio Gonzo (famous for Gankutsou: The Count of Monte Cristo and Saikano) and directed by Hiroyuki Morita (famous for his work on The Cat Returns). It ran from April 8th to September 25th, 2007 on Japanese TV, and has been licensed Stateside by Funimation, though they have yet to say when they're actually going to release it. EDIT: As of this time, Funimation has only ordered cease and desists to fansubbers on behalf of Gonzo, but a NA liscensor has yet to be announced for this series.

Story: So, there are these fifteen kids, all in middle school except for one girl in fourth grade, and they're at this summer camp. They end up finding a grotto with a random guy in it, and he enlists them in a "game" involving robots. What he fails to mention is that the game is real, and that they actually do have to pilot a robot. There are fifteen robot enemies, one for each kid. They have to beat them, or the Earth goes bye-bye. The robot they pilot runs on their life forces, though, so even if they win, they die, too.

The story focuses on the backgrounds of each of the kids as they're called up to pilot initially, but there are subplots involving the government and the overall game added in after the halfway point, along with some AMAZING plot twists.

The story isn't quite as good as Gankutsuou was, but this is up there with Gonzo's better works. Yeah, the story's just a bit depressing, but there are little rays of brightness that peak in every once in a while, and it's enough to keep you going through. Each kid gets development enough that you care as they go to face their deaths, and you'll at least be able to remember either their first or their last name, as do other people who become involved in their situation.

It's a good story and all, but it didn't quite have the impact on me that I thought it would. I mean, just looking at the show's description, I thought it would be Saikano-esque levels of depression, but it never quite reaches those.

The show's also very self-aware at times, and pokes fun at the mecha genre (the kids naming the robot, shouting out their attacks, getting "uniforms" to wear as they ride in it, etc).

If you're going into this as a mecha fan, though, be aware that the robot fights aren't central to the story; there's at least one every episode, but the story's more centered around the children than it is around the robot.

Also, let's cover a big controversy that came up while this was being released, and contains slight spoilers, so read ahead at your own risk. The creator of the manga, Mohiro Kitoh, made a blog entry while the show was being released that claimed that the author hated the source material (he did dislike it, admittedly, which begs the question of why he was even chosen to do this), and has asked if there was a way that he could save the children. Kitoh supposedly gave the go ahead, but asked for fans of the manga to stop watching the anime, because it wouldn't be anything like the manga. Well, I went and compared what I could find for information about how the manga unfolded and how the anime turned out, and the only real difference that I could find was in how some characters were handled and the order in which they were called to be pilots. Again, yes, different from the original, but the children were not freed from the contract and the fifteen who are contracted do end up dying, and the changes that did happen were nothing that would call for Kitoh to ask fans to boycott the series. I think this is a case of overreaction from the original author. It's all the more ironic and hypocritical since he's involved in a complete retooling of the story (the Bokurano ~alternative~ light novel).

Art: The style that Gonzo chose to use for this is a bit simpler than I've seen with other productions that they've done. It just doesn't look very good, honestly -- I've seen other series that have done simple well, like Kino no Tabi, but it just doesn't work as the series goes on.

3D is obviously used for the mechas, and it looks pretty good. Yeah, it stands out quite a bit, but then again, it's highly doubtful that one could do a robot entirely in 2D, and the thing's SUPPOSED to stand out.

Music: The background music for this series is, like Toward the Terra and Elfen Lied, one of the few scores I've actively listened to and noticed since Gankutsuou. Excellent recurring themes.

The OP, "Uninstall", is done by Chiaki Ishikawa, and is an absolutely beautiful piece that fits the series perfectly. Both of the EDs are also done by her, and are more of the typical female JPop ballads, but I like the second one ("Vermillion"), more than the first one ("Little Bird").

Seiyuu: Kenji Nojima, who replaced Takemoto's seiyuu in the last episode of Honey and Clover, plays one of the children, Tomokazu Sugita (Soldier Blue in Toward the Terra and Mayama in Honey and Clover) also appears as one of the children, and another child's seiyuu also appeared in Paranoia Agent as Shounen Bat. The rest of the cast gives excellent performances, as always.

Length: This feels about right, though there were some character's arcs who took more than one episode and probably could've been shortened a bit. Any longer and it just wouldn't have worked.

Overall: A good, solid mecha story centered around the children who pilot it, with decent art and length, beautiful music, and pretty good seiyuu.

Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 9/10
Length: 8/10
Seiyuu: 9/10

Overall: 43/50; 86% (B ) read more

This is a criminally unknown series. It's sad that shows that actually have deeper meanings and leave lasting emotional impacts on viewers don't get the attention they deserve.

The first episode doesn't suggest that this could be anything more than just another mecha action drama series. It's when an unsettling pattern becomes a little too suspicious that the show grabs the viewer's attention.

The characters are forced into an extremely stressful situation and quickly grow because of it. Because there are 15 main characters, the focus on each of them only allows a couple of episodes at most. The character development is very impressive despite this. It's interesting to see what slowly causes some of the characters to reveal their truer and darker selves and what feelings of hopelessness can do to a person. The psychological aspect of the show is good at least in that respect. There is also no unnecessary melodrama unlike other mecha shows out there (even though this of all shows should be the one to get away with it). The voice acting in general is very good. Akira Ishida in particular is both amusing and irritating(which is a good thing here) as the sarcastic and cruel Koyemshi. He is as appallingly hateful as he appears to be happy(just look at that smile!).

The show has a mostly dark and dreary atmosphere and there is little optimism felt while watching it until it nears its end. It somehow manages to be pretty inspirational despite the consistently depressing themes. Bokurano is one of those rare shows that can actually make the viewer look at his or her own life differently without feeling preachy.

Lastly, the music. Unfortunately, I haven't seen this show in about a month so I can't recall how the soundtrack was. However, there was one song that was unforgettable. The opening song 'Uninstall' by Chiaki Ishikawa. There is a reason why she's in my list of favorite people. I can say without hesitation that this is my favorite song. This song is so good that I watched the show's opening all 24 times. I never do that.

This show has also gotten a lot of negative feedback because it's compared with the manga it was based upon. The creator of the anime is said to have hated the manga and that's not something easy to swallow for anyone who is a fan of the manga. Still, he couldn't have hated it so much (even with the modifications to the material taken into consideration) since he didn't produce an entirely different show.

If you liked the anime, the manga is also definitely worth reading. And vice-versa (even if it's only to watch the show's great opening).

Anyway, the fact of the matter is, you shouldn't let this show being in the mecha genre fool you. It's not about the battles. Well, not in the physical sense. It's about understanding what it means to live and let live. And how acknowledging of our treatment of others can change our entire perspectives on the world and those around us. It's hard not to think philosophically after watching this show. read more