Alternative TitlesEnglish: We Were There Japanese: 僕等がいた
Information
Type: Manga
Volumes: 16
Chapters: 70
Status: Finished
Published: Apr 13, 2002 to Feb 13, 2012
StatisticsScore: 8.381 (scored by 5390 users)
Ranked: #2512
Popularity: #127
Members: 12,224
Favorites: 988 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
drama romance shoujo |
SynopsisThe start of high school life. To the girls, that also meant the start of their love lives. For brand new first year student, Takahashi Nanami (Nana for short), it was no different... She happens to end up in the same class as the incredibly popular Yano Motoharu, who rumors say that two thirds of all the girls are guaranteed to fall in love with. But will that hold true for Nana, who says that if she had to choose between like or dislike, she'd say she dislikes him!?
(Source: Hanashi) |
Related MangaAdaptation: Bokura ga Ita
Reviews
| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Art |
3 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Love hurts.
Two words that truly sum up the entirety of Bokura Ga Ita - We Were There. The story follows the interconnected lives of four people made tragic by circumstance and choice from their highschool days, and ten years hence.
This manga is categorized as a Shoujo, yet the maturity of the tale, and the realistic way everything is approached and handled is far more like a Josei, and therefore better for a more mature audience, either in age, mentality or both.
Story (9) - What starts off as a deceivingly simple and very cliche tale of a good, innocent girl falling love with the school delinquent quickly evolves into a very painful and tragic story spanning ten or so years. A simple tale of what seems to be a first love during high school is completely shattered as dark, troubled pasts come to light; revelations of secrets in families are revealed, abuse and abusive behavior are uncovered, cheating scandals abound and the death of one girlfriend takes its toll on several characters.
Yes; this manga is dark.
What stops this story from being cliche and overly dramatic is the mature, realistic way events are shown and handled. None of the events are taken lightly, or just passed by as a chapter's event, or played up for the entertainment factor and the sake of the reader. Everything is taken seriously, broken down and scrutinized from all sides and different perspectives, each side with its own conflicting feelings and thoughts that adds to the realistic nature of the tale.
There is also a certain ambiance...A certain feeling throughout this whole story. The atmosphere is somewhat vague and dreamlike, coupled with a nostalgic sense, and a feeling of yearning for people, places and even the past. This dreamy, sad quality suits the entire story very well and only adds to the plot.
Art (3) - Unfortunately, this is where the good reviews go out the window. The art for this series (an award winning series at that) is extremely poor and badly done. The blank, pupil-less "frog eyes" that every character has are incredibly unnerving, creepy, and rather off-putting. Their bodies and clothes look like rough, sketchy doodles and the backgrounds look very lazy or merely incomplete.
The sketchiness and bad line art coupled with poor landscapes, and overall poor design make this one of the poorest artsyles I have ever come across in a manga.
Character (9) - You have the innocent girl, the bad boy, his good-guy pal who wants the innocent girl, and the sister of the dead girlfriend who wants the bad boy. Cliche and stereotypical, right?
Wrong.
This manga really deconstructs all the stereotypical cliches and "boxes" that so many authors place their characters into. Every character is given depth, meaning, different sides and perspectives, making them very three dimensional and understandable. While you may think you know a character, you'll see that they make choices, or act completely differently from how you perceived them. Characters you thought you knew make surprising choices, or shocking things are revealed about them which changes your perspective from back to front and around again.
These characters are carefully layered and even convoluted. Intricately layered and folded with sharp edges that can cut if not carefully handled. The beauty about the characters in this series is that they are not limited by what the audience wants them to do, but they live by whom they are.
And that changes more often than you think, making them all very interesting.
Enjoyment (9) - For those out there that are sick to death of immature, cheesy little Shoujo tales this is for you. This manga is very realistic and almost brutal in its deconstruction of a first love, and of love and relationships in general.
Overall (9) - This is a beautiful, tragic, and very understated series that I highly recommend for those with a taste for realistic relationships, and the heart to handle them.
This, most certainly, is not a series for everyone. For instance, this series does feature unhealthy relationships and the people who stay in them voluntarily. This has upset many people (including me) but then, that is the character's own choice and it is interesting to see WHY they choose to stay, or still love the abuser.
This series is for older, mature audiences, or those that can understand that love can be painful and dark; that it takes and wounds; that it chokes the innocence and youth out of life - that it scars and leaves behind bruises on the heart that even Time cannot heal.
Love hurts indeed.
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Crenou
89 of 125 people found this review helpful
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12 of 70 chapters read
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| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Art |
6 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
I love the manga, it shows perfectly how two different people fall in love. Yano who can't forget his past and Nanami who's waiting paitently for Yano.
I love the pacing and it's focus between Nana and Yano. It points out what really happens at those time when they're separated and how they struggle to keep loving each other despite their distance.
Over-all, though I haven't finished reading the story, it's a bitter-sweet story that I can't afford to miss.
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I think these two mangas are really similar because of two reasons: first of all, in both of them, one of the main characters faces the death of a dear person - but later falls in love with someone who helps him/her to get over it.
Secondly, in the later parts, these mangas deal with long distance relationship.
I highly recommend both of them.
It's about things that can actually happen in real life.
Both mangas are about love, drama and will make you cry.
Both follow the couples from a younger middle-school age until they have graduated and beyond, showing both the drama that happens in your highschool years and also the tough reality of living in the real world.
Both manga are about love that starts at a young and innocent age and blossoms throughout the years they are together. Suddenly, the couple has to part, which begins to cause problems for their relationship. There are betrayals, whether they are from friends or their partner, and there are times where secrets are revealed, and there are characters who don't get to live throughout the story...
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Same feeling, pure love, and protagonists who won't stop loving the same guy, however difficult it may be. Love triangles in both, although they're very refreshing. Two mangas that are really worth reading.
They both have love triangles, interesting characters and have a realistic element to them. Strobe Edge is a lot lighter in it's plot and the situations aren't quite as complex. I guess it's much simpler than Bokura ga Ita and easier on the heart. Bokura ga Ita has a much heavier plot yet still manages to remain light-hearted and is filled with a lot more emotions. If you like one, then I'm sure you'll like the other!
Bokura Ga Ita is well known for a romance, drama-filled manga. I think that Strobe Edge fits its popularity too.
Bokura Ga Ita and Strobe Edge are just alike with its story- the girl falls in love to a boy who is popular to her school. But the difference is that in Bokura, boy's bestfriend falls inlove with the girl while in Strobe Edge, the girl's childhood friend falls in love with her.
Also, (in Bokura) the boy can't forget his past lover and (in Strobe Edge) the boy's girlfriend is the sister of the girl's childhood friend.
The heroine seems to fall for a guy whose heart belongs to someone else. As the story goes on, secrets of the past unfold, and the girl and the guy connect, as well as dealing with love triangles.
The heriones' character are very similar, as well as parts of the story, so if you like one, then you will like the other.
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Related Clubs*~MomoHime125's House of Goodness~*, Argentina, ☆ Der erste offizielle AnimeManga Club☆, Bokura ga Ita FC, bokura ga ita season 2 petition, Cute Manga Lovers!, Great Romance, haru_haru, Kawaii All, Kimi o ai shiteru , love triangle FACE OFF!! XD, MAL anonymous, Marketplace Germany, Shoujo Wonderland-少女アニメと漫画大好き, silver moon, Sunshine Scans, Takeuchi Masafumi Fan Club, The Lighthearted Anime Club, Yano Motoharu Fan Club, YanoxNanami, ~ WATER BOTTLE CLUB ~
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External LinksMangaUpdates, Wikipedia
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