Bokura no

As fifteen children at a summer camp enjoy their carefree vacation together, they stumble upon a small cave near the beach. The group finds a mysterious room deep within its caverns, where they meet a strange man who calls himself Kokopelli. The man invites the children to play a game that involves taking turns controlling a robot to protect the Earth against aliens. Thinking it might be an interesting computer game, all but one of the children sign a contract agreeing to play.

Later that day, the giant robot appears in person and the children are teleported into its cockpit, where they find Kokopelli, who pilots a fight against a similar robotic creature that has appeared nearby. After winning the battle, Kokopelli tries to apologize but is interrupted as the children are teleported back to the ground in the midst of the carnage.

As the bewilderment following the fight settles, the robot suddenly disappears and the children are left scared and confused. Despite seeming like a harmless game at first, the children never anticipated the stakes of this game and how their pasts would intertwine with their decisions going forward.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ushiro, Jun Main

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Koemushi Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yamura, Daiichi Main

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Moji, Kunihiko Main

Miyata, Kouki Japanese

Honda, Chizuru Main

Takahashi, Ao Japanese

Nakarai, Mako Main

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Kirie, Yousuke Main

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Machi, Yoko Main

Sanpei, Yuuko Japanese

Ano, Maki Main

Higa, Kumiko Japanese

Yoshikawa, Kanji Main

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Nagai, Masaru Producer

Nanba, Hideyuki Producer

Morita, Hiroyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Aug 31, 2024

monachina666

Recommended

I started watching "Bokurano" with high hopes for an engaging narrative and thrilling battles, but I found myself a bit disappointed. While the story has its merits, the fight scenes left much to be desired. I still found some enjoyment in it, but it diverged quite a bit from what I anticipated based on the summaries and trailers.

Initially, the plot felt a bit disjointed and rushed, almost like a flimsy excuse to throw a group of children into giant robots to defend the Earth. The battles were rather lackluster, and the animation quality was inconsistent, with some moments looking quite subpar, especially in the beginning.

However, ... I’m glad I persevered because the series eventually picks up. The narrative takes unexpected turns, revealing layers that make it far more intriguing than it first appeared. The quality of the battles does improve as the story progresses, but don’t expect a typical mecha anime filled with flashy combat and dynamic moves. Instead, it focuses on character development, allowing viewers to connect with each child’s backstory and motivations before their respective confrontations. The gradual unveiling of the mysteries surrounding the robots and the conflicts adds depth, and I’d rather not spoil any of the twists for future viewers.

The soundtrack is fairly enjoyable; the opening theme grows on you after a few episodes, and the background music complements the emotional scenes effectively.

In summary, "Bokurano" is a solid series that tells the story of a group of kids thrust into an unwanted role as Earth's defenders. Their personal struggles and uncertainties are explored as they grapple with the meaning of their fight, whether it’s for themselves, someone they care about, or simply the choice to surrender. If you’re looking for non-stop action, this isn’t the show for you. It’s more suited for those who appreciate a well-crafted narrative with gradual development and poignant moments filled with emotion and sacrifice.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 17, 2023

The_Real_MC_Ride

Mixed Feelings

Bokura No has pretty unique way of telling it's story with it's 15 "main" characters. Basically every one of the 15 get an episode or two dedicated to them and them alone during which their personal story is fleshed out and they get their turn in the spot light. During these short story form character arcs the show will tackle a number of heavy topics, all the meanwhile the primary overarching plot is slowly fleshed out and the "mainer" characters (of the 15 "main" characters a couple are more centric and focused on harder) go through a bit more growth. It's an interesting concept and ... whether or not you like it will depend largely on your personal tastes.

Personally I found it hard to grow attached to many of the characters given how little time the show spends on each one of them individually. It tends to be very episodic and you get very little time to get to attached to each character during their brief spotlight time. Again it all depends on how you connect to it. The show does to a pretty good job of characterizing and fleshing out these characters in the short time they get and has very good 'short story' form backgrounds for them. So if that sounds appealing to you, then you'll probably get a lot out of this show. Another huge complaint I have is the action/fight sequences. They basically don't exist. A couple of them have neat gimmicks or cool moments attached to them, but as a whole the fights are super short and bare bones. The overarching story is neat though.

Overall I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the concept of a collection of short backstories that explore a variety of heavy topics that all string together in an overarching story, but I'd warn anyone expecting good action sequences or long term character development that those things are largely absent here. It's certainly unique, I personally prefer long term character growth over this short story format and found it hard to care about most the characters because of it, but I appreciate the uniqueness and I still think it makes for an interesting watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 26, 2024

sykuningen

Not Recommended

Bokura no started with a promising premise and a fantastic OP, but went downhill so egregiously that I am walking away considering it one of the most incompetently directed stories I have ever encountered. The plot holes are endless, the majority of the cast are highly unlikable, entire episodes are wasted covering boring, ultimately meaningless subplots, and almost nothing that happens makes sense. I will quickly cover each of these major issues.

Almost nothing that happens makes sense: This is my major issue with the show. The premise (essentially, without spoiling too much) is that 15 kids are chosen to pilot a giant robot in order ... to protect the Earth from opposing robots in one-on-one battles. You would think, as the world discovers what is going on, that every available resource would go towards this situation. Instead what happens is that two young members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces watch over the kids, and one private research institute has a few researchers working on discovering what they can about the giant robots. That's it.
There's no global vying for the futuristic technology that has suddenly appeared on Earth. There is no global emergency to address the fact that the humanity could be wiped out at any moment. The government does nothing more than evacuate the cities where the robots appear, despite having weeks if not months to plan a proper response. The most any one character does to take the situation seriously is attempt to put out an interview on TV addressing the truth that kids are piloting this robot to protect the Earth, but they immediately give up on trying to get the word out when that one interview is prevented from airing.
Considering that these 15 kids need to be kept alive and healthy to pilot the robot, the bare minimum that makes sense would be to give them the utmost protection possible, and ideally you would have them trained to pilot the robot as best they can, or better yet swapped out for adults that are more competent. Instead, the kids are often found wandering alone at night in the streets. In one scene, a couple of them are almost kidnapped, saved only when one of the aforementioned SDF soldiers happens to show up.
There is also no acknowledgement that these kids need to be kept mentally stable. If the pilot is too afraid to fight or tries to run away, the Earth and humanity are done for, and yet they are given no guidance or therapy at all. The entire world - at least the many members of the Japanese government and SDF who are fully aware of what is at stake - seem to be entirely content leaving these kids to their own devices with no intervention, while they engage in giant robot battles that level entire cities with alien technology, barely managing to save humanity from annihilation each time.

It just makes no sense.

Entire episodes are wasted: Viewers are forced to slog through multiple episodes of government conspiracy and yakuza backstory that all culminate in plot points that fade away into obscurity minutes later. I can recall a bunch of scenes with old men I can barely remember talking about the financial underworld and taking power for themselves and so on. None of this ever matters. The situation in the final episode is exactly the same as the situation in the first episode: a bunch of kids are left to fend for themselves in battles for the fate of the Earth.

Unlikable cast: One of the cast members that gets the most development is a solitary, abusive kid who regularly physically assaults his little sister, who is around 10 years old. He does this for no reason, and his eventual "redemption" is half-assed. Some of the other kids are just terrible people with no redeeming qualities. Most of the kids who are actually decent people get barely any development before they disappear from the story, leaving them as one-dimensional characters. Half of the side characters that appear are forgettable politicians who are somehow irredeemable assholes while still having essentially zero effect on the main plot. Even the more heroic side characters end up being little more than useless throughout the entire story.

Endless plot holes: Bokura no presents the viewer with various mysteries and clues, but most of these end up being meaningless. For example, an important character's appearance changes in seemingly meaningful ways, but this ends up completely unexplained. Hints are made towards who the mastermind villains are, but they are never brought up again. A character from an alternate Earth has a digital interface port embedded in their neck, which not only just happens to be compatible with our Earth computers, but nobody ever noticed it despite the fact that the character has relatively thin shoulder-length hair. Incomprehensible alien technology is hacked and recreated by contemporary technology, despite producing physically impossible effects. The list goes on.

It's a pity that the potential of the early episodes was squandered so heavily. The atmosphere of despair and desperation was highly potent as the premise was introduced and some of the early character arcs were covered, but I ended up finding it difficult to care about anything that happened as I began to notice the unnatural response by the world at large to the ongoing situation, and as characters and plots were introduced which were laughably inane compared to the scale of the main plot they were set against.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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