Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai
We Never Learn

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For the longest time the romcom/harem genre is something that I have always enjoyed watching and reading. Every season there seemed to be a new “waifu war” airing, and based on watching those particular shows I would always check out the source material if I found it interesting enough. Bokuben was one of those seasonal waifu wars that I actually did decide to pick up reading after watching the first episode. I caught up on the manga within a couple of days of watching the first episode, and let me say that I am so glad that I was able to read this manga.

1. Story ... (9/10)
If you are looking for some groundbreaking or genre-breaking story, then I’m sorry Bokuben is not the story for you. Bokuben uses a lot of common tropes and cliches to tell its story, however if you don’t mind that or appreciate those types of stories then you may actually enjoy Bokuben. For me personally, I don’t always 100% enjoy when animes/mangas just dump cliches for plot, but for Bokuben it really was one of the most enjoyable parts about it. For example, one particular chapter that I loved was the chapter in which Nariyuki’s mother couldn’t make it to work, in which he proceeds to take her spot for the day. Little does he know that his mother was working at a lingerie shop, and that he would get stuck alone in that shop while also stuck in a costume that hides his identity. And of course every single one of the main female characters would proceed to walk in and ask for help one by one. Despite it being cliche and having these crazy one in a million types of encounters, I couldn’t help but smile and enjoy these small and simple interactions that happen throughout the course of this series. And although I have only talked about these small moments and plot elements, the moments in which the series actually turns serious and wants to establish things is done really well too.

2. Art (8/10)
The art in Bokuben is really good. The character designs, both main and side characters, are drawn really unique and all have their own charm. All of the female characters are drawn in a way that really makes them stand out from each other and the rest of the characters. The reason that the art is not rated higher is that the art for Bokuben cannot compare to the other shonen powerhouses that also publish in Weekly Shonen Jump, but at the same time, it really doesn’t need super crazy double panels to portray its story adequately. All of the artwork from the beginning to the end is solid and doesn’t waver in quality.

3. Character (10/10)
The one aspect of Bokuben that impresses me the most is the characters. Personally, in most romcom/harem series, I typically always only really like one of the girls and at most two. But in Bokuben, there was a certain point in which I really liked each of the five girls as the best girl. Something that Tsutsui-sensei did really well with this series that stands out above most other series in this genre is really give a platform for all of the characters to grow and shine. Nisekoi, for example, has a similar amount of girls as Bokuben, however as a reader you know at a pretty early point which girls that the main character was going to end up with, meaning that any development between the mc and those side characters were really just useless side plots. However, in Bokuben, all the girls are well-defined and all go through their own personal development throughout the course of the story. All of the girls work well both together as well as individually and all of their development is towards both the characters personally as well as their feelings towards the mc. I don’t want to spoil anything, but no matter which girl you pick you will be satisfied that the author does that character justice in the end.

4. Enjoyment (10/10)
When it comes to just about every romcom/harem series, I always enjoy the ride, but always the ending is the thing that overrides everything because I either get really happy or really salty based on how the author ends the series. I’m not gonna lie, in most cases I am on the salty side because the girl that I think is the best girl almost never wins, so when those particular mangas end, I always end up not liking it in the end because of the recency bias. Without saying too much, I can say that with the ending of Bokuben, I was very happy and satisfied in the way that Tsutsui-sensei decided to end this series. It was a pretty unique ending that I have never read or watched from another series in this genre and I promise no matter which character that you like, you won’t be disappointed with the ending. Everything that happens throughout Bokuben, whether it be the small cliche in-between moments, or the deeper moments of development that occur throughout the story, they all compile into a great story with tons of enjoyable moments.

5. Overall (10/10)
Honestly, Bokuben is a fantastic series that really stands out among other romcom/harems for its development and use of ALL characters rather than just a select few. The ending sequence that Tsutsui-sensei chose to do was really great and I hope that future series consider doing the same, because it would make the series a lot more enjoyable in the end for everyone. Thank you Tsutsui-sensei for the great ride and I look forward to your future works.

Bokuben is designed to satisfy, to put it lightly, the concupiscent youth. If you are one among them, all the power to you, enjoy your time reading it. But if you like terrific character writing or unique plots, I’m afraid you will have to look elsewhere. Though Bokuben has its flashes of brilliance, its cliche plot, run-of-the-mill setting, and stereotypical characters will be tiring to read for many readers. That will be a recurring theme in this review, that Bokuben isn’t something universally enjoyable, rather enjoyment derived from it greatly varies based on one’s preferences.

It was made clear from the start that Bokuben is just ... a giant excuse for delivering fan-service with its nicely designed female characters, and the author delivered precisely what he promised. But its blind pursuit for such a goal has compromised other important aspects of a story, namely unique plot progression and characterisation. Though personally I don’t think that is a tradeoff worth taking, I’m sure some of you would love Bokuben regardless.

After reading all that, I shouldn't need to tell you that there is absolutely nothing new that Bokuben brings to the table narratively. It's the same school harem plot we have seen a million times over; with hot spring mishaps, cultural festivals and school trips alike. You the reader probably could’ve come up with those on a whim. However, though its lack of creativity is a complete bore to read for me, I am sure that the familiarity it provides would come as a delight for some of you.

The characters are slightly better, but still some do stand out like a sore thumb as extraordinarily bad. And I think to best illustrate this is to take a look at their respective endings.

Uruka had the most “meh” ending out of the five, mainly because she is such an average character. Anime viewers may recognise this ending they deemed so terrible, but since the manga had much more time to flesh it out, it ended up okay. There is some sketchy stuff that I can’t delve deeper into for spoiler reasons, let’s just say it really showed how submissive Uruka and Nariyuki are, their dynamic as platonic friends in later chapters is much better IMO. But all in all, this is quite a mediocre arc. 4/10.

Especially since its shortcomings pales in comparison to how bad the Ogata arc is. Because of Ogata’s awkward and dense character, everything in her arc ended up being a Sekijou hard carry. Ogata and Nariyuki’s lack of chemistry is on full display, and the author had to stretch real hard to make this pair work. It is not as apparent when she is standing among the many harem girls, but when she is put under a spotlight, her character clearly crumbled . Without going into the details, this ending is easily the most boring, tedious and forced one out of the five. 2/10.

Furuhashi’s ending, in stark contrast, is much more natural and satisfying. Being the comparatively shrewd and composed girl, she stands head and shoulders above the rest. Her interactions with Nariyuki is refreshingly ordinary and the progression of the arc is very organic—a big ask for Bokuben. She didn’t need any crazy shenanigans, retrofit back stories, or external forces to get Nariyuki to fall for her, a testament to her (relatively) great character. 7/10.

Likewise, Kominami’s arc also had something quite uncharacteristic of Bokuben, foreshadowing. We readers have long known how much of a detractor Kominami’s dad is on his daughter’s decision to pursue a medical degree, in this arc we got an answer. Obviously I won’t say much because spoilers, but plot-wise, this arc was definitely the best. Though the two needed some push to make it happen (it was definitely not as smooth sailing as the Furuhashi arc) but that’s due to the nature of their senpai kouhai teasing relationship. 6/10.

Frankly, after two surprisingly good endings, Kirisu’s ending pales in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I see the extreme gap-moe is appealing. But I simply didn’t think it would work just based off of the interactions Nariyuki has had with her in the main storyline. And I was half right. Kirisu’s character development was uninspired, point taken, but Nariyuki’s character bending over backwards for this arc was actually a good thing, as he became much more of a personality than before, but it’s a nightmare to anyone who likes consistency. 5/10.

As a whole, the endings have quite a bit better writing and thought put into it compared to the main plot, that’s because the main plot had no intentions in furthering the story in any meaningful way. Rather, there is nothing but fillers in and banter dreadful to read. And personally I don’t think it is not worth a day of your time to binge through the first 140ish chapters just to see development on characters you won’t care about. If I were to give a score to the main storyline like what I did with the endings, it would probably be a 3/10.

I guess the art (and furuhashi, but I digress) is the saving grace of this manga. Unlike many other manga, the art is already great from the start. The girls look great and are refined without big changes in looks as the years went on. Nariyuki though looked way softer when compared to Bokuben’s first chapters, but regardless that is just nitpicking and does not influence the experience much. All things considered, the art is nothing incredible, but nonetheless serves its purpose very well.

Read Bokuben only if you desperately need some harem or fanservice in your life, otherwise just don’t bother. But credit to where credit is due, I feel the five-way ending really captured what Bokuben is all about. It had achieved its goal immaculately. It is not to tell an earth-shattering story, but to condense the most titillation into the least material possible. It’s unfortunate that my personal preferences, and I believe many of you guys’ tastes just don’t match with that goal well.

i have read/been reading almost 15 mangas (not to mention around the same no. of anime) with romance as a major element and this ending is the worst one i've ever read/watched.

this is a sad way to end a good-ish manga. the ending could have elevated the manga from good-ish to really good.

this ending is a disaster. please, mangakas, don't do an ending as foolish as this one.

i'm really irritated. the author could have gone anyway and i'd have loved it 100x more than this lazy ending.

quintessential quintuplets is what this manga tried to copy and do differently but ended up falling ... miserably.