Okay. So pretty much everyone I’ve talked to who hasn’t seen Bokurano yet, and a few who have, all seem to have similar complaints about it: “it seems too sad for me” or “it just looks depressing.” Well, okay, I say, that’s fair and reasonable.
But.
See, I had the same hangups going on. When Shadow Star Narutaru came out, just about everyone I know watched it, and spoilered the crap out of the test tube rape and whatnot that happened in that show. The way they were talking about it, it was like it had absolutely no other worth other than to shock people with “OH MY GOD CHILDREN RAPED WITH A TEST TUBE! HOW SCANDALOUS” so I gave it a miss, dismissing it as tripe.
Well, then, earlier this year, news that they were making Mohiro Kitoh’s next manga after Narutaru, Bokurano, into an anime, I was pretty wary of the whole thing. “They’re making ANOTHER one?” I kept thinking. “Do we really need more kids being sadistically tortured?” Well, after sitting back and realizing that pretty much every series I’ve ever been hesitant to watch for some reason or another (Mushishi, Monster, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, to name a few) I have almost always ended up loving, I decided to give Bokurano a shot. I downloaded the first two episodes of the anime, and the manga up to chapter 41. I figured, hey, if I ended up not liking it, I would just file it under the “good shows I don’t like” category.
Long story short: That was on a Friday. By Saturday evening, I had caught up to the manga and was extremely pissed that the currently running arc was not finished. I think Mako sums my feeling up succinctly:
There was certainly pie on my face.
My fears, as usual in these kinds of matters, were completely unjustified. The children are not exactly sadistically tortured; rather, they’ve been drawn into a game whose rules are quite unfair. The core of the series is built around this framework–how do they deal with their impending deaths? Some are afraid to act, some are determined to get revenge, and some want the end to be as painless as possible. The appeal of the series to me, therefore, is in how the characters act. And they act human. Yes, the series is very bittersweet–but it’s not depressing. Many of the stories are very cathartic, and I for one am highly approving of stories that induce catharsis. It certainly isn’t a feel-good show by any means, but you will feel at least a bit better after each arc.
For what it’s worth, for those who are timid about following the anime much further than episode 5, take heart: Gonzo has changed some of the arcs around, and they’re actually moving two of the “worst” stories to the forefront. By “worst” I don’t mean they’re bad, they’re just going to be the least comfortable to watch for most people. And, in all honesty, the only episode to really show the true colors of Bokurano so far has been 5, but it was the same way in the manga–the first few arcs didn’t really give you a good idea of what the series was going to be about.
I strongly encourage everyone to watch this series. The manga is certainly high up on my list of “really good manga”, and, provided the anime doesn’t botch the original episodes, will also be high up on my anime list (which is considerably harder to do, since I’ve seen about 15x more anime than I have read manga). It has the makings of a classic; let’s see if it makes it there.
Oh, and by the way, Bokurano is so good, I’m contemplating buying Shadow Star Narutaru sometime. This is a feat I never thought possible.
By OGT
I only saw the first episode and wasn’t very impressed, moostly cuz it covered so very little ground. It doesn’t seem like it can make me care about it’s characters enough that I’ll be able to get into it. In any event, I, too, tend to like most of the shows I found a reason to dislike so…
Bokurano manga/anime has some of the best character development ever. You just don’t see it until it’s each character’s turn to pilot Zearth. If you’re in doubt, read the manga up through at least the fourth or fifth arc, because that’s where the true colors of Bokurano start to shine. The anime starts falling into place after episode 4 in similar fashion.
I only watched Ep 1, but I do intend to finish it sometime. It also looks like it will be much different from the manga, which I have not read yet either, because it just so happens, that a certain somebody really hates the manga (http://zepy.momotato.com/2007/06/13/bokurano-director-hates-the-original-work/).
i love both versions of bokurano . ahh , the sweet smell of a good adaptation . the changes in the anime really makes it interesting . although there are some manga scenes id like to see animed , yeah
Just finished watching the first 7 episodes. My reaction is that it seems like a mix between the awesomeness and child torture of Evangelion and the condition-fck ups of Gantz.
Overall it’s been well done! But they really do need to be careful how they handle all these back stories on the children otherwise the mech action isn’t going to support the story alone.
The story is highly thematic and metaphorical. The main characters are highly developed, but one thing that made me scratch my head was how hard it is to find anyone believable. Maybe its just me being too Westernized, but the way in which people react to these situations is WAY too downplayed in my opinion. Giant robots come out of nowhere (not just giant: 500 METERS TALL!) and kill 10,000 people and life continues as normal with just a few news reports. It only until countless buildings get level that anyone does anything. Also I have trouble standing by any fiction that kills off characters that are so young. Once again it could by my skewed view of being a college-age male who still considers himself “young”. It feels a good deal like Paranoia Agent: Highly metaphorical, merciless, and damn depressing. I still thing its a good Anime despite all that.
Pity the Anime screwed up the actual manga storyline…