Forum - View topicREVIEW: Bokurano
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Even all these years later, Bokurano still has one of the best OPs ever made. It's not just the music or the visuals that stand out; the lyrics themselves are so freaking epic.
Never read the manga, liked the anime. The premise of children spoiler[having to battle to save their entire universe from being pruned] was an interesting one, and the fact that spoiler[the pilots are doomed to die] meant the stakes were always high and the tone always grim. Yet even in all the battling and death there was still an undercurrent of hope and humanity, and the ending had a powerful bittersweet tone that PMMM would employ so well four years later. However, I didn't love Bokurano. It was clear that the backstories for some characters were truncated with important parts left out, the battles were mostly boring (except for Kirie's fight in episode sixteen where he goes all Determinator on the enemy), and the animation was definitely an eyesore. Also, once again we have a mecha story where all the governments are incompetent, and emotionally distressed and psychologically fragile children get no psychiatric support despite them being critical to humanity's survival. Of course, those last two charges could be justifiably leveled at every mecha anime ever made (works by Ryosuke Takahashi notwithstanding). |
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 781 |
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About the manga, I don't know everything about the anime's plot changes, but I think it's okay to have the anime diverge from the manga because otherwise what's the point of making an adaptation?
That said, the mecha battles are really amazing in the manga. The designs are striking, very well drawn and the battles are all very creative and different from eachother, and they explore the tension of having to battle in a crowded city where any step could kill people. Excellent stuff. So if the anime doesn't do the fights justice, that's too bad. Narutaru was another series by the same author, and it got a particularly terrible adaptation. Poor Mohiro Kitoh, and the Narutaru manga isn't even available in English properly. Fans of PMMM may notice there are many scenes in that show where there's a ton of different chairs all pointed towards something. That is a reference to Bokurano. |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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I did not read the manga either and don't intend to. I did look through it at a glance out of curiosity a while after seeing the anime, and read about what was different. I completely understand where you're coming from, Key, because I almost always find discussions about comparison with source material to be very boring. In short, I think the anime was amazing! I wrote quite a bit about it a while ago in the series discussion thread, which you can read here for my in-depth thoughts on it. |
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AholePony
 Posts: 330 Location: Arizona |
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I also only watched the anime and enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm not sure I'd be at an A- but the B range seems fair.
I also like saikano, overdramatics and all; but I hate depressing anime usually so I guess I'm just a big hypocrite 
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2017 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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The lyrics really stick in my mind, too. I'm not sure if it's the realist/nihilistic view of the line, " I can't comprehend how I'm one of countless specks of dust on this world ," (from the full opening) but that line has stuck with me. But what I love most is how the show handled most of its characters. The level of maturity they developed in the midst of fighting really captivated me. Like the one girl (I've forgotten their names) who spoiler[sought revenge on the teacher she had sexual relations with, she stopped herself and then chose to fight the enemy and the other guy who chose to donate his organ after he won the battle.] These children represented and held onto hope even in the most bitter, cynical moments. I really enjoyed how it presented humanity at its worst but then counters that with the children as representations of humanity at its best. |
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grooven
Posts: 1429 Location: Canada |
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I enjoyed both the manga and the anime. I didn't know about the manga until I looked closer and realized it was the same manga-ka as Shadow Star.
The manga brought me to the anime so I can't complain too much. I know there are changes and disagree with of them, but I loved seeing it animated. It's a great story and the anime lets people experience it on a wider scale. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2273 |
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LOVE Uninstall. Great, great opening.
Personally, I find myself in an awkward position with this show. I read the manga first in its entirety, and it was so dark for me that I'm not sure I can handle another go around with the anime, even knowing about the "lighter" changes (and I wasn't fully satisfied with the later chapters of the manga). @.@ Maybe one day I'll work up to it. |
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louis6578
 Posts: 1881 |
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^
Interesting. Some of the manga's later things irked me as well. What bothered you about it? But about the anime... aside from some of the earlier pilots, a lot of them, especially the ones whose manga stories weren't quite made yet, lacked much to them. Instead of making up something else to make the pilots stand out, the anime just gave them two second long romances, weirdly out of place Kamina-esque speeches about fighting for themselves instead of each other (which would totally make sense in any show except this one and came right the F out of nowhere), and a child's deep and thought-provoking journey about going from hitting his sister to finding out that his mother just died and no longer hitting her (deep). Okay, maybe I'm being a little too harsh on this anime. There is ONE thing I felt was praise worthy about it besides the OP and ED songs. Kirie's arc was alright. They kept his arc about not knowing whether or not this world was worth fighting for, since it meant destroying a potentially better universe for it. In the manga, he teleports outside of Zearth to meet the enemy pilot, who reveals herself as well, showing that she has cuts all over her arm in a subtle way of telling that the enemy universes aren't exactly utopias either. In the anime, Kirie's first opponent kills himself, making this a default victory and a show of the same nature with regard to the other universe. For all we know, the pilot that killed himself was that universe's equivalent of Kirie. It was an interesting arc in that version that, for once, didn't overshadow the pilot with the military's futile attempt at getting the kids out of the contract. Also, anime defends. I'll give you all my money, I'll clean your house, I'll give you my whole manga collection, if you manage to justify the existence of one anime-exclusive character. The comic relief Yakuza guy. What purpose does he serve? Someone explain to me how his presence wasn't a tonally insensitive plight upon my senses. ^^ |
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DmonHiro
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That's easy. The director didn't like the manga, thought it was too dark and added his own kind of "comedy" to lighten the mood.
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louis6578
Posts: 1881 |
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^
Jeez, Grave of the Fireflies is too dark. You know what it needs? A clown juggling pies that it never gives to Setsuko and Seita, making jokes and riding a unicycle. Not out of place at all. This director had no idea what he was doing, pretty much? |
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Arale Kurashiki
Posts: 781 |
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Yeah I'll never really understand why the director adapted this work anyway if he thought it was too dark. I mean, ceaseless depression is kind of the whole point of it? At least at face value.
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 815 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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I knew you'd like it, Mr. Creamer. Quite frankly, my impulse reaction was to binge-watch Bokurano when I first watched it. Much like I binge-watched Nadesico and R.O.D. the TV around that time.
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2273 |
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Man, it's been a while, so I'd have to re-read for specifics, but I felt like the spoiler[romance between the last two (or three? Can't remember) characters] felt incredibly forced and shoehorned in. I just really didn't buy it, and it felt like a weird attempt at padding or trying to build some last-minute emotional investment just to pull at our heartstrings more. It felt like being able to see the man behind the curtain, so to speak. |
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Bluenoser
Posts: 39 |
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Most days I lurk here at ANN forums, it takes something I really feel strongly about to make me come out, but you managed it. I went and listened to that first link, and that voice left me with literal goosebumps! I see there is another voice artist I'm going to have to track down thanks to you. That was a literally spine tingling song, and that does not happen to me that much at my age anymore, but it really went right through me, and it was her voice that did so far more than the lyrics. Thank you for this. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1854 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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You are most welcome. Besides her solo work, Chiaki Ishikawa has also been in See-Saw with songs for anime such as Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, .hack//SIGN, .hack//Liminality and Noir. |
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