Bokurano: Ours

[masamuneehs]

Rarely does an anime inspire me to start reading the manga it is based off of, but my favorite new show of this season has got me hankerin' for more!

On a typical day during a summer vacation, a group of 15 children discovered a mysterious man living in a seashore cave, along with his high-tech gadgets. The man claimed to be a game developer creating a video game with 15 giant robots defending Earth from alien invaders and asked those children to test the game for him. The kids agreed happily at first, but soon they began to find the game horrifying, not only because of its realism but also for the first fatality among them happened right after their first victory. Worse yet, they had no idea how to stop or leave the "game."

It is dark, twisted, angsty and tragic shit. It's a serious read which focuses on the characters and may make you want to cry, go emo, or kill yourself. This is a clever and bleak departure from the standard 'kids get mecha to save the world' archetype. For a supernatural mecha, it is quite realistic, and I think that's a big reason why reading it affects me so much

Chapters 1-42 are scanlated and on MangaTraders
http://www.mangatraders.com/files/manga/bokurano

[Death13a]

Can't believe that there wasn't topic on this AWESOME Manga. I am getting chapters as soon as i see new ones. You can find at least one character that is similar to you, which kinda puts you into the story.


Enough reading this and go downloading!

[masamuneehs]

They clearly establish that Kokopelli is "not of this world"... right in Volume 1. They introduce Coemushi (Dung Beetle) a bit earlier as well. And he's just as awesomely evil, and I have Akira Ishida's voice running in my head when I'm reading Dung's lines in the manga, and that's freakin' sweet.

After watching episode 5 of the anime, dealing with Kako's crush on Chizu, her snubbing him and his approaching death, I felt bad for the kid. But in the manga he's just a flat out bastard from the beginning!

Hi,
You mentioned in the Bokurano thread that you saw some interesting things being omitted from the manga and that you'd PM it if asked. I would be very interested in this.(Only as far as the anime has come though). I hope it's not too much of a bother.

Where to start...

Well, first and foremost, the chapters are divided into the names of the pilots. "Kokopelli" is chaptes 1-3, Waku 4-5, Kodama, etc etc... So, every time you see a new volume, you essentially find out who is going to pilot in the future. However, they do focus on other characters, randomly giving them chapters of their own in the middle. But for the most part, the order is the order of pilots (which is still undetermined)

Quite important:
Dung Beetle appears during Kokopelli's fight, and the two interact, revealing quite a bit about their characters. Some notable chunks of dialogue...

(Dung Beetle has just ignored someone's question about whether riding Zearth is dangerous)
Waku: "Can I ask one more thing? This really is... a game, right?"
And Dung Beetle answers: "Yes"

(a fighter jet is destroyed in the battle. The children scream, but Kokopelli doesn't react)
Dung beetle: "Kokopelli... isn't a man of this planet"
Kids: "An alien?" "What does he look like then?" "An octopus?"
Kokopelli: "That hurts. I'm not a man from this planet, but I'm just as human as you are..."
Kids: "Huh?"
Dung Beetle: "Kokopelli, if you go too far, the kids are gonna get scared and back down."
Kokopelli: "Watch closely now, learn how to fight... because I can't participate in the next round."
Dung Beetle: "I'll still be there!"
Kokopelli: "You can't trust him."
Dung beetle: "Shut it... You have no grounds for saying that about me...

Waku: "This is a game you made, right?"
Kokopelli: "I am nothing more than a pawn in the game, just as you are."

Also, Dung Beetle often refers to "magazines being loaded", to imply to the down-time between battles. Each time a magazine is loaded, a new pilot is selected and another fight is about to begin.

Kako is more of a dick right from the get-go. He insults others, tries to take the easy way out, force work on others and is more self-centered. Ushio isn't as nasty to his sister, Kana, and the short-haired girl, Maki, is more protective of Ushio's sister. It is also established that Moji has some kind of woman, but it may be his mother, sister, or a girlfriend, and their relationship is important, but still unknown.

Maki Ano also summons a baby crib instead of the recliner she gets in the anime, citing the fact that she's going to have a new baby brother soon and that she was thinking about it when Dung was giving them chairs. She still has Kana sit with her, but doesn't give Kana her own seat.

The opponent that Waku fights is totally different from the anime. It's a flying, pointy mofo which tries to pierce its enemy, even ripping off Zearth's arm. Waku then kicks the fallen arm through the enemy, destroying its vital spot. The mountain still gets destroyed.

That's all I'm up to now. More if you want it later on.

There's a couple more details about everyone. I'm glad I picked this one up.

[Apraxhren]

Read this last night and it is sure worth it. I love the fact that like previously said it's not about saving the world, but rather dealing with the choices of those who are bound to die. With each segment just focusing around one character it feel like a bunch of parables connected by a central plot. For the most part the stories manage to stay interesting, with some good and bad surprises. Overall, it reminds me of the movie Last night

[masamuneehs]

Chapter 6
Kodama was much cooler in the manga! He has some excellent lines and his insight into Ushiro (they really are similiar) was very interesting. I can't really hold anything against the kid, given how shady of a character his father is. The anime makes him out to be a typical, ruthless businessman, but in the manga we learn much more about how selfish he is.

"The one thing we're lacking, above all else, is the experience of extinguishing life. It's going to be our daily bread."

omfg the masturbating thing was so~ cut out of the anime!

interesting that in the manga, Kodama finds out later that he's the pilot. in the manga, he says that he finds out immediately after Waku dies, but doesn't tell the others.

The manga within the manga.... one girl remarks on it casually when Waku is piloting, how she's seen her father's manga has something that reminds her of what they're doing. "I went back and read that manga, all the way to the end. All of the kids died. And the earth was destroyed."

Also, Enemy 2, Cancer, does not try to avoid human casualties at all!

Chapter 7
Kodama freaks out a little about his father, but he then calmly discerns how to defeat the enemy. He uses his knowledge of the area to stick one of Zearth's legs deep underground, securing it and making Cancer's throw attack ineffective.

Again, the pilot is chosen immenently after Kodama's death... and it isn't Kako... I think I'm going to pause here, since I'd rather read about the characters and their fights after watching the anime...

[Augury]

Due to the low viewcount and participation in this thread, I take it that most people don't read or haven't looked into this series. Because of this (and because it seems that masa hasn't read up to the current releases), I decided to write this post more like a brief review than a discussion post.

I read masa's first post and I thought to myself "well, i'm not really a fan of mecha (especially supernatural mecha, ick) but I'll take a look..." and now I've read up to chapter 43 in two days. Actually I breezed through most of the robots' fights but the stories in this series really grabbed me. While I wouldn't go so far as to say the characters would make you go kill yourself, some of the content weighs pretty heavily on the heart.


---minor spoilers below---



At face value I thought the story might seem repetitive: three to four chapters per kid before they pilot, they die and the next one steps up. However, I felt that the issues and complexity behind the group of middle schoolers were very compelling and narrarated well. I liked how the author dealt with the various ways in which people responded to an impeding death.



---end minor spoilers---


I think I'll definitely be following the new releases as they appear as well. Viewing or categorizing this series as mecha, sci-fi, or horror really does not do it justice; Bokurano is a powerful drama with mecha, sci-fi, and horror elements as a backdrop.

[masamuneehs]

Chapter 8 (Daiichi's backstory)
I really laughed when Dung Beetle called Kako a dipshit and praised praised Moji. Also, “...if no outcome is reached in 48 hours, the earth is gone. Pop.” So, unlike the anime where it's unsure if only mankind will die if the kids fail, it's clear here that the WHOLE earth is on the line...

The military is still nowhere to be seen... so, as Daiichi is the next pilot (different order than the anime), Nakama (the quiet girl with the pony-tail, she also chides Daiichi earlier when he suggests that they quit the game, before learning what would happen to the earth if they did) calls him to ask if he's OK and if she can do anything. Of course, self-made hero that he is, Daichi says he's fine. It's also hinted to that Daichi might have a small crush on Nakama...

Chapter 9 (Daichi's Battle VS. Drum)
Drum appears, as big and stupid looking as it does in the anime, right on the early morning that they're supposed to go to the theme park. The anime does a much better job with him parting from his family, as it's just two panels in the manga...

Daiichi immediately states that he doesn't intend to move until local residents have been given time to evacuate. This is notable as, not only is it the opposite of Kodama's tactics, but, well... you'll see...

The theme park simply happens to be located in Drum's path. Seeing that (and the destruction Drum causes) makes Daiichi leap right out and stop the enemy before it can crush the park.

As Drum spins on top of Zearth, crushing its armor, Daiichi focuses and silently promises to win and protect the Earth. Surprisingly, Drum starts doing less damage to Zearth, and Dung Beetle explains, “See? The toy responds according to your strength.” This concept is not explicitly drawn out in the anime.

Ushiro is such a piece of shit. As Daiichi nears the end of the battle, growing pensive, Ushiro mocks his resolve. After Daiichi reproaches him (telling him to take care of his sister, above all else), Ushiro says, “Whatever, I just want to go back home and get back to sleep.”

The end, with Daiichi's siblings going to the park, is almost exactly as in the anime. It's still a tear-jerker...

[yallo]

Just started reading this manga... damn the Daiichi story is such a tear-jerker!!!


Just curious, where do you get the names of the enemies from? I don't remember them being mentioned in the manga at all.

[Xrlderek]

Just finished reading all chapters currently out. Much better than the anime was in my opinion, more brutal at times, and more surprising too.

The names are mentioned on a news report/article I think.. the military gave each of them a name.