Forum - View topicREVIEW: Bokurano
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louis6578
 Posts: 1909 |
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If it helps, I watched the anime and read the manga. I watched the anime first so I didn't have the preconceived bias that the anime was crap, but even then, around the 2/3 way point, it did seem like a lot of tonally blind things were going on. From the start, the military was getting too much focus instead of the children. Some of the kids were getting sidelined in their own arcs in the anime toward the end. Ushiro's arc in particular seemed empty to me, as he was written pretty inconsistently. I did like the anime when I first watched it, but even then, I noticed it was far from flawless. It's one of those shows where the initial premise is enough to make one's expectations overtake their true enjoyment. It has its ups, but after reading the entire manga afterwards, even the "properly" adapted arcs early on unnecessarily added and changed things that kept the experience genuine. (I especially hate how they took out the scene where Kokopelli sadly stares at all the empty chairs around him just before his battle). To further prove how little the production team cared, most Openings in anime tend to foreshadow events, character motivations, symbolize upcoming arcs or motifs, etc. This opening (while having a brilliantly fitting song) simply cuts and pastes from the show without regard for fitting it with anything. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13278 |
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I prefer the anime. The manga had a lot of dark elements just for the sake of being as f-ed up as possible while the anime, still retaining many of those dark elements, is considerably more hopeful. The mangaka was cool with what the director wanted to do so long as they didn't resort to magic to save the kids and in the end spoiler[only Kana got to be saved.] In the manga spoiler[they all die.]
Many plot twists introduced in the anime eventually happened in the manga too so it's still in line with the manga despite some changes. The anime definitely has the better ending, though. |
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wolf10
 Posts: 992 |
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I appreciated this series for what it was back in the day, but one day I realized I had grown out of it's well-intended nihilism. Same with Narutaru, I think. Kitoh's one of the rare authors I can disagree with on a fundamental level but still appreciate for his own merits.
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omiya
 Posts: 1945 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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For anyone who hasn't heard the OP/EDs:
"Uninstall" [OP] PV by Chiaki Ishikawa with English subs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJB0uCERrEQ "Uninstall" live version from Chiaki Ishikawa's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSARpjKsyZM "Little Bird" [ED1] audio only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Mohu500zw "Vermillion" [ED2] live version from Chiaki Ishikawa's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwvmJW4bV20 "Lost Innocent" [Insert song] audio only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDeuwlsol0s PS, Chiaki Ishikawa and Minori Chihara dueted "Uninstall" at Animelo Summer Live 2012. One of the many reasons why Animelo Summer Live 2012 was so brilliant. I have yet to listen to the OST. Last edited by omiya on Fri Apr 01, 2016 3:04 am; edited 2 times in total |
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louis6578
Posts: 1909 |
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I won't say you're wrong for having a differing opinion, but I completely disagree. If anything, the manga knew how to take a dark theme and find light in it (the children mostly find a bittersweet acceptance in their deaths as long as their family members are okay, the interactions with enemy pilots from other universes is strangely compelling, and aside from a few ass pulls like Kana being contracted after the first fight, I can't name many unfitting dark for darkness sake moments in the manga). By contrast, I found the anime was the one being overly cynical without even trying to be. In the manga, these games just happen and Dung Beetle even says that it's best to think of them as a natural disaster of sorts so that nature can thin itself out and survive. Harsh, but necessary. In the show, the masterminds are apparently some godly jerks who are doing this for a laugh. That's pretty darn cynical if you ask me. Why did they add this? Because it's cheaper, easier writing to add an antagonist into your story instead of just admitting that bad things happen. That's not even getting to Dung Beetle himself. In the manga, he's a pretty bad guy, but he still does what the pilots ask of him. He would never force someone into the contract, he cares about his sister, and toward the end him and Ushiro have something of a compelling friendship. He even comforts Ushiro about everything that's going on during his final battle. That's not even getting into his rather generous favor for the protagonist's universe that he performs in the final chapter. In the anime? His flashback episode exists solely to say "Dung Beetle is the Eric Cartman of anime." He is a pathetic coward who was only given his position because he didn't want to die after his battle. He beat up his fellow pilots for trying to run away from their destiny (which strikes me as a bit pointless when you consider that they would've been teleported to the cockpit anyway, but whatever, the anime has a ton of weird plot points), and after he finally became "Dung Beetle," the guy tortures Kokopelli over letting his daughter die piloting, making his wife watch, and then having her commit suicide in front of him only for the big cherry on top to be that Kokopelli has to pilot and die afterwards anyway. How is THAT not unnecessarily cynical and dark? They took a fairly comedic jerk character and turned him into a sadistic villain! If making Kana pilot and die in the manga is considered a little bleak, then this should be considered an atomic bomb of cynicism and darkness! I tend to notice that most people who say the anime is better or the manga is trying too hard to be dark have only read some details about the manga instead of reading the whole thing from start to finish. But I won't accuse you. Instead I'll bring up one reason why I think the manga is far from being dark and cynical for cynicism's sake. Okay. In the manga, Ushiro and Machi go from house to house in order to tell the families of the deceased what happened, as well as to comfort them. These two only have a few days, a week at most, to live. They're spending it on going to the houses of their fallen comrades and speaking with their surviving family. That's beautiful and heartwarming in my book, but it's not in the anime. Compare this sort of thing to... two pilots falling in love at the last millisecond only for one to die and the other to swear vengeance on Dung Beetle. Which one do you think feels more natural? |
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1582 |
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I caught this show 7 years ago on Animax Latin America, and loved it. Some of it is quite shocking (especially considering they were airing it in a daytime slot in my country), but the characters' personal struggles really moved me, and the idea that these kids were essentially forced to commit suicide and cosmic genocide at the same time in order to save their universe felt very novel and disturbing.
My only real issue with it was the ending, which I found too obvious and by-the-numbers after so many cruel twists. While I've never read the manga, I looked up its ending and I was blown away by it. I'd definitely have liked to see it animated, but as far as I know, the serialization was still ongoing when the anime ended. What I find curious, though, is that Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Hickman used pretty much the same basic idea as Bokurano with the "incursions" that happened during his Avengers run, which led to last year's Secret Wars event. While I won't accuse him of ripping Mohiro Kitoh off, I'll say Bokurano had much better execution, and in the manga's case, a much ballsier conclusion. Last edited by Zhou-BR on Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:11 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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danpmss
 Posts: 798 |
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Welp, if we count books as well, you all might remember that Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu books are slightly inferior to the anime adaptation (brilliantly expanded). But these are exceptions, and it's fairly obvious that most of the adapted anime out there can't do complete justice to its source material since it has a scheduled episode count that can be either rushed or obnoxiously filler-full (unless it's an OVA series, in those cases, like with Hellsing Ultimate, the results tends to be better, and depending of the budget, gorgeous). |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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If all anime openings were of this calibre, I would have less of a difficulty selecting anime to trial. (It is a pity that this show is region-locked, but my luck to this end has been quite favourable lately.) |
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jroa
Posts: 560 |
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I thought the Bokurano anime was quite good myself. I don't believe every single manga needs to be faithfully adapted into anime without making any changes.
That said, I can understand why fans of the original production, or at least some of them, might feel otherwise. They just want to see their favorites in motion and with voice acting. But I think it's also entirely valid to create a different interpretation of the same concept. That way, you can ostensibly end up enjoying two unique experiences for their own particular reasons rather than just repeating the same exact narrative. Of course, even then, each work can still be independently judged as being better or worse on its own terms. But I don't think saying "it's too different and they were aiming for something else in the original work, ergo the adaptation is bad" carries much weight in my opinion. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1909 |
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In general, the manga is better. However, the anime is usually a serviceable substitute. That is not the case with Bokurano.
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DmonHiro
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Tell me about it. What the hell was up with those white haired people in that vision? Were they supposed to be the evil masterminds? They didn't even explain that, they just appeared, then disappeared. Talk about a total let down. You have the concept of this horrible turn of events being a natural disaster, something that cannot be helped. It's just how the universe works, like a cosmic hurricane. It's nobody's fault. But no, we have to insert a generic bad guy?! And holy crap, did the anime butcher Koyemshi. Just HAD to have an antagonist, didn't we, mister oh-so-good director. Manga's ending was so good, and so fitting. The director/writer of the anime is a hack in my opinion, and I'm glad Morita Hiroyuki and Yaginuma Kazuyoshi haven't gotten much work since. Especially Morita Hiroyuki. You want to make an original story, write your own, don't butcher someone's work. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I watched the anime first, and I still highly recommend this despite the visual flaws. In, I think episode 4, or 6, the animation becomes so poor the characters practically turn to goo.
Still, the reveals are kept hidden, and this is essentially Madoka Magica for mecha. If you've seen Madoka, you'll actually find Madoka Magica makes several references to Bokurano instead. A lot of what does occur in the story simply doesn't happen much at all in mecha even to this day. If you're a real mecha fan and have been able to suffer through how old and bad looking our classics are, then you'll be able to get over Bokurano's sloppy art. There's actual deep material within. Is the manga better? Sure. And vastly more depressingly dark to the point where people don't finish it due to how miserable it gets. |
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louis6578
Posts: 1909 |
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Most people don't even get to the point in the manga where it officially branches off from the anime. They only spoil these depressing twists for themselves.
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omiya
Posts: 1945 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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Chiaki Ishikawa's live shows are one of the reasons I keep visiting Japan. She has a rich collection of anime songs worth checking out. |
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leongsh
 Posts: 181 |
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I came here to see the amount of vitriol the manga fans had for the anime adaptation and was not disappointed. It was the same when Bokurano aired. Especially when the director blogged that he would change the story. The manga fans went even more ballistic.
Watched in isolation without knowledge of the manga, the show is actually quite good and serviceable. Taking into account that the anime had to work within the confines of 24 episodes and that the manga was ongoing then, I do think the anime managed to keep to the basic rules of the manga in its presentation that it deserves some commendation. EDIT: I forgot to add that the OP song, Uninstall, by Chiaki Ishikawa is brilliant. It was a great tune with lyrics that managed to encapsulate the show quite well. |
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