Bokurano

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Bokurano
ぼくらの
Genre Mecha, Drama
Manga
Author Mohiro Kitoh
Publisher Flag of Japan Shogakukan
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Flag of Japan Ikki
Original run 2004 – ongoing
Volumes 8 so far[1]
TV anime
Director Hiroyuki Morita
Studio Gonzo
Network Flag of Japan SUN-TV, Tokyo MX TV, TV Aichi, TV Aichi, TV Kanagawa
Original run April 8, 2007 – September 25, 2007
Episodes 24
Light novel: Bokurano ～alternative～
Author Renji Ohki
Illustrator Mohiro Kitoh
Publisher Flag of Japan Shogakukan
Demographic Male
Published 24 May 2007 – ongoing
Volumes 4

Bokurano (ぼくらの? lit. Our or Ours) is a manga by Mohiro Kitoh, serialized monthly in Japan in Ikki since 2003; currently 8 tankōbon have been published by Shogakukan. The manga also spawned an anime series directed by Hiroyuki Morita and produced by Gonzo which aired in 2007, and a light novel named Bokurano～alternative～ (ぼくらの～alternative～?) is currently in production featuring an alternate story by Renji Ohki and character designs by Kitoh himself.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

During a summer camp, 15 children, 8 males and 7 females, find a grotto by the sea. Deep within they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man called Kokopelli. Kokopelli claimed to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against fifteen alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and sign a contract. All but one of them signs, barely a moment later they mysteriously awaken on the shore believing what happened was just a dream.

That night, two giant robots appear suddenly by the beach. A small creature calling itself 'Dung Beetle', appears and claims to be their guide. It then teleports the children into the black robot. They find Kokopelli already inside and controlling the black robot in order to defeat the white enemy robot. During battle he gives the children a brief tutorial on how to pilot the robot as he destroys the enemy. Once he has finished he tells the children that they are on their own now and sends them back to the beach. As the children are teleported out, one child observes Kokopelli whispering "I'm sorry".

Bokurano's stories tend to focus exclusively on one character - the next pilot. It starts with some background story on the character and their underlying motivations while building up to their battle. The chapters themselves are named after the character currently being focused on.

Takeshi Waku is the first pilot of the robot, which is named "Zearth" by Maki Ano. Upon winning the fight, Waku is accidentally 'knocked' into the sea by Jun Ushiro. The second pilot, Masaru "Kodama" Kodaka, dies unceremoniously after defeating Cancer. Dung Beetle explains to the children that Zearth runs on life force, and the cost of every victory would be the life of its pilot.

The next two pilots, Daiichi Yamura and Mako "Nakama" Nakarai, lose their lives similarly. Nakama utilises Zearth's abilities to help save a friend of hers. Before her victory death, she manages to give the others some pilot costumes that she sewed herself. Through Tamaki "Komo" Komoda, the military finds out about the children's connection with Zearth, and they are brought together for their own protection. The next pilot, Isao Kako, becomes too cowardly to fight. Chizuru "Chizu" Honda kills him, and becomes the next pilot. Before fighting the enemy robot, she sought her revenge on the teacher who had abused her sexually. While attempting to kill him, she is stopped by her sister. Both her life and her baby's life were taken as Zearth's payment, revealing that there was another person besides Kana Ushiro who was exempt from the contract.

Kunihiko Moji is the next pilot. Their enemy, Gonta, trap them, but Moji uses the spinal cord of Zearth to attack Gonta's core. It is revealed that Zearth's cockpit resembled that of their enemies. Maki, the next pilot, realizes that they are in an alternate universe when an unknown fighter jet attacks them. She pries open the enemy's core and reveals the human pilots inside. Dung Beetle explains that these battles are to weed out parallel universes.

[edit] Rules of the battle

Here is a list of the rules revealed so far in the manga.

  • Each group of pilots must use their robot to fight and defeat 15 enemy robots without a single loss. Each battle must be concluded in 48 hours at most. If they lose a battle, or the time expires, their world will be destroyed and all life on it will be extinguished.
  • The battle is won by finding the enemy robot's cockpit, located somewhere into its body, and killing its current pilot.
  • As long as the enemy pilot is killed by someone from the opposing world the victory is valid, a pilot is not the only one who can do it.
  • The robot consumes the life force of whoever pilots it, thus even if the pilot survives the battle, his/her life ends soon afterwards.
  • The pilot must be one of the people who signed the contract, and just after an enemy is defeated, the pilot for the following battle is selected among them.
  • The pilot exercises total control of the robot just by his/her own will, and all knowledge about its capabilities can simply be implanted within his/her memory if desired.
  • While a pilot can control the robot from the outside, rules prohibit the pilot to be anywhere but the cockpit when fighting an enemy.
  • No change of control is allowed unless the chosen pilot dies before his/her battle is finished. In this case the robot's control is automatically switched to another eligible pilot and he/she must continue the bout.
  • When the pilot dies after winning a battle, normally the body is delivered to his or her family. However, the pilot has the right to decide previously how it will be handled. It can be made to disappear, or stored within one of the many crevices inside the robot, for example.
  • People from one world can not sign the contract to fight for another world.
  • If at any moment the group is short of pilots to complete the remaining battles, other individuals must sign the contract to fill the quota.

[edit] Anime only rules

  • The group's guide (Dung Beetle in Zearth team's case) has authority to determine the order of the pilots.
  • The current pilot carries a tattoo-like mark on his/her body which resembles a trait of the enemy robot he/she must engage. When the battle is won, the mark disappears before the pilot dies.
  • If the enemy robot is destroyed without the pilot taking any action (for example, if the enemy commits suicide) he/she doesn't die, but is still selected to take part in another match, as Zearth only takes life energy to move. The fight still counts towards the total number of wins.
  • Contrary to the manga, people from one world can indeed sign the contract to fight for another world.
  • The pilot for the final match is sent to another world, with the task of assembling 14 people to be the pilots representing it, and battle there to make a demonstration to them. In return, if this pilot survives the battle, his/her life will be spared.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of Bokurano characters

[edit] Dimensional robots

Main article: List of Bokurano robots
A front/back image of Zearth and a close up of its "face".
A front/back image of Zearth and a close up of its "face".

The robots featured in Bokurano all share similar traits as well as differences;

Size: The most obvious trait is their surprisingly large size, each roughly 500 meters (around 1,640 feet) tall. Considering the average size of mecha and monsters featured in Japanese productions, these robots are extremely huge.

Armor: Each of the robots featured are covered in thousands of layers of armor that makes conventional weaponry useless in regard to both offense and defense. It was estimated by the JSDF that Zearth could destroy the entire American military in approximately 48 hours.

Lasers: It seems that every surface of the robots' bodies are capable of firing lasers of incredible power (enough to destroy a mountain with a single volley). However, the lasers are insufficient for damaging any of the robots until they have had their armor stripped off.

Faces: Each robot has a panel somewhere on their face with fourteen illuminated slits. With the death of each pilot, a slit darkens so it is possible to tell how many pilots are left by counting the number of glowing lights.

Cockpit: The pilots' seats are always within a bulb-shaped cockpit. Destroying this is the goal of each bout, most specifically killing the current pilot. The pilots of the robot have their individual seats, reflecting their personalities.

[edit] Anime

An anime adaptation directed by Hiroyuki Morita and produced by Gonzo premiered on April 8, 2007 on Japan's SUN-TV.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Bokurano episodes

[edit] Cast

[edit] Music

  • Original soundtrack by Yūji Nomi
  • Opening theme - Uninstall (アンインストール Aninsutōru?) by Chiaki Ishikawa
  • Ending theme (EP1 - EP12) - Little Bird by Chiaki Ishikawa
  • Ending theme (Ep13 - EP 24) - Vermillion by Chiaki Ishikawa

[edit] Hiroyuki Morita blog controversy

Regarding differences between the stories in the manga and in the anime, Hiroyuki Morita, who directed the anime, wrote in his blog that he dislikes the original story and has, in some ways, been making changes to the plot for that reason. He also wrote that, at one point early in the development of the show, he asked manga author Mohiro Kitoh if he could find some way to save the main characters -- the kids who must pilot Zearth. He wrote that Kitoh responded that his choice was fine as long as the changes did not involve "magical solutions" to the story. Morita closed out the blog entry with the statement, "The director of the anime version of Bokurano hates the original work. Viewers should not expect to see any aspects that they liked about the original manga appearing in the anime. So fans of the manga, please stop watching the anime"[2]

[edit] Light Novel

Cover of the first volume of Bokurano~alternative~
Cover of the first volume of Bokurano~alternative~

There is also a light novel featuring an alternate retelling of the manga's plot entitled Bokurano~alternative~. Mohiro Kitoh only handles the character designs for this installment, as the story is written by Renji Ohki.

It depicts most of the original characters from the anime/manga accompanied by a handful of entirely new ones, but with the same task of piloting Zearth to protect the world at the expense of their own lives. Most of the regular characters also suffered changes in their appearance and background.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bokurano (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-02-22.
  2. ^ Bokurano Helmer Changes Story Due to Dislike of Manga. Retrieved on 2007-06-14.

[edit] External links