I have no choice but to pretend that I am a warrior who knows no fear.
Bokurano (meaning Ours) is an 11-volume manga written by Mohiro Kitoh, the creator of the infamous MonsDeconstructionNaru Taru (aka Shadow Star), and is essentially about a group of middle-school children who are contracted into a "game" where they pilot a Humongous Mecha in order to save their world from destruction. The anime adaptation began airing in the spring season of 2007 and ran for 24 episodes. There is also a five-volume light novel series called Bokurano: Alternative, which, as its title suggests, is an Alternate Universe take on the manga's storyline that places the characters in somewhat different circumstances.Viz Media is currently releasing an English translation of the manga as Bokurano: Ours on its IKKI website, with the first English-language volume having been released in February 2010.Some describe it as "like Evangelion, but even more depressing." Others would say that doesn't go far enough and that this makes Evangelion look like the Carebears.For a similar Deconstructor FleetAnime, see Puella Magi Madoka Magica.Be warned: there is a faked 'translation' of the novels (actually based off someone's fanfic) circulating the Internet. As a result, exercise extreme caution when adding novel-specific tropes. See the discussion page for details.
This series provides examples of:
Adults Are Useless: Mostly averted in both the anime and manga, and lampshaded as well; initially the kids don't want to tell the adults, police, or government about their involvement with Zearth because they would just ground them or keep them from piloting the mecha. Once people start dying, however, they change their minds ...
In both versions, the two Self-Defence Force officers working with the children agree to join the contract to pilot Zearth when it becomes necessary. They work with the children as liasons for the government and military. The manga takes it even farther, as both of them and over twenty other soldiers deliberately sacrifice themselves for Zearth's victory on two different occasions.
The anime has another aversion; Takami Komoda's father Kouichi is a member of the Diet (Japan's version of Parliament or Congress), and works with the two Self-Defence Force officers as well as Anko's Intrepid Reporter dad Akira to try and reveal to the world the truth behind Zearth and the children, and force the Japanese government to admit that they knew about Zearth. Congressman Komoda dies for it, though, shortly before Komo's battle.
Played straight in Kako's turn to pilot (manga only): Tanaka does nothing to prevent Kako's beating to Kirie, or his death at the hands of Chizuru
Adult Fear: Your child is going to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Played for wonderful Dramatic Irony in the first ending, which is a sweet song about a mother protecting her child from the outside world since the kid is too young to run off on their own.
Alliterative Name: Zearth is frequently referred to as the Kuroi Kaiju/Black Behemoth by the media and bystanders early on in the series.
A Million is a Statistic: Played straight, averted, discussed, deconstructed, and used as a major source of drama, particularly in the manga. Tens of thousands of people die as collateral damage from Zearth's battles and tens of billions as enemy casualties, and every character has their own take on it. Some pilots ignore civilian casualties and only pay attention to their own plight, some stall the battle and risk losing to give civilians time to evacuate, some get Heroic BSODs... it goes on. Especially heartbreaking in the last battle in the manga: Jun has to murder the population of an entire planet in order to win. He insists on killing each person individually, to make it as painless as possible, but that doesn't make it any easier for him.
Apocalypse How: An alternate universe is destroyed after every battle.
Apocalypse Wow: In the anime, we see a universe being destroyed. First the Earth is consumed by an exploding sun, then every star in the universe blinks out of existence.
Attack Its Weak Point: Each of the robots has a hidden core that must be found and destroyed. The cockpit.
Awful Truth: The prospect of defeating the enemy was a lot easier when you didn't know doing so would kill you. And when you thought the enemies were aliens instead of alternate dimensional humans. And that you killed 10 billion people every time one of you “won”.
Beam Spam: Zearth and the enemies can do this at will, the last battle Zearth BeamSpams an entire planet.
The last battle in the manga ends with the same quote that opens both the manga and the anime.
Break the Cutie: Pretty much everyone, but especially Chizu.
Bittersweet Ending: In the manga, all the kids die. The Earth's out of the game. Zearth goes on to another alternate Earth to repeat the process, with a new Kokopelli (the former Koyemshi) and a new Koyemshi (Sasami). After all we're most likely saved, which probably makes this a "happy" ending by Kitoh's standards.
In the anime, it's a tiiiiiiny bit happier. Ushiro goes in a blaze of glory as the last pilot, the Earth's out of the game too, Zearth completely disappears, and nobody helps continue the Game. We get a small "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue where Kana leads a normal life and tells Daiichi's siblings what happened to him and the other kids.
Caught with Your Pants Down: In the manga only, it's implied that Koyemshi catches Anko like this at one point. She's none too happy about it.
Possibly a subversion. Anko has much the same reaction when Koyemshi interrupts one of her idol cosplay fantasy sessions, so it's likely he was trying to be misunderstood when talking about that.
A less ambiguous example happens in the manga during Mako's battle. The girl who bullies Mako is having sex with a guy inside a hotel room within the fight area, and Mako asks Koyemshi to rescue the couple before any of them get a chance to get dressed (so they end up naked first in the cockpit, where all the pilot children are), then inside a van on which said girl's mother is leaving the battle area. Given that the fight had not even started, is pretty much given that Mako did it on purpose.
Children Are Innocent: Subverted, particularly in the cases of Kodama, Kako, and Chizu.
Coitus Uninterruptus: Manga only, as described in Caught with Your Pants Down. That room must have had some good sound insulation and bad personnel. They didn't notice the danger until part of the building came down, uncovering them.
Coming of Age Story: The kids learn to carry out the responsibility they had unwittingly accepted with courage and dignity. And then they all die.
Cool Big Sis: Captain Tanaka, although older than most examples, fills this role for the female pilots in the anime.
Maki possibly sees herself as this for Kana and even openly states that she wished she had a little sister just like her.
Cosmic Horror Story: It's a universe where something like 32767 or 32768 of all timelines are regularly destroyed. Possibly for a good reason, certainly by other humans, but who cares? This qualifies.
The opening theme blatantly makes statements. "It came from beyond the extreme reaches of our reality, (and) it came to laugh at our naive existences."
Deconstruction: When the collateral damage and mass casualties caused by the robot battles are made so alarmingly clear, not to mention the trauma that the pilots go through, you can hardly call this a Super Robot series. It's practically the anti-Gurren Lagann!
In particular, this series deconstructs several themes of the Eldoran Trilogy, which started with Zettai Muteki Raijin Oh. Basically, the series states that the idea that cosmic entities granting super robots to schoolkids to protect the earth (as what happens in the Eldoran trilogy) wouldn't equal light-hearted fun ensuing. Or that not all of said schoolkids would use said robots for good ends.
Destructive Savior: Deconstructed. Zearth causes so much damage that it's commonly referred to as a Kaiju.
Dynamic Entry: In the anime, Ushiro does this to ten-year-old Kana. More specifically, he runs down a flight of stairs and kicks her in the chest.
Dysfunction Junction: Try naming a major character that doesn't have issues of some sort.
Eagleland: In both the anime and manga, the United States is a rival power rather than a close-knit ally of Japan. Bokurano's Japan lacks the same self-defense policies of Real Life, which limit Japan's military forces and provides for security arrangements with America. Japan also has nuclear weapons in the manga. Neither the anime nor manga portray America as being much like either flavor, however.
In the anime, American involvement is subtle and rarely mentioned. Several government characters express distrust for the United States, but the U.S. (and China) aids the Japanese government with its surveillance sattelites and, though initially reluctant to vote for the usage of them in the United Nations, sends direct aid through its unmanned combat weapons (alongside other countries) towards the end of the anime.
In the manga, America is portrayed as a rival that's actually more threatening to Japan than China, to the point that the U.S. and Japan have a Cold War-esque relationship. Most characters regard the U.S. with suspicion and comment that America is "stuck in its superpower state of mind." Several times, there's worries that the United States might use Zearth's battles as an excuse to invade Japan—especially when a person claims in a news interview that he is a Zearth pilot, that Zearth is a Japanese superweapon, and that Japan plans to conquer the world. The Americans never actually do anything antagonistic, however.
Daiichi spends his remaining time with his siblings to its fullest, then stalls his battle until he can be sure they've evacuated, and forcibly carries his opponent to an evacuated area once he can't stall any longer. Finally, he manages to stop the enemy from harming the amusement park he promised to take his siblings to. Subverted later on when his siblings think he left them and become bitter, then there's a Double Subversion when Kana explains the truth and helps them get over said bitterness.
Ushiro, as the peak of his Character Development in the anime, refuses to recruit pilots in other worlds in exchange for keeping his life. Instead, he helps Youko to kill Koyemshi, saves Kana from entering the contract, fights for 30 hours straight and wins the last battle, and destroys Zearth as he dies. Kana and Earth survive, and the Masterminds are denied a pawn for furthering the battles.
Expy: A minor character Oda bears strong resemblance to another Kitoh's characterAki Honda, though is nowhere as cruel. Also, one of her 'underlings' seems to be just a clone of Hiroka from Aki's Girl Posse.
Facial Markings: In the anime, if it's your turn to pilot, you'll know it thanks to the marks that will appear on your skin.
Gory Discretion Shot: Anko's burned off legs, Machi's face when she's shot, the scene of Tanaka's suicide, well, dying in an other manner than due to the loss of life energy is rarely shown. Averted with Kako's death, where we see him get knifed by Chizu.
What about Kako's death in the anime? Instead of being killed by Chizu, he was crushed by the debris of the aquarium's wreckage caused by a missile, and when he's transported into Zearth, you only see a bloody arm sticking out of the wreckage that came with it. Also, you never actually see his body get crushed, though you see the wreckage fall on him..
Here We Go Again: The manga ending. Granted it's in another universe, but it's essentially the same.
Heroic BSOD: While the "heroic" part is questionable in his case, Kodama has one in both the manga and anime when he inadvertantly kills his own father in battle.
Anko has one in the anime when not only Youko is outed as The Mole, but Koyemshi picks her as the next pilot.
Ushiro has another in the manga, to the point of throwing up. He gets better, though.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the manga, Seki bravely sacrifices himself by allowing himself to be used as a target so Kanji can hit and destroy Javelin from a massive distance away.
Koyemshi sorta pulls this in the manga, when he becomes not only the new Kokopelli in another universe, but he voluntarily takes the place of first Zearth pilot in that round.
Ho Yay: Ushiro and Kanji, in the manga. Ushiro even tells Kanji that Waku wasn't the only reason he stuck around despite not being in the contract, and Kanji realizes that it was for him.
Humongous Mecha: Really humongous. Zearth is half a kilometre tall.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter of the manga is named after the current pilot and whatever number chapter they've been pilot for. It starts with Kokopelli and ends with Koyemshi. Probably one of the few series where the chapter titles themselves are spoilers.
Jerkass: Kodaka, Kako (though he is more pathetic than anything else), and Jun, though he gets better. To make up, Koyemshi becomes a total dick in the anime, though he isn't exactly a saint in the manga (he gets a little better there, too). OTOH, Hatagai had to be toned down in the anime... and still remained a Jerkass.
Jerkass Gods: It certainly looks like it from the human perspective, but we'll never know their motivations.
The Multiverse: The aliens are actually humans from alternate Earths fighting for their own Earth's existence, same as the main characters. It gives the words It Got Worse a whole new meaning.
Averted in the last chapter in the manga when the former Koyemshi, after taking the previous "Kokopelli's" role and tricking a new group of people into the same fate, asks them "Happy, right?".
Never Speak Ill of the Dead: In the manga, when Ushiro and Machi visit the former pilots' families, everyone takes it easy on Kako, despite the fact that he was really screwed up, though to be fair, only the audience was truly aware of how much. Also happens when they visit the fake pilot's family, even telling lies to make his youger brother feel better.
Not Funny Anymore: In chapter 40, after the kids are told of the reactions to the fake Zearth announcement, Machi mentions she heard someone saying rival countries were talking about sending assassins to kill them. While the line itself isn't that funny, the kids' expressions are. Fast forward to chapter 58 with Machi getting shot in the head by a rival country's assassin. No more funny. At all.
Nuke 'Em: During one of the battles in the manga, an enemy mecha sets up shop in Hawaii, causing massive casualties. The American military is powerless to stop it, just as the Japanese military was. Thus, the American government requests that the Japanese nuke Oahu Island. The irony is not lost on anyone.
In the anime, worldwide governments lift bans on nuclear weapons in response to the mecha, and every explosive the military has gets thrown at both combatants in a late battle. The surrounding landscape is set on fire. The pilots just feel a little warmer.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Kokopelli or "Gara-sensei", actually named Garaku and Koyemshi/"Dung Beetle" who is revealed to be human by the end, and while the anime gives him the name Shirou Machi, this contradicts something said in the Manga, where his name is left a mystery. In the latter's case his japanese name "Koemushi" can also probably be translated as "Voice Bug", which fits part of his job of explaining the rules of the "game" making this a case of Everyone Calls Him Barkeep.
Zearth itself.
Otaku: Maki and her father are both big fans of manga and the military.
Overtook the Manga: It kinda had to, considering the manga didn't wrap up until two years later.
Plucky Girl: Considering that Dung Beetle thought she was going to have a horrible (and incredibly amusing) breakdown, Anko proves herself to be one of these, and won her fight relatively quickly, managing to die in peace as well.
Also Youko, Kana, Mako and Komo.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: To operate during a fight, Zearth needs the power from a human life each time. In fact, in the manga it is hinted that the younger the person, the more powerful Zearth becomes.
Really Dead Montage: This is nearly the entire series, usually only giving focus and backstory to each character when it's their turn to fight and die.
Episode 3 is the most obvious, in regards to...
Sacrificial Lamb: Waku, although he lasts until the second episode (fifth manga chapter). Also Kokopelli, although the kids don't know he's dead until later.
Sadistic Choice: The pilots eventually realize that defeating an enemy means that they have to condemn an entire parallel Earth to death — but they'll condemn their Earth if they fail.
Things get even more sadistic for a certain character in the final arc of the manga. Jun Ushiro, the last kid remaining, is fighting an 'away' battle and nearly wins ... but because he falls for a trap, the enemy pilot escapes. Since he can't easily track down the enemy now, his only hope of saving his own world is to personally destroy the alternate world until he kills the pilot. And He Does.Ouch.
Scary Shiny Glasses: Kokopelli has these in the opening. It doesn't hurt that he's levitating the Earth above his hand. When that scene comes up in the anime itself, it turns out to be a subversion: he has no power over the show's events at all. And the glasses are fake anyway.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: A particularly intriguing case. The inmediate reaction of a lot of people (specially that only have read the premise/synopsis) would be: "Who loaded down the cynicism side with all these corpses?!". However, if you see beyond the darkest aspects of the story, a bright beam of optimism becomes apparent. After all, most characters face their ends bravely and cause positive changes in the lives of those left behind. Word Of God himself clarifies that in spite of the tragedy and devastation, the core messages he wanted to convey were more on the hopeful end of things.
Smug Snake: Hatagai. Letting him go alive and wellhad to be intended purely to piss off the audience. In the anime Koyemshi also qualifies, which made watching the scene in which his sister Machi methodically shoots holes in his body more than delightful.
Snow Means Death: The last moments of Machi in the anime and Kanji in the manga.
Starfish Robots: The mecha piloted by the main cast is humanoid, albeit with some arthropod-like features, but their opponents include things Bayonet, a colossal flying blade; Drum, a massive cylinder that can grind anything; and Gunter, a floating vise.
An extremelyunpleasant case, in fact, when you consider it all went down in the first semester of 7th year, meaning she was more a Tween than a Teen at the time.
Thematic Theme Tune: "Uninstall." (I have no choice but to pretend that I am a warrior who knows no fear.)
There Can Be Only One: Only one Earth out of 32767 can survive. And even on the surviving Earth, all but one pilot will die.
There Are No Therapists: Just because you're going to die if you fight, doesn't mean we'll give you somebody to whine about it to.
Title Drop: Dropped rather heavily at the end of chapter 55 of the manga.
In the anime, the title tends to work itself into important conversations.
Wham Episode: Several, but the end of Maki's arc is one of the biggest in both versions.
The end of Machi's arc. The reader has just become accustomed to the characters dying once they pilot the robot, when the author HAS SOMEONE SHOOT THE CHARACTER IN THE HEAD!
Who's Your Daddy?: Implied that Mako's "client" may be, although her mother quickly shoots it down.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Some of the kids are shown to be - especially Moji and Kirie - but God, the youngest of them, little Kana-chan, takes it up to the new levels. Accepting a constant abuse of her brother and preventing people around them from interfere, beacuse she knows he's angry at their dead mother for her absence, and taking it out to younger sister, he's in reality treating her as somewhat of the mother figure? Not even being Jun's blood-sister, but hiding it from him in order to make him feel secure, she devotes herself to finding his real mother. In the manga, while she's about to die while piloting Zearth, it remains her biggest concern - because Jun's gonna need support after she's gone. And she is ten.
Worst News Judgment Ever: A newscaster saying that, despite the fact that a behemoth appeared nearby and many of the aquarium animals were lost, the dolphins probably escaped to the ocean. Much to everyone's relief. The behemoth appearance was also responsible for the deaths of thousands but hey, dolphins are symbolic.
Xanatos Gambit: The Zearth Program in the anime. Reverse-engineering it is the only way anybody can come up with to Take a Third Option regarding the game, but the Masterminds thought of that and designed the program to drain the energy from any planet that tries to make use of it.
website, with the first English-language volume having been released in February 2010.Some describe it as "like Evangelion, but even more depressing." Others would say that doesn't go far enough and that this makes Evangelion look like the Carebears.For a similar Deconstructor Fleet Anime, see Puella Magi Madoka Magica.Be warned: there is a faked 'translation' of the novels (actually based off someone's fanfic) circulating the Internet. As a result, exercise extreme caution when adding novel-specific tropes. See the discussion page for details.
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