(L) Bokurano

[Guido]

I have already finished three-quarters of the story after concluding episode eighteen, and as expected from an anime adaptation to Mohiro Kitoh's manga the adult world bare its disgusting face on the most selfish and greedy nature.

Spoiler:

Komoda's dad signed his death sentence once announcing all of the truth to the public in the media but did it realizing beforehand the risks of such actions.

He put his life in the line as a last act for the world to hear his plea that people must be swayed by higher powers; Tamaki's fought for her and her mother's sake.

The outcome was unfavorable and unpleasant for those bureaucratic, capitalist bastards and settled it with gunfire.

Tanaka felt responsible for the misfortune and hatred that her actions brought to the Komoda household and try to do anything to prevent the tragedy, but she also paid the price.

And I feel terrible now for Ushiro, because how's he going to react once finding out that he had his mother so close yet so far to him but never learned her identity.

Of course, if those pigs think that they are going to benefit from reverse engineering Zearth then thought wrong because Koemushii, as he quotes it, doesn't expect the monkeys to comprehend something that goes beyond their primitive minds.

And to conclude, the only way I see for Kana not to be involved in the contract is that Tamotsu steps in and signs to become another pilot for Zearth in order to fill the quota again.

[Marina Ismail]

I just read the blog about the last ep so all my questions were answered. Ep 24... such a beautiful ep. *Sigh* I can't believe Bokurano the anime series is now finished. =/

[Dragosmore]

Originally Posted by BuniiChan

I just read the blog about the last ep so all my questions were answered. Ep 24... such a beautiful ep. *Sigh* I can't believe Bokurano the anime series is now finished. =/

I completely disagree. The ending left way too many open plot holes open. I was much more impressed with episode 23 than 24.

[Onniguru]

It's still sad that it has ended, albeit

I'm only in volume 4 of the manga so I can't compare endings yet.

[serenade_beta]

And so it ends...

I'll give the series a 8/10. I liked the ending (though fairly sad), but the weirdness of some plot twists were, well, weird.

Plus, great opening and ending themes.

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by BuniiChan

I just read the blog about the last ep so all my questions were answered. Ep 24... such a beautiful ep. *Sigh* I can't believe Bokurano the anime series is now finished. =/

Would someone be kind enough to post the link for the blog for the ending.

[tsurumaru]

Originally Posted by Sinestra

Would someone be kind enough to post the link for the blog for the ending.

Obvious warning is obvious:

Spoilers Ahoy!

http://psgels.blogsome.com/

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by tsurumaru

Obvious warning is obvious:

Spoilers Ahoy!

http://psgels.blogsome.com/

awww thats a sad ending but you know i can live with it at least it stayed true to the context of the story up till the very end.

[Diedrupo]

ep 24.

Spoiler:

Ep 24 was a beautiful, well done episode.

It pushes all the right emotional buttons and the battle was prolonged enough to give you a real sense that it wasn't a pushover like just about every previous battle in the anime. The ending part with Kana and Daichi's siblings was well done as well, and leaves you wanting more. It's good enough to erase the poor quality of the 2nd half of the show.

[Matrim]

i wonder if anyone actually thinks in this series the old guy at the end of episode 18 basically admitted to using illegal means to get things and done and hinted that yes he and government were behind the string of deaths but no one seems to notice.

Yes, I just watched episode 18 and its end totally ruined my suspension of disbelief. No one becomes "the leader of the financial world" if he is dumb enough to say in front of journalists that the ends justify the means and who cares if people are dying since we might gate some l33t technology. WTF? And there are people who would try to exploit virtually every dangerous situation, true, but thinking about technological advances when every few days representatives of your world fight a battle for the survival of the planet is a bit too extreme. I'd understand if a few greedy idiots tried it but the whole governement? Man, they have some brave idiots in power there.

Councilor Komoda and Tanaka's deaths seemed forced to me, why didn't he just hide somewhere with his life? We have had enough pointless deaths already with all the kids dying.

[Guido]

Although the show has ended last week, I will keep on going with fansubs' releases.

Before episode fifteen, I thought of Jun as a selfish and anti-social child holding no thoughts for the others. But how he reacted to the misfortune of Kirie's mother made a slight but deep change on him to start a little bit to open with the surviving others.

For this episode in particular all those resentful thoughts I held once for him were lifted off and vanished.

Spoiler:

Episode 19 delivered beautiful drama surrounding the circumstances on how Juns' parents met, who were they, and the sacrifice Misumi (her mother) did to keep him safe.

When Misumi was introduced early in the show and as the little twists began to unraveled I never gave thought not even once that she was Jun's true mother, until Tamotsu's arrival on episode 15 when Jun's origins were lastly disclosed.

More properly speaking on what Tamotsu meant that Jun and Kana are cousins, specifically there are second cousins.
Misumi was the niece to Mr. and Mrs. Ushiro, therefore, making her and Kana fraternal cousins.

This episode was a needed because it makes clear now that Jun has become the leader character for the rest of the show and many of the moments for the remaining episodes would be focusing on how he comes to cope with the will that her mother left him and amend his bonds with Kana.

I have the feeling that he would be the last children standing to pilot Zearth for the last battle.

[White Manju Bun]

Wow ok 19 nearly made me cry. Even though Jun has been selfish, mean and bratty from day one I just cant help like the kid. The back story was nice.
20 was even better in my opinion seeing the evolution of how the "game" started and how Dung Beetle was started. No wonder he's a pain in the behind.
Ive really been able to stay away from any type of spoiler for this anime and I really cant wait to see how it ends.

[Narutaru4ever]

Hey if anyone notic bokurano is now licences by funimation
I didnt even get the chance to watch ep 19 now I have to go eles where to look at the rest of this wonderful anime.

[Aquillion]

Originally Posted by Matrim

Yes, I just watched episode 18 and its end totally ruined my suspension of disbelief. No one becomes "the leader of the financial world" if he is dumb enough to say in front of journalists that the ends justify the means and who cares if people are dying since we might gate some l33t technology. WTF? And there are people who would try to exploit virtually every dangerous situation, true, but thinking about technological advances when every few days representatives of your world fight a battle for the survival of the planet is a bit too extreme. I'd understand if a few greedy idiots tried it but the whole government? Man, they have some brave idiots in power there.

Actually, maybe it's just the X-Com fan in me, but I'm sort of predisposed to sympathize with the scientists; I think that the anime has been treating them unfairly. Their portrayal has been as cackling-robber-baron evil, which is extremely unfair.

No, seriously, think about it. Sure, we've been watching the kids all this time and feel sorry for them... but this is about a lot more than the kids. The government now knows, without question, that there is an 'alien' power in another dimension whose technology allows them to basically do whatever they want to us... and they know that this 'alien' power is so unbalanced and dangerous that they would basically force lower-tech civilizations to hold gladiatorial games to the death, with the civilization of the losing representatives getting wiped out completely.

How should the government react to that? There's no reason to think that playing the game actually accomplishes anything. From the government's perspective, after the 15th fight the Masterminds could have popped in and said "Hey, that was nice! By the way, we always lie to our pilots; we destroy your universe after the fights are over anyway." Or "Now fight another thousand robots, the TV show we run based on this needs higher ratings." Or "Give us 10% of your population in meat form, we want to eat you to prove our superiority."

The only sane response is to try and reverse-engineer Zearth's technology in the hope that it will provide some form of defense. Granted, it isn't a very good hope, but it's better than quietly letting your children fight to the death at the whims of evil madmen from another dimension.

It feels as though the writers want the Overlords to stand in for gods; we're supposed to just accept what they do and the rules they set, and the scientists are evil for going against this. Some are also shown as trying to get power and money, yes, but why is Kanji’s mother shown as evil, right down to having an generically evil face hamhandedly pasted on her? Because she values knowledge and the good of humanity even over the life of her son? Because she focuses on something that might actually matter instead of mindlessly trusting the homicidal maniacs who were making her son fight?

As far as I can tell, the kids aren't really doing anything to defend earth; they're buying time by playing along, sacrificing their lives to the Masterminds as a form of twisted tribute. Even if they all win, the earth is still just as much at the Mastermind's mercy at the end as it was before; and by staking the fate of entire universes on gladitorial games, the Masterminds have been firmly established as dangerous and insane.

Even the talk of 'releasing' people from the contract--what the show's writers apparently think the scientists should be doing instead of, you know, all that crazy-selfish research stuff that might eventually let humanity confront the Masterminds on equal terms--made no sense. The contract is not some random disease that the children are suffering from; it is an agreement they made with powerful Masterminds from another universe. No matter what technology is used, simply breaking it could just cause the Masterminds to destroy our universe by default.

I can't see any ending that doesn't confront the Masterminds in some form or another as being even remotely satisfying; and the only real way to do that is by reverse-engineering the bits of their technology that they let fall into our universe so they can be used against them.

I know that the anime has portrayed the scientists--except for Kanji’s mother, who has acted heroically in the defense of knowledge, earth, and her son, in that order, and has been inexplicably vilified for this--as greedy, shortsighted, and only interested in defeating other nations; most of them haven't been worrying about the Masterminds (except, again, Kanji's mother, who as far as I can tell has made the only effort in the entire series to confront them.) But I think that this portrayal makes no sense, as if the writers wanted to show scientists as evil, so they just gave them a muddled handful of bizarrely selfish motivations for no good reason.

Again: The plot to Bokurano, in a nutshell, is that we have been contacted by an advanced civilization, and they are threatening to kill us. And the show's moral is to vilify the scientists, politicians, and industrialists who could give us a way to actually do something about that beyond just giving the madmen from another dimension our children.

[tsurumaru]

21 is out, the Triad are on a roll!

[Guido]

The truth has been spilt out now that Yoko chose to willingly contribute what she has lived through.

Spoiler:

It was somewhat tough for me to fully comprehend how the game mechanics work, but I did.

Fifteen players contracted. Each one of those players are to be assigned as the pilot for their respective fight. The robot uses the life force of each one of them in order to move and fight. If victory is achieved the current pilot dies and the next one is selected for the next bout.

Once two players remain the guide decides which one will be the pilot for the final battle and which is to become the scout to travel to the next Earth and recruit the next-Earth fifteen players to the contract; the scout is the only one out of the fifteen people who survives the whole game, and if he or she successfully contracts the next fifteen people then is returned to his or her Earth but must first teach the new fifteen about how to win the fight by piloting the robot in a sample match; Kokopelli did at the start of episode one, and I assume that Yoko's sensei from her Earth did the same.

Koemushii, who was originally a spunky and nasty brat of a human as Kanji pointed out, was made an exception by the previous guide because he wanted not to die in vain for not being chosen as the scout.
He was transfigured into the current guide by the previous one, and took the job with sadistic pleasure than the previous guide.

Yoko traveled with her brother through many Earths to spread the game, since Koemushii was the only relative she had in the whole universe.

They arrived to Kokopelli's Earth, but unexpectedly for a first time since she left her home-Earth she developed friendship, and that person turned out to be Kokopelli's daughter.
Kokopelli entered the contract while the game was in mid-progress in order to at least had his daughter spared.

He tried to ask for help from his Earth's government authorities but was slapped away. His wife was one heck of a crazy bitch.

The time of the final battle came for Kokopelli's Earth, but instead pleaded to Koemushii to make him both the scout and pilot. He assured Koemushii to contract the next fifteen before the final battle at his Earth started.

He and Yoko came to the Earth of our children. However, his conscience meddled when he agreed with Jun not to have Kana signing the contract. Yoko maybe signed the contracted to fill that quota of fifteen for our Earth, or perhaps she began to feel remorse to drag others into the game.

When done with the explanation about piloting Zearth Kokopelli was teleported right away to his homeworld only to find out that Koemushii witnessed his ruse and broke off the loophole; Kana was made the pilot for the final battle of her Earth, then she won and died immediately.

From this whole explanation we know that:
1. Yoko and Koemushii's home Earth survived and was allowed to live.
2. Kokopelli's home Earth survived as well.
3. Remains unknown what became of Kokopelli right afterward he admit before Koemushii that he was powerless.

And the story finally demonstrates that regardless of age, creed, status, wealth, or gender humans whether in masse or as individuals are capable of the most depraved acts.

Koemushii was just a monster of a child to my understanding.

And the humans of several Earths, like Kokopelli's, were just as bad or lowly to get their hands on that technology for whatever means possible just like in the children's Earth.

Spoiler:

The way how Jun reacted upon hearing the truth from Kokopelli that Kanji's mother leaked the information to the media, and how he reacts with geniune concern maybe towards Kanji in the preview makes my belief to stand even more firm that he's going to be the last pilot for the final battle.

We can now predict that the last four episodes are going to be one battle after another.

[Aquillion]

Spoiler:

3. Remains unknown what became of Kokopelli right afterward he admit before Koemushii that he was powerless.

We know what happened to Kokopelli after that: He died, because he'd just piloted Zearth against the first opponent. It clearly isn't required for guides to do that (because they usually survive), but Kokopelli had to do it to make up for the fact that he'd let Kana avoid being contracted and, therefore, his daughter had to fight back on his earth to make up for the fact that he wouldn't be able to.

And the humans of several Earths, like Kokopelli's, were just as bad or lowly to get their hands on that technology for whatever means possible just like in the children's Earth.

And... you think that this was a bad idea? No, seriously, read my post above yours. I feel that the actions Kanji’s mother took were heroic even before the revelations of episode 21; she is actually thinking of what's good for the entire planet, as opposed to the shortsighted selfishness of Tanaka and the other supposed "good guys" who were willing to disrupt the research necessary to defend all of humanity if it gave their precious little children a slightly increased chance of surviving. (Again, the mechanism they harp on to save them--breaking the contract--makes absolutely no sense in any concievable fashion; given that the contract is with sentient opponents who will presumably react in some violent fashion to such a betrayal, it is simply not a viable thing to investigate, especially when mimicking their broader technology to defend against it is such a vastly more pressing concern.)

But all that is moot, since it has been revealed, by episode 21, that:

Spoiler:

The Masterminds essentially eat your universe's energy even if you win. And they can still destroy your entire universe at any time. And the moral is that, what, this is ok? That us lowly humans shouldn't deign to touch the Masterminds' superior knowledge, and should kneel down to be ritually eaten instead?

Granted, episode 21 reveals a few other things, too, which introduce even more problems:

Spoiler:

While even these writers are forced to admit, slightly, that yes, both the government and Kanji’s mother were, indeed, ultimately focused on fighting the Masterminds (she says that they'd thought they'd "won" something by copying Zearth's program), the show still seems to be inexplicably demonizing them in general and her in particular as being evil, to the point of having random technobabble bad things happen because they have touched knowledge man was not meant to know. At this point I have to wonder if the writers are really paying attention to what they're saying.

I don't see any other way to interpret this: The only way to make sense of the demonization of the scientists is to view the show as a Luddite "things man was not meant to know" fable where, yes, we are supposed to accept that the Masterminds are a stand-in for god. The scientists stood up against them and got smited by their divine fury, while the just and noble kids offered up the necessary sacrifices and fight heroically as gladiatorial slaves the way they are supposed to. The show is also still inexplicably harping on the nonsensical idea of "releasing children from the contract", even though it has been established that this contract is with Masterminds who are capable of destroying the universe on a whim and who, yes, do indeed basically eat your planet (slowly) even if you win.

I'm fine with it being all metaphorical (since it certainly makes no sense if viewed literally), but even metaphorically--what do the scientists represent? Can anyone come up with an interpretation other than mine? Basically, no matter how I look at it the moral of the story so far is that we should kneel before superior Masterminds and never delve into their secret knowledge, which was not meant for our lowly ape selves. That... that's stupid.

The argument "we should not research that technology, because it could destroy the universe" loses a lot of its weight when 'that technology' is already being used by evil Masterminds who have expressed a willingness to destroy our universe. Maybe the show's moral really is that it's better to let the Masterminds threaten us, kill us, use our children as gladiatorial slaves, eat us, or whatever than it is to research evil evil technology and become like the Masterminds ourselves--but the writers should make that argument honestly. Right now, it feels like they aren't; they're just slapping evil-looking faces on all the scientist characters and repeatedly telling us how evil they are. It doesn't wash... are we supposed to be fighting the Masterminds, or not? If we are, what is the show criticizing Kanji's mother for? She valued the struggle to save humanity from the tyranny of the Masterminds above even the life of her own son. As far as I can tell, that is a heroic (if difficult) decision on her part.

[Matrim]

The only sane response is to try and reverse-engineer Zearth's technology in the hope that it will provide some form of defense.

I think you have misunderstood me to an extent, I have absolutely nothing against the research per se, the more the better, after all it's better to try to light a candle than curse the darkness. It's just that the politicians and businessmen connected with them are mostly portrayed as people who regard the whole Zearth situation as some minor problem whose only potential value lies in developing new technologies which would fill their pockets. It's too narrow minded and delusional even by the standards of politicians.

And maybe I am forgetting something but I don't think the research for releasing the kids from the contract and that for finding a way out of the whole situation by turning agaisnt the real perpetrators are mutually exclusive, Kanji's mother seems to be conducting both. It would be quite a disappointing ending if they somehow release the few survivors (and maybe even resurrect the rest of the kids somehow) and the Masterminds show no reaction to that whatsoever and leave that Earth be without an explanation for this mercy.

[Guido]

Originally Posted by Aquillion

Spoiler:

3. Remains unknown what became of Kokopelli right afterward he admit before Koemushii that he was powerless.

We know what happened to Kokopelli after that: He died, because he'd just piloted Zearth against the first opponent. It clearly isn't required for guides to do that (because they usually survive), but Kokopelli had to do it to make up for the fact that he'd let Kana avoid being contracted and, therefore, his daughter had to fight back on his earth to make up for the fact that he wouldn't be able to.

And... you think that this was a bad idea? No, seriously, read my post above yours. I feel that the actions Kanji’s mother took were heroic even before the revelations of episode 21; she is actually thinking of what's good for the entire planet, as opposed to the shortsighted selfishness of Tanaka and the other supposed "good guys" who were willing to disrupt the research necessary to defend all of humanity if it gave their precious little children a slightly increased chance of surviving. (Again, the mechanism they harp on to save them--breaking the contract--makes absolutely no sense in any concievable fashion; given that the contract is with sentient opponents who will presumably react in some violent fashion to such a betrayal, it is simply not a viable think to investigate, especially when mimicking their broader technology to defend against it is such a vastly more pressing concern.)

But all that is moot, since it has been revealed, by episode 21, that:

Spoiler:

The Masterminds essentially eat your universe's energy even if you win. And they can still destroy your entire universe at any time. And the moral is that, what, this is ok? That us lowly humans shouldn't deign to touch the Masterminds' superior knowledge, and should kneel down to be ritually eaten instead?

Granted, episode 21 reveals a few other things, too, which introduce even more problems:

Spoiler:

While even these writers are forced to admit, slightly, that yes, both the government and Kanji’s mother were, indeed, ultimately focused on fighting the Masterminds (she says that they'd thought they'd "won" something by copying Zearth's program), the show still seems to be inexplicably demonizing them in general and her in particular as being evil, to the point of having random technobabble bad things happen because they have touched knowledge man was not meant to know. At this point I have to wonder if the writers are really paying attention to what they're saying.

I don't see any other way to interpret this: The only way to make sense of the demonization of the scientists is to view the show as a Luddite "things man was not meant to know" fable where, yes, we are supposed to accept that the Masterminds are a stand-in for god. The scientists stood up against them and got smited by their divine fury, while the just and noble kids offered up the necessary sacrifices and fight heroically as gladiatorial slaves the way they are supposed to. The show is also still inexplicably harping on the nonsensical idea of "releasing children from the contract", even though it has been established that this contract is with Masterminds who are capable of destroying the universe on a whim and who, yes, do indeed basically eat your planet (slowly) even if you win.

I'm fine with it being all metaphorical (since it certainly makes no sense if viewed literally), but even metaphorically--what do the scientists represent? Can anyone come up with an interpretation other than mine? Basically, no matter how I look at it the moral of the story so far is that we should kneel before superior Masterminds and never delve into their secret knowledge, which was not meant for our lowly ape selves. That... that's stupid.

The argument "we should not research that technology, because it could destroy the universe" loses a lot of its weight when 'that technology' is already being used by evil Masterminds who have expressed a willingness to destroy our universe. Maybe the show's moral really is that it's better to let the Masterminds threaten us, kill us, use our children as gladiatorial slaves, eat us, or whatever than it is to research evil evil technology and become like the Masterminds ourselves--but the writers should make that argument honestly. Right now, it feels like they aren't; they're just slapping evil-looking faces on all the scientist characters and repeatedly telling us how evil they are. It doesn't wash... are we supposed to be fighting the Masterminds, or not? If we are, what is the show criticizing Kanji's mother for? She valued the struggle to save humanity from the tyranny of the Masterminds above even the life of her own son. As far as I can tell, that is a heroic (if difficult) decision on her part.

Aquillion after watching and understanding episode 21 and reading your entire post I must apologize to the adult characters of the show, particularly Kanji's mother.

It's like you posted the writers have no an exact idea of what they trying to make the audience to comprehend and realize.

Spoiler:

I guess that if you ask my opinion the masterminds are truly the evil ones for the fact that they do as they please and nothing or no one can touch. It is them that put those little robot games and have naive people to be contracted with them to fight for their Earth as gladiators against other group of people, belonging to a different Earth piloting the robot.

The problem is without minding whoever wins at the end it is all for nothing because the Masterminds will suck the surviving Earth's life force dry, thus making the sacrifice of the players a meaningless speck of dust.

If there's even the faintest trace of man-made hope, then maybe and just maybe Kanji's sacrifice would have not been wasted.

Something that maybe Yoshikawa-hakase and the scientists that unearthed and maybe the key to maybe communicating with the masterminds or releasing the current Earth from the contract.

The trouble is that there's no time with only three more battles on tow, and Koemushii is turning more devilish than ever offering Ushiro to take on its job as the successor.

With Kanji gone now I am fearful for the siblings and what's going to happen to them.

Yes, the show has ended about three weeks ago, but I'm taking my time to enjoy the subs as they come in and approaching step by step towards the conclusion.

[Guido]

Praise to The-Triad since their pace at keep their releasing has been steady and consistent. I am just two episodes away from the conclusion, and since twenty-two was the last calm before the storm the remaining ones I hope they'll deliver a memorable climax.

Since the story has reached its last pause point, I felt somewhat relieved that Jun and Kana were able to spend some time as family.

Spoiler:

Episode twenty-two is a retelling from Jun and Kana's past but spending their childhood growing together with their father, as Mr. Ushiro eventually fullfilled his dream to construct the school.

It was not easy for Mr. Ushiro to raise both children knowing beforehand that he was keeping the truth from Jun as per request of Tanaka.

I believe it was a lack of communication that caused insecurity between father and son, and which initially led Jun to misunderstand that his father was alienating him.

The truth is that Mr. Ushiro truly loves and grows concerned for him just as he is worried about Kana.

When Jun found out that his father kept the sketch that he (Jun) made and placed it at the study it was a moment of sorrow and happiness for Jun. Because if he had realized that his father really loved him, then he wouldn't have taken Kana away from home and he would likely be eager than anyone to be a student at the school his father created.

It dawns the resolve on Jun that he's planning not to be overwhelmed by fear of death, and ask from Machi if she's possible to intercede with Koemushii for Kana's safety not to be involved in the contract.

From the preview I am expecting how will Machi do?
Jun knew as well that he felt Machi was very lonely and with no place to go and chose to invite her to his and Kana's home to share their family moments with her as well together.