(L) Bokurano

[prince leon]

Triad just released episode 1.

[Lost]

Triad has subbed Bokurano. Looking forward to this.


Add// I'm afraid all I can do right now is watch the OP; but... wow. I love the song, and already, this looks like it is going to be good. Will watch the rest of the episode tomorrow. And a little early speculation; could "Uninstall" echo their thoughts towards the "game"? On second thoughts, I wonder if this will be similar to Red Garden.

[Muddle!]

Originally Posted by Diedrupo

Hm, I thought it was Waku, but doesnt' sound like him. Which sucks because Waku narrated the beginning of the manga...

That was Waku in the beginning he was just talking in a more serious tone.

For now I am approaching this show cautiously. It seems like it will provide very interesting drama but I still don't know if I will be able to handle some of the twists. I guess I will just have to wait and see how it unfolds for now (and hope nothing bad happens to Kana-chan ).

[aardvark]

Originally Posted by chrno_the_sinner

That was definitely a well done first episode. It also clinched a thought I had about the manga:

Spoiler for the manga:

Yoko Machi is most likely the one who is not bound to the contract, due to her being (a) forced and (b) the last one to make the contract. The anime showed the order very clearly. Of course, we'll probably get this confirmed or denied after the current character.

I thought the exact same thing incidentally.

But then again we're going to have wait and see what approach the anime takes as it gets closer to the end.

...Man I can't get enough of this the OP. The full length single needs to hurry and come out!

[Skyfall]

Not bad for a 1st ep... though i do hate the slow giant robot fights - getting enough of that from Reideen >.< ... i think i got a Gantz vibe while watching this Didn't like the character designs though.

So...they will have to take turns at piloting the robot? What happens once you have won your shift? Do you still get teleported to the robot, or ?...

I think i will be sticking to this for a while.

[Conan-san]

To the lot of you who haven't read the manga, keep watching. It's an eye opener and a half once things come out.

And like Shadow star before it, it's just as messed up.

[Scribble]

Yep, for those who have watched the first episode, don't you dare think of not watching the next 2 or 3.

Lol, what am I saying? I haven't even seen the first episode yet. *Watches.*

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by aardvark

...Man I can't get enough of this the OP. The full length single needs to hurry and come out!

It has a June release i believe. Yeah, i'm pissed at that -- Uninstall captures the spirit of the show perfectly. Easily one of the best OP's i've ever heard.

[martino]

Episode 1 thoughts; Not seen the manga, nor heard about it, but this series certainly looks very interesting. At least from my own perspective. Animation really looks nice, the character designs however look like Ghibli work to me. I wonder why...

[aardvark]

Originally Posted by martino

Episode 1 thoughts; Not seen the manga, nor heard about it, but this series certainly looks very interesting. At least from my own perspective. Animation really looks nice, the character designs however look like Ghibli work to me. I wonder why...

The character designer Kenichi Konishi was/is an animator at Ghibli.

[martino]

Now that makes perfect sense...

[Sonhex]

Originally Posted by aardvark

The character designer Kenichi Konishi was/is an animator at Ghibli.

And director Hiroyuki Morita is a Ghibli veteran (directed Cat Returns, worked on Kiki) and composer Yuuji Nomi scored Cat Returns and Whisper Of The Heart. A lot of Ghibli influence all round in Bokurano...

[Jiji]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

So...they will have to take turns at piloting the robot? What happens once you have won your shift? Do you still get teleported to the robot, or ?...

If you win your shift, you get a little prize.

[Scribble]

I liked the way the characters were established. 15 characters and by end of the first episode I felt the significance of every single one of them, thanks to the seaside and 'name announcing scene'. And while at first, it feels like you're just meeting 'the spunky one', the 'mature' one, the 'shy' one, etc., it's the way how these 'expected' personalities are applied to a situation outside their comfort zone (i.e. Not in a school setting where the biggest conflict is a panty thief) which makes Bokurano so interesting.

Do you know what was cool? The mecha scene wasn't all stylised and explosive, like something from Code Geass. It was the opposite: they fought clumsily and moved clunkily and sluggishly. It screamed "This is what mecha fighting is REALLY like, kids. Doesn't seem so fun now, does it?" This is exactly what Narutaru did with Pokemon, and the reason why I love Kitoh's manga the way I do, because they show you an overblown version of the reason why those Saturday morning kids action shows always have "Don't Try this at Home" at the end.

This showed through other parts of the first episode, such as the way the earth was shaking and people were freaking out as the robots were fighting. I'm sure I'm not the only person who - in other mecha series - sees the cocky pilot fighting evil in his mecha while unintentionally laying waste to the city, and thinks "What about the people in them?" We generally tend to shrug this off, because we don't hear any screams or people burning to death, like they would do if it happened in real life. To some extent, the first episode of Bokurano establishes that the chaos the robots are causing isn't temporary, and everything is at risk....something that may play a role later on

I didn't really have any issues with the first episode, but as a personal thing, I sort of wished that the entire episode had a kind of melancholy (even depressing) atmosphere the whole way through. I think it's something which should have slowly been introduced as the kids realised how unfun the game would be. I think I interpreted the corresponding part in the manga as "Yay, they're going to fight evil! It'll be a fun, happy action packed adventure" until

Spoiler for manga event:

Waku's slip

where Kitoh suddenly appears before you, wags his finger and says: "Oops, no it isn't." I guess them making it melancholy the whole way through is just a way of making Bokurano gritty.

I love this series already. I only read around 2 volumes of the manga, where I stopped and said to myself that I should wait for it to be animated (since Narutaru was). Soon later, I believed that Bokurano would never get animated, but I never found the right time to start reading the manga again. Then the anime was announced, and I'm glad it worked out this way.

[Diedrupo]

Originally Posted by chrno_the_sinner

That was definitely a well done first episode. It also clinched a thought I had about the manga:

Spoiler for the manga:

Yoko Machi is most likely the one who is not bound to the contract, due to her being (a) forced and (b) the last one to make the contract. The anime showed the order very clearly. Of course, we'll probably get this confirmed or denied after the current character.

Spoiler:

The order in the anime is meaningless because the kids clearly went out of order. However I agree on the hypothesis of Yoko Machi not being bound to the contract because she was last to sign it, in the manga.

[Zappster]

Originally Posted by Scribble

Do you know what was cool? The mecha scene wasn't all stylised and explosive, like something from Code Geass. It was the opposite: they fought clumsily and moved clunkily and sluggishly. It screamed "This is what mecha fighting is REALLY like, kids. Doesn't seem so fun now, does it?" This is exactly what Narutaru did with Pokemon, and the reason why I love Kitoh's manga the way I do, because they show you an overblown version of the reason why those Saturday morning kids action shows always have "Don't Try this at Home" at the end.

This showed through other parts of the first episode, such as the way the earth was shaking and people were freaking out as the robots were fighting. I'm sure I'm not the only person who - in other mecha series - sees the cocky pilot fighting evil in his mecha while unintentionally laying waste to the city, and thinks "What about the people in them?" We generally tend to shrug this off, because we don't hear any screams or people burning to death, like they would do if it happened in real life. To some extent, the first episode of Bokurano establishes that the chaos the robots are causing isn't temporary, and everything is at risk....something that may play a role later on

I don't know. I think the civilian reaction stuff has been done plenty of times before in mecha shows, with people freaking out etc... Also the clunky, slow mecha combat was in the new Reideen a few weeks back and there probably is other examples. So these aspects didn't impress me quite as much.

[Diedrupo]

Originally Posted by Zappster

I don't know. I think the civilian reaction stuff has been done plenty of times before in mecha shows, with people freaking out etc... Also the clunky, slow mecha combat was in the new Reideen a few weeks back and there probably is other examples. So these aspects didn't impress me quite as much.

IMO the mecha part of Bokurano is really more part of the premise than the story. It's not really meant to be a visceral experience like in most other mecha anime.

[Scribble]

Originally Posted by Zappster

I don't know. I think the civilian reaction stuff has been done plenty of times before in mecha shows, with people freaking out etc... Also the clunky, slow mecha combat was in the new Reideen a few weeks back and there probably is other examples. So these aspects didn't impress me quite as much.

I thought it was impressive the way they emphasised the "harsh realities" of piloting the Zearth after it was promoted as being a 'game' : No epic music, the fact that Kokopelli was so "meh, this is how it's done, I'll leave you to it" about it, general clunkiness and underwhelming aspect of it (This includes the shots inside Zearth) and the fact they showed the people suffering as the Zearth was doing its 'heroic thing.' (As opposed to them suffering because the 'evil mecha' shot a death ray at them) You may see what I mean as the story progresses.

[TronDD]

Awesomeness. I agree that the OP is perfect for the story.

I'm very impressed so far. A lot of the key points that become important later were all shown well. I just hope they aren't as obvious to those who have not read the manga yet.

[Sorrow-K]

Ep 1.

Man, this is crap. It's like some sort of Pokemon crap. There's no way it could possible get good after this.

I always laugh when people have this reaction to the first ep of Narutaru. This first ep was no where near as misleading as that, and there's already hints of an incredible malevolence to come. Although it sort of helps (or hinders) that this time round, we're all expecting it. Still, the hope is that this time round a Kitoh manga will finally get an anime adaptation it deserves, after Narutaru unfortunately chose a terrible place to end (all history now).

Nonetheless, I have huge expectations for this, and provided the execution is decent, I can't see any obvious reason why it won't deliver. Kitoh is a type of author that pushes boundaries, which is something that almost always gets my thumbs up.