Bokurano - Mohiro Kitoh-san's latest manga series

[Diedrupo]

Duo Himura pretty much sums up the purpose of Bokurano's story. I still can't believe people are questioning it. What did you expect to happen instead?

Spoiler:

A stop to the fights? Just be glad that the earth the kids fought for was saved in the end, and delight yourself in the interesting twist of Dung Beetle turning into a pilot and Sasami becoming the next Dung Beetle (now that was completely unexpected).

[Renan]

That was a terrible ending. I really wish Ushiro's fight had more detail to it and I really wanted to see the last battle. Oh well, at least it's a good end...sort of.

[Soconfused]

Originally Posted by Renan

That was a terrible ending. I really wish Ushiro's fight had more detail to it and I really wanted to see the last battle. Oh well, at least it's a good end...sort of.

Exactly. I almost expect there were some pages missing or something, Ushiro's fight ended so abruptly. Maybe thats what rubbed me the wrong way. It was a pretty mediocre "final" battle after everything that led up to it.

[Rion]

I just randomly downloaded some raws that called it chapter 65.1 and where there was a big "1" on the first page, but on the other hand, that chapter ends with "Bokurano/end". That left me a little confused. It's possible that there might be some epilogue coming up, but it seems that this chapter actually said everything needed.

As for myself, it was a chapter that felt underwhelming but then gains a lot of depth with a second and third reading - and after reading you guys' thoughts here. And by the way, personally I find it very ironic how the most uplifting part of the whole end involves a teacher: The only scene with pupils surrounding teachers I have seen in real life was completely staged by some hypocritical parents and the only other occasion I see those kinds of scenes is on propaganda books... I could go on and on about the role of a teacher in society and what Mohiro Kitoh might or might not think about it, but I feel like I'm not in the position to.

[Narutaru4ever]

Hey I havn't comment in a long time, I mostly been stalking this forum lately. I just finished reading the final chapter and I'm pretty much...speechless. It feel soo rushed not as bad as narutaru ending but still..I want a proper ending to a very good manga

[jesterX1]

As Bokurano ends , i'd like to discuss the difference of DB between anime ver. and manga ver. :

In anime ,
1. DB(s) take less responsibility but more power. They can do anything what they desire because there's no responsibility in fullfilling pilots' needs.
2. When one earth's all battles end, they don't need inherit the role of DB , however , they can appoint one more new DB if they find suitable one.
They can just choose another "Kokopeli", but kokopeli can survive in next battle like "girl monitor".
(e.g. Shiro Machi keeps acting DB for several earths around 3 yrs until he's killed by Yoko Machi)
4. DBs need to complete the battles for more than one earth, at least "Machi DB" 's comittment doesn't finish even he is on duty over 3 yrs.

In manga ,
1. DB(s) take more responsibility, they have to fulfill all pilots needs unconditionally. In fact this rule limits their power upon the pilots.
2. When one earth's all battles end, DBs need to inherit their role to another, and choose a new "Kokopeli" for next earth, then they can return back to human and survive (but kokopeli can't survive after next battle)
3. DB(s) have just 2 apperal emotion : one is smiling with showing its teeth, another is smiling with shutting mouth. Therefore white DB grumbled nobody can see his anger and regret after Yoko's death due to his body. (in anime ver. we can see DB is able to show more emotions like anger)
4. DBs just need to complete the battle of one earth, then they can inherit the role for another earth.

[Digi-Dragon]

Spoiler for Chapter 65:

Well, I can't believe I actually called the ending. Dung Beetle as the new Kokopelli. It was one thing I actually didn't want to be right about, because I like manga!Dung Beetle a lot.

The shot with all the empty chairs floating around him just sort of broke me. I think that's the point where I started tearing up, to be honest. And his thoughts of "ending up just like Ushiro" got to me too - because I took that as signing up only after his little sister died.

For those who are unhappy about not showing Ushiro's battle... We all knew what he would have to do at that point - blow up the entire other world. I'm actually sort of glad they didn't show it. Ushiro didn't want to do it, so we don't see it.

[Renan]

But I wanted to watch Ushiro's mental breakdown some more >_>

Also am I the only one who thought the anime ending was better than the manga's ending? I just thought the anime had a much better final battle and it had emotional scenes.

[ShootingStars]

thank you duo for explaining point of full circle manga

[ZeusIrae]

Personnaly, I was quite "satisfied" by Ushiro's fight. I don't think Kitoh could have done more really. He destroy an entire world and we see this destruction, not through his eyes( that would be too easy) but through the eyes of the people he is killing. It really was the best way to show the scale and the horror of what is was doing, IMO.

As for the end, well I am a little lost with Dung Beetle's story but it's OK. Chapter 64 was a good conclusion but 65 five wasn't bad, the homage to mecha anime was touching but also very ironic. Bokurano is a complete negation of mecha anime, especially Super Robot. But in a weird way it's still about the same themes: courage, the will to protect, etc.

[jesterX1]

Although teacher Kito has finished Bokurano's special chapter which is supposed to be released in IKKI magazine, however , IKKI seems dissatisfied with the content (Rumours is there's some obscene content about primary students' sex, however Narutaru contains too)
The result is IKKI refused to release that, teacher Kito claimes he has to find another magazine which allows his chapter to be released.

[Bijoux]

Originally Posted by jesterX1

Although teacher Kito has finished Bokurano's special chapter which is supposed to be released in IKKI magazine, however , IKKI seems dissatisfied with the content (Rumours is there's some obscene content about primary students' sex, however Narutaru contains too)
The result is IKKI refused to release that, teacher Kito claimes he has to find another magazine which allows his chapter to be released.

Uhoh
Sounds like a pretty interesting chapter. Maybe Afternoon will publish it, since it ran both Narutaru and Wings of Vendemiaire.

On a slightly different note, anyone heard of this: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-cycling-manga
I'm pretty curious about it. The description given by ANN makes it sound like a normal manga, so I'm wondering if this marks a new direction for Kitoh, or if not mush is known about it yet, and it will still include some of his classic plot devices/twists.

[ShootingStars]

the anime ending was better imo

quote: "ouu whoooh oooooa install....." lol the theme is enticing

[stpehen]

Kitoh's always been big into cycling so this doesn't surprise me at all. He's always pursued his areas of intense interest within his manga.

And on a somewhat related note, I can't claim that I'm really all that torn up about the aforementioned rumors about no bonus chapter due to child sex content. That theme has been recurring throughout his work for the past decade or more, and his obsession with it is really distasteful and grating. If it happens once, maybe the author is exploring a new theme. If it happens a half-dozen times, well..........

[Digi-Dragon]

I was wondering if anyone's read the Bokurano: Alternative light novel. I just took a look at the list of chapter names at wikipedia and if they're named anything like the manga's chapters...well, it certainly looks very different. Anyone want to give a rundown of what happened for those of us who don't read Japanese?

[Lostdreams]

I just finished reading this in 2 days, and I must say it was really awesome and exceeded my expectations.

[Von Himmel]

Primary students sex w00t? o.o;
Hoping for Machi and Ushiro scene lol.
I wonder if Kitoh-sensei will find a magazine that will publish it. .

[Bijoux]

Originally Posted by stpehen

And on a somewhat related note, I can't claim that I'm really all that torn up about the aforementioned rumors about no bonus chapter due to child sex content. That theme has been recurring throughout his work for the past decade or more, and his obsession with it is really distasteful and grating. If it happens once, maybe the author is exploring a new theme. If it happens a half-dozen times, well..........

Interesting. You make a good point. I 'v never really thought of it as an obsession before. This gives me food for thought.

[Duo Himura]

Originally Posted by stpehen

And on a somewhat related note, I can't claim that I'm really all that torn up about the aforementioned rumors about no bonus chapter due to child sex content. That theme has been recurring throughout his work for the past decade or more, and his obsession with it is really distasteful and grating. If it happens once, maybe the author is exploring a new theme. If it happens a half-dozen times, well..........

Way late to the party, but I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that. A lot of Kitoh's works deal with children because, generally speaking, he's using them as a microcosm of the human race as a whole who haven't necessarily gotten as worn down with ideas like "responsibility" etc. that adults have to contend with. And when you're dealing with children as primary characters, the subject of "innocence" and what that means is usually never far off. And well, one of the common meanings of "innocent" is "chaste," so.

Plus, from a strictly metaphorical standpoint, sex involving underage characters in a story can have a lot of theme-developing applications. Not to endorse beating the concept to death (though it'd be hard for Kitoh to do that to a greater extent than things like Law and Order already have), or necessarily graphic depictions thereof (though really, Kitoh's style pretty much makes any sexual scene more disturbing than anything... so I don't really think it'd be lolicon-bait, though what do I know?), but there are purely thematic reasons for him to do stuff like that. I think the innocence thing was a big point in Narutaru, for instance, given where that story goes.

Admittedly the man may be pushing it, though. Having only read two of his works I can't really speak to whether he's beaten the concept to death or not.

[Selo]

Originally Posted by Duo Himura

Plus, from a strictly metaphorical standpoint, sex involving underage characters in a story can have a lot of theme-developing applications. Not to endorse beating the concept to death (though it'd be hard for Kitoh to do that to a greater extent than things like Law and Order already have), or necessarily graphic depictions thereof (though really, Kitoh's style pretty much makes any sexual scene more disturbing than anything... so I don't really think it'd be lolicon-bait, though what do I know?), but there are purely thematic reasons for him to do stuff like that. I think the innocence thing was a big point in Narutaru, for instance, given where that story goes.

Admittedly the man may be pushing it, though. Having only read two of his works I can't really speak to whether he's beaten the concept to death or not.

I've read most of his tales and, admittedly, there is much sex in stories like Narutaru where it contributes to the plot, but when you look his work as a whole he uses any sex as character development or social commentary. Bokurano has some sex but I wouldn't call it a major theme - Chizu's story, for example, uses betrayal and rape as a heartbreaking backstory.

I'd say besides his two big stories, Hallucination From the Womb has the most sex, but it contributes to the strange underground world in which the stories take place. Again, he uses it for themes and creepiness and human urges and all that. Zansho and Wings Of Vendemiaire have almost none.

I've never been "disturbed" by Kitoh's sex scenes just because he shows so little. I've said this before, but his naked girls look like Barbie dolls. I do think that's his art style. Because of the complex, dark plots surrounding every one of his works I wouldn't dare to call it just shameless lolicon bait. Kitoh doesn't use child sex just for the sake of it, and in the stories without it you'll see that it's not there because it wasn't needed to tell the story.