No reviews for this? You're killing me.

Bokurano is probably the most nihilistic thing ever written. In essence, it's a series of 15 short stories about these 15 kids who are trapped in a competition where they gotta pilot a 500m tall robot. If they lose, the world is screwed. Gradually, through a series of well written and shocking twists, everything about their mission ends up being bad for them and pretty much everyone around them. It's a brutally realistic depiction of what you'd get if you actually did put a bunch of middle schoolers in charge of this sort of thing. Some are wannabe heroes, others have mental breakdowns, at least one goes on a murdering rampage, and a few just don't care. It also turns out that people don't like it when you fight in the middle of a city and cause 10,000 casualties.

How tragic is this series? Well, sometimes you can actually hear the author chuckling in the background as one of these kids gets their lives or minds completely destroyed. On occasion a few of these tales end on a heartwarming or content note, but I suspect that's only because Kitoh had stomach worms at the time or something.

But the thing is, even though this story is soul crushing, it's continuously gripping. I read the whole thing over the course of a weekend in a feverish marathon, something I never do for anything. Each child's story is unique and interesting, and every time one ended and another one came up, my reaction would be "I don't care about this kid, that last one was so good how can this one compare?" and every time without fail, I would be blown away.That kid's unique struggle and subsequent battle would set them totally apart from everyone else, and be good enough to stand as its own story. Kitoh is that good of an author, and even though he's royally screwed up in the head(as shown by this, Narutaru, His Murder Plan, and everything else he's ever written) he knows how to put a method into his madness. The guy is a genius, but I don't think I'd ever want to meet him.

In terms of art, all the human characters are wirey and lacking in detail. Backgrounds are elaborate, but sharp and have a sort of blank feeling to them. Objects like vehicles are interesting and futuristic without being outlandish. The art style is perfect for Kitoh's style of writing, honestly. The main attraction is the "mecha" designs though. These things are not Gundams. They absolutely enormous, with styles varying between vaguely insectoid and completely abstract. Kitoh's mind is not limited to his eccentric writing, it caries over into his artwork. You generally do not see anything as weird as this guy's stuff in any comic.

Now let's talk about the anime for a sec. The anime version of Bokurano sucks. The director hated the manga's story because it was too bleak, and tried to rewrite it himself. It turns out that that guy did not have the ability to outdo our mildly psychotic author here. The result was a pretty show with an amazing OP, but a sucky story and a lame ending. Speaking of endings, the manga ending is incredible. It's not awe inspiring or anything like that, it's just a beautiful ending that completely fit the story.

In terms of being a realistic deconstruction of the mecha genre, this series completely stomps Evangelion through and through. And most other giant robot series for that matter. You actually might not be able to enjoy robot stories after this, since Bokurano turns them completely inside-out. It's almost the polar opposite of Gurren Lagann, but somehow just as awesome.

Viz is publishing this in the US starting in February 2010. I'm totally picking it up.