The manga series named Bokurano is a highly controversial and divisive narrative that, at its core, is a tale about human desire, nature and value. The story of Bokurano starts when a group of 15 children inadvertently sign a contract to save their world by piloting a giant mech, “Zearth”, and battling other, more dubious mechs. The start is rather slow, with the true nature of the series’ tone being initially elusive, but it quickly becomes apparent that neither the reader nor the characters were aware of the severity of their situation, which they are no longer able to escape. Once their predicament has been revealed, the manga becomes darker, with victory seeming impossible and the characters falling one by one.

The story, after the reveal, revolves around each of the fifteen pilots battling their own adversary, mustering as much daring and tactical ability as they can, often needing to sacrifice both the lives of their comrades and their firmly established ideologies. One of the merits of the story is that, much like Evangelion before it, it chooses to focus on sociological and psychological undertones within a context in which they can believably exist, rather than settling for a run-of-the-mill action romp. There isn’t a single punching-contest style battles; every conflict is emotionally charged and relevant to at least two characters. Not only does this make the stakes feel higher and the sacrifices more heart-breaking, but it allows huge variety between the battles, which could easily have felt repetitive and uninspired. Each struggle feels genuine, with no battle feeling like a shallow rehash or obligatory plot device. However, this can also lead to some horrifically slow pacing, which, though usually feeling relatively natural and relevant, sometimes feels like padding required for the chapter to reach its designated length. Also, in tune with the earlier variation, some of the character stories and moments don’t hit with quite the force of others. Like Evangelion, the series deviates from its monster of the week format more greatly as the series continues, becoming more and more complex, bordering on convoluted, but the depressing atmosphere and feeling of inevitable loss remain from beginning to end. On the whole, though, the story is sufficiently engaging for a reader with sufficient patience and investment. I read the whole manga series in one week, and couldn’t imagine reading it in any other way.

The characters, as was mentioned earlier, are where Bokurano is a particular stand out. Each character is deeply flawed, with the overcoming of their insecurities or weaknesses being driven by the uncertainty that they now find themselves facing. No two characters feel too identical, and they all have meaningful relationships with their families, friends and often other Zearth pilots, which ground them and give us a sense of deeply understanding who they are and what they believe in. This understanding gives us context into the part of them that’s really at the core of the narrative: if we were to die within a week, what would we want to do? Would we about business as usual, and not want to upset the flow of the world? Would we say our final goodbyes to our loved ones, devoting our final moments to others? Would we seek out our final opportunity to appease our selfish desires of violence, sex or revenge? Unless the reader is a robot or a perfect human, these questions would doubtlessly have appeared at least once to them. Given the nature of the story, I cannot go into detail without considerable spoilers, but Chizuru Honda and Kirei Yousuke do manage to stand above their contemporaries in terms of memorability.

The supporting characters serve their part well, seeming completely aware of their dire situation while also remembering that their lives lie in the hands of children, and treating them with appropriate delicacy and understanding without coming off as condescending or brash. The opposing mechs and their respective pilots are ominous and overbearing without detracting from the emotional core of the story, but the real star of the series is Dung Beetle. Much like Kyubey, he immediately arouses suspicion with his harsh attitude and cold, insulting demeanour, but even he has more layers than what is initially portrayed, and it’s easy for the audience to relate to, and even support, him towards the end of the story. This cast is ultimately what saves Bokurano when the pacing slows to a crawl or if the reader isn’t that interested in mech battles.

The art for Bokurano is just as interesting as its story and characters. At first it appears unremarkable; clean and polished, but without having much of an identity. However, that the side characters and the main characters have similar levels of detail and each individual character can be told apart from the others does set this series apart. The characters, for the most part, do not view themselves as exceptional, unbeatable individuals who deserve to be the stars of the story, and the art reflects this, painting them as regular people in extraordinary circumstances. There are also subtle differences between the characters in Bokurano and other manga, from a design perspective. The ears are oddly detailed, and the eyes are a similar size to those of real people; this gives the series a much more realistic aesthetic, which, combined with the unusually minimalistic range of expressions and simple levels of detail, makes look and feel more human than many series with a less high-concept setting. The mechs, particularly the enemies, are well-designed and unpredictable, with much of the tension in the battle arising from learning what they can do, what they will do and what their motivations and level of understanding are.

On the whole, Bokurano is not a series for people who want a flashy fun happy-go-lucky shounen with bright colours and brighter characters. It is an ugly, honest presentation of human weakness, strength, desire and nature that holds little sympathy for its readers/viewers. Its story, characters and art style all work cohesively to present a story that is simple on the surface, yet is underscored by a focus on humanity and youth.