06 Aug 2006
Posted by Martin
I've come to realise that
Bokura Ga Ita isn't going to be one of those series in which the melodramatic or wholly unexpected happens unless it goes into a serious change of direction. That said the everyday lives of Nana, Yano and their friends are interesting enough in themselves so that isn't such a bad thing.
This is where Nana's and Yano's relationship starts proper I suppose, as Nana goes through the nerve-wracking first confession of her life. At first perplexed by Yano's answer, she begins to understand his way of thinking and reacting to those around him; nevertheless there are some entertaining moments where she goes from loving to all-out hating him during the course of the episode. It's a mixture of Yano's flippant way of expressing itself and Nana's naivety I think, and truth be told they both still have yet to come to terms with their own feelings.
There are a couple of incidents that progress their relationship a little further including the upcoming school festival, which leads to Yano showing his more responsible side and helping Nana out of a tight spot. Another is a run-in with some rather irritating girls that he hangs around with who, being the narrow-minded sort of teens that they are, start insulting one of Nana's classmates and cause her to lose her cool a bit.
This is something that may be a recurring theme in
Bokura Ga Ita: in an overall atmosphere of light humour, shoujo-friendly pastel shaded artwork and trivial situations there are moments of quite dark and heavy drama that take you by surprise at times. The story behind Yano's ex-girlfriend (not to mention his own mother!) still isn't clear but whether that's because of rumours or Yano's offhanded way of explaining things, I don't know. It's at least building up an impression of the characters as being quite deep and complex, which is always a good thing in my experience. :)
Nana's inner monologue helped me to keep track of what she's thinking but I can understand why she's having trouble working Yano out. It's quite tame and whimsical stuff but
Bokura Ga Ita has an interesting enough cast to keep me interested. I suspect that fans of shows such as
Honey and Clover (someday I hope I'll find the time to watch that one) will especially enjoy the sedately paced 'slice-of-life' vibe of this series.
[Filed under Anime Reviews]
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