The End of the World

[Categories: OAVs, Movies and Full Series]

Bokurano: final thoughts

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Bokurano]

So, Bokurano finally reaches its conclusion. It’s disappointing to see so few of us have followed this show to the end after all that controversy, because all things considered the ending isn’t too bad at all. Hopefully these musings will help you see the show in a better light, or at least understand how its shortcomings are not necessarily as disasterous as they appear to be. I’ve also added a READ MOAR tag because this post is going to be a long one.

Don’t feel sorry for him, guys. He deserved it. OWNED.

As Son Gohan predicted, Machi took Kana’s place for the next battle but what was even more surprising was the long-overdue demise of Dung Beetle. I’m not vindictive by nature so wouldn’t wish undue suffering on anyone but given his insults, insensitivity and downright cruelty that he wilfully aimed at kids who already had enough to deal with, Dung Beetle thoroughly deserved to meet the end he did. He was betrayed in the worst way possible and I take no shame in feeling satisfaction that it hurt: someone who inflicted pain on others deserved no less than feeling even a part of it for himself. Machi on the other hand felt responsible for a lot of things that had happened but I don’t believe she necessarily deserved a cold and lonely end in the snow; nevertheless its sad nature evidently gave her a sense of atonement and release that she felt she needed.

Machi bows out in style

So, things turn towards Kana and Jun. I’ll deal with Jun first but both are deserving of some attention. Right from the outset I loved to hate Jun: he was selfish, weak, spiteful and a whole lot more; by the end though he had become a better person and died doing ‘the right thing’ and avoiding the path of further selfishness that would have led him to becoming the next Dung Beetle. The final battle was suitably epic and brutal: a sensation reinforced by Jun’s repeated attacks, parries and periods of exhaustion. He even had to stop to eat at one point - the whole event lasted thirteen hours or thereabouts. THIRTEEN HOURS! I even felt a bit more tired just watching the toll it was taking on Jun and his unseen opponent! Despite its length, this final battle actually reminded me a little of Asuka’s mindblowing last stand in End of Evangelion. In both cases, a thoroughly unpleasant and troubled young mecha pilot, who the viewer dislikes all the way through the series, makes one final push in the face of certain death and somehow wins over our affections in spectacular and heart-rending style. As the battle progressed, you could see Jun understand the significance and cost of what he was doing - he even found some meaning of his struggle and the terrible price that was paid; in these final episodes we were finally offered signs of his character developing and maturing.

Never forget…

The structure of the series gave a shifting focus that hovered over each child in turn so some didn’t always get the attention they deserved. In Jun’s case though, we saw a late-in-the-day change that, like many of the kids who fought, led him to confront his demons, make peace with them and wind up a better individual. his arc was a surprise highlight in the series which placed it alongside a myriad of memorable faces, all of whom had a fascinating tale to tell.

Kana is left as the sole survivor so it’s heartening to see her growing up and getting on with life. The scene towards the end, where she meets one of the Daichi’s brothers, offers opportunity to explain the significance of their sacrifice and, hopefully, make a difference for their lives in the future in doing so. Because it was sacrifice. With the only other option being annihilation, these kids all decided to fight for the right for their world to survive, even though they were certain to die. Kana’s final retelling might seem cheesy but it carried on one of the central messages I took from the show: they learned from the mistakes and flaws of those who had gone before and broke the cycle of bad judgement and unhappiness that had blighted their own short lives - despite personal problems almost all of them found it in his or herself to stand up and defend what was precious to them.

You’ll feel sorry for him by the end. No, really, you will

Unfortunately the series was far from perfect. I’ve gone over my own criticisms and potential justifications already but I will say this: THIS IS MY REVIEW FOR THE ANIME, NOT THE MANGA. As such, I’m judging it as a completely separate work that takes the same premise but in its own direction - I’m hoping to check the original story out sometime soon since I’ve heard so many good things. Nevertheless, some sticking points of this adaptation still stand. The Tower was reduced to footnote which offered little more than reiterating the folly of the Bokurano world (i.e. grown-ups are idiots, which we knew already). More seriously, the introduction of the Masterminds became a huge loose end that was never tied up; there’s no satisfying middle ground between explaining the point adequately and leaving it out of the equation in the first place. The whole idea offered nothing to the story and served no useful purpose. It just felt out-of-place and unecessary.

Artistically Bokurano wasn’t outstanding but it still wasn’t particularly shabby; if nothing else it was at least consistent. The incidental music score and the second end theme were pretty good too, although I prefer the first end tune over the second. The opening theme on the other hand was one of my favourites to date - utterly beautiful and carrying a lot more meaning when you read the translations of the lyrics.

In closing, I’d like to draw attention to a point that helped me come to terms with the series’ flaws. The title (I’m hoping the hiragana shows up right) was ぼくらの, which if I’m not mistaken translates as ‘of us’ or ‘ours’. It’s very vague, which is possibly deliberate. I took it to mean that the story is centred not on a whole universe or a whole country, but the circle of friends who were involved: ‘our’ fate, ‘our’ struggle. Any politics, side-characters and so on that are relevant are relevant because they are important from the children’s perspective. So what if we never find out who the Masterminds were? Sure, it’s a nuisance but the important things were the kids’ families, their friends, their hopes and their dreams.

A more grown-up Kana

Bokurano was never a mecha adventure, although it featured mecha. It was not a political or military thriller, although politics and the military were involved. It was focused on how a situation affected fifteen ordinary lives, fifteen innocent young people who were unfairly given the task of fighting for a cause they did not understand, paying a price that was unfairly high. The anime of Bokurano was not a perfect portrayal of this but nevertheless for me at least it adequately conveyed their story which was in turns tragic, cruel but strangely hopeful. It also hit the viewer with cold, hard, reality (within the realms of the decidedly unrealistic mecha genre, no less!) while asking, but not necessarily answering, the question: is our world really worth saving when innocents suffer for our sake? This question is indeed Ours to answer.

[Filed under OAVs, Movies and Full Series]  [Tags: Bokurano]

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