Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu.

After an enthusiastic invitation from her friend, Kaede Honjou reluctantly agrees to try New World Online: a very popular VRMMO played by thousands of people across Japan. Naming her in-game character Maple, she sets out on her journey. As a complete novice to such games, she allocates all of her stat points into vitality, desiring to not get hurt. With not a single point in any other stat, Maple has extraordinarily high defense, but she can't move quickly or hit hard.

This does not end badly for her, however. Due to her high defense, Maple acquires overpowered skills such as Total Defense, Poison Immunity, and Devour. These skills, along with the incredibly powerful items she obtains, allow her to obliterate most enemies in a single hit. After only a few days of playing the game, Maple claims third place in a server-wide event, gaining a reputation as a player who is both unkillable and absurdly powerful.

Despite her overpowered character, Kaede has much to learn. As she progresses through the game, she meets new friends and acquaintances, helping her complete new levels and events. Through all of her adventures, she may even pick up some other crazy skills that exceed all expectations.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Maple Main

Hondo, Kaede Japanese

Sally Main

Noguchi, Ruriko Japanese

Syrup Supporting

Shimabukuro, Miyuri Japanese

Kanade Supporting

Arai, Satomi Japanese

Kasumi Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Mii Supporting

Satou, Rina Japanese

Iz Supporting

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Yui Supporting

Suwa, Nanaka Japanese

May Supporting

Kakuma, Ai Japanese

Kuromu Supporting

Sugiyama, Noriaki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kaneko, Hayato Producer

Tokumura, Kenichi Producer

Shimosato, Satoru Producer

Reviews

Aug 17, 2024

lycoping

Recommended

I am going to review this as if it were one of either isekai, fantasy, or gaming, because to me, these three genres kind of mix together. I'm going to do that because of all of the anime in this genre, this might be my favorite.

Kaede joins a new VR game, and immediately decides she's going to only focus on defense, because she doesn't want to get hurt. However, in doing so, she finds her niche in the game and becomes, well, absurd. And absurdly OP.

And I loved the chaos.

Let's start with what I love about this anime. I usually do ... not really like fantasy, isekai, or gaming anime, because they tend to be cliched, overdone, a little too action packed, or unrealistic. While this anime contains some tropes that would fit all three, it's unique in my experience amongst anime, because:

1) The game that they're joining is actually a game. A rather unrealistically portrayed one, but we'll get to that later. Let's just say for now that it is, actually, a game. There's no reincarnation into a game world, there's no finding oneself in a game you wrote, nothing like that. The MC can join and leave the game as she desires.
2) The game mechanics are somewhat realistic (not entirely, but again, we'll get to that later). Instead of just getting random skills for no reason, the MC has to actually defeat monsters to do so, and the monsters are, very clearly, designed to be either beaten or to have the illusion of being beaten. NPCs are NPCs - they have scripts that they follow, even if it may not make sense. If you are even a very little bit familiar with games like this (and I definitely fit into the mold of being a "very little bit familiar"), this will all make perfect sense.
3) The MC is not OP just because someone (a God or some such) decided to make them OP. The MC is OP because she was smart (or crazy) enough to intuitively understand the mechanics of the game she's joined, and then, well, exploit them to her own advantage. This is *entirely* the dev/GM's fault (they are depicted as little animate blobs with smiley faced masks, I wonder if this is a comment on actual GMs). It's implied that anyone could have been that OP if they'd just approached the game as she does.

This leads to a great deal of chaos as the MC uses these well-earned OP skills to pretty much run roughshod over the game, to the point where the GMs try (and mostly fail) to nerf her (every time they try she just finds some other absurd thing to do and it ends up not mattering). That is the aspect of this game I loved - the chaos was so amusing, as I wondered (along with everyone else in the game) what kind of chaos she was going to unleash. Many games like this just have an OP character for the sake of being OP, but this one actually is chaotic, and that makes it fun. Even the action scenes are clearly for fun, when a character dies they just deres and disappear, and maybe come back later. So the stakes aren't any higher than in a real game, that is to say, not high at all unless you're somewhat unbalanced.

So, this anime isn't really to be taken seriously, it's just fun, and frankly, that's what I found so refreshing about it. Many other anime of this (these) genre(s) pretend like they don't take it seriously, but they, well, end up taking it seriously anyway. This one never, ever falls into that trap.

Now. Let's go into what I didn't like about it.

The game was, frankly, unrealistic. I understand that it's supposed to be VR, so a certain amount of immersion is necessary, and actually, realistic. But this was not realistic technology. This wasn't anywhere *near* realistic technology. You can't taste or feel (for the most part) or smell or anything like that in a VR game like this, and it was heavily implied (but never outright stated) that you can't log out of the game without, well, logging out. These characteristics are why I lump this in with isekai or fantasy genres, even though it fits more in with the gaming genre. It's as if the writer wanted to have their cake and eat it to, and only mostly succeeded. Also, the "time speed up" aspects used in several parts of the game simply do not, and frankly can not at this point, exist.

If you are willing and/or able to overlook these rather obvious plot holes, you can suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy this anime, but these things are entirely true, and troublesome. It's almost as if the author wanted to write an isekai, and couldn't quite bring themselves to take that final step into fantasy immersion.

Secondly, the MCs home and school life aren't explored at *all*. What about her parents - why aren't they involved in her game playing? She just goes online, and that's where it all is. I guess that makes sense considering, but it's as if they only show her logged out every now and then just to reinforce that it's just a game. Which is fine, I guess, but again, why not just make it an isekai then?

Technically, the art was pretty good. Some of the backgrounds are spectacular, and the action scenes are fairly well animated, if sometimes so quick as to be difficult to interpret. The music was completely and utterly unremarkable, but I guess that's better than being bad. Writing is decent but not excellent... technically, this is just a slightly better than average anime. But, if you consider how many anime are worse than average, that still makes it pretty good. Very little to no actual fanservice, as you might otherwise find in anime of this or adjacent genres, most of the characters had realistic bodies that are reasonably well covered. A couple of characters are more scantily clad and well endowed than others, but, well, you'll find that in real games too, so no big deal. At least it wasn't all of them.. no gore either, that's expressed with perfectly pretty purple pixelated patterned sparklies.

My Crunchyroll and MAL accounts are *littered* with isekai/fantasy anime I could not or didn't want to finish. I'm going to watch season 2, or at least start it. And from me, that's a pretty high compliment, considering I dropped Konosuba, which I would consider a kindred anime in some ways. A recommend from me, but if you like anime of this genre that takes itself or the concept seriously... move on. This is just for fun.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 18, 2024

Peach_Main

Mixed Feelings

What a weird name for an anime. I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is a comedy gaming anime that is just okay. It took me a while to figure out why the community gave it the shortened name "Bofuri." They just took three syllables in the romaji and put them together. Thought I should inform you all about that in case any of you were wondering about where it came from.

The story is fairly simple and lives up to the full title. The main character Kaede Honjo was persuaded by her best friend Risa Shiromine to join the Virtual ... Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game called NewWorld Online. Very generic name for a game if you ask me. NewWorld Online takes place in a fantasy-like setting. I just have to ask, what is the story of this game? Why do the players need to fight monsters and defeat bosses to progress to a new area? What are the backstories of the locations in the game? Regardless, the game looks good. Plus, the anime is made by the studio Silver Link, and they did a great job with this.

While Risa did get Kaede to play the game, Risa herself is not able to join Kaede initially due to an upcoming exam she has to take, so Kaede spends her first few play sessions alone. Going by the name Maple, she decides to invest all her status points into Vitality, going for an absolute defense build. Reminds me of how I play the Mario RPGs. I focused a lot on defensive stats when I play them. With some insane luck and the fact that you can attack enemies and bosses in NewWorld Online by eating them- I'm sorry... WHAT?! Biting them works? What is this game?! Either way, Maple manages to get her hands on some top tier equipment, and they got her third place in the game's first event: A Battle Royale. This comes off as shocking to the community since due to Maple's maximized defense, nothing damages her at all. Maces to the back of the head. Axes to the abdomen. Nothing works. Even Risa herself is shocked to hear the news.

As the anime goes on, Maple forms her own guild, Maple Tree. Here are the members of the guild. First, we have Risa, who goes by Sally in-game, a swashbuckler who specializes in evasion and high-speed offense. She is also serves as a tactician to Maple since they played co-op in the second event. Second, we have Kasumi, a samurai who initially challenged Maple and Sally, but then they had to work together to escape a dungeon they fell into, and now they're comrades. Third is Kanade, a mage player with high levels of intelligence and a master at puzzle-solving. The next two members are Kuromu, who plays with a defense-based build similar to Maple, and Iz, a crafter who creates gear that are made-to-order. Kuromu and Iz are the first two people Maple befriended at the beginning of the anime and directed her to the dungeon where she obtained her current equipment. The last two members are Mai and Yui, two players who placed all their status points into Strength. With such high attack power, they can potentially cause mass destruction.

The members of Maple Tree are happy to be part of the guild and they work together in the third and fourth events, the latter of which is far more important since it's a battle between guilds. There are two Rival Guilds that Maple Tree must stay on high alert for. The first guild is Flame Emperor, led by a female player named Mii who is got fourth place back in the first event. Mii speaks with confidence and charisma which encourages the other members of Flame Emperor. The second and more intimidating guild is Order of the Holy Sword, led by the legendary number one ranked player in all of NewWorld Online, Payne. Not only that, the other members of Order of the Holy Sword are top players as well, one of them is ranked number two and another is ranked number five. Let me remind you that Maple is ranked number three. This should give you an idea of what she's about to be up against by the end of the anime.

If other top players weren't intimidating enough, the game developers of NewWorld Online are also alerted by Maple's unbreakable streak of success. They even tried to put a stop to her by implementing nerfs to her skills. However, Maple always finds a way to emerge victorious no matter what they try. She even gets new abilities in the process. One detail I really appreciate is that there are segments, mostly at the end of episodes, that show a chatlog of people talking about Maple.

While NewWorld Online isn't exactly a game I would play myself if it was real, I can at least appreciate the goofy looking enemies. I daresay they look like enemies from the Mario & Luigi series. Now... this would be where I would've joked about sinking back into depression if I were to have typed this review on an earlier date. This anime did come out shortly after AlphaDream, the development team behind Mario & Luigi filed for bankruptcy. Thank goodness stuff held me back because the joke would've aged poorly since a new Mario & Luigi was announced at the Nintendo Direct on June 18th, 2024. Holy cow! To see it finally making a return made me so happy, and on top of that, I no longer have to feel depressed when looking at the enemies of NewWorld Online. YIPPEE!!!

This anime does have some good tunes to listen to. I love the name of the opening, Ultimate Unbalance. It's the perfect name to match with the fact that Maple's maxed defense is overpowered and breaks the game. The ending, Play the World, is happy and cheerful. The background music goes so well with this anime. I especially like the one that plays during moments of pure chaos. I can't easily describe what it sounds like in writing, but I'm sure you can tell which parts I mean by pure chaos.

With all that said, this anime isn't exactly one hundred percent appealing to me. First, I believe this one scene that takes place outside the game was completely unnecessary and kind of insulting to gamers. I know this is supposed to be a comedy anime, but I don't appreciate the portrayal of Kaede / Maple thinking she's still in NewWorld at school. Seriously, as a person who likes to spend several hours a day on video games, I'm kind of annoyed by that since I never made that mistake once in my life. No person who plays video games does this. These next couple of criticisms are more towards the game NewWorld Online than the anime itself. There is this one quest Maple had to do, and then it reveals to have a Part Two, then a Part Three, and finally a Part Four. I never like it when a game pulls a "Oh you thought you were done" stunt. Even though Maple got a powerful skill for her troubles, I still am annoyed to see the quest be like that. Finally, I brought this up earlier, but I wish there was more lore to explore with the world of NewWorld Online, especially with the first area. Does this first area have a ruler or someone in charge? Again, what is the motivation for players to fight monsters and access the other areas? The anime is purely focuses on the players competing against each other and while I do respect it, I still wish to know more about NewWorld Online's backstory as well as see more fights against enemies and bosses.

I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is all right. It did satiate my desire to watch an anime centered on a video game. I do like the concept of a player who focuses solely on defense, and that alone made this interesting. However, you'd be surprised how I feel about the sequel. For now, I'll leave this at a 7/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 15, 2024

AntonyAV

Not Recommended

"BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense" is a lighthearted slice of life anime about two girl friends adventuring in a virtual reality world while learning about the game, making friends, winning championships, etc... I won't get into any important part of the story but I'll need to speak a little about the things that happen in this anime to explain why I disliked it.

The world is interesting and the characters are likeable and maybe even relatable... At first glace, it's just that at the same time those characters lack depth and don't go through any kind of development, ... and the VR world always seems to bend to their imagination making them incredibly powerful, I swear every issue is fixed by Maple's Hydra (A poisonous dragon thing she gets in one of the first areas of the world) being used in a different way than originally showed which was a poison attack, it can also:
-Pin them/push enemies back
-Poison large bodies of water
-Fill containers with its poison
-Create a poisonous gas area that stays that way for extended periods of time
-Create a ball of poison to envelop Maple (and later her friends) to roll down hills without taking damage and even to just shoot through dungeons at lightning speed
-Be used to create an impenetrable defensive poison bubble cocoon around maple
-Be used as a remote shield to stop incoming attacks
And the list goes on, you get the idea.

The example I gave with Hydra goes for most things or situations, the two main girls always are the best at what they do because this VR game seems to be impossibly complex and versatile, it will respond to whatever silly idea and give absurdly powerful skills as a result like:
-Just getting stung by a monster until you develop resistance to any poison attack
-Eating a monster to gain powers
-Speedrunning the same dungeon to farm EXP
Again, the list goes on, even defeating any of the bosses around the world gives either a unique weapon/armor or an overpowered skill.

If this is the idea the writer intended then it's great, such a unique world lends itself to creating a very nuanced story with lots of creative action, but this doesn't happen, apparently everyone else is so dumb that they don't get any overpowered perks like our MCs, most other people don't even use any skills while fighting and act like filler characters, and when we do see interesting skills they're like speed boosts, stun spells or fireballs while Maple is unlocking godly powers. if the world is going to be rewarding our MC with overpowered skills for every small thing then everyone should be incredibly powerful, not just her.

The only other people that get good skills are Maple's team, nothing as good as her, but they're powerful in their own right, able to wipe hundreds of players on their own, this includes Sally who gets many powers but her real ability lies in the fact that she's somehow too skilled, through her own sheer ability she can overcome attacks that should be impossible to defend for her, and kill anyone with ease. She's a kid with not much gaming experience, so this skill can only be sort of explained because she's agile and athletic in real life, for a kid, but if this is the case then there should be plenty of adults in better shape than her, meaning more coordinated and agile, this is never the case.

Maple's neverending flow of new OP skills is explained through the devs watching maple and being astonished at her stunts, meaning that they created this world with skills hidden everywhere but only Maple finds them one after the other being a kid just playing however she pleases, no one else should be finding these skills apparently, and the devs are baffled, they for example, somehow programmed into this world that if someone takes a few bites from a boss then that person gets the ability to turn into something akin to godzilla with OP magical abilities, but are perplexed to see Maple finding one of the myriad of powers they've planted into their world. They even nerf Maple once, but the thing they nerfed wasn't even a skill, it was a shield that killed everything it touched instantly with no limits or repercussions, how could they have predicted that the shield would be OP!



The story still feels very bland and poorly executed, a slice of life + action anime sounds like a hard idea to execute but one with a lot of promise, for me BOFURI was a big disappointment that didn't deliver on the characters and the consistency needed for a believable and enjoyable VR fantasy world. The ending was a good chance to show the OP team struggle, but in this anime anytime Maple finds any resistance and seems to struggle, it's because she's trying not to use too many of her abilities, not because she's in any real trouble, the main antagonist Payne was painfully unutilized.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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