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Bokurano is a series that has stuck with me for quite some time now. Not because of the subject matter it was tackling but rather because it's yet another example of the "Ergo Proxy" phenomenon that happens a lot in anime and manga. Where a certain story does so much right, but at the same time does so much wrong. It has great ideas and features some great artwork, but unfortunately doesn't capitalize on any of these qualities.


Plot:
To start, what initially drew me to read Bokurano, as I believe would be the case for many others, would definitely be because of its depressing yet ... intriguing premise, reminiscent of another mecha series that shall not be named in this review.

"The story begins when a group of 15 children inadvertently sign a contract to save their world by piloting a giant mecha named, “Zearth”, and battle other more menacing forces. The children are excited by the prospect of defending their world, but not everything is as it seems. The twist is that Zearth, in actuality, is powered by life energy, meaning at the end of every battle, the pilot in command dies. So now after signing their lives away, the children must use their time left on Earth not only to defend it, but also to rethink how they wish to spend their last moments alive."

Now the idea behind this premise sounds really good on paper, but as always execution can make all that difference. To its credit, instead of being a standard all actionfest, Bokurano chooses to place emphasis on the more psychological and existential aspects of its premise. But to do this, the narrative structure that binds Bokurano, is that it is divided into short narrative arcs (ranging from 4 to 6 chapters each) that focuses on one single character and their philosophical perspective on their situation. With all of them coming from completely different lifestyles, searching for different answers, but still starting from the same existential question. However despite starting off strong, with the first half or so gradually raising its thematic questions while also seamlessly advancing the mystery and worldbuilding of the series. This structure can also lead to the more noticeable flaws in the storytelling. Such as at times, egregiously slow pacing and the whole thing feeling “on the rails” in the process. And although the chapters usually feel relatively natural, it can also come across as unnecessary padding required for the chapter to hammer home its point. But in the process of doing so, some of the character arcs and moments don’t hit with quite the same force it could have had. Especially as the later chapters become more and more convoluted.

For example, there will be chapters that would generally feature the characters in certain situations that are clearly meant for us, the readers to sympathize and relate to them. Such as seeing them have a flashback of their wasted dreams, monologuing about what would happen once they're gone, getting in touch with their loved ones, and things of that nature. Which are all good and are obviously there to gives us pieces of information about the characters and the state of their world; however, that doesn’t excuse the existence of a large chunk of material that is basically information we already know and it’s just pointless to have it repeated verbatim. What’s worse is that sometimes, the situation they are in would even come across as completely nonsensical. Like they’re was even one chapter where a thief stole the family car of one of our main characters and even broke into the house, but for some reason, the story was framing that said main character as the one in the wrong, like what? That's like that chocolate bar nonsense from Erased all over again lol.


Characters:
But speaking of character stories. The characters of Bokurano are the very core of the series, and where some people argue that Bokurano stands out in, and what makes it worth sticking to the end. Each of these characters is given focus in their respective arcs, with moments of introspection sandwiched between their battles with these titanic foes. All of them don’t feel like a hollow rehash of one another, as they all have their own set of distinct flaws, with the main crux of their arcs being about overcoming their insecurities or psychological trauma in the face of their dire circumstances.

However, that doesn't mean all of them are the same in terms of memorability. As the series has its fair share of duds and strong characters. Just to give a brief rundown, without spoiling anything. Characters like Yoko Machi, Jun Ushiro, Chizuru Honda, and Dung Beetle are obvious standouts imo, as they left more of an impact on the series. Given that they had the most amount of screen time. And comparatively, aside from Dung Beetle, the series takes it time to meaningfully explore these characters' relationships with their families, friends, and even fellow pilots. Grounding them and giving a sense of who they really are and how they internalize their situation. While the remaining other cast members can be a bit hit or miss. With their lasting impression being up to the reader. Except for Kodaka and Isao, fuck them lol.

But anyways, with that being said, this unfortunately leads to another one of my main gripes with this series, and this concerns a majority of the characters. Which is the overwhelming amount of unnecessary dialogue where it felt like the author loved the sound of his own voice too much. Like be prepared to hear a lot of “self-development is masturbation” or “we organisms live in a society” or some other pseudointellectual type bullshit like that lol. Now obviously, there has to be an underlying theme or message about human nature or personal identity or something, but much like all other great works of fiction, it needs to be conveyed in a more intelligent and subtle manner instead of being like a hammer to the face.

Symbolism, and other narrative elements that writers utilize in a visual medium such as anime or manga, though used appropriately in Bokurano, still doesn’t mean it avoids the pitfalls that many other stories suffer from. Meaning that a lot of scenes are filled with line after line of monotonous and inarticulate information that could have been communicated in a better and more efficient way through clever dialogue, discovery, or any other basic facet of storytelling.


Art:
Now in terms of presentation, the art by Kithou Mohiro is more grounded and somewhat minimalistic. With character designs maintaining a sense of identity between the cast but not at all making one more remarkable looking than the other. There is no strange looking hairstyles and characters don't have large eyes as they would have in other anime or manga. Which works in its favor, as for a series that's trying to tell a story about regular people in extraordinary circumstances, there needs to be a sense of normality in their world. Speaking of which, in contrast, the mecha designs by Mohiro are definitely eye-catching. As the mechanical art assists in enveloping these menacing foes with an aura of unpredictability that adds to the heat of battle with our protagonists. The amount of variety in their design also helps in negating any feeling of them being repetitive or uninspired.

The result of this combination of the more earthly art and the occasional religious or Freudian motif here and there, gives Bokurano the kind of depressing and ethereal atmosphere that well reflects the nature of its story, and what most titles in the “dark sci-fi” mecha anime world would normally have. Thus giving the world of Bokurano a feeling of dread and suspense, as its almost like at any moment the world could end, but at the same time giving it a sense of the day to day lives of these characters before their fatal demise. Overall, the art I don’t really see any fault in it. Even when I was a bit checked out at some parts, the artwork definitely helped in keeping me engaged throughout.


Conclusion:
On the whole, after reading this series twice, and making a review of it back then (where I completely shat on it lol), I can honestly say I would recommend it. Even with its flaws of flat and clunky monologues, at times surface level exploration of its themes, and being almost pretentious and patronizing at some points, I was still pleasantly entertained by this story. It's not a masterpiece by any means, it's not perfect at all, and I didn’t really take home some profound message that a lot of “deep” media supposedly have. No, the fun I had with this story was the intrigue of reading between the lines and trying to psycho analyze these characters. You know, see what makes them tick, and even though not all of them were that great, the ones that were, was enough to make it a good, memorable, and dramatic story about human weakness, death, desire, and sympathy for others.

After the controversial ending of it’s first season, I was expecting the second season would somehow address the issues I and many others had with this series. The second season not only fails to improve any of the shortcomings of Mushoku Tensei, it doubles down on them. Almost every aspect I praised about the earlier parts of this series, has either been watered down or been removed completely. Except for one or two, none of the new characters are at all interesting, worldbuilding has been put to the wayside, production values has had a noticeable downgrade, and this season was just an unbearable booooring slog ... to sit through. Like an entire span of episodes where almost nothing happens, even the most cliche high school anime would have had me more engaged during it’s runtime.

Characters that I thought were midly interesting like Rudjerd or Roxy only appear briefly in this season, as the focus is given to Rudeus’ pursuit of finding his mother. This seemed to be the initial goal at first, but that slowly fades into the background, as the actual storyline reveals itself. I was more or less indifferent with this early portion of the show as although the new characters Rudeus encounters like Sarah and her group of cardboard cutouts weren’t that interesting, at least this set of episodes actually felt like it had some sort of momentum going on. However all of that is thrown out the window as after the failed attempt of doing the deed with Sarah (who's another young girl), Rudeus discovers that the actual plot device of this season was hiding in his pants all along.

The whole E.D plotline is a fucking joke. I am aware that this series includes sexual content in it’s story and themes, and I have no problem with what’s included in a piece of media, but execution is what matters. Any attempt at thoughtful introspection felt disingenuous because just like Mushoku Tensei’s flimsy handling of redemption and relationships, I just couldn’t take Rudeus’s struggles with impotence seriously, especially of how they couple it with Rudeus’ supposed struggles with mental health after Eris left him (which was also weird for her character btw). All you need to do is compare Rudeus with other characters in the medium of animanga to see how paper thin and embarrassing the exploration of mental health is. Shinji Ikari, Punpun Onodera, Guts, and etc. all have been way better examples of portraying sexual frustrations in their respective stories. Also, another thing that’s not gonna help me take the impotence plot seriously is unfunny and cringe sex jokes that you would expect from another generic harem anime set in high school, Mushoku Tensei just couldn't resist itself.

Speaking of high school, one of the most baffling story decisions for me is how this season decides to entrap all the characters at this unimaginative school setting, when the saving grace of this show is in its lore and worldbuilding. Other shows have benefited from smaller settings before, but what frustrates me about Mushoku Tensei (in addition to the worldbuilding thing) is that the school is used as such an obvious stage for the characters to exist in rather than a concrete situation that they would have to figure out how to deal with. What’s bad about this is that rather than making the situation or setting itself interesting, the writer would rather insert bullshit drama into it because he doesn't know how to write real people, and this lasts for a large chunk of this season.

Just like with Eris, I wasn’t particularly rooting for Sylphie’s relationship with Rudeus. Largely because it felt one sided and weird how Sylphie would do whatever it took to drive Rudeus’ broken stick shift, while Rudeus suddenly became an even more bone headed doofus who can’t recognize Sylphie for most of the season. Just so this long drawn out game of “will they? won’t they?” reminiscent again from harem anime or your standard isekai show, be played out as the main drama of the school setting. Because beyond that, literally nothing else happens in the school. It genuinely felt like filler. New and recurring side characters get introduced but they contribute absolutely nothing to the plot, as characters like the elf chick who likes to get railed a lot and Rudeus’ otaku minion just further test my patience. There were literally only TWO new characters that I sort of liked. Nanohoshi and Ariel were alright, but even then I question what this series intends for them in the future. Also, there was this little bit about slavery, but isekai shows have always had appalling portrayals of that, so don’t really need to mention that part.

BUT the main thing that broke the camel’s back for me about Mushoku Tensei is that the season more or less confirmed for me that it seems to belong to this subset of anime that I personally despise. There have been worse shows in the past no doubt, but much like my vitriol hatred for Code Geass, this series wants to have it’s cake and eat it too. Mushoku Tensei is about Rudeus’ redemption as much as it’s about being a pensive fantasy epic, which is to say its’ not about either. It drops us into it’s immersive world, chock full of characters and stories, but just like Rudeus, the writer just couldn’t help himself out from including trashy ecchi and seasonal power fantasy self insert elements that belong to this garbage subgenre of anime culture that failed to mesh well. Shocking I know that Lord of the Rings doesn't go well with ugly bastard hentai. But anyway, what you get is a product no different from a lot of those terrible light novel adaptations that try to be something or try to convince people that they were something.

This season was such a disappointment. My expectations were already not that high after how season one ended, but now I don't know if I'll even bother to continue watching this series. If I would, it would probably be more out of morbid curiosity and my love for the fantasy genre. But even then that still ain't gonna be enough to change my overall opinion of Mushoku Tensei. When you strip away all the pretty visuals, cool action scenes, and catchy music, it goes to show how it's no different from the generic blob of isekai shows that gets released every season. In fact, it may be worse with all its pretense.

Pretty fitting when it's called the “Grandfather of Isekai”