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Studio Gonzo is an animation studio often trashed on in the anime community. Infamous for their cg skills and lack of consistency. So bad they managed to bankrupt themselves. They certainly had their fair share of flops but I feel like their good side is far too often overlooked. Back before their collapse Gonzo was an interesting studio willing to take risks and actually had a good number of great anime to their name. One look at the likes of Gankutsuo shows just how experimental they were willing to get. Bokurano is one of their golden age titles that I’d been putting off for ages. ... Now finally having gotten around to watching it how does it stack up? I had pretty high expectations going in and for the most part wasn’t disappointed. The story is about a bunch of kids piloting a giant robot to save the world, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Although this is indeed a mecha series the focus is firmly on the characters. I promise you Bokurano is no standard fare.

We start with a bunch of kids at the beach for a summer camp, 14 middleschoolers and one elementary student to be exact. One of the kids suggests they go explore some nearby seaside caves. Within they come across an out of place cavern full of computers and electronic equipment. The mysterious owner of said equipment shows up and claims to be developing a video game that he wants the kids to help him play-test. They just have to place their hand on a shady looking pedestal to accept the contract to play a mech battle game. In which they must save the world from 15 alien foes. What could possibly go wrong?

One of the first things you’ll notice is the character designs. Fairly plain, but more on the realistic side compared to the standard flashy anime designs. Which works well with the very human portrayal of the characters. They behave like middleschoolers should, for the most part. When it comes to fighting deadly mech battles they did come off as a bit too accepting and cool headed though. No this is not a happy show. It is full of death, destruction, despair and even some sexual themes. But it isn’t played up for melodrama. In fact the show is somewhat emotionally subdued overall. With an atmosphere of bleak hopelessness reminiscent of something like Tehxnolyze. Whereas the monster of the week style mech battles coupled with introspective exploration of middle school characters channels Evangelion. But in a much more straightforward way and without the religious symbolism. Besides the children, one other character worth mentioning is an adorable little mascot thing by the name Dung Beetle… Kyuubei is that you? Quick kill it with fire! The cast is unique and varied and while you might not remember all of their names straight away the show does a great job establishing their distinct personalities right from the first scene. This fantastic characterization continues through the whole show as we get to know each of them in turn. Perhaps the best part of Bokurano is how it explores each individual character. How they react and develop or devolve through the events of the show and when psychologically cornered. They are just kids forced into an unfair and cruel situation with a heavy responsibility they should never have been burdened with. Seeing their struggle and the different ways in which they deal with their predicament is fascinating. As well as imagining how this all will affect the people around them, which unfortunately we don’t get to see much of. Each one of them must come to terms with themselves and their fate in a sort of coming of age, then put the world on a scale. Is it even worth saving? What really matters to them? If even one of them can't find their own reason to fight, the world might just be doomed.

But this is where the show also stumbles a bit. Not in the characters, but in the structure. We get to know a character for 1 or maybe 2 episodes before a battle occurs then rinse and repeat for each character for the majority of the series. This structure gets predictable and repetitive after a while. Another point that left me wanting was how each character arc would just cut off and we would never get any kind of epilogue, with the exception of Daiichi’s family in the very end. And as I mentioned, actually being shown the effects of the story's events on the people close to each character would have made for even greater impact. The true masterminds behind the whole plot are briefly brought up and even shown but never expanded upon which makes it feel like a loose end. I would have preferred it to be speculated on by the characters or not even touched upon rather than what we got. The way it was done made it seem like we would get further expansion on it, but then was completely ignored in the end.

While the first episode looks very good, with expressive character animation helping to quickly define each character in the beginning, animation quality drops off slightly afterwards. Characters sometimes go off model but it’s good when it needs to be. The robot battles despite being cg have weight to them, like a 500m hunk of metal should (is it even metal?!). Entire buildings and city blocks are crushed and destroyed with every move. The battles are somewhat lacking in tension as the kids don’t usually struggle too much to win, but the weight of the inevitable consequences help keep you invested. And when there’s a giant alien mech trashing the city you can bet your ass the military and the government wouldn’t stay out of it. So it’s funny how authority figures are conveniently left out of the picture quite a lot in anime. But not here. They get involved pretty early on and attempt to take control of the situation and keep the kids in check. Although some important questions are ignored until later, it’s nice to see this aspect acknowledged for once.

The music mostly blends into the background and unfortunately not much stands out here. That is if you don’t count the opening by Chiaki Ishikawa of See Saw fame. One of Yuki Kajiura’s earlier projects well known for their Gundam SEED endings. And you can't go wrong with Yuki Kajiura as far as I'm concerned. But Ishikawa's solo work here certainly lives up to her See Saw days. Uninstall is one of those op’s that will have you watching it through before every episode unable to skip it.

When the fate of the world is in the hands of a bunch of middleschoolers and there’s not damn thing anyone can do about it. Except maybe a certain little mascot character, who is a total asshole by the way, so he ain't doin shit. I was compelled to finish all 26 episodes in just 2 days so it must be doing something right. I’ve heard that the manga is superior (big surprise…) and various things were changed or omitted from the original, including the ending. However I have yet to get around to reading it, and therefore can’t judge based on comparison to the source. So as it turns out this is another one of Studio Gonzo’s underappreciated gems. Sadly Gonzo is now a mere shadow of its former self and it is unlikely that we will see this kind of quality from them again. I give Bokurano an 8/10 and my personal recommendation, as little as that means.