Wait a second, anime high schoolers who actually act like high schoolers? Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming.
Bokura ga Ita (We Were There) is one of those shows that has a natural tendency to fly under the radar. It neither looks nor sounds like anything special, and while the bulk of other romantic dramas tend to lean on sweepingly dramatic scenes and/or an outrageously quirky cast to carry the narrative, Bokura ga Ita is, on the surface at least, fairly plain in comparison. There aren’t really any major surprises to be had, and both the story and its characters are slow and steady in developing. That’s the beauty of the series though – for all that it’s still an orchestrated drama anime, it feels remarkably true to life, and better still, true to itself.
While things are gradually changing, many anime viewers are no doubt very well-acquainted with romance shows that begin with the crush and end with the confession; a long, drawn-out story (often filled with much blushing and tsundere posturing) that eventually concludes on the mutual understanding that two people are now In Love and can therefore Officially Date. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this model, although the time-honoured ‘will he/she, won’t he/she finally say it’ dynamic does get tiresome after a while. Bokura ga Ita takes a different tack almost immediately with the declaration taking place in episode two, which leaves the rest of the series to focus primarily on the development of an already-established romantic relationship rather than the build-up to the beginning of one. There are of course starts and stops as our main couple deal with the inevitable obstacles along the way, but this is basically a show about a couple interacting with one another instead of dancing around the whole dating issue.
This means that Bokura ga Ita has a very minimalist plot. It has neither a large cast like Honey and Clover nor a psychological bent like Kare Kano, and little in the way of either major comedy or melodrama as with Toradora! or Kimi no Todoke respectively. The fanservice is nonexistent, so needless to say, you shouldn’t go into this expecting any panty shots either. Thankfully, what this anime does have is a remarkably firm grasp on how adolescence actually works. Can anyone name me, say, five high school anime shows that take the time to really deal with the likes of sex, death, and relationship abuse? Go ahead, I’ll wait while you Google that. Bokura ga Ita is far from flashy, but it has more authenticity to it than the vast majority of other romance anime out there, and none of its themes are presented for shock value either. If the admittedly incredibly slow pacing can be a little frustrating at times, the show makes up for it with its subtle and multilayered approach to its storytelling.
If that sounds vaguely depressing, try not to be too alarmed. For all its realism and sometimes slightly dark subject matter, Bokura ga Ita isn’t lacking in its joyous, funny, or occasionally sillier moments. The comedy is a joy to experience, because it not only helps to balance the series out but also feels like it’s occurring naturally. These scenes are for the most part short-lived and small in scale, but they had me genuinely laughing out loud to myself anyway, or even occasionally gasping at their audacity, and none of them come across as forced or cheap. While Bokura ga Ita isn’t what I’d call a particularly light-hearted anime, it does know how to have fun and it won’t leave you feeling miserable or cynical – merely thoughtful.
In terms of visual style, Bokura ga Ita doesn’t worry itself with being fancy. Muted colours and a marked lack of movement and detail, especially in comparison to a lot of the other titles to have been released around the same time, don’t make for a big splash, although this is well in keeping with the overall tone of the series. The character designs aren’t ugly, but since the real meat of the piece lies in the internal rather than the external drama, it’s easy to tell that the visuals aren’t Bokura ga Ita’s main concern. Actually, I have more of an issue with the sound – both the OP and ED are dull, overly cutesy affairs that, while not offensively bad, certainly don’t warrant a second listen. The insert songs are about as unmemorable, making me wish that more effort had gone into the show’s musical choices.
Still, if that’s the worst I can say of it, then Bokura ga Ita a rare drama indeed. At 26 episodes in length it’s a little too stretched out, and it won’t be winning any awards for production values, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a halfhearted attempt. For its surprisingly realistic depiction of teenage romance, and for including those factors that so many anime set in high school either treat as a joke or shy away from completely, Bokura ga Ita has my utmost respect.
Question of the post: What do you think of Bokura ga Ita, and how does it stack up against other anime high school romance titles you’ve seen?
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I haven’t seen it myself, but something about that very first screenshot really grabs me. This one’s going on my plan to watch list.
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Awesome. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts whenever you get around to watching it. 🙂
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I’ve been convinced to put this on my watch list! Great review!!
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Thanks! I’m glad you found my review interesting/helpful – happy viewing. 🙂
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I got as far as Paradise Kiss and Wandering Son (the manga, anyway, I’m a bit wary of the anime) and had to stop blankly. This sounds rather relevant to my interests.
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I personally really enjoyed the Wandering Son anime (my very first full review on Otaku Lounge, I believe), but I haven’t read the manga so I’m not sure how much they might differ from one another. Anyhow, do let me know your thoughts on Bokura ga Ita whenever you get around to watching it – I’d be curious to hear your opinions.
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I hear Wandering Son’s mangaka did the character designs for Aldnoah Zero; she’s been actively promoting her efforts both on her blog and Twitter.
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I haven’t seen many titles like Bokura; nearly everything nowadays has the drama or quirkiness you described. Is this reflective of how the manga industry today ropes in readers?
This also reminds me of a blog post saying a (well-crafted) shoujo can get away with plot and character developments that a shounen cannot. Exempting storytelling limitations, why and how is this the case? How would Bokura’s style be ill-suited for a typical shounen?
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I’m afraid I really can’t comment on how the manga industry today ropes in readers – while I do watch an awful lot of anime, I very rarely read manga of any kind am not particularly faimilar with the manga industry as a whole.
That’s an interesting statement, though I don’t know if I agree with it or not – I’d have to think more about that one and read the rest of the argument. Do you happen to remember where you read that? As to how specifically Bokura ga Ita’s style would be ill-suited to a shounen title, I’d imagine the slow pacing would be a major factor. Also, although I’ve seen plenty of shounen romance anime before, nearly all of these have been paired with plenty of physical comedy and/or fanservice, neither of which Bokura ga Ita has much of, if indeed any.
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The argument was an episode review of Yona on the blog site, Lost in America: Anime and More.
The statement was made regarding episode 8, which mostly focused on Yoon’s character development.
The author said although it was a side story in the grander scale of things, “…really elite stories take the time to fully flesh-out all the major characters, and none of them are used as props. But in a more subtle sense it points up that shoujo can get away with things shounen – or whatever demographic label you attach to the main body of LN (and manga trying to be LN) adaptations – simply cannot.” I suspect he is criticizing how the anime industry is dominated to cater to lowbrow male tastes.
The rest of the argument is here:
http://www.lostinanime.com/2014/11/akatsuki-no-yona-08.html?m=1
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Hmm… then yes, if I’m reading it the way it’s intended to be read, I think I would tend to agree with that argument. There are always going to be exceptions, but in general terms, I do think that the anime industry as a whole is dominated to cater to lowbrow male tastes. I get that the industry is first and foremost a business, and I won’t look down on other people for their personal tastes, but I also can’t pretend that some things about the industry don’t bother me.
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“School Days” was a high school story that dealt with sex, death, and relationship abuse in some seriously dark ways, but it wasn’t exactly a romance in the traditional sense. Still, this one looks good.
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Yeah, I’d say School Days is more of a drama (and obviously a harem) show than anything else, although it does of course have some romance by association. That said, I’ve never watched more than a couple of episodes, so I can’t really comment much on that.
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I think School Days was meant as more of a shock value show, especially with the creepy perverse stuff. Its source adult visual novel, I hear, was also grotesque in places (in one bad ending, the girl you spurn commits bloody suicide right in front of the MC’s eyes.)
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Sounds just lovely.
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Specific taste is…well, specific taste.
But it’s interesting how these levels of grotesqueness usually appear in media targeted at Japanese males. (Reviews I’ve read suggest) Japanese female-targeted games don’t seem to go all that way.
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About time I seriously consider this to put on my to-watch list. Thanks for this review!
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You’re welcome! I’m glad you found it interesting/useful.
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I just found this, and even if it’s old I’ve got to say that I loved the anime, and the end was such an opened end that I had to continue with the manga… It really got me. The visual style is not really flashy, as you say, but the story is just so good and real that in the end it doesn’t matter at all. One of the best shojos I’ve ever watched/read
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Thanks for the comment! I still have a lot of love and respect for this anime too – and I agree, while high-quality art and such is always nice, it’s the story/characters that mean the most. And in that regard, Bokura ga Ita is definitely a winner.
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