is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Mohiro Kitoh is a Japanese manga artist. He created the manga '' Shadow Star'' and '' Bokurano: Ours'', both of which were adapted into anime series. Biography Kitoh's first manga '' Vendémiaire no Tsubasa'' debuted in ''Afternoon'' magazine in 1995. ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off of Shogakukan's ''Weekly Big ...

'' from November 2003 to June 2009, with its chapters collected in 11 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. It is about a group of middle-school students who unwillingly assume the task of piloting a giant

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

named Zearth in a series of battles against mechas from parallel worlds, where the survival of Earth is dependent on their continuing to win at the cost of the life of the pilot of each battle. The series was adapted as an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series directed by

Hiroyuki Morita is a Japanese animator and director. He is best known for working as director on the Studio Ghibli film ''The Cat Returns''. History Morita was born in Fukuoka Prefecture and graduated from Fukuoka Kenritsu Chikushikoto School. During his high ...

and produced by

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

that aired from April to September 2007, and a

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series called ''Bokura no: Alternative'' with an alternative story by Renji Ōki and character designs by Kitoh himself. The manga is licensed in English by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, which began serializing it in the online English version of ''Ikki'' in July 2009; the first print volume was published in February 2010. As of November 2009, the manga had over 1 million copies in circulation. In 2010, ''Bokurano'' received the Excellence Award in the Manga Division at the 14th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Plot

During a summer camp, 15 children (8 boys and 7 girls) find a

grotto A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high ti ...

by the sea. Deep within, they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man who introduces himself as "

Kokopelli Kokopelli () is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head), who is venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fer ...

". Kokopelli claims to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against fifteen alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and enter into a contract. Fourteen of them agree, but one of them is kept from entering the contract by her older brother, and a moment later they all mysteriously awaken on the shore, believing what happened was just a dream. That night, two giant robots appear by the beach. A small creature calling himself "Koyemshi" also appears and claims to be the children's guide. He then teleports them into the black robot, with Kokopelli already inside and controlling the black robot in order to defeat the white enemy robot. During battle, he gives the children a brief tutorial on how to pilot the robot as he destroys the enemy. Once he has finished, he tells the children that they are on their own now and sends them back to the beach. As the children are teleported out, one child observes Kokopelli whispering "I'm sorry". Takashi Waku is the first pilot of the robot, which is named "Zearth" by Maki Ano. Upon winning the fight, Waku is accidentally 'knocked' into the sea from a ledge on Zearth's chest by Jun. The second pilot, Masaru "Kodama" Kodaka, dies unceremoniously after defeating his opponent. Koyemshi explains to the children that Zearth runs on life force, and the cost of every victory would be the life of its pilot. It is also revealed that Waku fell into the sea after getting 'knocked' by Jun because Zearth had drained his life force; he was already dead.

Adaptation

Regarding differences between the stories in the manga and in the anime, Hiroyuki Morita, who directed the anime, wrote in his blog that he dislikes the original story and has, in some ways, been making changes to the plot for that reason. He also wrote that, at one point early in the development of the show, he asked manga author Mohiro Kitoh if he could find some way to save the main characters — the kids who must pilot Zearth. He wrote that Kitoh responded that his choice was fine as long as the changes did not involve " magical solutions" to the story. Morita closed out the blog entry with the statement "The director of the animated version of ''Bokurano'' dislikes the original manga. From here on out, you can't expect the animated version to expand on what you might find appealing in the original. So, fans of the original, please do not watch the animated version from now on".

Media

Manga

''Bokurano'', written and illustrated by Mohiro Kitoh, was serialized in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'' from November 25, 2003, to June 25, 2009. Shogakukan collected its chapters in eleven ''

'' volumes, released from June 30, 2004, to December 26, 2009. In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by Viz Media, which began serializing it in the online English version of ''Ikki'' on July 23, 2009. The eleven volumes were published from February 16, 2010, to September 16, 2014. It was also licensed in French by

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Province (now ...

, in Italian by Kappa Edizioni, in South Korea by

Daiwon C.I. Daewon C.I. (대원씨아이, 大元 C.I., ''Daewon Ssi Ai'', formerly Daiwon C.I.), short for Daewon Culture Industry, is a subsidiary of Daewon Media founded in 1991. This South Korean publisher releases domestic and imported comics, Newtype K ...

, and in Taiwan by

Ever Glory Publishing is a Taiwanese publisher of manga. It was founded in June 1991. In October 1992, the company obtained the Chinese license for Akita Shoten's ''Weekly Shōnen Champion''. However, the magazine stopped publication in 1998. Controversy There wer ...

. A companion to the series, , was published by Shogakukan on January 30, 2008.

Anime

television series adaptation called ''Bokurano'' was directed by Hiroyuki Morita and produced by Gonzo. It was broadcast in Japan from April 8 to September 25, 2007 Sun TV and

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

, as well as other stations. Episodes were released in Japan on eight DVDs between July 25, 2007 and March 26, 2008. On September 4, 2014, North American anime licensor,

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

announced their license to the anime with an English subtitled DVD release in 2015. The original soundtrack is by

Yūji Nomi is a Japanese composer. His work includes the Studio Ghibli films ''Whisper of the Heart'' (1995) and ''The Cat Returns'' (2002), as well as the Kyoto Animation television series ''Nichijou'' (2011). His mentor was Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom he help ...

. The opening theme was , and the ending themes were "Little Bird" (episodes 1–12) and "Vermillion" (episodes 13–24), all performed by

Chiaki Ishikawa is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She is also the lead vocalist of Japanese musical duo See-Saw. Many of her songs, both solo and with See-Saw, have been used as theme songs in various anime series. Since 2003, her popularity abroad as part of S ...

Light novel

''Bokurano'' was also adapted as a

series entitled . Five volumes written by Renji Ōki with illustrations by Mohiro Kitoh were published by Shogakukan between May 2007 and June 2008. This series has an alternate storyline, depicting most of the original characters from the manga accompanied by a handful of new ones, with the same task of piloting Zearth to protect the world at the expense of their own lives.

Live-action series

In May 2019, it was revealed that

Hyde Park Entertainment Hyde or Hydes may refer to: People *Hyde (surname) *Hyde (musician), Japanese musician from the bands L'Arc-en-Ciel and VAMPS American statutes *Hyde Amendment, an amendment that places well-defined limitations on Medicare spending on aborti ...

is developing a

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

series adaptation of the manga. Charlie Craigto be showrunner and executive producer.

Ashok Amritraj Ashok Amritraj (born 22 February 1956) is Chairman and CEO of the ''Hyde Park Entertainment Group'' and was formerly CEO of National Geographic Films. Career Amritraj has produced over 100 films during his 35-year career with collective worldw ...

, will be executive producer, along with Rob Golenberg. Addison Mehr and Priya Amritraj will co-executive produce for Hyde Park.

Reception

''Bokurano'' received the Excellence Award in the Manga Division at the 14th

in 2010. As of November 2009, the manga had over 1 million copies in circulation.

Notes

References

External links

Official Ikki-Para ''Bokurano: Ours'' manga website

Official SiggIkki ''Bokurano: Ours'' manga website

* at

* {{Gonzo 2007 Japanese television series endings 2007 anime television series debuts Battle royale anime and manga Discotek Media Gagaga Bunko Gonzo (company) Mecha anime and manga Psychological horror anime and manga School life in anime and manga Seinen manga Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Teleportation in fiction Thriller anime and manga Tokyo MX original programming Viz Media manga