Bokurano Ep 1 – “It’s time for Battle Mecha Royale…and time to die”

Twelve minutes was all it took to convince me that Bokurano will be the hit of the season. I had placed this under my second choice for the top five that I want to blog and viewing this just makes me totally vindicated that it will be a critical success. Perhaps, it is a bit pre-mature to predict something like that but the start up and the sinister feel of the story does make me think that there is something special in this.

Bokurano is about the silent battle of 15 children against monsters of another dimension. Why are they fighting and what is the price of the battle at the aftermath?

Episode summary

They were only in secondary school, thinking that they knew everything, happiness, sadness and pain. That was when they realized the existence of the event. A group of fifteen teenagers was on an island for a field trip. The girls were saying how fitting it was for Waku to come for such a trip, but he said it was Kana who was. The girls then teased Kana by hugging her,causing her to blush and saying that she might be swept away by the waves if she stood where she was. Moji was on the phone talking busily with someone. Jun Ushiro, the elder brother of Kana, started to say sarcastically that it would be better for Kana to be swept over, causing a strong reaction from the girls for his meanness.

They talked about how humans often had the mentality of everyone over one self until Takami pointed out that it was everyone for me. Aiko added how Takami showed she was the daughter of a navy official. One of the girls in swimsuit was adjusting her suit when two boys, Yosuke and another guy was peeking before trying to deny all of it. One of the guys was then using the sparkfire to burn the crab, stating that it was the same since it was about to die. It was either it was eaten up or played by him now, so it made no difference. The other sparkle firecrackers were also soaked in water, causing them to be not usable anymore.

As the choice of entertainment was over, someone mentioned that there was a cave and they ventured in. Some of them were getting spooked due to the darkness until Kana saw a light in the distance. They found themsleves at a shelter with a lot of computers as they did not know that there was such a place deep in the cave. A man then appeared without introducing himself, saying that he was working on a simulation game and asked whether they wanted to play. He explained that the guy was about fighting against fifteen enemies and the unit they could use was a huge dark and powerful mecha. He then asked them whether they wanted to join as he dragged a touch screen pedestral. Everyone decided to join in except Kana, who was dissed by Ushiro that she was not fitted to play.

With that, the man said it was all right and that fourteen people were fine and he would be the first fighter. He introduced himself as Kokopelli as the screen turned static. When it returned, the children were on the ground asleep as they were surprised and wondered if what happened earlier was a dream. However, as they were returning to their hostel, they saw the huge mecha as described by Kokopelli. An enemy also appeared in the horizons, an eight-legged machine that stretched wide and long. As the two huge beings came into contact, the ground started to shake and the screen turned static. As it re-appeared, Kokopelli was at the cockpit of the mecha and the fifteen children were looking.

He told them to look carefully how to control and fight using the mecha. The mecha was dealing very well against the enemy but Kokopelli stated that such a mild damage would not hurt the enemy as it was very strong. Kokopelli explained that the mecha he was controlling moved according to the will of the pilot as he went on the offensive. Waku stated that Kokopelli was very experienced in handling the mecha. However, Kokopellis said it was the first time he controlled it. He explained further than any damage would be reduced by the strong armor and the multiple layers of defense surrounding the cockpit would protect them for now.

Kokopelli told them that the enemy had a weak spot behind the strong layers of armor and it might be in a different location each time. Kokopelli said that even after pulling off the armor, the enemies had regeneration powers which was why he had to totally destroy it. Kokopellli demonstrated as he digged out a ball-like thing which was the power source of the enemy. He crushed it and the enemy disappeared. Kokopelli said that it was the end for him and told them to protect Earth. As the mecha disappeared, they wondered what had happened and one of the girls said that Kokopelli seemed to have said sorry before he disappeared in thin air.

Thoughts

To start off, since we have so many children and this feels like a game of death, I have created an image with the names of each child and will track their…death. Yes, I am morbid right in the morning. The image for this can be found by clicking here.

This is the start of the game, the battle using the mecha to protect Earth from the invasion of these alien beings by using the huge dark mecha. I always like the notion of Battle Royale, or the very fact that children are often used as a pawn for such unbloodied violence. It often resonates very deeply into the notion of children that are reckless with the futile battle of war. Bokurano makes use of this very clearly to play onto the hearts of the viewer, reminding of how even children are possibly stained by the dirt of war and deceit. It is a common plot technique and it is done in perfection, like all downright disturbing films.

I personally felt that the children seemed very diverse. For one, I am already curious about the relationship of Kana and Ushiro. One has joined the game while the younger one did not. Kana, in fact, is the only child currently in the game that has not played it and I do think that it has some implications in the future. I will presume right at the start (logically) that this battle is real and in fact consumes the pilot of the mecha as Kokopelli disappeared after fighting the enemy. Perhaps, he is transported to somewhere else, but I will be presumed he is obliterated or transported to another dimension after using this mecha.

Yet another foreboding is the “Me for everyone” and “Everyone for me” casual comment that went through between Aiko and Takami which was very ironic and will probably be one of the plot shifters when people become selfish and realize that death would finally occur if they will pilot the mecha. The situation needs a “Me for everyone” logic (like how Waku ironically said it’s like teamwork) but essentially, the game will down to a “Everyone for me” notion as they are fighting a lost cause where the end result for the short battle is death. No matter if they win or lose, the conclusion is the same.

I wondered why Kokopelli chose the kids. It feels like a really random choice, which shows the realism and irony of the story. Often, we have a plot of the chosen one, the plot of the promised that we forget that in life, the life changing situations are often the smallest things that suddenly turn into a complete morphing of a huge issue. This is the case here of deceit, where the children were asked innocently to join a game of death without the ability to think, the ability of choice but accepting death ahead without even having the chance to really fight back for survival. Kokopelli, no matter if he had said sorry, was just a selfish harsh man for doing that.

Kokopelli is a strange character too. Even though he has disappeared within 1 episode, his strange talking style of repeating some words twice is pretty interesting and I do feel he lacks quite a bit of common sense for someone staying in the district. He is probably from someone foreign but I do wonder how the monsters get through into Earth. Is it a prediction that the monsters are about to fight, or is he one of the pawns that has facilitated it? There are so many questions that are unanswered.

In that case, I do wonder what will happen for some of the possibly true problems. I do not need too much spoilers (aka, please don’t be evil and give me spoilers in comments) but I feel that there will be firstly betrayals when some of the more timid kids realize that by piloting, they will die. As Bokurano is a story about moral dilemmas and social criticism, I cannot wait for the story of each individual child as they unfold slowly. I am most interested in the story of Moji, who seems to be calling to a certain person all the time. I feel that he is very different compared to most of the other children, who are more interactive with each other.

Oh Ya, Waku is way too shounen for my liking. I wonder if they will keep him alive forever, since he is at the center of the images for most promotion art. Let’s see.