Bokurano Ours: Volume 2 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

In the science fiction manga, Bokurano: Ours, giant robots have invaded Earth.  The key to mankind’s survival is a towering mecha known as Zearth.  However, this iron giant draws its strength from 15 teenagers, none of them yet in high school.  Giving Zearth their power will kill them.

In Bokurano: Ours, Vol. 2, three more lives are sacrificed.  In the aftermath of accidentally killing his father, Masaru Kodaka, must fight on.  Daiichi Yamura knows that he follows Masaru in the pilot’s chair, which means his eventual death.  Before that, however, he must find a way to provide for his three younger siblings.  Next, Mako Nakarai must face her own feelings about herself, as well as deal with her mother’s reputation and its affect on her.

THE LOWDOWN:  On the surface, Bokurano: Ours seems like a mecha (giant robot) series, but it is a character drama.  Created by Mohiro Kito, Bokurano focuses on the characters as the protagonists with their imminent deaths as a kind of antagonist, so the stories focus on the characters trying to overcome the obstacles and resolve conflicts before the end.

Bokurano is like the manga Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit.  On the surface, Ikigami is about a government program that kills young people as a way to make the citizenry appreciate life, but Ikigami is really about the victims and their families.  In that way, Bokurano is not about giant robots fighting, but about the teenagers who serve and die.  It is a very good read.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who like science fiction or anime with character drama will like Bokurano: Ours.

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