Bokurano

Any fan of Mohiro Kitoh will know of his deceptive nature when it comes to his work. What usually starts off as a fun little adventure that may resemble a child's story quickly descends into a cesspool of gore and disturbing imagery. While his most recent series may not be heavy on the gore, it may even be more disturbing than his last work, Shadow Star: Narutaru.

Bokurano is a tragedy that touches upon themes such as "hopelessness" as well as the true nature of mankind. When 15 middle schoolers find a cave near the beach, they decide to explore it. They meet Kokopelli, supposedly a programmer that has developed a very realistic video game, requiring the player to pilot a robot so they can destroy an enemy robot. After all the children sign the contract, they become part of the game. Little did they know they were actually signing away their lives. The robot they pilot is real, and it runs on the life energy of the pilot, killing the child when the battle is complete. The purpose of the battles is to root out alternate universes. The loser's universe is destroyed the moment the cockpit is crushed.

Each child has different ways of dealing with their horrible fate. Despite thier best efforts, none could run from their destiny. Some took it very hard, while some were surprisingly willing to accept only they had the ability to save their universe. Admirable or not, each child piloted the robot, Zearth, and won. There is no magic way to bring the pilots back to life. There is no way to annul the contract. The term Deus Ex Machina doesn't exist in this story, and is a lot more meaningful thanks to Kitoh's strict rules that he has placed in the world he created.

If you haven't figured it out by now, there is no happy ending. I can confirm that as the series has just ended a few days ago. No, this is a story about children sacrificing their lives to save their universe. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't sad at points since I totally was. There was even one child that I got teary-eyed for. Kitoh knows how to write a tragedy and with all hope gone before the series even began, I can safely say this is one of the saddest stories I have ever experienced. The beauty comes from the childrens' struggle regardless of whether they have accepted their fate or not. You might want to be careful with this one as it is very depressing, but I still highly reccommend it to anyone wanting something a little more meaningful than the mindless action we're so used to.