Title: Bokurano Ours 9
Author/Artist: Mohiro Kitoh
Publisher: Viz Signature
American Release Date: September 17, 2013
Format: Manga / 224 pages
Publisher Age Rating: T+ for older teen
Genre: Science Fiction, Suspense, Mecha
Overall Personal Rating: A

Synopsis:

Bokurano Ours Series Overview:

A group of middle school students unwittingly enter into a game which is actually a contract to pilot a giant mech in battle against a mech from another universe. Losing has immense consequences for each world. As each kid takes a turn, we explore their back story which helps explains why they made the choices they did and how they end up handling it all. If you haven’t read the books up to volume 8, please skip the next paragraph because, as it is specific to Volume 9, it may give clues that could ruin the natural unfolding of the story.

Volume 9:

Kana prepares for her turn to pilot. Even for her young age, she wants to leave things in order. With her mother having died a long time ago, she still has her father and adopted brother, Jun. Kana feels it is important that he find his birth mother so that he won’t be so alone. Jun had been struggling, taking out his aggression on his sister. She put up with the brutality to make sure he knew he was family. It seems as if they may have found his mother, but she doesn’t think it a good idea for Jun to know.

Even though Jun had been part of the original group of kids, he had not entered into contract as a pilot and it leaves questions about what will happen during that turn without a pilot.

Commentary:

Looking at my description above, it really doesn’t explain the dynamic nature of the story. As a story that depends on surprises and twists, even revealing some basic story premises would give too much away. There is a really huge plot element about what happens to the pilots, but writing about it would ruin the first two volumes. Things need to unfold naturally for the reader.

Here we are on volume 9 (with only 2 more to go) and it still had surprises for me that I hadn’t seen coming. The author has a talent for popping in a twist or situation that seems to change the balance of things for a bit. In this case, it involves Jun’s mother. It all adds to the depth and thought processes of the manga. There is many times when I felt a bit amazed and maybe even stunned about what was going on, but everything is stronger than ever.

During the series, there have been some disappointments. I hate it when children are doing adult things that they shouldn’t. When this happened, my opinion of the series plummeted. I think that using it as a plot point is a easy way to  create elements with little need for true creativity. Because of this, I often wished that the kids had been several years older. Overall, this would have worked better for me and the kids. Now the series is more heartfelt and creatively developed. The situation is as intense as ever, and the kid’s reactions is a wonderful mix of the simple thoughts of children and having to mature too fast.

I like how much the story has gone outside of the original group which adds a sense of realism in my opinion. Really, if a group of kids needed to try and save the world, keeping it a secret and figuring it out alone would be basically impossible. Besides, there are enough stories like that already.

The art work is crisp and clean. The images are well defined, something I really appreciate. There is definitely a style and skill to the drawing which really helps tell the story, which it the real star of the whole series. It is one thoughtful manga series.

Bokurano Ours  is a Viz Signature series and it meant for adults, and I think will best be appreciated by those a little older. Even though it is a story about kids, it is about kids who have to deal with things they shouldn’t because they are kids. These are still adult issues.  This series has a lot of merit, but it isn’t flashy, or romantic, or funny or cool, so I think it might be one of those with a quiet place on the manga shelf but it probably deserves more attention because it can really illustrate what is beyond the typical manga.

This series is one that I always look forward to because I’ve just got to know what happens next, and now, how it will all end.

Overall Grade: A