Friday 12 February 2010

Anime - Bokura Ga Ita (We Were There)

I've been a sucker for Romance animes currently and watching shows like Clannad or Toradora are hard to live up to but after looking at various recommendations I gave another high school anime series 'Bokura Ga Ita' otherwise known as 'We Were There' in English terms.

For a change it is strictly Slice-of-life so these episodes no crazy situations and no Ecchi thank god, it shows quite alot of drama and tragedy which I was quite surpised because of its cheerful artwork.

So the story follows shy female student Nanami Takahashi who very early in the anime falls in love with the childish Motoharu Yano, of course when characters fall in love that quickly there is a catch, Yano's last girlfriend Nana Yamamoto died in a car accident while with his previous boyfriend, I felt that most of the anime was centred around that (mainly Nana's death) since there were many questions about how Yano must of felt but these answers and his feelings make Yano and Takahashi relationship feel tense and uneasy throughout these 26 episodes.

"Up in my lonely room, When I'm dreaming of you".


The most surprising thing I found watching it is how the anime tackles sexual frustrations between characters, Even though its only minor it makes the anime feel real in these situations.

Still there were problems with it mainly the artwork although it does look great at times, I have to talk about facial expressions for example its strange in scenes were you see two eyes at one point but the change so you can only see either one or no eyes causing confusion for me. Other problems I had contain spoilers so I shall leave them.

In conclusion Bokura Ga Ita does not add much to the anime romance formula however I do appluse different risks it takes even in a high school setting it does well to stay apart from others and the ending felt necessery and well done unlike others i've seen and since this was made in 2006 its a great watch.

8/10

I will contiue watching anime though out the year, The Trumpet War Moe looking 'So Ra No Wo To' and Romance music drama 'Nana' i'm currently watching at the moment.