Bokurano

""I have no choice but to pretend that I am a warrior who knows no fear.""

Bokurano (meaning Ours) is an 11-volume manga written by Mohiro Kitoh, the creator of the infamous Mons Deconstruction Narutaru (aka Shadow Star), and is essentially about a group of middle-school children who are contracted into a "game" where they pilot a Humongous Mecha in order to save their world from destruction. The anime adaptation began airing in the spring season of 2007 and ran for 24 episodes. There is also a five-volume light novel series called Bokurano: Alternative, which, as its title suggests, is an Alternate Universe take on the manga's storyline that places the characters in somewhat different circumstances.

Viz Media is currently releasing an English translation of the manga as Bokurano: Ours on its IKKI website, with the first English-language volume having been released in February 2010.

Some describe it as "like Evangelion, but even more depressing." Others would say that doesn't go far enough and that this makes Evangelion look like the Care Bears.

For a similar Deconstructor Fleet Anime, see Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

'''Be warned: there is a faked 'translation' of the novels (actually based off someone's fanfic) circulating the Internet. As a result, exercise extreme caution when adding novel-specific tropes. See the discussion page for details.'''

This series provides examples of:

 * Adults Are Useless: Mostly averted in both the anime and manga, and lampshaded as well; initially the kids don't want to tell the adults, police, or government about their involvement with Zearth because they would just ground them or keep them from piloting the mecha. Once people start dying, however, they change their minds ...
 * In both versions, the two Self-Defence Force officers working with the children agree to join the contract to pilot Zearth when it becomes necessary. They work with the children as liasons for the government and military.
 * The anime has another aversion; Takami Komoda's father Kouichi is a member of the Diet (Japan's version of Parliament or Congress), and works with the two Self-Defence Force officers as well as Anko's Intrepid Reporter dad Akira to try and reveal to the world the truth behind Zearth and the children, and force the Japanese government to admit that they knew about Zearth.
 * Played straight in Kako's turn to pilot (manga only):
 * Adult Fear:
 * Played for wonderful Dramatic Irony in the first ending, which is a sweet song about a mother protecting her child from the outside world since the kid is too young to run off on their own.
 * Alliterative Name: Zearth is frequently referred to as the Kuroi Kaiju/Black Behemoth by the media and bystanders early on in the series.
 * All the Myriad Ways:
 * Alternate Universe: The novel series.
 * A Million Is a Statistic: Played straight, averted, discussed, deconstructed, and used as a major source of drama, particularly in the manga. Tens of thousands of people die as collateral damage from Zearth's battles, and every character has their own take on it. Some pilots ignore civilian casualties and only pay attention to their own plight, some stall the battle and risk losing to give civilians time to evacuate, some get Heroic BSODs... it goes on. Especially heartbreaking in the last battle in the manga:
 * And You Thought It Was a Game: It's not. At all.
 * Another Dimension:
 * Anyone Can Die: More like everyone will.
 * Apocalypse How:
 * Apocalypse Wow:
 * Artifact of Death: All of the Humongous Mecha in the series are effectively one of these.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: Each of the robots has a hidden core that must be found and destroyed.
 * Awful Truth: The prospect of defeating the enemy was a lot easier when you didn't know doing so would . And when you thought the enemies were.
 * Beam Spam: Zearth and the enemies can do this at will,
 * Book Ends: Kokopelli tricks the children into piloting by asking them if they want to play a game.
 * The last battle in the manga ends with the same quote that opens both the manga and the anime.
 * Break the Cutie: Pretty much everyone, but especially.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Cast From Lifespan:
 * Caught With Your Pants Down: In the manga only, it's implied that Koyemshi catches Anko like this at one point. She's none too happy about it.
 * Possibly a subversion. Anko has much the same reaction when Koyemshi interrupts one of her, so it's likely he was trying to be misunderstood when talking about that.
 * A less ambiguous example happens in the manga during Mako's battle. . Given that the fight had not even started, is pretty much given that Mako did it on purpose.
 * Children Are Innocent: Subverted, particularly in the cases of Kodama,.
 * In the manga, also qualifies for sure, planning to use Zearth to . Fortunately, he changes his mind.
 * Coitus Uninterruptus: Manga only, as described in Caught With Your Pants Down. That room must have had some good sound insulation and bad personnel. They didn't notice the danger until part of the building came down, uncovering them.
 * Coming of Age Story: The kids learn to carry out the responsibility they had unwittingly accepted with courage and dignity.
 * Conspicuous CG
 * Cool Big Sis: Captain Tanaka, although older than most examples, fills this role for the female pilots in the anime.
 * Maki possibly sees herself as this for Kana and even openly states that she wished she had a little sister just like her.
 * Cosmic Horror Story:
 * The opening theme blatantly makes statements. "It came from beyond the extreme reaches of our reality, (and) it came to laugh at our naive existences."
 * Crapsack World
 * Crystal Spires and Togas: In the anime, what little we see of is like this.
 * Dead Little Sister:.
 * Dead Star Walking:
 * Death By Adaptation: The anime contains numerous examples of Type II, due to.
 * Death By Childbirth:
 * A Death in The Limelight: The structure of the entire show.
 * Deconstruction: When the collateral damage and mass casualties caused by the robot battles are made so alarmingly clear, not to mention the trauma that the pilots go through, you can hardly call this a Super Robot series. It's practically the anti-Gurren Lagann!
 * In particular, this series deconstructs several themes of the Eldoran Trilogy, which started with Zettai Muteki Raijin Oh. Basically, the series states that the idea that cosmic entities granting super robots to schoolkids to protect the earth (as what happens in the Eldoran trilogy) wouldn't equal light-hearted fun ensuing. Or that not all of said schoolkids would use said robots for good ends.
 * Destructive Savior: Deconstructed. Zearth causes so much damage that it's commonly referred to as a Kaiju.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Kitoh loves the trope. 's death won first prize.
 * Dirty Coward:, undoubtely in the manga. In the anime Koyemshi is revealed as a particularly nasty one.
 * Disappeared Dad: Daiichi's father.
 * Driven to Suicide: Some of the enemy pilots.
 * Dying Alone: Someone has to die last, after all.  also qualifies, doubling as.
 * Dynamic Entry: In the anime, Ushiro does this to ten-year-old Kana. More specifically, he runs down a flight of stairs and kicks her in the chest.
 * Dysfunction Junction: Try naming a major character that doesn't have issues of some sort.
 * Eagle Land: In both the anime and manga, the United States is a rival power rather than a close-knit ally of Japan. Bokurano's Japan lacks the same self-defense policies of Real Life, which limit Japan's military forces and provides for security arrangements with America.  Neither the anime nor manga portray America as being much like either flavor, however.
 * In the anime, American involvement is subtle and rarely mentioned. Several government characters express distrust for the United States, but the U.S. (and China) aids the Japanese government with its surveillance sattelites and, though initially reluctant to vote for the usage of them in the United Nations, sends direct aid through its unmanned combat weapons (alongside other countries) towards the end of the anime.
 * In the manga, America is portrayed as a rival that's actually more threatening to Japan than China, to the point that the U.S. and Japan have a Cold War-esque relationship. Most characters regard the U.S. with suspicion and comment that America is "stuck in its superpower state of mind." Several times, there's worries that the United States might use Zearth's battles as an excuse to invade Japan--especially when . The Americans never actually do anything antagonistic, however.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite the anime's general mood, some characters manage to pull off a Bittersweet Ending to their arcs - the result is usually Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Tear Jerker at once.
 * The End of the World As We Know It:
 * Establishing Series Moment: Waku's death.
 * Expy: A minor character Oda bears strong resemblance to another Kitoh's character Aki Honda, though is nowhere as cruel. Also, one of her 'underlings' seems to be just a clone of Hiroka from Aki's Girl Posse.
 * Facial Markings: In the anime, if it's your turn to pilot, you'll know it thanks to the marks that will appear on your skin.
 * Failure Is the Only Option
 * Foreshadowing: Lots of it; since the very begining. The chairs in the cockpit are a nice source of this, at least in the manga.
 * Funny Afro: On one of the Koyemshis in the manga.
 * Gecko Ending, although approved by Mohiro Kitoh.
 * Generation Xerox:
 * God Never Said That: The fake novel.
 * Go Out With a Smile: Most notably final expression in the manga.
 * in the anime.
 * Gory Discretion Shot:, well, dying in an other manner than is rarely shown. Averted with.
 * What about.
 * Here We Go Again:
 * Heroic BSOD: While the "heroic" part is questionable in his case, Kodama has one in both the manga and anime.
 * has one in the anime when
 * has another in the manga, to the point of throwing up.  gets better, though.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: In the manga,
 * sorta pulls this in the manga, when
 * Hero Insurance: Heavily subverted, although the government takes steps to protect the pilots as part of the Masquerade..
 * Hero With Bad Publicity: The Zearth kids.
 * Hikikomori: Kirie's cousin Kazuko
 * Hot for Student: Played brutally straight with.
 * Hot Mom: Mako's and Anko's mothers. Though Miko Nakarai also fits as. ..
 * Hooker With a Heart of Gold: She's a "good parent and decent woman despite her profession" version.
 * Ho Yay: Ushiro and Kanji, in the manga. Ushiro even tells Kanji that
 * Humongous Mecha: Really humongous. Zearth is half a kilometre tall.
 * Identical Stranger: A bit more complicated case.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter of the manga is named after the current pilot and whatever number chapter they've been pilot for. It starts with Kokopelli and ends with . Probably one of the few series where the chapter titles themselves are spoilers.
 * IT. GOT. WORSE.
 * Jerkass: Kodaka, Kako (though he is more pathetic than anything else), and Jun, though he gets better. To make up, Koyemshi becomes a total dick in the anime, though he isn't exactly a saint in the manga . OTOH, Hatagai had to be toned down in the anime... and still remained a Jerkass.
 * Jerkass Gods: It certainly looks like it from the human perspective, but we'll never know their motivations.
 * Kid Hero - God help them all.
 * Killed Off for Real
 * Kill Em All: To the point where it feels like Kitoh is trying has managed to out-Tomino Tomino himself.
 * The death count is about.
 * Leaning On the Fourth Wall: In the manga, several people compare the plot to that of an in-universe manga which is also about kids piloting a giant robot.
 * Later on in the manga, Captain Seki sings the anime's first ending theme . People in-universe recognize it as an anime theme.
 * Life Energy: Zearth is powered by the life force of the current pilot.
 * Love Triangle: Moji, Nagi, and Tsubasa.
 * Luke I Am Your Father:.
 * Mama Bear: Do not, repeat, do NOT be mean to Kana in front of Maki.
 * And never hit on Mako in the presence of her mother Miko.
 * Mark of the Beast: In the anime version, a mark appears somewhere on the body of the next one to pilot Zearth.
 * Masquerade: Both subverted and played straight;
 * Mercy Kill: Koyemshi, to.
 * Monster of the Week: errr.....
 * : The aliens are . It gives the words It Got Worse a whole new meaning.
 * My God What Have I Done: Kokopelli whispers "I'm sorry" just after the true game begins. He had every reason to.
 * Averted in the last chapter in the manga when.
 * Narrating the Present
 * Never Speak Ill of the Dead: In the manga, when Ushiro and Machi visit the  families, everyone takes it easy on , despite the fact that he was really screwed up, though to be fair, only the audience was truly aware of how much. Also happens when they visit the   family, even telling lies to make his youger brother feel better.
 * Nostalgic Narrator: Subverted.
 * Not Funny Anymore: In chapter 40,, Machi mentions she heard someone saying rival countries While the line itself isn't that funny, the kids' expressions are.  No more funny. At all.
 * Nuke Em: During one of the battles in the manga, The irony is not lost on anyone.
 * In the anime, worldwide governments lift bans on nuclear weapons in response to the mecha, and every explosive the military has gets thrown at in a late battle.
 * Onee Sama: Chizu's sister Ichiko.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: Kokopelli  and Koyemshi/"Dung Beetle"  . In the latter's case his japanese name "Koemushi" can also probably be translated as "Voice Bug", which fits part of his job of explaining the rules of the "game" making this a case of Everyone Calls Him Barkeep.
 * Zearth itself.
 * Otaku: Maki and her father are both big fans of manga and the military.
 * Overtook the Manga: It kinda had to, considering the manga didn't wrap up until two years later.
 * Plucky Girl: Considering that Dung Beetle thought she was going to have a horrible (and incredibly amusing) breakdown, proves herself to be one of these, , managing to die in peace as well.
 * Also.
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child: In fact, in the manga it is hinted that the younger the person, the more powerful Zearth becomes.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation: So long as you don't belong to the They Changed It Now It Sucks crowd.
 * Really Dead Montage:
 * Episode 3 is the most obvious, in regards to...
 * Sacrificial Lamb:
 * Recruit Teenagers With Attitude
 * Sadistic Choice:
 * Things get even more sadistic for a certain character in the final arc of the manga. Ouch.
 * Saving the World: Taken to it's brutal extreme.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Kokopelli has these in the opening. It doesn't hurt that he's levitating the Earth above his hand.
 * Scenery Gorn: The aftermath of the robot attacks.
 * Science Is Bad: In the anime only.
 * Sibling Yin Yang: Jun and Kana Ushiro.
 * Slasher Smile: The Koyemshis
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: A particularly intriguing case. The inmediate reaction of a lot of people (specially that only have read the premise/synopsis) would be: "Who loaded down the cynicism side with all these corpses?!". However, if you see beyond the darkest aspects of the story, a bright beam of optimism becomes apparent. After all, most characters face their ends bravely and cause positive changes in the lives of those left behind. Word of God himself clarifies that in spite of the tragedy and devastation, the core messages he wanted to convey were more on the hopeful end of things.
 * The Smart Guy: Moji, Kirie and Kanji.
 * Smug Snake: Hatagai. had to be intended purely to piss off the audience. In the anime Koyemshi also qualifies,.
 * Snow Means Death: The last moments of in the anime and  in the manga.
 * Spared By the Adaptation:
 * Starfish Robots: The mecha piloted by the main cast is humanoid, albeit with some arthropod-like features, but their opponents include things Bayonet, a colossal flying blade; Drum, a massive cylinder that can grind anything; and Gunter, a floating vise.
 * The Stars Are Going Out
 * Surprise Creepy
 * Team Mom: Captain Tanaka, moreso in the anime.
 * Maki kind of fills this role too. She seems to be the first one to comfort any of her fellow pilots when they have a breakdown.
 * Teen Pregnancy: A very unpleasant case, of course.
 * An extremely unpleasant case, in fact, when you consider.
 * Thematic Theme Tune: "Uninstall." (I have no choice but to pretend that I am a warrior who knows no fear.)
 * There Can Be Only One:
 * There Are No Therapists: Just because, doesn't mean we'll give you somebody to whine about it to.
 * Title Drop: Dropped rather heavily at the end of chapter 55 of the manga.
 * In the anime, the title tends to work itself into important conversations.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Maki and Komo, maybe Maki and Anko.
 * Two Guys and A Girl: Moji, Nagi, and Tsubasa
 * Two Lines No Waiting: Multiple subplots for several of the pilots in each episode.
 * Wham Episode: Several, but the end of arc is one of the biggest in both versions.
 * The end of Machi's arc.
 * Whos Your Daddy: Implied that "client" may be, although her mother quickly shoots it down.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Some of the kids are shown to be - especially Moji and Kirie - but God, the youngest of them, little Kana-chan, takes it up to the new levels. Accepting a constant abuse of her brother and . And she is ten.
 * Worst News Judgment Ever: A newscaster saying that, despite the fact that a behemoth appeared nearby and many of the aquarium animals were lost, the dolphins probably escaped to the ocean. Much to everyone's relief. The behemoth appearance was also responsible for the deaths of thousands but hey, dolphins are symbolic.
 * Xanatos Gambit: The in the anime.  is the only way anybody can come up with to Take a Third Option regarding the game, but.
 * You Can't Fight Fate
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Averted--which, combined with the main cast bordering on Loads and Loads of Characters territory, makes it a bit difficult to tell people apart at first.
 * Played straight in the anime with, like Kokopelli and Yuu-chan.
 * Your Days Are Numbered:
 * You Can't Fight Fate
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Averted--which, combined with the main cast bordering on Loads and Loads of Characters territory, makes it a bit difficult to tell people apart at first.
 * Played straight in the anime with, like Kokopelli and Yuu-chan.
 * Your Days Are Numbered:

Warning: Watching Bokurano may cause depression. Proceed with caution.