Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu.
Duração: 23 min per ep
Gênero: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Estudio: SILVER LINK.
Sinopse:
After an enthusiastic invitation from her friend, Kaede Honjou reluctantly agrees to try New World Online: a very popular VRMMO played by thousands of people across Japan. Naming her in-game character Maple, she sets out on her journey. As a complete novice to such games, she allocates all of her stat points into vitality, desiring to not get hurt. With not a single point in any other stat, Maple has extraordinarily high defense, but she can't move quickly or hit hard.
This does not end badly for her, however. Due to her high defense, Maple acquires overpowered skills such as Total Defense, Poison Immunity, and Devour. These skills, along with the incredibly powerful items she obtains, allow her to obliterate most enemies in a single hit. After only a few days of playing the game, Maple claims third place in a server-wide event, gaining a reputation as a player who is both unkillable and absurdly powerful.
Despite her overpowered character, Kaede has much to learn. As she progresses through the game, she meets new friends and acquaintances, helping her complete new levels and events. Through all of her adventures, she may even pick up some other crazy skills that exceed all expectations.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
ExemplarCayman
Finally, a VRMMO series written by an author that actually played MMOs before. Even more shockingly, it’s written by an author that can actually write. You see, because the author actually played MMOs before, he understands that in reality all of them suck major balls, so instead of portraying his fictional game as “realistic,” he portrays it as fun. In a sense, the game is portrayed the way an unspoiled newcomer sees MMOs: as a new world of adventure and endless possibility, one you explore with genuine curiosity and sense of wonder. Not a repetitive grind-fest, fantasy accountant simulator regarding stats and gear, and disappointing technologicallimitations.
Not that this fictional game being fun actually matters. Because this series isn’t a VRMMO. It is an anime show about people playing VRMMO (a concerningly high number of people seems to be unable to comprehend the distinction). And because the author can write, this ends up being a fun anime show. What it does right:
The VRMMO premise done right. I’ll repeat it again, this is a show about people playing a VRMMO - exploring a fictional world, socializing with their friends, making new friends, having fun. There is an online community of people talking about the game they play - sharing news, bitching about the OP things, bitching about the developers nerfing the OP things, etc. There are, of course, the developers, monitoring the state of the game, rolling out new content and thinking hard about what else to nerf. No one is trapped in an MMO. There are no contrived idiotic stakes like “if you die here, you die in real life.” Instead, there are real stakes in that the characters’ behaviour in the game affects their relationships with other people. There is real meaningful progress of meeting people and building friendships.
The MMO fanservice done right. There is a certain famous VRMMO series with a reputation of catering to the core MMO audience. That show spends half an episode explaining the idea that different classes can party up together to be more effective in combat, and does that with a comically pompous attitude of revealing some grand 4D chess strategy. That series is low-IQ garbage. In contrast, the MMO fanservice in Bofuri is clever, subtle, doesn’t waste your time, and happens when it makes sense in context. There are things like using combat moves for mobility (like a vertically-propelling attack for double-jumping), accidentally stumbling on hidden content by doing random stupid shit, wasting hours just fishing, sequence-breaking a quest line, and, the core foundation of the story, breaking the game by combining various mechanics in a way that was not forseen by the devs.
Narrative depth. As mentioned above, this is a story about people socializing, and the way this happens is organic and believable. Sally is the protagonist Maple's close friend who went to a great length of getting her into this MMO in the first place, which is why it makes sense how much effort she pours into keeping Maple entertained. Hell, the show could’ve been a good romance story if it wanted to, this is how well the aspect of their “dating” is executed. Meanwhile, Maple herself is a cheerful outgoing extrovert who effortlessly makes new friends, so she ends up with a guild. Sally isn’t an extrovert, so she isn’t friends with their guild. She tolerates them because they’re Maple’s friends. The guild members all have their own circumstances which boil down to that being in the Maple’s guild is just a good time in one way or another. Chrome is the most notable case - he is the generic audience surrogate dude who would be perfectly fine just reading about Maple (who’s a mascot of the game for all intents) on the forum, but somehow ended up as her companion, so now he’s self-conscious about being worthy of the main character position, especially considering he plays the same class as Maple but isn’t as good at it. Even the aforementioned forum messages look like real conversations that could be held by real people.
I could easily write paragraphs upon paragraphs breaking down such stuff - simply because there IS stuff to break down. There is depth. Best of all, it’s subtle and unobtrusive, the audience isn’t being beaten over the head with who thinks what about whom, it’s just there between the lines, not taking away the screen-time from the show’s main substance, but present to be seen by anyone who has the eyes and the brain to see it. Maybe not everyone does, which is why this aspect of the show goes underappreciated.
High production values. The series is supposedly a comedy/SoL, and yet its action scenes blow 90% of action anime out of the water with the level of their choreography, animation and hype. I, for once, particularly enjoyed the scene where a caster doing a long-ass chant was actually a thing happening in real time, with interference from their opponents and covering fire from their allies. The art, the music, the character design, etc. are all on point.
It’s fun. This is what MMOs are supposed to be about. Finishing your day, logging in, getting away from the real life problems for a moment, and having fun. Bofuri manages to capture that sense of having fun.
9/10 for “what every VRMMO series should aspire to be.”
Stark700
There once was a shield hero who entered a parallel universe but after being betray- . Oh wait, wrong show. But granted, Bofuri does have a character with a big shield so what gets people watching this anime with a VRMMO setting? Virtual reality is no stranger to the isekai creative realm. Sword Art Online became one of the biggest franchise of the past decade. Bofuri has nowhere near that level of popularity in horsepower and for most people, they’re turning to heads and asking themselves, “what the hell is Bofuri?” A good question. For the sake of this review, I’m addressing it just the animeas “Bofuri” because who really wants to read out loud the full title. At its sweet spot, Bofuri essentially drops our main character into a virtual reality world, based on a new game known as “New World Online”. As the character avatar “Maple”, she carries a vast amount of vitality but very low amount of offensive power. Hence, you can easily guess where the English version of the title came from. Maple, as her character suggests, maxed out her defense and doesn’t want to get hurt.
If we’re talking about realism here, putting all your skill points into one skill isn’t a clever idea. In a party, everyone has a role and sometimes, desperate times calls for desperate measures where you have to take on a role that you’re not prepared for. Now, you may be getting the idea that Maple made a critical mistake but fear not for she managed to obtain two important skills to aid her in combat. That’s the beauty about some MMOs. There’s choices that can be made and Maple’s choice managed to become a character of near unrivalled talent.
Maple herself is a young girl with enthusiasm, curiosity, and full of life. She and her partner Sally are our charming adventure duo who undertakes quests and completing tasks. Adapting an MMO 101 formula, a series like this heavily depends on our main cast to carry the storytelling. The author wanted us to understand our main characters and relate to them. And for that purpose, she made Maple into as ordinary as possible, both in-game and in real life. Chances are, you’ve probably encountered someone of similar personality to Maple in a MMO game before. The main difference is that she has max defense and essentially that tank you want in a party. And when watching Bofuri, it sometimes feels like playing a game. I’m not just talking about fighting a boss monster together or taking on some escort mission. I’m talking about social connection, a perk that every MMO game offers to its players. Maple is there to not just build her character, guild, or skills. She’s also in this world to make friends, companions, and even rivals to prove herself. In the early episodes, she builds an important relationship with Sally, who becomes one of her most trustworthy allies. Later in the series, she forms a guild together with Kasumi, May, and her friend Yui. They called it, the “Maple Tree”.
As the guild master, Maple has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders to carry as she has to unite together in this complex game. Under the virtual reality umbrella, anything can happen anytime in this series so their members must all be prepared. While most of the characters in the guild are friendly with each other, Kasumi does initially display a cold shoulder with her serious personality. It isn’t until she became more familiarized with Maple and her friends that she began to warm up and trust them. Blending between the line of fiction and reality, we also do see some of her real life scenarios when the opportunity arises. However, I would argue and say that her virtual life is far more ambitious than her real life counterpart. When it comes down to it, she’s too ordinary in real life and is portrayed as a generic teenager you’ve seen a million times before. In game, she has a more presence with not just her skills but ability to bring people closer together. I won’t be the grand judge on whether you prefer her in-game avatar or real life character. But if you ask me, Maple’s potential lies in her virtual adventures.
Up to this point, you may also be asking the glaring question about how far the anime focuses on the story. As an anime original viewer, I can only say that the story embraces its premise and promises a lighthearted fantasy adventure experience. The light novels contains a well-rounded amount of chapters that I have no doubt expands far more into what this anime adapted. But for references, I do appreciate that the author were able to capture the main concepts of the show at its core. From Maple’s sociable personality and selling the main concepts of a VRMMO game, it shows that Bofuri can make an identity of its own. Even in a floodgate of these isekai-esque game world settings, Bofuri is what I classify as a sparkling gem.
For Silver Link to take on this anime adaptation means you should probably lower some expectations. As much as I enjoy the world setting and fictional fantasy gags, there’s only so much this anime can pull you in on the artistic front. Character designs looks simple despite Maple wearing that heavy armor and wielding a shield almost twice her size. Other characters in the series has little to impress as most them look like premade characters from a video game. The bestiary is also more or less to get excited about as the majority lacks unique traits. On the hand, I do appreciate how the anime embraces idea of character classes and mostly stick to their guns. Mostly during combat scenes, we see the characters use their actual skills rather than pulling tricks out of their ass. And sometimes, these battles raises the stakes in later episodes with guild rivalries that can be worth anticipating for.
Bofuri ended up being one of the better fantasy shows this year from what’s shown us. It may be a bit early to call for now but from the endless lineup of generic isekai and game world fantasies, Bofuri managed to celebrate the essentials of adventuring. And with just 12 episodes, it’s easy for anyone to jump into. Prepare to be assimilated.
LaLeLuLiLo
I don’t like talking about other anime when doing a review, since I just want to focus on just the show. However it is obvious that a superficial comparison can be made on this show and a previously aired title “Rise of The Shield Hero”. Since I remembered when Shield Hero was airing a few seasons ago, I made an off hand comment that the Protagonist was basically an example of a min-max build(even though it was against his will). Lo and behold that this season introduces another min-max build but this time is properly acknowledged, and also happens to be another defense build witha shield! It’s a funny coincidence more than anything, and where most of the comparison ends.
BOFURI as it is called due to it’s absurdly long title is a rather delightful show to watch. Yes, the fact that it’s another virtual reality Isekai may be a bit eye rolling, but it does help that the show doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has a very light tone to the point that it can be considered slice-of-life, since it very much is. It basically looks into the life of a teenage girl as she has fun with her friends in the virtual space. The only thing making her stand-out from the crowd is that she naively Min-maxed a defense build that in turn led to her getting favorable results. Essentially she found a way to break the game and make herself drastically overpowered in a short amount of time. It amounts to very little aside from making boss fights and pvp tournaments very easy for her because in the end, it’s just a game.
That’s really the crux of it all that makes it stand, the show acknowledges that everything is just a game and nothing more. The characters all get along and there’s rarely(if any) deep seated rivalries or drama because it would be petty because it is just a game. All the NPCS are obviously scripted and quests that can be easily circumvented or easily accomplished. And while the main protagonist may be an overpowered tank, she does get nerfed from time to time. Although she usually bounces back from it with some other new thing the story hands out to her. Yes, things really do come very conveniently to our main protagonist, Maple. So much so that combined with her happy-go-lucky attitude she comes off as a Mary sue with her only fault being clumsy. Of course this power fantasy is only in the game, because out of it she’s just a clumsy girl and nothing more.
If it isn’t telling from the last paragraph, a lot of the characters in this show don’t have a lot of depth to them. Which is all fine for the most part, since their simplicity is part of their charm. It’s that casual carelessness and easy to understand personalities that makes them easy to attach to. such as Maple’s best friend Sally who is very supportive of her and who purposely created her own min-max build that compliments her friends. Even the “antagonistic” characters such as the leaders of the flame emperors who comes off as a very serious try hard person. Only for it to reveal that it;s more of a front for her to impress her friends and is also really a bit of a crybaby. Although it’s not uncommon that some of the characters can be forgettable even in Maple’s own group.
While the production value for the show is as decent as it comes these days. The soundtrack is worth taking note of. Not because there is something remarkable about it, but it does end up having a place within the show. Mostly when it comes during the fight sequences and the montages in the show. Especially the montages which the show has many more than it should have. It has a very distinct musical and vocal track that gets played again and again for each montage. It’s a decent song, but it would be nice to have something different. The same goes for the fight sequence song as well.
This is a show that isn’t planning to aim high and I guess i can respect that. All it wants to be is a carefree enjoyable show, and it succeeded in doing so.
literaturenerd
“Scrub Lord: How I Learned to Stop Trying to Git Gud and Embrace the Cheese”. That is what they should have named this anime. Bofuri is an anime that is set up just like any other Isekai. A boring protagonist becomes obsessed with some shitty RPG that works through some incredibly advanced virtual reality. We know that soon she will get stuck in the RPG world and be told that she’ll die in the real world if she dies in the game. We’ve seen this 10 million times before. But WAIT! She doesn’t actually get stuck in the game! In fact, there are absolutely nostakes at all! This anime was recommended by a friend as one of the most pointless anime ever made. After watching it, I have to agree.
This anime is literally just watching a Let’s Play in which a no talent, filthy scrub uses OP spells to cheese her way through a poorly balanced game with an unearned reputation for difficulty! Would you like to spend 6 hours watching a Twitch stream of a ditzy girl abusing Dark Souls 3’s questionable balance system? That is what this show is! The ditzy girl chooses pyromancer, pours everything into faith and intelligence, and just roflstomps every boss in the game with OP spells like Crystal Soul Spear, Grand Chaos Fire Orb, and Black Fire Orb. Doesn't that sound like something that warrants a 12 episode anime adaptation with a budget?
Despite Bofuri's simple and admittedly kind of stupid premise, anime can have a simple premise and still work. One Punch is about a normal guy who becomes the world's strongest superhero, but he's so OP that every fight is a bore to him and all his fellow superheroes are rendered completely worthless. When I first watched Bofuri, I thought it was going to be an isekai version of One Punch Man with the whole joke being how OP Kaede is. However, this really isn't a comedy series. Bofuri is a "cute girls doing cute things" anime that on rare occasion has a comedic moment. So now that we realize it's not a comedy, we have to ask ourselves why this was made and who was it made for? My immediate guess is that Bofuri was made for thirsty male gamers who want to imagine having a hardcore gamer girlfriend. However, it doesn't actually feature any fanservice whatsoever. The main girls are drawn very flat and aren't ever sexualized. There is no romance in the series. It doesn't cater to any weird fetishes or anything like that. So maybe this is actually meant to be a relaxing anime for gamer girls? Nope! Bofuri is classified as a seinen, which means it is in fact intended for older men. As someone in the seinen demographic, I honestly can't imagine why people think this anime is good.
I think my favorite running gag in the series is Maple killing difficult bosses by poisoning them from a distance and getting praised for it by hardcore gamers. If you want to troll gamer forums, go tell a bunch of Souls fans that you were clever enough to poison False King Allant, the last boss of Demon Souls to death and fish for compliments. They will get MAD because the way Kaede plays is always the exact opposite of how a respectable gamer is supposed to tackle these types of games.
So if Bofuri isn't a comedy or a fanservice show or an action show, it must have great character development right? Kaede must start out with some character flaw she has to overcome or she has to learn how to make friends and get along with others right? Well...no. Bofuri is a show about level grinding montages, moe garbage where nothing happens, and then tournaments that Maple/Kaede wins by being OP. There are no real character journeys in Bofuri. There is no overarching plot. When I said this series was just a bad "Let's Play" I wasn't exaggerating. Bofuri is a monumental waste of time. Sword Art Online gets a lot of shit, and we can all see it's a flawed adaptation of an imperfect light novel. However, it wanted to create a protagonist that would inspire lonely young men. It wanted to create a wholesome romance and when the author was called out for writing shitty female characters, he actually took feedback and tried hard to get better! SAO was a pioneering LN that hundreds of others ripped off and even today is still beloved in Japan. Bofuri is none of those things. It wasn't a daring series. It never tried in any category. It's like the anime equivalent of a shovel ware game that gets thrown on to Steam in order to trick a few suckers into buying it. Bofuri makes SAO look like The Godfather. The only reason I didn't give it a lower rating is due to the animation from Silver Fox, which is honestly pretty decent. This series looks far better than it deserves.
Liddo-kun
At first, this show looked like standard cute girls doing cute things show that come dime a dozen these days. However, after two episodes I realized this show struck a powerful chord.. as New World Online reminded me of the fun days I played in the real game Ragnarok Online. Reminded me all of the item gatherings, meeting friends, forming a guild. It's all here. NONE = Also none of the excess baggage that other shows try to shove into my face. Trying to save the world from evil? trapped in another world? trapped in a game? people dying if they lose? generic harem plot? Noneof those shits!! This is just pure fun, we are playing a friendly game. More easy to relate to for people like me who played and enjoyed RO years ago.
Art - colorful backgrounds, lush grasslands, forests. Makes you want to explore and do adventure. Rest in the town when you get tired. The enemies, the non-playable characters (npc's), the buildings in the town, and even players chatting in the distance are decently animated, adding a sweet feel to the world of NWO.
Characters - Maple and her friend Sally are the most developed being main the pair. However, the others feel "real enough" in the sense that they feel like the friendly people I've met in Ragnarok Online years ago.
Sound - from the pleasant singing by Rico Sasaki in the background, to the action music during boss fights. It's helps flesh out the world of Bofuri into a wonderland that is both immersive and fun.
Enjoyment - I don't want to over hype. My review is very biased since I enjoyed this show, because I was a Ragnarok Online addict for years. However, one thing this show did is it is consistent on doing things it was meant to do, which is give me the feeling of playing game, explore, adventure, meet friends. It did not pretend to be something deep. Come on people, we're playing game here for fun, not because our lives depended on it or world peace is in danger!! XD Another reason I liked this is no overpowered male main cast gathering a harem either, which is a mercy, as I'm sick of shows like that Smartphone shit.
Overall - I recommend this show for people who want to remove stress and just have some clean fun watching people play a friendly game in a virtual world. If you're looking for something deeper, then look somewhere else.
Yautja
If you think SAO is awful, mediocre or overrated, you should think the exact same about this, or else you might just be a hypocrite. This anime is SAO meets TNY meets Moe Trash, with even more insane plot armor / contrivances than SAO could ever hope to have. Also, spoilers. Bofuri has absolutely nothing going for it beyond the ever present CGDCT, which wouldn't be a problem or worthy of such a negative rating if not for the game aspect which has lead to an insane amount of the aforementioned plot convenience, awful characters and a litany of other issues. Bofuri's lack of a (complex) storyis not too great an issue, what is however an issue is how every single challenge is raised and defeated in a single episode, in particularly contrived manners, usually bordering on, if not shooting straight past the Deus Ex Machina label. Every single challenge the protagonist(s) encounter is immediately resolved by some quirky (RE: Stupid / unreasonable) action from the protagonist. Actions that'd never work in any decently written series, let alone a real game, or are so convenient we'd call it a miracle.
For example, being unable to do damage to the monster due to low stats, so instead eating the monsters in a game, power of friendship, obtaining / using insanely broken skills that'd have been immediately patched out the ass, let alone ever reached deployment (Like a fucking Mecha and Kaijuu skill, on the same character, in a fantasy game? Really?), etc. As someone who's played games, and made them, one of the most irritating things to me is the game balance in this anime, rather, the complete lack of it. No such game would ever exist. Let alone a high profile VRMMO, with a collection of devs. The game this series is set in is just an absolute mess.
Honestly, I don't think explaining it could do justice, I'd just recommend watching each (or a given) episode, because this does happen literally every episode, with two core questions in mind. One, what is the challenge of this episode the characters will face? Two, how is it being resolved? From there you branch off and ask yourself other things such as "Is this resolution reasonable / realistic?", "Would this work in real life?", "Would this happen in real life?", "Do such challenges happen in other anime and how are they resolved?". The answer will be negative 100% of them time. Absolutely nothing in this anime earned, not the skills, not the victories, nothing. And while yes, that is sometimes the joke, there is a line and that joke cannot be used as an excuse for every single challenge that appears to be immediately dismissed and resolved, regardless of the magnitude of it. And since it is used as such, and never with an acceptable / believable justification, you know that the protagonists are never, ever going to lose a fight or encounter any genuine challenge. And that is a problem. Everything is handed to them.
The characters are paper thin, even for anime, even for CGDCT. Not a single person ever deviates beyond the rigid outline set for them, none of them do anything unique, there's no conflict, no surprises, no distinguishing features. They're just archetypes, not characters. Maple is the quirky cute Mary Sue protagonist who never runs into a problem that cannot be immediately Deus Ex Machina'd out of. Sally is cool, smart supportive best friend. Yui & Mai are extremely lazy carbon copy mirror images of each other that have effectively no character beyond "cute" and "strong" which is probably meant to be an interesting contrast / gap moe. Kuromu is the token male character protagonist who is a helpful manly big brother, but constantly kept at arms length to avoid angering certain fanbases. Kanade is a clever androgynous character who isn't very physical, that's it. Kasumi is the cool older sister type. And Iz is the helpful big sister. None of them have any depth beyond that, and I think those descriptions are enough to predict every action they take through-out the series. The characters are hollow archetypes with insanely predictable behaviours.
The voice acting and music are both very average, nothing worth complaining about or particularly praising. The only thing that I'd particularly note on is the sound effects when announcing a skill. Other than that, it was entirely forgettable, no high impact / memorable music, no exceptional voice acting, especially not from the main, main cast. The best VAs are probably Kuromu's VA and Mii's, both of whom have a backseat 95% of the story.
Art is another average not worth mentioning too much. It's very colorful which is nice, but has a somewhat boring and cliche style that you'll find in a dozen given anime each season. The character designs are a mixed bag. On many occasions they are insanely overdone, even for anime. On some occasions, they're pretty interesting. Yui and Mai are a fantastic example of lazy and overdone, especially once they get their armor. I don't even know where to begin with them, the obvious color dichtomy with the somewhat distasteful color streaks, the ridiculous armor design, the comically sized hammers. Mii, Iz, Kuromu (Original), on the otherhand are fairly good. Kuromu 2.0 however is justy plain edgy. As are the monster and mecha skills, which are insanely ridiculous and out of place.
Animation is something I never really talk about unless it's exception or exceptionally bad (looking at you 7 Deadly Sins), so I've essentially ignored here, since it's neither worth complaining about or praising.
I get that I'm criticizing the joke this show was going for, but it's because I don't think it did a very good job. If you want to or are capable of turning your brain off and watching something flashy, this is a good enough watch. If you pay any modicum of attention and take the show seriously however, the irritations will pile up real fast. Bofuri succeeds in appealing to a specific niche, but more broadly as an anime and as a story, it's pretty astounding failure.
Allsiss
It should be fairly easy to gauge your potential enjoyment of Bofuri based on your reaction towards it's synopsis. If you were reading about the MC becoming the most overpowered player in the game and thought to yourself:"Hell yeah, I want to see a cute show about a shield loli wrecking everyones shit up!", then I can recommend this one without much hesitation. Maple is very cute, beloved by all and definitely ends up dominating everyone and everything in every way possible and with strength to spare. Now if that last part has you worried, you'll want to stay away. If you were hoping for asetting with a cute MC who learns about game mechanics, plans strategies, trains hard to overcome all obstacles and gets rewarded for her passion, well then this show isn't for you. Simply put: She doesn't learn, she doesn't plan, she doesn't train. Maple just plays the game like any new player would, yet for no explicable reason her rewards are always more plentiful and several magnitudes more powerful than anyone else's.
Giving your MC high class rewards for mundane activities would be bad writing in any setting. It's even worse in the context of a game, as you'd expect other more skilled and determined players to copy what's working for her and quickly getting ahead. This never happens. The Anime says people are doing exactly that, but we never see it, and they clearly aren't successful with it. This is something annoying Bofuri does throughout it's run. It tries to wave any potential plot holes around Maple away with cheap explanations, which end up insulting the viewers intelligens more than they actually close said holes. And that's if they get addressed at all.
She constantly stumbles into greatness for seemingly no reason and I really cannot stress enough how tedious this becomes. Our cute shield heroine really doesn't do anything out of the ordinary, ever. She says so herself on multiple occasions and the people around her always react incredulous, as if it's clear that you couldn't possibly get to were she's at by playing normally... well yeah, exactly, so why is she?
Sadly the show bends over backwards at every turn to make Maple as successful as possible. In the first PvP event were players need to kill each other to gain enough points, for example. Despite seeing that Maple isn't taking damage and her shield killing anyone who comes too close, people are still just mindlessly throwing themselves at her. Defeating her clearly looks impossible, very dangerous and wouldn't give any more points than eliminating anyone else. Instead of fighting the impossible tank with zero mobility and an instant kill shield, any player would just ignore her and look for easier targets. They are trying to win themself, not making her look good.
But unfortunately this is the Maple show! She needs to get kills to earn the reward so let's all just fling ourselves at her! Realistic characters don't matter.
Maple needs to be stronger!
Maple needs to look awesome!
It's all about Maple!
IT'S ALL ABOUT MAPLE!!!
And this is another big problem I have with Bofuri. Up until now I only focused on the MC. Unfortunately that's exactly what the Anime does, too. Basically all other characters might as well be empty NPC's. They look and act like it. The vast majority of enemies are shown as nameless, faceless mooks who are running around in the most unimaginative gear I have ever seen in a fantasy setting, let alone a game. They obviously just exist as cannon fodder to illustrate how devastatingly strong Maple is or to cheer her on from the sidelines.
The only thing we learn about the few named enemy players is their relative power. That's it. No character arcs, no backstories, no motivations, no nothing! They exist as a more concrete longterm obstacle for Maple to overcome, but could just as easily be generic ingame bosses.
Lastly her friends/guild members. Even they only exist for the glory of Maple. The only thing they ever do without her direct involvement is confined to super short clip montages. Their main reason to exist is so that we can have a guild for Maple and to show just how much stronger she is and how much they need her. She in turn doesn't really need them for much of anything. Maple is more powerful than the rest of her guild combined, has more utility, more defense and any gear they could help her obtain she can clearly find on her own and faster. On atleast one occasion two of her teammates even end up holding her back and Maple still comes out on top without much effort.
The sole exception to this is her friend Sally and even she gets pushed into irrelevance fast. One could be forgiven for believing her to be a vital part of the team, after all she takes up the important role of chief strategist.
Then Maple unleashes her ultimate transformation, becoming an unstoppable monster berserking unopposed through hordes of top players and killing several of them with single attacks, proving she never needed any of that strategy nonsense to begin with, or her teammates for that matter.
Glory to Maple!...
Outside of this there isn't much to Bofuri. In terms of production quality it's ok. Art, animation and choreography are good at the start and fizzle out into mediocrity the longer the show progresses. Fairly standard for the average TV anime. Some fights towards the end are poor, some have a bit of sakuga, but it's nothing extraordinary for better or for worse. Sound design and music are ok, save for the montage song which got overused towards the end as were the clip montages themselves. The dialogue is the only aspect of Bofuri I'd call consistently bad. Painfully generic at the very least. The story doesn't go beyond the synopsis and I doubt anyone would expect something deep from this show anyway. I certainly didn't and I was ok with that, but the execution of the core concept was awfully poor.
Overall I leave Bofuri feeling frustrated. I wanted to see a cute shield loli beating the odds, but there is a limit to any good thing and this Anime has shot over that tenfold. The first few episodes when Maple hadn't yet ascended into quasi-godhood were decently entertaining. After she starts randomly becoming the very best in every aspect however, the show quickly drops proportionally to how much stronger she gets. By the end Maple indisputably belongs on this games equivalent of Mount Olympus. Bofuri at that point belongs in the trash bin.
4- /10
AntonyAV
"BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense" is a lighthearted slice of life anime about two girl friends adventuring in a virtual reality world while learning about the game, making friends, winning championships, etc... I won't get into any important part of the story but I'll need to speak a little about the things that happen in this anime to explain why I disliked it. The world is interesting and the characters are likeable and maybe even relatable... At first glace, it's just that at the same time those characters lack depth and don't go through any kind of development,and the VR world always seems to bend to their imagination making them incredibly powerful, I swear every issue is fixed by Maple's Hydra (A poisonous dragon thing she gets in one of the first areas of the world) being used in a different way than originally showed which was a poison attack, it can also:
-Pin them/push enemies back
-Poison large bodies of water
-Fill containers with its poison
-Create a poisonous gas area that stays that way for extended periods of time
-Create a ball of poison to envelop Maple (and later her friends) to roll down hills without taking damage and even to just shoot through dungeons at lightning speed
-Be used to create an impenetrable defensive poison bubble cocoon around maple
-Be used as a remote shield to stop incoming attacks
And the list goes on, you get the idea.
The example I gave with Hydra goes for most things or situations, the two main girls always are the best at what they do because this VR game seems to be impossibly complex and versatile, it will respond to whatever silly idea and give absurdly powerful skills as a result like:
-Just getting stung by a monster until you develop resistance to any poison attack
-Eating a monster to gain powers
-Speedrunning the same dungeon to farm EXP
Again, the list goes on, even defeating any of the bosses around the world gives either a unique weapon/armor or an overpowered skill.
If this is the idea the writer intended then it's great, such a unique world lends itself to creating a very nuanced story with lots of creative action, but this doesn't happen, apparently everyone else is so dumb that they don't get any overpowered perks like our MCs, most other people don't even use any skills while fighting and act like filler characters, and when we do see interesting skills they're like speed boosts, stun spells or fireballs while Maple is unlocking godly powers. if the world is going to be rewarding our MC with overpowered skills for every small thing then everyone should be incredibly powerful, not just her.
The only other people that get good skills are Maple's team, nothing as good as her, but they're powerful in their own right, able to wipe hundreds of players on their own, this includes Sally who gets many powers but her real ability lies in the fact that she's somehow too skilled, through her own sheer ability she can overcome attacks that should be impossible to defend for her, and kill anyone with ease. She's a kid with not much gaming experience, so this skill can only be sort of explained because she's agile and athletic in real life, for a kid, but if this is the case then there should be plenty of adults in better shape than her, meaning more coordinated and agile, this is never the case.
Maple's neverending flow of new OP skills is explained through the devs watching maple and being astonished at her stunts, meaning that they created this world with skills hidden everywhere but only Maple finds them one after the other being a kid just playing however she pleases, no one else should be finding these skills apparently, and the devs are baffled, they for example, somehow programmed into this world that if someone takes a few bites from a boss then that person gets the ability to turn into something akin to godzilla with OP magical abilities, but are perplexed to see Maple finding one of the myriad of powers they've planted into their world. They even nerf Maple once, but the thing they nerfed wasn't even a skill, it was a shield that killed everything it touched instantly with no limits or repercussions, how could they have predicted that the shield would be OP!
The story still feels very bland and poorly executed, a slice of life + action anime sounds like a hard idea to execute but one with a lot of promise, for me BOFURI was a big disappointment that didn't deliver on the characters and the consistency needed for a believable and enjoyable VR fantasy world. The ending was a good chance to show the OP team struggle, but in this anime anytime Maple finds any resistance and seems to struggle, it's because she's trying not to use too many of her abilities, not because she's in any real trouble, the main antagonist Payne was painfully unutilized.
ArgoNaga
Bofuri isn't very unique when it comes to isekai but it's fun to watch. A anime that is almost like a slice of life. It doesn't have over the top drama which is a good relief as they're just playing a video game. Really good characters with their own traits but would like more development on the side characters.The animation is surprisingly well done compared to shows like Arifureta. The music is also very chill compared to other isekai which is very refreshing. Though i feel like Bofuri did rush the end a bit. Would also like to see more real world interaction in maple's life andhow the game affected her.
Enjoyed it very much 9/10 would recommend if you like moe
Suitwo
This will be my first review so if my points aren't well expained I'll blame it on that. Now at first I really liked it, I wasn't going to watch it at first because I had just finished The Overly Cautious Hero (OCH) and didn't want to something like it, but in the end there wasn't much else that peaked my interest and the idea behind a character building only defence seemed interesting. I'll start with what I liked, the art was great, whever a spell or ability was cast you could see how much effort had gone into it, everything looked so clean and crisp. Aswell as that the first few episodes were really great to define Maple's character and her style to me made sense and reflected in her goal of taking no damage, up to post first event I thought she was a good character.
On to why I felt it fell part after that, outside of Maple we didn't really see much of any other character outside of maybe Sally, nobody else really changed or was overly important or got a chance to shine, they maybe get a small moment of dialogue here and there but most of the time they are sideliners. I have not read the manga so it maybe does it different there, but for the anime nobody outside of Maple seems to be developed as a character which I am personally not a fan of.
The next thing I am sure is controversial but I'll say it anyway because it was the most offputting thing for me, and if you have already watched the show you will know why I specifically said just post event 1 that I started having issues. It's what happens to Maple's character, she starts off being a pretty interesting, playing a unique playstyle while suffering the drawbacks, that's what I want from a character, it makes them memorable for being unique. Then after a while, it seems like everything gets forgotten about other than the fact he has high Vitality, every single fight from then on it's almost like the lack of Strength, Agility etc don't matter. I even did a bit of the maths based on the wiki info, what's happening there and what's happening on screen should be two completely different things.
I won't go into too much more detail but she essentially becomes just a generic OP protagonist after a certain point with numbers that shouldn't make sense with what's happening. While that may be nitpicky it's was a similar issue with OCH but in that case I thought his quirk became boring and used poorly after a while, this time the thing that made her different became a redundancy. It is already trying to compete in a genre that is desperate for something new, making her the way she is tied in with the way the story flows doesn't do anything to make her stand out.
But what I will say is that if you can look past that I imagine you will like the show, and I probably am taking it too seriously. Put it this way, if you are new to the Isekai genre I think you will like it, but if you've seen too many to count then I'd advise looking somewhere else, it's very generic for being new.
lycoping
I am going to review this as if it were one of either isekai, fantasy, or gaming, because to me, these three genres kind of mix together. I'm going to do that because of all of the anime in this genre, this might be my favorite. Kaede joins a new VR game, and immediately decides she's going to only focus on defense, because she doesn't want to get hurt. However, in doing so, she finds her niche in the game and becomes, well, absurd. And absurdly OP. And I loved the chaos. Let's start with what I love about this anime. I usually donot really like fantasy, isekai, or gaming anime, because they tend to be cliched, overdone, a little too action packed, or unrealistic. While this anime contains some tropes that would fit all three, it's unique in my experience amongst anime, because:
1) The game that they're joining is actually a game. A rather unrealistically portrayed one, but we'll get to that later. Let's just say for now that it is, actually, a game. There's no reincarnation into a game world, there's no finding oneself in a game you wrote, nothing like that. The MC can join and leave the game as she desires.
2) The game mechanics are somewhat realistic (not entirely, but again, we'll get to that later). Instead of just getting random skills for no reason, the MC has to actually defeat monsters to do so, and the monsters are, very clearly, designed to be either beaten or to have the illusion of being beaten. NPCs are NPCs - they have scripts that they follow, even if it may not make sense. If you are even a very little bit familiar with games like this (and I definitely fit into the mold of being a "very little bit familiar"), this will all make perfect sense.
3) The MC is not OP just because someone (a God or some such) decided to make them OP. The MC is OP because she was smart (or crazy) enough to intuitively understand the mechanics of the game she's joined, and then, well, exploit them to her own advantage. This is *entirely* the dev/GM's fault (they are depicted as little animate blobs with smiley faced masks, I wonder if this is a comment on actual GMs). It's implied that anyone could have been that OP if they'd just approached the game as she does.
This leads to a great deal of chaos as the MC uses these well-earned OP skills to pretty much run roughshod over the game, to the point where the GMs try (and mostly fail) to nerf her (every time they try she just finds some other absurd thing to do and it ends up not mattering). That is the aspect of this game I loved - the chaos was so amusing, as I wondered (along with everyone else in the game) what kind of chaos she was going to unleash. Many games like this just have an OP character for the sake of being OP, but this one actually is chaotic, and that makes it fun. Even the action scenes are clearly for fun, when a character dies they just deres and disappear, and maybe come back later. So the stakes aren't any higher than in a real game, that is to say, not high at all unless you're somewhat unbalanced.
So, this anime isn't really to be taken seriously, it's just fun, and frankly, that's what I found so refreshing about it. Many other anime of this (these) genre(s) pretend like they don't take it seriously, but they, well, end up taking it seriously anyway. This one never, ever falls into that trap.
Now. Let's go into what I didn't like about it.
The game was, frankly, unrealistic. I understand that it's supposed to be VR, so a certain amount of immersion is necessary, and actually, realistic. But this was not realistic technology. This wasn't anywhere *near* realistic technology. You can't taste or feel (for the most part) or smell or anything like that in a VR game like this, and it was heavily implied (but never outright stated) that you can't log out of the game without, well, logging out. These characteristics are why I lump this in with isekai or fantasy genres, even though it fits more in with the gaming genre. It's as if the writer wanted to have their cake and eat it to, and only mostly succeeded. Also, the "time speed up" aspects used in several parts of the game simply do not, and frankly can not at this point, exist.
If you are willing and/or able to overlook these rather obvious plot holes, you can suspend your disbelief enough to enjoy this anime, but these things are entirely true, and troublesome. It's almost as if the author wanted to write an isekai, and couldn't quite bring themselves to take that final step into fantasy immersion.
Secondly, the MCs home and school life aren't explored at *all*. What about her parents - why aren't they involved in her game playing? She just goes online, and that's where it all is. I guess that makes sense considering, but it's as if they only show her logged out every now and then just to reinforce that it's just a game. Which is fine, I guess, but again, why not just make it an isekai then?
Technically, the art was pretty good. Some of the backgrounds are spectacular, and the action scenes are fairly well animated, if sometimes so quick as to be difficult to interpret. The music was completely and utterly unremarkable, but I guess that's better than being bad. Writing is decent but not excellent... technically, this is just a slightly better than average anime. But, if you consider how many anime are worse than average, that still makes it pretty good. Very little to no actual fanservice, as you might otherwise find in anime of this or adjacent genres, most of the characters had realistic bodies that are reasonably well covered. A couple of characters are more scantily clad and well endowed than others, but, well, you'll find that in real games too, so no big deal. At least it wasn't all of them.. no gore either, that's expressed with perfectly pretty purple pixelated patterned sparklies.
My Crunchyroll and MAL accounts are *littered* with isekai/fantasy anime I could not or didn't want to finish. I'm going to watch season 2, or at least start it. And from me, that's a pretty high compliment, considering I dropped Konosuba, which I would consider a kindred anime in some ways. A recommend from me, but if you like anime of this genre that takes itself or the concept seriously... move on. This is just for fun.
KANLen09
The slew of Isekai VR MMORPGs that started the craze with SAO doesn't seem to slow down every single year since its inception, with many of its brethren likeness of the many light novels that novelists try to "innovate" the spin and take a page off of SAO to be something different. And while BOFURI is not in the slightest ways of power-fantasy LNs to make a dent in the massive mixed juggernaut of a subgenre, novelist Yuumikan must've seen the popularity of Tate no Yuusha (the novels before the anime) and decided to put a fun spin on it: the MC being female asopposed to the myriad of males, and I'd think that it definitely has good and bad points for it.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, must've played a RPG in your own life before. Even watching anime to imitate these fantasy stories depends on how the game works, and that goes just as well for the in-game setting. But first, the supposedly "New World Online" (that reeks of the traits of all Isekai stories out there). Instead of the usual attack buffs that the majority will opt for in a game, hearing the minority opt for defense build-up does not take hard to notice, and that is the action of newbie Kaede Honjou, IGN Maple. I don't know about you, but when being complete beginners to a game, you're free to have stats as you wish, and speaking for the uninitiated complete newbie, a balanced setting in both attack and defense. Maple on the other hand, just went complete balls-to-the-wall on stacking for defense, and overtime that defense became her OP power. OK...definitely played against high-DEF players but Maple being OP on DEF is just wacky but fun (I'm questioning my sanity in check in the early stages). And bundling the standard-fare of a shield, she is Naofumi in the female moe sense, and I can't fault for having the MC be somebody worth a breath of fresh air.
And also in the typical MMORPG, in-game friends that spend their in-game lives together, creating guilds and friendship. That's what happened to Maple creating her guild Maple Tree with friends that "stick closer than a brother". Sally the agile swashbuckler (and her real-life friend who introduces her to NWO), Kasumi the speed samurai, Kanade the information strategist tomboy of a mage, Kuromu the shielder with Iz the crafter (and supposedly real-life friends), along with young rookie girls May and Yui, who (like Maple) invested all in strength instead. I typically find it weird for them all to be "friends with (actual) benefits", there's neither hidden agenda nor ulterior motive to the core, and even if it was so, the relationships built will be amiable at best. Truthfully speaking, Maple Tree is a guild like the "Happy Tree Friends", always getting themselves way ahead of the competition with everyone's unique powers that all are inherently OK with and not having even the slightest sense of doubt of malice. Nonetheless, Maple and her in-game friends are truly blessings in disguise together with one another, from exploring dungeons to taking down bosses, and the occasional endgame of "We can't let Maple let loose, otherwise the world will know that she is Kaede: Maple is Unbreakable!".
Adding the insanity that Maple is an airhead for most of the time, the fun element tops it a notch here, and bundle the overzealousness of friendships, it's all A-OK, everything's gonna be alright! One thing though that irks and amazes me, is that while the administrators know of Maple being so OP, they instead just make it like she's the star of the RPG itself with audience commentary and the admins just sitting back and watching the show like "We can't do anything to stop this moe of a defense monster!" Mixed feelings about this, but the heart of the series shows it through at the ending credits, and that's when I know, I'm still watching a "Let's Play" of sorts. But as people say, "there's no such thing as a perfect world", and BOFURI definitely landed on that perfect setting (which has earned the bulk of people who trash it endlessly and it's totally understandable).
This show is certainly one of Silver Link's best choreographed productions in recent times, and it shows throughout the series in bright visuals, detailed backgrounds, and the occasionally better-than-average action-adventure shows that with more effort for output, makes for a well-patched pristine display that can be enjoyed by people who love the Isekai genre for what it is. And it's all thanks to the usual hit-and-miss charimastic comedic director Shin Oonuma, and he brought in fellow (supposedly young) amateur director Mirai Minato (another Silver Link in-house director responsible for Masamune and Sunohara Kanrinin) for reasons I presume that he's to follow Oonuma-san's footsteps as comedic director, and this anime being a placeholder for Minato-san's works in adapting comedic shows regardless of the source material.
Sound-wise, I can think of nothing but (again) mixed feelings for it. The supposedly in-game original background music that evokes the feelings of playing MMORPGs, to the OST. Junjou no Afilia's OP is one of the better ones this season, and although it sounds generic AF, it is catchy and a treat on the ears every episode. And somehow I cannot say the same for Rico Sasaki's ED, as cheery as it is, it's just fine and nothing truly stands out of it. Overall, what I got out of this series having the MMORPG feeling as its core, it's just as good.
In a nutshell (and I say again), as much as we're very used to having VR MMORPGs that's been popularized by SAO and the formula repeated a million times over, the staleness that is the Isekai genre has hit BOFURI, but in no means, affected immense enjoyment. Sure, this anime is not for everyone who's used to the harshness (which brings the realism theme closer), and watching this like it's meant to be light-hearted and without trouble just disgusts the subgenre to no end. But for as much gripes as I can count on my hands, the happy-go-lucky experience doubles that instead. Definitely an unrealistic "perfect-world" Isekai, but double-thumb props for gracing us a hell of a fun ride while it lasted.
To end this amiable review, a Season 2 announced? Sign me up! More BOFURI is always fun lolzzzzz
eff-fume
Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu, or also called BOFURI is a new quirky and colorful entry into the “accidentally OP” MC genre of MMO/isekai or alike anime - and I am genuinely in love with it. Any educated viewer might slide their eyes over the poster and premise and immediately shudder in horror or smirk in a condescending disgust to have spotted another shlocky, bland and generic MMO “kinda isekai, but not really” trash that the anime industry has served us. Yes, the character designs look like SAO rip-offs, specifically Maple’s main armor looks like the armor set thedying girl - Konno Yuuki - wears in Mother’s Rosario, or the Great Shielder, who literally looks like Klein from the same show – but do not be deceived because; Bofuri is actually greatness in disguise.
I do not consider Bofuri high art nor a means to an end time passer to ramp up my completed anime count on my anime list. Many other anime serve these purposes, but in Bofuri I see a fun, quirky show that fills me with joy every time I watch it as it fulfills my MMO gamer heart.
There are certain parameters I rate isekai/MMO shows by. One of these are the setting and level designs, character designs, level or skill system, variance in spells and an assessable power scale, entertainment factor in watching fights unfold; and like any other show – how enjoyable it is to watch its production (It is not very enjoyable to me if it looks like ass).
Bofuri excels in creating an awesome setting design, with pretty great background art with different fantasy vegetation and monster designs for each level and fairly memorable bosses that have a overseeable and logical skill set for their species. The noob town spawns you right next to a multiple-branch waterfall tree and the houses have giant green leaves on top. The forest is riddled with apple bunnies (Japanese like to cut their apples in the form of a bunny) and the multi-branched trees and some other plants have a glowy ball that emits light in the middle.
I was immediately invested in the series as a production seeing this in the first episode, because it showed me that there was put specific thought and care into a show that looks disappointingly generic on first sight. The second level’s city is only made out of grey rocks and the third level is a mechanical steam-punk area. The anime focuses mostly on PvP events, forming alliances with other players and creating a guild later so we get to explore a vast collection of different game areas and building structures no matter if caves, green flatland or snow lands.
The series also explores the deep-dive VRMMORPG technology a little bit in Sally and Maple visiting a magical night-sky-restaurant with drinks and food “from the sky” that change your eye color and food you can really taste in episode 3. The whole scene has a beautiful starstruck night sky as a background and was fairly creative as a concept.
Watching Bofuri is like actually going into an MMO as a first timer, winging your skillset and beating a boss with a friend and exploring the different areas and climates the developers created. Bofuri on the other hand doesn’t infodump you on any system mechanics, at best it explains the effect and purpose of a skill by the player reading out the skill for you, but otherwise you are on your own figuring out this world with the characters.
The ways the players, mainly Maple, gain skills is very interesting and mostly funny. In the first few episodes Maple has to fight a poisonous Hydra and ends up eating it, gaining summoning rights for the Hydra, becoming invincible to poison and to that – the scene was hilarious. Who even has the idea to just eat the boss? I’ve seen this mechanic used in MMO isekai manga before but none of the characters who started to eat their enemies were still of the human race, so it was ridiculous and fun to watch a small, teenage-anime girl with a high-pitched voice starting to bite away at a giant not-CG 3-headed snake monster.
There is also really good effect work in this show. The 3D-CG elements are well implemented when there are any, and the Hydra is made out of sparkly purple digital effects that looks great animated, and I tell you this show is fairly well animated - and threatening at the same time.
I wish to not have this 3 headed monster targeted into my direction.
The sounddesign of the show is also really decent. Great explosions don’t bust out your bass like recent Fate incarnations do, no one’s microphone is broken (I am looking at you, Carole & Tuesday) or voice is annoying and the soundtrack has some banger tracks in it too. I really liked when they played the song “Good Night” at every SOL-like activity as it is a very funky but beautiful and chill song. Since I binged a few episodes, it felt like the track was overstaying its welcome, but it is not the only track in the OST and the OST otherwise is noticeable and gets its job done.
The voice cast is pretty stacked with Klein-rip-off (his actual name is Kuromu) being voiced by Shirou Emiya’s seiyuu aka Noriaki Sugiyama, the sword-samurai-princess with an honorable personality Kasumi is voiced by the soft voice of the lovely Saori Hayami, the totally a shut-in traps-specialist nerd of one of the opposing guilds is voiced by Akira Ishida, the Nr. 1 player of the entire game and white knight Pein is voiced by Kensho Ono and our quirky and fearless heroine Maple is voiced by Kaede Hondo, which is funny because Maple’s irl name is Kaeda Honjou. There was a certain intent in this casting.
Speaking of skill-sets, the already mentioned mechanic of eating your enemies to gain their skill-set is funny but isn’t overused, because only Maple knows of it. Everyone else as well as Maple gains skills through quests and events. Other players like her best friend Sally, who acts as Maple’s second-hand and veteran helper also takes the role of the second main character in the show, specializes on speed and melee combat; while they also have a constructor and a summoner on their team, as well as a great shielder Kuromu who has a demon armor that grants him a special passive that I will not spoil, but the moment was cool. We occasionally also see other guild players use classes all cross the board, like the pure fire-user Mii, the trap specialist Marx, the healer priestess Misery etc. None of the actual classes names are audibly mentioned, but anyone who has ever played an MMO for a little bit and watches their skillset and character designs will be able to tell. Being able to figure out all these by simply watching the show and experiencing the fights is very enjoyable and rewarding to me. Unlike other anime that will make the main characters audibly speak out the other character’s class and limitations and therefore unnecessarily info-dump you. The show flat out shows you several spells that I’ve never seen in other anime before. One guy was able to split his sword in 10 parts and telekinetically aim them at his enemy, how cool is that?! Same with the Hydra summon and Maple’s later forms. All of these are probably overpowered but the anime is aware of this.
There is one funny moment where Maple roams a city and encounters a crying mother at her childs bed, the mother starts to notice Maple and a quest begins. Maple is a little overrun and weirded out by the NPC-mother overly dramatic dialogue as her child is dying and watching Maple fairly easily beat this quest while the NPC is so stressed and serious is hilarious, at least to me.
In this game there seems to be no element limitations, so even though Maple gained a dark-element-class spell she can still use other skills from the element light. If there are actual class-elements that one is limited to, it at least isn’t established in the anime by text, but I do not consider this a flaw. It made the anime a little more enjoyable and fun to watch. It is though established that the game is kinda broken and the developers, that are shown in cute avatars from time to time, as well as people in chat rooms or other players occasionally comment on this fact. Especially the developers are voicing their concern about Maple exposing too much of their flawed game design, which makes them slightly despair on-screen. All of this is comedic and shows what kind of series Bofuri wants to be. Definitely not a life-or-death game MMO or something that takes itself all too seriously.
Character designs can look stupid (or unoriginal like prior mentioned designs) like the black-green and white-pink combo of Yui and Mai - but while actually watching the show it didn’t bother me much. In more anime-like MMOs the designs some people can go for do look way too bright, colorful, dumb. So, I will give it a point for realism. Otherwise they are all fairly decent and logical character designs even if generic - and not overly sexual. I don’t feel second-handily sexually harassed by the characters. My favorites have to be Mii, Kuromu with the demon armor and Maple though.
From rating off all my parameters, Bofuri checks off all the boxes. It has an interesting and non-generic setting and level designs, a variance of spells, skillsets and classes and is a fun watch the whole way through.
The only thing “lacking” in this regard is the lack of a coherent power-scale. But since the point of the show is to show a newbie MMO player expose shitty game design in overpowering most veteran players in absurd ways by gaining skills in back-handed ways, I wouldn’t say the show does a bad job in making the other players and guilds look strong or great at the game - they are still noticeable strong and knowledgeable of the game mechanics. The big, strong guilds are still up way higher than Maple’s on the board. I would even say Maple isn’t even as strong as Rimuru from the Slime isekai.
I was always invested in any fight Bofuri had to offer, no matter if it was mobs, bosses or the PvP events. I personally am not big on PvP MMOs myself, but I enjoyed myself watching it nonetheless.
The animation, art and direction of Bofuri is mostly solid with some occasionally great action cuts here and there. The prior mentioned effects work is not only good with the Hydra, it applies to any other magic as well. The only bad thing about it really would be the subpar character art that meanders my enjoyment by just a little bit and that the direction isn’t all to inspired but it does have a few great compositioned shots. If the production had been a tad stronger and the characters a little less simple, I would’ve considered to bump up my score to a strong 7, maybe an 8, even.
With Bofuri I had a great time. It put a smile on my face and with season 2 already announced, I can see it eventually being an 8 in the future.
The only points I will dock it are for the fact that while the characters are enjoyable, the only ones with a one-dimensional personality are Sally and Maple, everyone else has what their skillset and archetype has to offer.
Bofuri isn’t a deep show. The characters just play this game and there is nothing else. There are no real-life problems, they hardly even talk with anyone in real life. The conflicts are reduced to only PvP battles and have no hard feelings involved. Everyone is friendly with each other. That might be a flaw to some people, for me it’s imply what the show is and exactly what I want from it.
Bofuri is simple in what it does, but it does it really damn well. It’s a comfy, considerably well made MMO show with an OP MC and I love the heck out of it.
If you watch isekai or MMO anime for the themes, this is not something for you. If you want some fun time and cool action gameplay, and can get behind the OP gimmick, you may be satisfied with Bofuri.
Overview
Story: 5/10 – Average but serves its purpose.
Art & Animation: 6/10 – Good animation, decent action cuts but subpar character art and mixed character designs.
Sound: 8/10 – Good tracks. Good Sounddesign.
Character: 5/10 – Nothing to write home about, but enjoyable.
Enjoyment: 7/10 – Rise and grind.
MMO: 7/10 – Broken but I love it.
Overall: 7.0 (range: 6.5-7.0, strong 6 to light 7)
Dukino
One of the most fun shows this season, and probably will be for the whole year, comes to its monetary end. Sort of picked this up just because I saw the main girl used a shield and the animation looked cute, couldn't have made a better decision. Had an absolute blast with this show over these past months. Bofuri I didn't expect much going in but honestly from the first episode I enjoyed it. Maple immediately captured my heart with how is it plain adorable she is. Even before becoming a powerhouse she was just so cute. Trying her hardest with that little shield notwanting to get hurt even in a game. She was a fantastic lead to follow throughout this show.
Entire cast of characters I had a great time with. The whole guild of what would become Maple Tree had variety in the characters. Sally a great right hand woman for Maple, Kasumi the badass swordswoman, Yui and May almost equally adorable to Maple with their hammers, Kanade with his badass book, Koromu a great big brother to them as the veteran player and Iz a great support. Suffice to say I loved every single character, not a single one to dislike with how they're written. Even the enemy guilds with Flame Emperors and Holy Sword had great members, loved Payne and Mii.
Story itself isn't that concurrent other than just following Maple and eventually her whole guild through their adventures in the game but that's honestly fine. Every episode had some degree of fun with Maple getting a new overpowered skill. With how this game works her gaining skills is so fun to see cause it could go on so many exciting ways. Each one being so crazy it makes you scratch your head but still be in awe at how crazy powerful she can be while only dumping her points on it vitality. She plays the game her own crazy way and it's a blast.
The big events later in the show really cemented how enjoyable the show really is. Once the game events started and the entirety of Maple Tree formed it got rolling. All the battles they had to fight were awesome. Especially of course The two bouts against Flame Emperors and Holy Sword. Payne and Mii were worthy adversaries. The animation always looked incredible with how Silver Link did it, can tell they put care into this show to make it shine. Every fight and crazy skill looked fantastic. Couldn't praise the visuals enough.
That's about how I feel about most things in this show. Couldn't say enough positive things about it. Maple is a great lead, the action is entertaining along with a dynamic cast. Even with her crazy skills I'm excited to see the challenges that come her way. So glad a second season was immediately announced! Cannot wait to step back into the game with Maple!!
9/10
Beefsoup
Sure, the story may be lacking in some areas of depth as the show only has one main premise: MAPLE IS OP AS HELL. Although it's predictable most of the time what will happen in battles, Bofuri is super fun to watch Maple completely decimate her enemies. The art and sound design are all super high quality, making the show a great eyegasm. Only problem would be that the character development in the show is not the best, but overall I feel that this anime is really just for a lot of fun, and hence I don't mind the story and character development lacking insome areas.
Many people say that Maple being way too OP ruins the fun of the show, but I think otherwise. It's relaxing to see just how absurd one can get and is a great fresh take on a isekai where literally everything will go right for Maple. The plot being ridiculous and stupidly lucky for Maple only makes the show more fun to watch in my opinion. Without a plot complex as a harem rom-com anime, Bofuri the most refreshing and enjoyable shows I have watched so far.
The_Cup_of_Joe
In a world where VRMMO began taking over in the anime community, one series rises to the top through it’s unique charm and an idea so insane that it actually worked. No one would have thought that a main character with so much power could still lead an anime to such great lengths; however, BOFURI broke that idea this time around. Take realism out of the equation because there’s nothing realistic about this anime. Instead, you can have a cute, yet broken main character who gets through her life in the game through her clumsiness and extreme luck. Unique story & concept: With a fast-paced story tohelp drive the energetic and quirky nature of the main character, there’s not much time for the audience to actually breathe. Episode after episode, the main cast is either training or competing in some sort of event showing off the new skills and abilities of everyone, especially the powerhouse herself: Maple. To top it all off, none of this happened to Maple by sheer skill or intellect but rather her insane luck aiding her in each of her encounters.
“The best offense is a good defense.” This statement proved to be true for Maple as the story progressed and her power grew along with it. Despite fighting against strongest foes in combat power, her skills and defense was enough to crush her competition along with their hopes of ever beating her. Normally, a main character that has unmatchable power would look like a poorly written character; though, Maple’s charm is how oblivious she is to the luck around her and her fun personality. She’s not some boring OP character with little to no character development. Maple actually learns from her mistakes and grows as fighter despite her appearing to be an airhead.
Fantastic art:
The animators of this show have shown us time and time again how great they are with a simple animation software. Each new environment always looks clean and well-drawn, and the fights are no different. There wasn’t a single fight where the audience would be left wondering “Are they saving their animation for later?”. Actually, it was easy to tell that each fight had a lot of effort poured into it from just living the experience by simply watching the anime. Finally, the use of CG really put the animation over the top compared to any other anime. It was fairly difficult to piece together which parts were CG and which parts weren’t making transitions between the two animation techniques smooth and crisp.
Great soundtrack:
The entire soundtrack for this anime was done well. Each OST fit well with the given scenes and overall sounded great. I could pick out a couple that I’d listen to on repeat because of how great they sounded. Not only the OSTs, the OP and ED were both equally as amazing to listen to. If anything, the OP has become one of my favorite songs.
Fun & lovable characters:
Along with everything else, the characters in BOFURI were done incredibly well. All of the characters had moments in the spotlight and showed off a bit of what made them different from the rest. I found it especially impressive that the leader of the Flame Emperors had a very vulnerable side shown on screen. It broke the standard mold that any opposing ‘boss’ or ‘leader’ didn’t have a glaring quirk about themselves that made them particularly unique.
Never-ending entertainment:
There are plenty of comedic moments in BOFURI that have really hit hard when they come up in the show. Watching Maple’s guild come together is pretty entertaining to watch because their personalities really gel with one another. Additionally, watching how the other major guilds worked with one-another was fun to watch. Each main group of characters played off each other amazingly well and provided a lot of enjoyment throughout the show.
Final thoughts:
BOFURI was an anime I wasn’t expecting to get this season, especially since it was announced as an VRMMO related anime; however, the journey these characters went through was fast-paced and entertaining to watch. The episodes went by in a flash and left me wanting more. This anime crushed my expectations and will probably sit high in my rankings for quite a while. [9/10]
AlexPaulLEWZ
Itai no wa iya nanode bougyoryoku wo kyokufuri shitai to omoimasu. Translated, it would be "I don't like painful stuff, so I guess I'll want to maximize my defense." That’s a mouthful of a title, but that also makes sense. Unless you’re a masochist, we do prefer things when they are the least painful. The very first thing that came to my thoughts when I came across this title is that the main character would be playing in a non-orthodox way, like being an unstoppable tank which lets her teammates take the kills with her indestructible support. The story of this anime starts with a friend, Risa,inviting the main character, Kaede, into playing a virtual reality MMO—quite a normal way to start a game. As Kaede, “Maple” in-game, starts the game, she allocates all her points to vitality, significantly thinking that it would save her from experiencing as much pain as possible. While this idea has a point, it greatly puts Maple in a disadvantage—she doesn’t have any points in strength and agility, making her slow and weak—making her a pathetic character overall.
That is, if we’re talking about real life games. In this series, Maple becomes, in a gamer’s point, a carry tank, where she soaks all damage as well as dealing the most damage. Unbalanced, right? As of this point, I was ready to put away all common sense and invested myself in just enjoying this anime—which I really did. I loved how the lightly-themed story this anime has. From a newbie to an insanely character because of a mindset that would otherwise not come upon other players’ minds. I also loved how the comedy in this anime was executed, laughing when the situation presented itself.
I love how Maple turned out to be very adorable, especially on scenes where she finds herself in unexpected situations that would give her overpowered skills, throwing the game off-balance, but that doesn’t make the show boring. Her friends and party mates were also worth taking note for, especially for her best friend who recruited her in the game, who will turn out as crazy as Maple is—no, scratch that—with this anime’s ridiculous premise, who knows, everyone else around Maple may become as insane as her. Even if that’s the case, each of the characters are unique in their own perspective, which keeps this show from being bland. I didn’t expect any normal character development, and I wasn’t let down in that regard. It’s very amazing.
The character design is also very cute; I liked how the artists managed to draw such cute characters adapted from a light novel, and I must say that their personalities alongside with their art was well- blended. My favorite character for this series is Frederica, a mage, and I really love how she is designed—makes me want to draw.
If we’re talking about MMOs and anime with similar genres, then of course, there will be lots of skills, magic, explosions, battalions, mobs, bosses—lots of things that would require a greater deal amount of effort in order to draw than other types of stories. I wasn’t let down on that regard either. I love how the scenes of battle were animated, it really lives up to my expectations. I like how the bosses were designed, making them very intimidating if not for the absurd power of the characters that overpower it like it was nothing.
The opening and closing themes of this anime is really amazing as well. To be honest, while writing this review, I was putting both OP and ED on loop—I don’t think I’ll get tired of them for a while. Their melodies and lyrics are so meaningful that they reflect the story and characters within. The OST weren’t just jokes, either. I like how the music were light in theme. The battle music were also outstanding, especially when the characters were in pinch, then applying more epic music when the characters find their resolve and defeat the enemy.
I was very impatient waiting for each episode as time passes, because I really enjoyed the anime since episode one. I had watched Sword Art Online, another game anime, but I liked the premise of this anime better, especially that Maple being overpowered is part of her appeal. Overall, I’d say this anime is a must-watch, especially for those who are into VR and isekais, because it offers a unique storyline where a player does a mistake of allocating points into one stat, but becomes powerful against other players playing with balance. Isn’t that just crazy? Even so, once again—it’s part of this anime’s appeal—and it did a great job in portraying so.
Now that the second season is announced, I am looking forward for it’s continuation! I hope they do another great job in adapting the anime!
So, right after the ending, I tried create a character in one of my RPG games and allotted my points in Agility to see if I can do the same thing, and while I the chances of enemies hitting me became minimal, my lack of Strength and Defense made me feeble. Imagine being influenced by an anime but ending up being like an idiot doing so.
I am sad.
MitiKosta
Funny and recommended anime. I've watched it twice already. I remember from a young age in every game I always thought too much about what to put in my stats. The anime is very funny and pleasant. The pace of the series is excellent. The music is good. The art is great. I would add a little more backstory to the characters. The creators of the series really thought deeply about her crazy abilities and every time I was surprised.For all lovers of adventure games on the computer, this is the series I would recommend the most.
A unique story
waiting to see more.
Thisizaraisu
Sometimes, anime has the power to get you interested in things you don't believe you would enjoy. One of the greatest examples of this is the impact of sports anime, but this can also be done by anime of other genres. What BOFURI has done for me is gotten me interested in the isekai genre, something I didn't ever think I'd become too invested in. I attribute this mainly to the fact that BOFURI is a complete isekai parody. It contains all of your standard isekai conventions (transportation to a whole new world, the creation of a hero that has no business being as strong asthey are, unique weapons, allies and hierarchies, etc.) and completely inflates them. It's just hilarious seeing how dramatically overpowered Maple becomes as the series progresses. Things you might see done by isekai such as Sword Art Online are completely bastardized in BOFURI, and the result is a pure comedy that's fantastic for anyone who's a fan of isekai and/or video games in general.
There are also a few aspects of BOFURI that might not get enough credit. First off, the pacing is phenomenal. Being a pure comedy/parody, it doesn't let itself fall into the pitfalls of forced drama or consequences for actions. As a result, there is absolutely ZERO filler. Everything that happens is key to future events, as silly as they may be, and I respect the hell out of that. Secondly, the CG animation has some of the best implementation I've seen in an anime. It's not Land of the Lustrous-quality CG, to be sure, but it's so well-implemented and doesn't detract from the anime's overall flow at all. There is an abundance of terrible CG in the world of anime, and much to my surprise for a show that doesn't necessarily want to be taken seriously, BOFURI pulls it off very well when used.
Even with RPGs not being my preferred genre of video games, I found a LOT of enjoyment in this series, and I'll absolutely be watching the second season as it airs.
