Bokurano: Ours is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mohiro Kitoh. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Monthly Ikki from 2003 to 2009. Its chapters have been collected in eleven volumes. The series has been adapted as an anime television series called Bokurano directed by Hiroyuki Morita and produced by Gonzo that aired in 2007 and a light novel series called Bokura no: Alternative written by Renji Ōki, both with alternative storylines.
In all incarnations, the series is about a group of middle-school students who unwillingly assume the task of piloting a giant mecha named Zearth in a series of battles against mechas from parallel worlds, where the survival of Earth is dependent on their continuing to win at the cost of the life of the pilot of each battle. The following is a list of characters from the manga and anime versions, including those exclusive to the anime.
Main characters Kokopelli
was the man who involved the children with Zearth, as well as the first pilot of the series. When the children first encountered him, he was hiding in a cave by the bay where the children were exploring. He seemed surprised to find them but persuaded the children into becoming pilots of Zearth by telling them he was looking for volunteers for a new game. Later, when the first battle takes place, he appears before the children within Zearth's cockpit, wearing a jet-black jumpsuit and sitting in a chair. From there, he teaches the children how to pilot Zearth as he destroys the first robot. During the battle, he explains that he is a human but not from their planet and that he has no concern for the lives of those who are killed in the crossfire. After the battle, he tells the children that it is now their responsibility to protect the Earth. As they are teleported out of the cockpit, Komo hears him start to whisper "I'm sorry." Kokopelli is later revealed to be a teacher from the same alternate world as Koyemshi and Machi, named and nicknamed .
Takashi Waku
, nicknamed , was an energetic and confident young boy. He was previously a talented soccer player and is considered popular. He wanted to become a professional player and his friends thought he had the talent for it. However, he found out that his salary-man father was a soccer player just like him in his youth and even played at the national level. The fact that someone just like him didn't make it shook Waku's resolve and he stopped playing soccer. He was chosen to become the first pilot of the children. After his battle, the children celebrated on Zearth's chest. When Ushiro patted Waku on the back, he fell off the side into the ocean. They thought that Ushiro accidentally pushed him, but he actually died a moment before, when his time as a pilot ended.
Masaru Kodaka
, nicknamed , is the boy chosen to pilot Zearth during the third battle. He is a relatively quiet boy who likes to keep to himself. His father is a wary individual who runs a civilian contracting company. Kodama's two gifted older brothers hate their father and try to go towards a different path, however Kodama looks up to him and his status as a "chosen" man. Being raised by his father seems to have warped Kodama's sense of ethics and morality to the point where he enjoys to take shots at stray cats with a pellet gun. During his time as a pilot, he makes no attempt to avoid casualties and marvels at the death he causes. This sense of wonder is cut short when he is sent crashing down on top of his beloved father's car, killing his father instantly. For a moment, he is left completely stunned, but manages to shake himself out of it in time to defeat his opponent. He dies unceremoniously a moment later. Kodama's death alerts the other pilots to their fate.
Daiichi Yamura
, nicknamed , was a hard-working and responsible boy despite his gruff "no-nonsense" exterior. He dedicatedly took care of his three younger siblings: Futaba, Santa and Yoshi. He accepted this task because their mother had died much earlier, and their father abandoned them for unknown reasons three years ago. Their uncle on their father's side made up for his brother's disappearance by renting a home for the four siblings to live in, and paying for all expenses. Daichi earned his keep by working as a mail and newspaper boy, and for his uncle's landscaping business on his days off. He chose to live separately from his uncle with his siblings so that his father would have a place to return to if he ever decided to. During the fourth battle, Daichi refused to move until the citizens had sufficient time to escape, a practice later adopted by all future pilots. When the battle began, Daichi's will to protect his family gave him the strength to subdue his opponent long enough to carry it to the bay where no one else could get hurt. His last request to the group was for Ushiro to stop abusing Kana and take care of her, and for Koyemshi to discreetly dispose of his body so that his family would not mourn him. His story ends with his siblings going to the amusement park Daichi had protected during the battle with the tickets he had obtained for them. Following his death, his father returned.
Mako Nakarai
, nicknamed , is a girl who focuses all of her energy on living honestly and being an active benefit to the community in hopes that others would see her as a responsible and dependable person. Despite this, the well-known fact that her mother is a prostitute and her humorless, over-responsible attitude leaves her with no friends. Ever since elementary school, any kind of hatred or dishonesty tortures her, so much that she can't even raise a clenched fist at all of the kids who bully her, constantly having to keep to her duty and not protest in the slightest. Regardless, she looks up to her mother, and hopes to be able to stand proudly like she does. It was her mother's idea that she go to the nature school so that she would finally make some friends.
Ever since the first battle, Mako has secretly been making uniforms for herself and the other pilots, but when she finds out that she would be the fifth pilot she is hard pressed for time and money to complete them. She feels the quickest way to attain the necessary money is to prostitute herself and manages to convince her mother's pimp to arrange a John for her. Much to her surprise, the man she meets is an old acquaintance of her mother's who drives her home after buying her dinner. Her mother, having found out about the plan gives Nakama her needlework money that she has been saving so that she wouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures.
When the fifth battle begins, her opponent allows the populace time to evacuate which coincidentally gives Nakama the time she needs to finish the uniforms, though some are incomplete. Before returning to the cockpit, she finds out that one of the girls who bullies her is missing and uses Zearth's powers to locate her and teleport her out of harms way, after finally standing up to her. After defeating the enemy robot, she states that, if she is reincarnated, she wishes to return as a person just like her mother. Her story arc ends with the girls who bullied her finally helping clean the classroom.
Isao Kako
, nicknamed , was a troubled youth with many problems. He acted as an errand boy for a group of bullies to avoid being the subject of their abuse, and his parents would let him get away with just about anything, much to his older sister's chagrin. Kako's only "friend" was Kirie who also went to his school. Kako would constantly boss Kirie around since it made him feel less like a loser and Kirie would take this abuse without complaint. Kako in fact made Kirie accompany him to the nature school for this very reason. When he first entered the game, Kako was excited, hoping that his piloting Zearth would make him famous, but upon learning the price of piloting, he suffered a mental breakdown and hid in his room. His mental state was made even worse when Koyemshi visited him and told him that the other pilots were leaving him out of the loop and that he had so little time left. This pushed Kako overboard, and he went over to Chizu's house with every intention of raping her, but she stopped him at knifepoint. Moments later, he and the other pilots were retrieved by the army. While being held there, Kako experienced graphic nightmares involving him beating up on the bullies who would use him and raping the female one, or beating his sister and Chizu while they mocked him. While piloting Zearth, Kako hoped that the interference of the army would mean he wouldn't need to pilot and die. This hope was dashed when the futility of the army's attempts was made apparent. Kako then panicked and started running from the battle with no intention of stopping. The group was at a loss trying to find a way to get Kako to fight, but it was Kirie who finally spoke up and made a comment implying Kako's cowardice. This comment drove Kako into a rage and he began to mercilessly beat Kirie. Chizu stepped forward and stopped this display by stabbing her knife into Kako's throat and slitting his jugular.
In the TV series, Kako did not even pilot Zearth. After he was visited by Koyemshi, he tried to make a move on Chizu by inviting her to visit an aquarium together, but she refused. When he was selected as the following pilot, he panicked and disappeared. Chizu found him in the aquarium and tried to cheer him up, but when he tried to force his way on her, she pushed him and he fell from a stair, rendered unconscious. Chizu fled away from the aquarium leaving him behind, when it was destroyed by a missile fired during the battle between the military and the enemy robot, and Kako, just after recovering his senses, was killed by the debris. The children discovered what happened when his lifeless body was teleported to Zearth's cockpit with them, and Chizu claimed the responsibility for his death, before being selected to replace him.
Chizuru Honda
, nicknamed , was relatively calm and a bit quiet, yet particularly disgusted by the one-track minds of her male classmates. Her chair was black and fancy, carefully designed, shapely, and looked very old. While at school Chizu was in love with her teacher, but was being deceived. He lured her into a date and then blackmailed her to being gang-raped by his friends. For this reason she began to carry a knife with her at all times. During the combat she revealed she was pregnant and used Zearth's power to kill all of the men who assaulted her, resulting in many civilian deaths in the process - except the teacher , because her older sister, who was in love with him too, stopped her. After she finished the battle, just before she dies, she laments at how her baby was to go to her instead of being born in her sister, and asks Koyemshi to put her body and that of her baby into one of the many spots in Zearth. After her death, the rest of children figured that Chizu's baby (who died with her) was also listed in the contract, which means that one of them, besides Kana, was not bound to it.
Just like Kako's story, Chizu's scenario had a lot of changes in the TV series. She was seduced by her teacher just like in the manga, but instead of being blackmailed by him, he sold some pictures of them having sex which ended appearing on the internet. Despite having the faces digitally altered, they were identified by her classmates, which led to him being punished by the school's principal. He begged for Chizu's forgiveness, and just after she accepted his apologies, she discovered he was also dating her older sister. After Kako's death, she was chosen to assume his place.
Kunihiko Moji