We Never Learn: BOKUBEN | First Impressions
I think I promised that I would write this post up a few weeks ago. Well. Here it is. I’ve made plenty of posts apologizing for my unexplained absence but I think we all know that life happens. I was planning to come back a bit sooner in the week but I was having terrible writer’s block. You do not want to see my drafts! More like my brain dump that never sees the light of day. Well, let’s kick off my return with a series I’ve been waiting for some time to be adapted, We Never Learn!
We Never Learn is a shonen comedy harem birthed from Shonen Jump. On the surface, it seems like a spiritual successor of Nisekoi. That initial impression evaporates from just watching the first episode. The only real similarity is the genre and that they both came from Shonen Jump.
Nariyuki Yuiga, our main character, has been working hard to be the best student in order to gain a special VIP nomination from his school to guarantee success. He has a family to support and that is his main duty since the passing of his father. He has two classmates, Rizu Ogata and Fumino Furuhashi, who are considered the geniuses of Mathematics and literature, respectively. His initial competition somehow becomes his responsibility. His principal offered him the Vip Nomination if he can tutor these classmates in the opposite fields since they are dreadfully terrible at them currently.
One thing to know about this post is I am a manga reader. I’ve been caught up for some time and I do really enjoy this series. I always wondered who would be cast as the VAs and so far I’m pretty happy with this adaption. To be honest, it’s really not that hard to adapt this series. There’s no crazy animation required, just a standard harem comedy. But I was a little confused on the choices that were made when initially introducing the characters.
In the manga, Nariyuki has a completely different attitude towards these genius classmates. He is annoyed with how talented they are without having to put in the hard work. That attitude dissipates after learning why they chose to go down those paths but I feel like that was part of what hooked me in the beginning. Especially since in the anime they don’t show Fumino sleeping at her desk. When asked to answer a question from the teacher, he cries due to how heartwarming her answer was with absolutely no effort. She is known as the ‘Sleeping Beauty of the Literary Forest’ but you never know why.
Otherwise, the anime is pretty close to a 1 to 1 adaption. I think all the VA choices are great. They really bring to life these characters the same way I did for myself, in my head, when I was reading. I was a little concerned initially since the two studios behind this series are both brand new. Arvo Animation only animated one ONA that was rated a 5.61 on MAL and Silver only animated an OVA that was rated 5.78 on MAL. Big YIKES. Just reading this information, I’m surprised by how well it has been doing. We Never Learn is currently sitting at 7.11 on MAL since episode 4.
The OP is not really my cup of tea when it comes to the music itself but I’m a big fan of some of the animation that you see with the girls. Just neat little things that the girls are doing while studying just looked very clean. As mentioned earlier, I had no expectations when it came to animation but that was pretty neat. The ED is something I can appreciate since the group credited for it is ‘Study’ which seems to be the three main VAs performing it.
Note: If you are one to go to the next episode when the ED starts, there is usually something at the end.
I don’t expect this series to be a highly rated anime. Seeing it get a 7.11 on MAL is pretty much what I expected even before it was announced. It is a harem which is already not everyone’s cup of tea. That alone would turn many people off. Because it seems similar to Nisekoi, I can see many people starting this series hoping it is like Nisekoi and then dropping after an episode or two. I personally like it but I feel that I gained value from it the further into the series I got. The main journey here is Nariyuki not just from a harem standpoint but personal growth. Sometimes we learn more when we can teach others and that is important. You’ll understand what I mean later if you stick around.
Overall, the anime is nothing special. For those people that aren’t into anime episodes with multiple stories, this probably won’t be for you. This is a format you will likely see many times throughout the season. I do recommend sticking around to see all the girls because I feel that this series is probably one of the hardest for me to choose the BEST girl. They are all pretty great and only get better over time.
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Once again, I’m sorry I’ve been kind of ghost but you know, life. Thanks for always supporting us even though we have such a fickle schedule. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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