Review of BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

Mash Alter: The After Years If Infinite Dendrogram was the boring side to having an OP ability, then Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. does it with one statline BUT BETTER. Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. tells of Maple voiced by Kaede Hondo who recently got into a VRMMO with little to no knowledge of games, but because her friend plays it, she decides to play it, gimmick time though Maple, doesn't want to get hurt so she pours ALL her stat points to defense, thus making her one of the slowest playersin the game, BUT her defense and an oversight from the Devs, makes Maple an UTTER TANK who's almost impossible to die from. Now this is an interesting concept, a defensive build main character, instead of the overpowered "power-OP" build and the thing is the Devs and everyone sees it, so in some ways it's it's also a bit of a parody of those OP MMO isekai's and it does it WELL.

The core of Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. comes in with Maple and her guild she forms who some have also some statlines leaning to one stat to have fun with events. Maple is the usual ditzy archetype but she stumbles onto quests to gaining new abilities for herself. Now to put a bit of defense to her gaining some absurd abilities for Maple gaining these OP abilities, she puts them to use to balance her slow agility stat and in gaming terms it's like a player finding a mount, special items, summons, pets and unlocking exclusive quests items. Maple just happen to be EXTREMELY lucky in getting these and Maple doesn't use them (for the most part) in an OP-like way and puts them into more of a comedic-unique take instead of one hit kills. Now onto her guild members, starting with Sally voiced by Ruriko Noguchi, the person who introduced her to the game and she specializes in agility, making both Maple and herself cover each others weaknesses. Sally by the by is the minder of Maple's antics though Sally does do her own thing outside of Maple at times. Iz voiced by Satomi Sato is the crafter of the guild and gives her guild members some nice accessories. Next are Kasumi and Kuromu voiced by Saori Hayami and Noriaki Sugiyama respectively in which both of them are probably the most neatural in terms of stats, though Kuromu leans to defense like Maple but not as intense as Maple. Kasumi is part of the Samurai job and she at first butted heads with Sally but latter becomes a friend of Sally and Maple. Next are May and Yui voiced by Ai Kakuma and Nanaka Suwa respectively who leans towards attack statline but at first they are made out like glass cannons. Lastly is Kanade voiced by Satomi Arai who's closest job class is the gambler due to her "cube"? weapon and abilities given at random every day. So we have a colorful cast of unique statlined characters driving the plot and the thing is with Maple's belief of wanting just to have fun in the game and although Maple gains ALOT of popularity and recognition as a player, her guild becomes well known for the rag tagged nature and some powerful guilds takes notice especially during events.

Maple is a character to put into mixed contention with, on one hand her presence in breaking the game and her not even knowing it is funny and the anime (and the game devs) even acknowledges it blends itself well, then on the other hand, at times Maple unwittingly finds some OP ability, BUT again to it's defense (HA), she utilizes it in a creative manner in comparison to one hit killing and killing the tension and for a slice of life comedy isekai, again it does itself well. Even to this extent what DOES balances things out for Maple is that she exceedingly faces stronger and stronger & harder opponents and guilds to the point of facing off with the top ranking strongest player in the game. Yeah you now what as mixed as Maple's OPness is taken, HOW it's executed was done pretty well, LA can give this some grace as MANY isekai fails to balance this.

The animation done by Silver Link was pretty consistently great from the character designs, the battles, the backgrounding and even the use of 3DCGI of the monsters. Silver Link made the animation moe but poppy for the most art and that really reflects the atmosphere of the anime and to be said it works in tandem with the comedy as well. All in all SIlver Link really did well with the animation and really shows you what kind of anime it is, a slice of life comedy anime about a character pouring all her stats to defense and letting the hijnks roll.

The voice cast was pretty much in tandem with the animation as the voice cast is both moe but also comedic from the majority of the cast, Kaede Hondo mostly for her moe comedic cadence but alot of the cats got to do some comedic cadences as well from newcomer Ruriko Noguchi who fit quite well inot the cast, to Satomi Sato, Satomi Arai, Saori Hayami, Noriaki Sugiyama, Ai Kakuma and Nanka Suwa. Weirdly enough LA kinda noticed this but besides the core cast, all other guilds have this more intense voice acting about them, making quite the comparison to Maple's guild members and to how they see the game.

Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. is what Infinite Dendrogram tried and failed to do and yes LA puts these tow in comparison together as they weren't only released at the same season but both of them tried to do a certain concept in the MMORPG isekai-like anime and tries to do something with them, Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. just happened to it MUCH better and with good execution to the point LA could even excuse the tired trope of "main character being OP", because Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. DID IT WELL.

Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. much like Shinchou Yuusha: Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tsueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru puts one single concept and runs ALL the way with it, in this case a player who puts all her stats to defense and letting that roll in a slice of life comedy game isekai anime.

Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. is Maple's Story.