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

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