Review of BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.
2 tbs of Shield Hero 2 tbs of Sword Art Online 1 tbs of Reincarnated as a Slime a pinch of Overlord a pinch of Leauge of Legends mix them up with 2 pokeballs, 2 medium size graboid eggs and 1 jumbo size xenomorph egg and there you have it, BOFURI If you are looking for: > Chill (Genki)> Gag-free
> Anti-heroine
> Factions
> Minimum fan service
> Minimum profanity
> Steady pace
> Nice colorful level designs
> Creative skills
> Good choreography
> Lots of action
> Decent 2d effects
> Decent artwork
> Good balance between intoduction, progression, climax and ending
? Ignored side characters
X High pitched voices..
X Moe (Cute girls..)
then you should watch this anime.
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⬤ Now lets start breaking things down: [Mild Spoilers]
The show revolves around Maple, an inexperienced online gamer, who thinks way out of the box, ends up exploiting the game with the help of RNG gods, turning the server into her own ASMR diary, driving developers up the wall. Frankly speaking, show keeps dropping pieces of information from the perspective of developers to keep the plot in check. Also at the end of each episode you get a glimpse of in-game public chat which is a nice addition. Maple's bestie on the other hand, is a pro gamer who could probably make a living with her proficiency in gaming. The contrast between Maple and Sally often leads to fun stuff during their adventure.
Being introvert high-schoolers, Sally in particular, the duo adventures into state-of-art dungeons to acquire more skills while top factions are pumping out more recruits. Gotta admit, it looks ridiculious as hundrds of boomers wear the same armor and obey some teen guild leader as if they are real life wage slaves.. but I wont dig it up here..
The duo ends up making "overly generic" friends in "overly generic" ways which leads to founding of their small guild which consists of "Blacksmittooo", "Brainy kid", "Brawny footman who is nice to cute girls", "Glasscannon lolis", "Some katana user"; of course their only job is to cheer for <insertname>-sama. Dont get the wrong impression though, a light-heardted anime like this can go sour with unnecessary character depth, still some characters are far off the track.
The climax, begins with an all out event, in which Maple wastes her adequately potent skills in a blink so she could test out her other skills & unleash some more boss music. The 2 major factions introduced in the early episodes slowly unfold themselves as Maple gets in their way. It comes down to quality vs quantity. At this point Bofuri salutes us with 3 episodes of pvp-galore including major clashes that are guaranteed to leave a mark on YouTube.
⬤ Letdowns:
➔ Episodes between introduction and climax were a bit of a downhill, setting was rather dull
➔ High pitched VA (moe animes) and pokemon sounds are always a challenge for me..
➔ I expected some Harley Quinn action from the twins, those hammers were so mouth-watering yet they kept pounding the soil like lawn mowers. Baka!
⬤ Final thoughts:
I am honestly amazed by the amount of tricks this anime has up in its sleeve considering it is only Pegi-13. No wonder Bofuri became popular and meme-worthy on Youtube. No fan-service, no gags but it is good at trolling.. If you forget about your expectations, this show is easy to enjoy. In the end, I feel satisfied and lighter, my body accepted it. Thats all that matters.
⬤ Scoring:
➔ Story [6/10]: See above..
➔ Art [7/10]: Consistency and frame rate are questionable but it is hard to believe they are on tight cash..
➔ Sound [6/10]: SFX is ok, as for soundtracks honestly most of them sound like christmas songs but handful of them definitely stand out, ending song is among them:
48 - Good Night
37 - Good Night (Instrumental)
45 - Bulletin board Rhapsody
41 - Inferior
23 - Because its a Companion
15 - Tactics Shuffle
08 - Level One
06 - Relaxing Waltz
05 - Waltz ☆ A La Mode
➔ Character [5/10]: See above..
➔ Enjoyment [8/10]: See above..
➔ Overall = Enjoyment...