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

What a weird name for an anime. I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is a comedy gaming anime that is just okay. It took me a while to figure out why the community gave it the shortened name "Bofuri." They just took three syllables in the romaji and put them together. Thought I should inform you all about that in case any of you were wondering about where it came from. The story is fairly simple and lives up to the full title. The main character Kaede Honjo was persuaded by her best friend Risa Shiromine to join the VirtualReality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game called NewWorld Online. Very generic name for a game if you ask me. NewWorld Online takes place in a fantasy-like setting. I just have to ask, what is the story of this game? Why do the players need to fight monsters and defeat bosses to progress to a new area? What are the backstories of the locations in the game? Regardless, the game looks good. Plus, the anime is made by the studio Silver Link, and they did a great job with this.

While Risa did get Kaede to play the game, Risa herself is not able to join Kaede initially due to an upcoming exam she has to take, so Kaede spends her first few play sessions alone. Going by the name Maple, she decides to invest all her status points into Vitality, going for an absolute defense build. Reminds me of how I play the Mario RPGs. I focused a lot on defensive stats when I play them. With some insane luck and the fact that you can attack enemies and bosses in NewWorld Online by eating them- I'm sorry... WHAT?! Biting them works? What is this game?! Either way, Maple manages to get her hands on some top tier equipment, and they got her third place in the game's first event: A Battle Royale. This comes off as shocking to the community since due to Maple's maximized defense, nothing damages her at all. Maces to the back of the head. Axes to the abdomen. Nothing works. Even Risa herself is shocked to hear the news.

As the anime goes on, Maple forms her own guild, Maple Tree. Here are the members of the guild. First, we have Risa, who goes by Sally in-game, a swashbuckler who specializes in evasion and high-speed offense. She is also serves as a tactician to Maple since they played co-op in the second event. Second, we have Kasumi, a samurai who initially challenged Maple and Sally, but then they had to work together to escape a dungeon they fell into, and now they're comrades. Third is Kanade, a mage player with high levels of intelligence and a master at puzzle-solving. The next two members are Kuromu, who plays with a defense-based build similar to Maple, and Iz, a crafter who creates gear that are made-to-order. Kuromu and Iz are the first two people Maple befriended at the beginning of the anime and directed her to the dungeon where she obtained her current equipment. The last two members are Mai and Yui, two players who placed all their status points into Strength. With such high attack power, they can potentially cause mass destruction.

The members of Maple Tree are happy to be part of the guild and they work together in the third and fourth events, the latter of which is far more important since it's a battle between guilds. There are two Rival Guilds that Maple Tree must stay on high alert for. The first guild is Flame Emperor, led by a female player named Mii who is got fourth place back in the first event. Mii speaks with confidence and charisma which encourages the other members of Flame Emperor. The second and more intimidating guild is Order of the Holy Sword, led by the legendary number one ranked player in all of NewWorld Online, Payne. Not only that, the other members of Order of the Holy Sword are top players as well, one of them is ranked number two and another is ranked number five. Let me remind you that Maple is ranked number three. This should give you an idea of what she's about to be up against by the end of the anime.

If other top players weren't intimidating enough, the game developers of NewWorld Online are also alerted by Maple's unbreakable streak of success. They even tried to put a stop to her by implementing nerfs to her skills. However, Maple always finds a way to emerge victorious no matter what they try. She even gets new abilities in the process. One detail I really appreciate is that there are segments, mostly at the end of episodes, that show a chatlog of people talking about Maple.

While NewWorld Online isn't exactly a game I would play myself if it was real, I can at least appreciate the goofy looking enemies. I daresay they look like enemies from the Mario & Luigi series. Now... this would be where I would've joked about sinking back into depression if I were to have typed this review on an earlier date. This anime did come out shortly after AlphaDream, the development team behind Mario & Luigi filed for bankruptcy. Thank goodness stuff held me back because the joke would've aged poorly since a new Mario & Luigi was announced at the Nintendo Direct on June 18th, 2024. Holy cow! To see it finally making a return made me so happy, and on top of that, I no longer have to feel depressed when looking at the enemies of NewWorld Online. YIPPEE!!!

This anime does have some good tunes to listen to. I love the name of the opening, Ultimate Unbalance. It's the perfect name to match with the fact that Maple's maxed defense is overpowered and breaks the game. The ending, Play the World, is happy and cheerful. The background music goes so well with this anime. I especially like the one that plays during moments of pure chaos. I can't easily describe what it sounds like in writing, but I'm sure you can tell which parts I mean by pure chaos.

With all that said, this anime isn't exactly one hundred percent appealing to me. First, I believe this one scene that takes place outside the game was completely unnecessary and kind of insulting to gamers. I know this is supposed to be a comedy anime, but I don't appreciate the portrayal of Kaede / Maple thinking she's still in NewWorld at school. Seriously, as a person who likes to spend several hours a day on video games, I'm kind of annoyed by that since I never made that mistake once in my life. No person who plays video games does this. These next couple of criticisms are more towards the game NewWorld Online than the anime itself. There is this one quest Maple had to do, and then it reveals to have a Part Two, then a Part Three, and finally a Part Four. I never like it when a game pulls a "Oh you thought you were done" stunt. Even though Maple got a powerful skill for her troubles, I still am annoyed to see the quest be like that. Finally, I brought this up earlier, but I wish there was more lore to explore with the world of NewWorld Online, especially with the first area. Does this first area have a ruler or someone in charge? Again, what is the motivation for players to fight monsters and access the other areas? The anime is purely focuses on the players competing against each other and while I do respect it, I still wish to know more about NewWorld Online's backstory as well as see more fights against enemies and bosses.

I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense is all right. It did satiate my desire to watch an anime centered on a video game. I do like the concept of a player who focuses solely on defense, and that alone made this interesting. However, you'd be surprised how I feel about the sequel. For now, I'll leave this at a 7/10.