Bokurema is about the protagonist, Hashiba Kyouya, waking up and discovering he’s been sent ten years into the past, right when he was choosing which college to go to. This was a major turning point in his life, where he had to choose between becoming a generic salaryman, or choosing the riskier option and pursuing a career as a creator. He originally chose the safer option, but came to deeply regret it. Thus when given the option to retry, he of course chooses to go to an arts college. Furthermore, it turns out the share house that he begins living at is full of creators that he admired in the future. Working with them, he hopes to grow to become an amazing creator as well.
This anime has a big emphasis on media creation, primarily from the lens of an otaku. It reminds me a lot of Saekano, which is similarly a light novel series penned by an author famous for their work in visual novels. The story in Bokurema has a lot more variety than Saekano though, in that while in Saekano the focus is entirely on making a visual novel, here it shows the development of a short film, a visual novel, and a gacha game. Still, a lot of it is the same in that the protagonist is the producer and has to manage an artist, writer, and musician, and in the process the viewer gets a look a the various aspects of media creation. Some parts definitely felt kind of wrong through, such as the part where they just swap game engines effortlessly, which was beyond my suspension of disbelief threshold. I will also note that both are full of references to other otaku media, including each having a cover of a song from a classic anime.
Another similarity between Bokurema and Saekano and is that it seems that the entire main cast is in love with the protagonist. The rest of the main cast in Bokurema is composed of: Shino Aki, an airheaded artist that very clearly falls in love with Kyouya; Kogure Nanako, a hesitant and easily embarrassed singer that very clearly falls in love with Kyouya; Kawasegawa Eiko, a cool honors student type that turns out later to secretly have fallen in love with Kyouya; and Rokuonji Tsurayuki, a talented writer and a guy that trusts and respects Kyouya so much that his fiancé gets worried that they’re secretly having a homosexual affair (they are not). The dynamic is very different from Saekano though in that most everyone is much more open about how much they love the protagonist, which gives it a very different from most school rom-com harem. If I had to say, I’d say it reminds me of an isekai harem. I think it does a great job at that, though you’ll have to be someone that can enjoy harem genre stories to appreciate it.
Another way this anime resembles an isekai is that the protagonist has very strong gary stu energy. Kyouya is able to push through and solve problems effortlessly to an absurd degree. It honestly gives the same sort of vibes you get from overpowered protagonists in isekai at times so if you enjoy that sort of thing you’ll definitely find those moments really satisfying. However, what I was really impressed by was that in the last arc of the anime, it uses Kyouya being so competent to add quite a lot of depth to the narrative. It explores some pretty interesting themes, such as how people can have impact well beyond their intentions or how facing adversity and making mistakes is a core aspect in the development of creativity. It went in directions I really didn’t expect it to go in but I really enjoyed. Thus overall, I felt the final arc was a fantastic arc. However, it leaves a lot unresolved and ends on a cliffhanger so I can’t say I was entirely satisfied, but it’s a partial adaptation of a much larger story so I don’t really hold that against it.
The art and animation in this are pretty solid. The character designs are pretty great and varied for the setting. The OP has a pretty good song and the ED song is decent, but what really stood out was that they have great visuals that show off the characters really well. The soundtrack worked well enough but was not particularly memorable.
An anime about trying to become a creator with a surprisingly overpowered protagonist and surprisingly more depth than expected.
9/10
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