The difference between a Josei and a Shojo manga is the seriousness of its contents. Bokura ga Ita, a tragic and obscure story of betrayal, manipulation, loneliness, hate, guilt, death, pain, existentialism and idealistic love, is in the borderline between those two genres.
The first chapters are there to show you why love is beautiful, magical, special and heart-warming... the later ones to teach you why, in reality, it is not always so. The brutal helplessness, desperation, frustration and even depression the characters go through is so realistically based that you can easily relate to some of it, making you feel their anguish to the brink of tears – and, one of this story’s most outstanding characteristics, is that not always if you fight for something with all your might, you will get it.
Plot: 10/10
The plot by itself is very well thought, interesting and easy to follow, with a deep search of the meaning of one’s existence and that every action we take, every decision we make, for the better or worse, is an important lesson…
Characters: 9.5/10
For a Shojo manga, in which is more likely to find strong willed, happy characters, it was refreshing to see only three of this type (Nanami, Takeuchi and Akiko), the others having a dark, messed up side that most people have in real life… Though some of them lacked any common sense at all to the point it was frustrating seeing them make a decision.
Art: 9.5/10
The art in a manga is not really that important if the story is good… though a MUST feature it has to have, is that it could easily convey every feeling the character is having. Though at very few times the art was so poor one couldn’t exactly tell what was happening… This requirement was INCREDIBLY WELL fulfilled.
So, despite having such a heavy emotional load that will make you cry most of the series, I highly recommend this story.