Bokura ga Ita

Description

The start of high school life. To the girls, that also meant the start of their love lives. For brand new first year student, Takahashi Nanami (Nana for short), it was no different... She happens to end up in the same class as the incredibly popular Yano Motoharu, who rumors say that two thirds of all the girls are guaranteed to fall in love with. But will that hold true for Nana, who says that if she had to choose between like or dislike, she'd say she dislikes him!?

Note: Won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo in 2005.

Official English Release: Viz

Type

Manga

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

C'était nous (French)

Here We Are

Olipa kerran me

Tình Yêu Học Trò

We Were There

Érase una vez nosotros (spanish)

Это были мы

สายใยรัก (Thai)

僕等がいた

我们的存在

我們的存在

우리들이 있었다

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.70 (end) by bxsmanga 13 years ago

v.16 c.69 by bxsmanga 13 years ago

c.68 by bxsmanga 13 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

16 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1

Ends at Vol 8, Chap 31

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

11 topics, 52 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.2 / 10.0 (847 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.14 / 10.0

32%

20%

12%

Last Updated

September 2nd, 2024 4:51pm PDT - 8 months ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Romance School Life Shoujo
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

The Wolf Lord's Lady (Novel)

Orange (TAKANO Ichigo)

Usagi Yojimbo

To the Stars I Love

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shogakukan

Serialized In (magazine)

Betsucomi (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Viz (16 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #754

(-2)

Monthly Pos #1646 (No change)

3 Month Pos #2261

(-701)

6 Month Pos #3864

(+139)

Year Pos #4324

(+243)

List Stats

On 1576 reading lists

On 1376 wish lists

On 1546 completed lists

On 232 unfinished lists

On 555 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Bokura ga Ita to End in Japan

13 years ago

Thoughts on the ending? (spoilers)

13 years ago

Chapter 70

13 years ago

Bokura ga Ita Manga to End in 2012

14 years ago

Bokura ga Ita Gets Live-Action Film

14 years ago

User Comments [ Order by time added ]

Bokura Ga Ita

by taiminhx
17 years ago

Rating: N/A

I saw the anime about a year ago I think, and I must say it was amazing. The ending had me crying my eyes out because it was so sad.

What sucks is I'm too lazy to read the rest of the manga =/ But I recommend it 10000%. It's a good plot.

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Enjoy a little pain?

by voraciouszest
16 years ago

Rating: 4.0 / 10.0

Bokura ga Ita is a slow-paced shoujo manga that follows the story of a shy and reserved schoolgirl named Nana and her first love, the bright and outgoing Yano. Beginning as friends, Nana and Yano eventually find themselves in a relationship. Though the audience wishes the best for them both, it is almost impossible from the very beginning.
Regardless of the fact that this series was on hiatus for quite some time, the story itself is more frustrating than the wait. Nana and Yano are adolescents; ignorant, clumsy and immature. For those of you who are older than 16, the clumsiness and carelessness of the two protagonists will often pain you. Firstly because it is reminiscent of your own adolescent experiences and secondly, it will pain you because you know better and reading about it is like stabbing yourself in the eye.
Bokura ga Ita's biggest downfall lies in its storyline. The development of the characters, their emotional reactions and their adolescent logic all create a strong base for the series. However, the mangaka wastes all of her hard work on ridiculous, lengthy storylines and hateful side characters.
I have to admit that I rarely read Shoujo manga for the very reasons why I can't fully enjoy this series. Why write it in 12+ volumes when you can do a decent story in less than half of that? Bokura ga Ita loses a big chunk of points in my rating simply for selling-out. I'd rather read a short series with integrity than read one of the many series that has been stretched too thin to earn more money.

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The BEST manga I've read so far

by shojofrik
16 years ago

Rating: N/A

This is honestly the best manga i've red so far, it's so full of tragedy that are realistic and could happen to anyone. Nanami is plain so any shoujo readers out there could easily walk in her shoes that is what makes this manga so painful to read but I enjoy the drama in this manga. Another thing that is so different about this manga is that the author deliberately avoids cliches such as things like when one of them gets a fever because of the rain, or when couples stay strongly in love when they are a distance apart. it's just a normal high-school characters, with a normal life but somewhat a different degree of pain and suffering, but still a realistic one. Another thing that is extraordinary is that as readers, as we go on we QUESTION things, it's not predictable AT ALL, although when you get to know the characters well you'll be able to A LITTLE, but things are still in question, we are SO UNSURE about who or how it's going to end.

I'm really upset that it's on hold though, if i'd knew that earlier I wouldn't have start to read this series in the beginning.

it's too much to endure this long awaited manga. It's such a great creation, I'm serious. I think I wouldn't recommend it currently, only because it's TOO GOOD, I don't want others to feel the pain I'm suffering because of the hold. this is a MUST READ I think Obata Yuuki is such a genius for creating such a manga, I hope she can pull the ending off though because every chapter of this manga so far is flawless.

... Last updated 16 years ago

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Unique

by RedHot_105
17 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This manga is amazing, especially when you progress further and further into the story. The characters become more meaningful and the plot more heart wrenching. SO SAD!!!!!!!!! Definately a must read.

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70 tear-jerker chapters

by Aimet
13 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

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.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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umm.. currently not recommended

by Licia Valentine
17 years ago

Rating: N/A

The anime version is ok. Had me hooked. But, currently, I don't recommend reading the manga if you don't want to be disappointed. I currently AM. I sadi currently because it is not yet finished and the author seemed to have "paused" writing the rest of the story and at a bad part at that! I don't like the latest chapter until chapter 52 (which is the current chapter as I was writing this). Believe me, you won't either.

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Oh my goodness gracious

by Imsexyandiknowit328
12 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

I honestly loved this. There were a few chapters

namely the flashbacks from Aki's point of view that felt like they were seriously dragging on, but the rest was really good. I almost cried at several points. Honestly, I have watched the first episode of the anime and read the first six or seven chapters of the manga many times, but never got past them because Yano pissed me off. When I finally stuck with it and just kept going, I didn't regret it at all. This is such a beautiful story about life, love, and tragedy.

Time for the breakdown! (If you don't want to read all this, just skip to the very bottom. I'll tell you if I recommend it or not.)

Plot: 9.5/10
This was a really good story. It wasn't quite "cute" -- more along the lines of "tragically beautiful." So much happened in Yano's life, and Nanami was there for him when she could be. Of course, Nana has feelings just like everyone else, and I really liked how she reacted just like I would.

Honestly, if your boyfriend called you to cancel a very important milestone in your relationship to be with another girl (whom he has a history with, no less) without explaining things properly, wouldn't you be hurt, too? And her reaction to everything that happened in the second half of the manga was really realistic, too, seeing as it was depressing as all get out. Everything was really realistic and beautiful, but tragic and painfully sad, as well. I didn't cry except for once, at the very end, because it was just too sweet how ! Yano's knees gave out when he saw that she wasn't hurt nearly as bad as everyone was making it out to be and he just kind of sat there and bawled. My -.5 on this was because of a few chapters that seemed to drag on forever

Characters: 10 (This one was difficult to grade, honestly, because they're all well-rounded characters, I just hated one of them: Yuri. She's the type of person you want to sign up for a session with a psychiatrist, ASAP. But when I took a step back from my personal feelings for her and looked at all the characters logically, they were very well done.)
Okay, where to start? Yano was so sad and sweet and romantic and just so... Yano, I guess, that I wanted to hug him. Nanami was an awesome character, very cute but still realistic. She wasn't always cheerful and pure of heart, and though she cried a lot, she never shed tears where they weren't appropriate. I would have cried at all the same times as her, even if tears didn't actually fall. Yano cried, too, so that's what made this manga so much more endearing to me. Take was so sweet and kind and gentle. If I didn't love Yano so incredibly much, I would have wanted Nanami to end up with him. All of the other characters were great and well-written as well, including unloved Yuri and even dead Nana. All in all, very well done.

Art: 9.5/10
The art was very beautiful and showed the characters' emotions very well. I loved the scenes when Yano and Nanami would just kind of stop and smile for a while all goofy-like at whatever they were doing, portraying that feel-good atmosphere very well. However, in the later chapters, there were a few pages and even a whole chapter (chapter 59, I do believe) where the art was completely unfinished. It looked like a rough sketch that the mangaka didn't even bother completing. It took a lot away from what happened right then, but luckily it was only a few times so it didn't harm the story. Other than that, the characters were very attractive and the art in general was very appealing.

All in all: 9/10. Definitely recommended. 🙂

EDIT: Reading this again as a college student who is almost 19, I can't remember why I loved it so much. I enjoyed it, but it's SO BLEEPING SAD. Like, the whole time, I kept wanting to hold my arms out to Yano, say "Come here, baby," and never ever ever let him go. I used to want a love like this, but I couldn't handle it. I'm not that strong. It's a good read, but I don't recommend it to people easily depressed. It's like Mars, but all the bad things seem to happen to one person instead of the load being shared. I love it, but the bittersweetness is sometimes far more bitter than it is sweet.

... Last updated 11 years ago

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Realistically Slow Romance Story

by charsiewpau
16 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

One thing this manga can lay claim to is realism. The premise, the locale, the characters all exude realism from their presentation and actions.

However, like in real relationships, this story is also realistically slow. Perhaps subtle is a way to put it, but when even the most mundane of actions take 2-3 pages, it can get old pretty fast, as I kept wanting to skip those pages and go straight to the conflict or plot devices the author wishes to present in the story.

Still, if readers like slow paced romance stories, this is recommendable, and since the manga demographic is aimed at females, I think this is the kind of stories they'd enjoy.

As a guy though, I think this manga is a bit too slow because it uses so many pages on mundane actions which doesn't really contribute to the character or story progression.

A tear-jerker this manga definitely is.

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unbelievable

by tearlesereph
8 years ago

Rating: N/A

This story has the making of something epic since the characters in the manga grow up and experiences various hardships, etc. And a lot of the characters are likable... But at the same time, all their situations are too unbelievable.

The situation between Nana and Yano happened in junior high when they were 13/14. They had such an "adult" relationship it was hard to believe that Yano would have settled for the super innocent and fluffy romance he had with Nana-chan, when they're both now around 16 with raging hormones and all! It would be more believable if all the characters were a bit older and the first events happened in high school and Yano met Nana-chan in college and then from there on.

Secondly, what was up with Yuri? There's really nothing in her history to make her grow into such a twisted person that she would use her sister's death and then her mother's in the way that she did in the manga. She was never bullied as a child. Her whole family loved and cared for her. In school, all people did was call her cold for ignoring them, which she did. Again, no one bullied her. As an adult, even her coworker was super nice to her and actually thought of her as a best friend. Like seriously, no drama whatsoever. Sure, her sister was the prettier one but she was also known to be extremely dumb. I also don't understand her obsession with Yano and the whole Yuri/Yano thing was the hardest to understand and it took over most of the manga. I don't understand her obsession with him for it to last over ten years. I also don't understand why Yano even bothered with her the very first time because he moved on from Nana's death pretty quickly and fell very deeply in love with Nana-chan.

Just. The manga could be so much MORE but wasn't able to grasp it. Like the author tried to make it deeper but stopped and then certain relationships don't seem justified to behave the way they did.

IDK

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This is very good.

by yumemiru
16 years ago

Rating: N/A

Personally, I really like Bokura Ga Ita. And if a story is good enough right from the beginning, I'll keep on liking it no matter what, even if it has been stretched out. I mean, people do what they can, right? And I don't mind seeing more of these characters. It's no pain to me.

That being said, I like the way this mangaka draws and her style of storytelling. It makes me feel like I'm reading the old-school shoujos, the ones that are real and very magical to read still, even without all the magic wands and costumes that are more frequently seen in shoujos today.

Things move slowly and are very difficult even, but I believe that that's realistic. It's the way things are, in real life, and it's true-to-life.

I'm glad this series has been picked up by JShoujo, where hopefully, they'll finish scanlating the series. It would be a pity for people to miss out on reading this series.

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