Happy endings. Something youll witness only in fiction and a massage parlor porno. Outside of paper and screen endings arent so clearcut. Endings arent even endings in reality. The end of a process is the start of a new one. Bokutachi ga Yarimashita denies you this oxymoron of an idea instead offering you a cynical portrayal of human nature at its extremes. Spoilers ahead 420https://i.ur.com/TcpMjFW.png Story Whats more normal than goofing around with your friends after school? Tobio Maruyama Isami and Paisen are one such tightknit group. Living day to day Tobio drearily ponders on his average life soon to be changed for the worst. After Maruyama is kidnapped and viciously abused by a group of delinquents our trio seek out revenge with a seemingly harmless prank setting mini explosives off at those groups school. However when the prank turned into an explosion killing 10 students and deemed as a terrorist incident Tobios desire for escape from the mundane is fulfilled in the most ironically tragic manner. My favorite execution of dark themes in any manga Ive read. This series encapsulates grittiness and ugliness in the most entertaining and heavy manners. It weaves multiple harsh realities of life within a ridiculous fabricated situation through the internal conflicts and characterizations of its characters. Though it frequently portrays heavy topics such as murder suicide rape and infidelity labeling this series as edgy would be an insult. There is purpose to these scenes in the form of characterization and development. It manages to tame these heavyhanded taboos fleshing out grey morality and cynical humanization fantastically. The story is a fluctuating cesspool of emotions. Handinhand with its dysfunctional characters the storys bizarre and outer conflicts are never given a page panel to rest. When one conflict is resolved another arises to barrage the characters with more potential for characterization and introspection. The lighthearted and dark tones of this series are constantly at wits wildly portraying the erratic everchanging nature of our lives and providing catharsis. Erratic yet enjoyable pacing as well. Roughly the first half of the story is dedicated to the characters mental shock and reactions to the explosion and the second half their emotional shock proceeding it and how they cope with these emotions. The story developments are abrupt but they absolutely suit the erratic nature of this series and largely help develop the themes and characters. Characters As mentioned before I love the cynical portrayals of humans and reality in this series. And the characters are how it conveys them. The characters are all largely stagnant ever rarely receiving major development instead favoring strong characterization. Minor characters are included in this favorability with their own characterization largely helping to characterize the main casts. They all have distinct personalities that make their interactions and perspectives enjoyable. Despite this series ridiculous plot its characters their reactions feelings internal thoughts actions and relationships are some of the most genuine Ive seen. These characters feed into the wonderful execution of grey morality and humanization. Tobio The definitive main character Tobio selfasserts his boring unlavish lifestyle at any given moment. Seeking excitement he enthusiastically agreed to Paisens mischievous revenge plot. As if he made a wish with a monkeys paw his wish is granted when he faces the reality of being a murder accomplice. Swiftly grasping the reality of the situation he confronts it by talking with the others running away and living as a fugitive. Perhaps the most normal reaction of the main cast. Though he managed to shakily realize the situation Tobio attempts to shield himself from the sheer gravity of it through multiple instances of escapism. Initially literally running away from it Tobio attempts to regain his normalcy by attempting to live his usual daily life. Or rather adjust to it. He also uses sex as escapism with Koyoi later discarding her immediately after a chance at normalcy arises. He then uses Renko a female friend as a desperate grasp at happiness and normalcy believing a romantic relationship would be ideally normal. Dating marrying having children etc. However the guilt on Tobios shoulder manages to creep into his desperate attempt at normalcy. The detectiveshttps://i.ur.com/5hSR0Pe.png wordshttps://i.ur.com/39MtfAU.png Ichihashis suicide and the impending demise of his relationships seep into his heart already contaminated with subconscious guilt until Tobio reaches his final coping mechanism suicide. Even 10 years later when Tobio is living a seemingly happy life he still retains this desire for atonementhttps://i.ur.com/WRjhQ35.png. Even when he achieves his dreams of mundanity marriage stable job and kids Tobio will have to carry this permanent scar of guilt and attempt to further normalize his life to lessen the pain. Maruyama Strong candidate for the most fucked up character and hands down my favorite character. A seemingly timid kid loyal to his friends Maruyama proves to be a wolf in sheeps clothing quickly. Manipulative arrogant thieving and hypocritical Maruyama most strongly illustrates the storys cynical themes. He makes the stagnant nature of the characters most transparent with his ridiculous schemes. Including but not limited to using his friends money to buy prostitutes and foreign watches assaulting someone with a taser feeding his friend laxatives and being involved in a pyramid scheme. Simply put Maruyama manages to exemplify all 7 Deadly Sins. Maruyama follows an entertaining cycle of treasuring his friends abandoning them facing the consequences and seeking their help. Unlike most people who selfreflect upon their mistakes Maruyama has only once spared a momenthttps://i.ur.com/AKRgUHC.png forhttps://i.ur.com/RvZdflp.png introspectionhttps://i.ur.com/oIpR14Z.png which he immediately waves off. In this story of unpredictability Maruyamas thought pattern is most easily predictable considering just how onedimensionally evil he is. But that same onedimensional trait still vividly portrays a part of our nature. While likely not to the outlandish extents of Maruyama many of us take advantage of others place our faults on others and are selfobsessed. Maruyamas hypocrisyhttps://i.ur.com/VkDsOyQ.png provide both laughable enjoyment at his truly fucked up personality and an exaggerated yet very real portrayal of our own selves at times. Isami The first to distance himself from everyone after the incident Isami is heavily defined by his obsessive escapism with sex for the majority of the series. Initially the most coldsweated and bleak of the group after the incident Isami unsuccessfully attempts to hang himself but the rope snaps. Interpreting this failure as a sign to live onhttps://i.ur.com/yBzl9ZS.png Isami enters a euphoric state defined by his constant sex drive. Using his girlfriend Koyoi as his escapism Isami doesnt feel a need to maintain his friendships with the others to cope with the situation. Hes the only one who doesnt join the groups plan to escape the country and befriends others. He certainly seemed to be most coolheaded. Similarly to Maruyama Isami disregarded their friendships in favor of maintaining his lifestyle. Eventually however he meets a deadend. The guilt eventually outweighs his sex drive rendering him erectile dysfunctional. Isami proceeds to visit each of the victims homes to reminisce and pay his respects in what he claims to be a resolution to his boys flaccidity. However its apparent how genuine his actions and feelings are as he pukes from guilt from each visit. Isami eventually faces another conflict when Koyoi announces her pregnancy. Similar to Tobios desire for normalcy through romantic relationships Isamis sex driven lifestyle is shattered when he realizes what he really desireshttps://i.ur.com/nk2v1dF.png. In the end Isamis reason for living with guilt is fatherhoodhttps://i.ur.com/MXUawjk.png. Paisen That one dude that hangs around his old high school even though he graduated a few years ago. Paisen is very rarely referred to his real name extremely fitting for his caricaturelike personality. Paisen is extremely happygolucky joking in the most inappropriate situations. Unlike the others Paisen genuinely treasures their friendship. However his methods of communication and bonding only strengthen the superficiality of it. Unintentionally using money to buy his way through their friendship and general life Paisen is severely emotionally crippled. He doesnt realize what love is from his lack of parents only clinging onto his young friends. Hes the only one who doesnt desire sex instead desiring lovehttps://i.ur.com/zWjYFb5.png. With the reveal that his father provides Paisen money and support out of maintaining his own image not paternal love Paisen experiences a heavy epiphanyhttps://i.ur.com/6mkNCdc.png. Initially denying the reality of the situation the most Paisen is the first to break the heaviness of their actions to everyone. Paisens journey and emotional baggage are the most interesting to see unfold. True to his nature Paisen waved off the entire situation with his usual jokes and grand lifestyle. He attempted to buy his friends favorability and support with money time and time again. In the end however he realizes all that hes done were simple shams and facades. While the others ran away from the reality of the situation through their various methods of escapism Paisen faced it head on by confronting his father who covered up Paisens involvement in the incident. Hoping to learn something about love Paisen is only met with mockery and insults from him. Without his friends to cling to anymore Paisens last hope at genuine love crumbled now replaced with a desire for revenge by overturning his innocence and being legally convicted for his crimes. However his grand scheme failed and his father once again managed to protect his own reputation rendering Paisen unable to be publicly responsible for his crimes. In the end Paisen fully acknowledges his heinous actions and permanent guilt solemnly choosing to live onhttps://i.ur.com/cRQJSKw.png. Perhaps his desire to become a comedian is his escapism and atonement with the good atmosphere he creates countering all the pain and suffering hes caused. Minor Characters Ichihashi The leader of the delinquents Ichihashis odds at characterization seemed small at first from my biased experience with other delinquent bully characters in other series. However I was rather impressed later on. Ichihashi singlehandedly managed to encapsulate the theme of grey morality with little shakiness. With many other stories incorporating the bullyturnedfriend trope I find that they usually fall flat. Theyre either given a reveal of a tragic life their true and pure motives etc as flat attempts for sympathy and likeability. Ichihashi is instead humanized beyond just a onedimensional evil character. We never forget about his horrific actions he doesnt suddenly commit heroic actions or turn a 180 in personality. Its simply revealed that he is indeed just like any other person. He has people he loves his grandmother and dreams becoming a pilot. His relationship with Renko is one enjoyable. Its interesting seeing that despite their largely conflicting motives for finding Tobio Renko wanting to see her loved one and Ishihashi wanting to exact revenge they maintained a mutual platonic relationship. For Ichihashi who was now abandoned by everyone Renko was his only shining light the only one who still treated him the same after the incidenthttps://i.ur.com/57P7CmG.png. However it soon crumbles when Renko rejects his confession. Ichihashis friendship albeit shortlived with Tobio provided fresh humanization. Along with the past mentioned normal nature of Ichihashi we see their intimate bond and time spent together. They played games competed in rehabilitation and talked about girls. Though Tobio likely befriended Ichihashi out of guilt and atonement Ichihashi saw their friendship genuinely. He talked about his confession to Renko congratulating Tobio for now dating Renko and thought Tobio as a true friend. With his grandmother passed away Renko avoiding him and his school abusing him Ichihashi still felt he was at a deadendhttps://i.ur.com/JrYP6Et.pngwishing Tobio happiness in his last momentshttps://i.ur.com/XsbJO4f.png. In the end Ichihashi served as the final catalyst pushing Tobio in his eternal downward spiral to despair and guilt. Koyoi Isamis girlfriend initially exuding a stereotypical wellendowed dumb broad aura. Thanks to Isami and Tobios arc of sexual escapism we manage to get a glance of her actual character. Her screen time is often limited to sex scenes with Isami a combination of pure sex drive and her desire to have someone in her life. Her father has been working away from home for over a year has no mother and presumably littletonofriends. Picking up and taking care of Tobio demonstrated her desire as the two were no more than mere acquaintances. Providing him sex emotional comfort a home and food it seemed like perhaps her wish would be fulfilled. In the end however once Tobio discovered he could return back home and immediately left Koyoi was once again alonehttps://i.ur.com/X5b9SMR.png. Eventually she announces her pregnancy and exclaims for Isami to leave her once and for allhttps://i.ur.com/JoMWjo5.png. Though she eventually takes him back in a fit of wild sex once again. She certainly doesnt have a strong characterization nor presence but I nevertheless thought she had an interesting one. Art The pseudorealistic art style nicely fits the gritty tone of this series. Character expressions are vivid with emotion. The art revels itself in dark murky backgrounds during particularly detrimental scenes. The quality fluctuates at times heavily depending on the severity of a scenes importance and tone. Most of the time its certainly not beautiful or aestheticallypleasing to look at but again it fits this story incredibly well. 420https://i.ur.com/u6YJqvh.png Enjoyment This is the Kingda Ka of emotional rollercoasters. The feels were real and raw as fuck the erratic nature of this series had me binging this without a single moments rest. The dark comedy is wildly entertaining revealing itself in the most serious scenes. The combination of its great execution of heavy hitting themes and its dumb fun comedy made for an incredibly enjoyable cathartic experience. Definitely not something Ill forget for a long time. Final Words Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is one of the wildest manga out there. A phenomenally cathartic and entertaining rollercoaster of emotions it presents its cynical themes and gritty tone on a hardboiled platter. With its erratic pacing and story development youll be sure to binge this in one sitting. The dark unforgiving nature the hard hitting themes ridiculous comedy and feels. An unforgettable 10/10 in my book.