BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense (Season One)

Having been convinced to play a fully immersive game called NewWorld Online, Kaede creates her character, Maple and because she doesn’t like to get hurt, assigns all of her starting points to defence.

BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense (Season One)

What did you watch?

Have I ever told you that I’m not really into the Cute Girls doing Cute Things type of shows? I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, so it’s probably fairly surprising to find out that this was one of the first series I planned to watch from the Winter 2020 lineup. Part of the reason is that I enjoy the VRMMO format and I just loved the way this one looked. There’s not a great deal of thought that goes into what I choose beyond whether the promo image grabs me. Sometimes, I’ll find I have more time and add others at random, but this was my first choice. So, as usual, you will find spoilers, although this isn’t a spoiler-heavy show so it’s up to you if you’ve not seen it.

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What happened?

Kaede is not a gamer, but her friend Risa is and she’s convinced Kaede to buy the gear necessary for a fully immersive VRMMO called NewWorld Online. It’s the first day of the game going live and Risa is unable to join Kaede until she’s completed some assignments, so Kaede goes in alone. She is a complete noob and as a result, assigns all of her starting points to vitality. This makes it so that she can’t move very fast, but it’s hard to damage her HP. Desperate to get things moving, Maple (Kaede’s online name) heads into the forest to level up.

After taking some advice from a couple of other gamers, Maple heads into the mountains and enters a dungeon alone. She ends up at the final boss and as it’s unable to do any damage to her and she has no way to attack, she ends up eating it to death. This unorthodox method grants her some fairly unique and special skills. Things continue to escalate with Maple adding more and more points to her vitality. She enters the first event and surprisingly finishes third even without moving more than a handful of steps. Maple is indestructible and her bizarre skills more than made up for her lack of mobility.

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What did you think?

I absolutely loved this series. There are a few little indicators for me as to whether I’m enjoying a series. Number one is that I’m waiting to watch it as soon as it is released. Then, I’ll start reading everyone else’s reviews on the series and commenting where possible. I know I’m enjoying it, but once I consciously realise I’m doing this I know that it’s got me. Bofuri was an absolute delight from start to finish and I had a lot of fun with all of these characters. It was hilarious and I definitely need more.

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What was your favourite moment?

There were so many amazing moments, but I think the one that really resonated with me was the quest that Maple went on to find a cure for a sick child. Because of Maple’s unique skills and abilities, she walked through what was presumably a very difficult quest. First, she had to get the mother through a horde of undead, although they flew over on Syrup, Maple’s flying turtle, and the mother, an NPC went through all the preset lines of dialogue and it was hilarious. Then, Maple needed to get a ring which she already had. The reason that this particular moment wins it for me was that is how I play games. I’m a grinder. I like to boost my character and collect as much stuff as possible. Then, when I take on quests and it tells me to go find something, I often already have it and just go back for the next instruction and on and on.

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What was your least favourite moment?

I have nothing. At no point did I feel like the series was dragging. Maple and Sally were a constant source of amusement and other than that I was just marvelling at the ideas behind the technology. One of the things that really caught my attention was the ability to adjust the in-game time. I even wrote a post about the potential uses for technology like that – Applications of Bofuri Technology. For someone that usually gets bored or frustrated with these types of shows, this should tell you all you need to know.

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Who was your favourite character?

It has to be Maple. Her approach to the game was bizarre, but it also made her that much more interesting and it made the series what it was. Seeing her turn the skill to produce wool into a deadly defence is nothing short of what you might expect from Maple. She’ll also turn her ability to fly into the chance to create acid rain and kill waves of monsters in one go. All of these things gave Maple a dark edge. She certainly wasn’t evil and the way she seemed to prefer to make friends instead of creating conflict was admirable, but you also wouldn’t be surprised if she poisoned an entire sea to defeat a boss…

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Who was your least favourite character?

This is a tough one. Most of the characters ended up being quite reasonable in the end. Even the main opponents such as the Order of the Holy Sword or the Flame Emperors didn’t really bother me. The only moment I got annoyed was when the developers nerfed Maple because her “Devour” skill was too powerful. If that was me, I’d be annoyed, but I could also see why other players wouldn’t want someone to have it. Anyhow, I think the developers made up for this at the end of the season when they decided to let Maple be Maple as she was drawing players to the game and had almost become a boss for others to aspire to beat.

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Would you like some more?

I can’t help but think of shows like Plunderer which somehow managed to get a twenty-four-episode season one and how I’m now stuck watching it for another twelve weeks when I’d sooner watch this season over again. Yes, I want more and I want it now. Luckily, they announced the second season with the closing image of this season so it’s going to happen, but it won’t be soon enough. This series was just so much fun and it had some really interesting ideas as well. I can’t wait for more.

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What have you learnt?

I generally write darker fiction and haven’t given too much thought about writing anything more fun and lighthearted. Well, this series has changed that, but only because of the dark potential I see in Maple. I think it does a nice job of having Maple and Sally doing fun things together and still adds something more. Sure, there wasn’t really any chance that Maple would lose, but it almost made you think it was possible for a moment there. It is a Cute Girls doing Cute Things series, but there’s more to it than that and it’s definitely my favourite series of the year so far.

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Other posts in the series

• Anime
  • Season One
    • Episode 1 – Defense and First Battle
    • Episode 2 – Defense and Friends
    • Episode 3 – Defense and Reaching Second Level
    • Episode 4 – Defense and Second Event
    • Episode 5 – Defense and Spoils of War
    • Episode 6 – Defense and Reinforcements
    • Episode 7 – Defense and Upgrades
    • Episode 8 – Defense and Third Event
    • Episode 9 – Defense and Fourth Event
    • Episode 10 – Defense and Attack
    • Episode 11 – Defense and Mighty Foe
    • Episode 12 – Defense and Bonds
  • Season Two
    • Episode 13 – Maxing Defense and Christmas
    • Episode 14 – Maxing Defense, Level 5, and Level 6
    • Episode 15 – Maxing Defense and the Seventh Event
    • Episode 16 – Maxing Defense and Tower Conquest
    • Episode 17 – Maxing Defense and Tentacles
    • Episode 18 – Maxing Defense and Tame Monsters
    • Episode 19 – Maxing Defense and Hunting for Crystals
    • Episode 20 – Maxing Defense and the Eighth Event
    • Episode 21 – Maxing Defense and Setting Up a Base
    • Episode 22 – Maxing Defense and New Teams
    • Episode 23 – Maxing Defense and New Parties
    • Episode 24 – Maxing Defense and the Big Final Battle
  • Bonus Posts
    • Applications of BOFURI Technology! (Sunday Sevens)
• Manga
  • Volume 1 – Extreme Build
  • Volume 2 – Counter Move

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