The beautiful OP to Bokurano.
Song is "Uninstall" by Chiaki Ishikawa of See-Saw.

After reading all of Narutaru (Shadow Star) in two days, I've become a fan of Mohiro Kitoh's works. He likes to pick genres and deconstruct them. Narutaru is obviously a kids-with-monster-companions series, but being a Seinen title, you are right to expect graphic content. I guess the theme would be the various ways in which children abuse power or would lash out at society if given the means. When you think about it, Kitoh has a point. If a kid is in control of a powerful monster, why would they NOT use it to take revenge on their bullies or reshape the world to their liking?

Bokurano I haven't read, but it's another intriguing concept, apparently deconstructing the Mecha genre though it's sort of been done before. We know not everyone enjoys the responsibility of piloting a giant robot to defend the Earth. But in Bokurano, the pilot dies whether they win or lose because their Mecha (Zearth) feeds on their life force. All the protagonists are doomed to sacrifice themselves for the good of the planet. Taking the enemy mechs into account, I think he may have been inspired by Evangelion (and the ending of Narutaru was too, I believe). I love Evangelion, so this is not a problem.

The director of the anime was apparently quoted as saying he "hated" the manga and took it upon himself to change the anime series so that not all the children died. I think that's a dick move on his part; it's disrespectful of Kitoh's story to alter it just because it was too grim for the director's liking (granted, he got permission, but if I were Kitoh I would have denied him that). He should have simply stepped away from the project. The director went on to caution that those who watched the anime would probably not find the things they thought were appealing in the manga, thus I consider it a bastardized adaptation and I refuse to watch it. This dude seems like a prudent asshole.

Still, I can't possibly fault the opening of the series. It's beautiful and the song is so perfect. Worth a watch, even if you don't pick up the anime.

hm?