We Were There

Yano and Nana

I could still recall the time when I first saw an episode of the anime Bokura ga Ita, and I could say that I really got hooked to it. It is a shoujo manga, dealing with young teenage love and relationship, and how it develops into a much more mature love when the characters Yano and Nana reach the adult stage.

It’s a romance manga written by Yuuki Obata, and it was serialized in Betsucomi released in 2002. Then, an anime adaptation of the famous manga was released. The anime version follows the plot of the manga until Yano leaves Nana. But don’t worry, to all Bokura Ga Ita fans, the manga is still ongoing, and mind you, the plot is getting interesting I could hardly wait what would happen next.

The story starts of with Nana, a 15 year old high school girl who told herself that she would never fall in love with the campus crush Yano like two-thirds of the class. For me, she is very fragile girl because she always ends up being confused with her own feelings, but nevertheless, she is cute as much as Yano is concerned. Later, as the story progresses, she begins to get curious on Yano, to the point of knowing more about him (Yano’s past, and Yano’s ex-girlfriend, also named Nana) and eventually falling in love with him. Yano, a popular and the typical highschool heartthrob, falls in love Nana too, starts dating her, and affectionately calls her Nana-chan. Not to mention, he is the usual flirt that mostly occurs in appealing guys.

Nanami Takahashi

At the surface, we know Yano as extremely sociable to all kinds of people, especially to girls, but deep inside, he had a hard time dealing and trusting them because of his traumatic experience with his first girlfriend. This is the reason why that when he’s still dating Nana, he is too possessive with her. At some point, Yano is caught between either the present girlfriend Nana or the memory of his ex-girlfriend who died in a car accident. Yano’s ex-girlfriend, also called Nana, died in a car accident with her ex-boyfriend, and the thought of this, made Yano (unknowingly) emotionally bruised. This in turn affects the relationship that he has with the present Nana.

Yano Motoharu

Yano’s close friend, Takeuchi, is the kind of guy that you can hold on to in times of trouble. He is much kinder and more emphatic than Yano, and most of the time, when Nana is having problems with her relationship with Yano, Takeuchi is there to console her. This is the reason why Takeuchi falls in love with Nana too, starting at that time when Nana is dating Yano, until the present series. But as a close friend in the background, he doesn’t messes up with the relationship of his beloved Nana and his bestfriend Yano. Instead, he warns Yano that he hurts Nana she wouldn’t have any second thoughts to sort of ‘snatch’ her away from him. True enough, that’s what happened later on the manga series.

Another character in the story is Yuri Yamamoto. She is a classmate of both Yano and Nana-chan. She is the younger sister of Nana Yamamoto, who is Yano’s ex-girlfriend. Nana Yamamoto is older than Yano when she starts dating her. Yuri, her younger sister, (and very unlike her sister) is so passive and extremely unsociable. She falls in love with Yano even before Yano is dating her older sister. A week after the tragic incident of Yano’s ex-girlfriend, it is revealed that Yuri actually slept with Yano. That event made Yuri develop an extreme hate to Yano, because she felt that she was ‘used’. She becomes a love obstacle between the relationship of Nana-chan and Yano.

Bokura Ga Ita

In the manga version, the story continues until the characters enter their respective choices of university. Yano and Nana both parted ways because they attended to different universities, and both promised to keep in contact with the other. But what happen is that Yano fails to contact her almost all the time when he is staying in Tokyo. He completely cuts off all the communication with her. Nana, who is naturally emotionally unstable, feels heartbroken and confused. Unknown to Nana, Yano encounters lots of problems in the busy skirts of Tokyo: financial crisis and his mother’s death. Because of the loss of communication, Nana decides to leave her feelings out for Yano and starts moving on with her painful experience. She starts dating Takeuchi. At the present manga release, they are 21 years old. Later on, it is revealed that Yano is now actually living with Yuri Yamamoto.

Yano and Nana-chan

Actually there is more to the manga than what is written here, so be sure you’d get to read it. But I couldn’t deny the fact that the anime version is the perfect rendition of the emotional gravities that one should felt in the story. This is one tragic story filled with love, unexpressed emotions, mixed confusion that leaves everyone victims of their own feelings. Totally complicated, if you ask me, but this one is worth your time.

I love the theme songs of the anime. The opening song is Kimi Dake Wo (Only You) by Mi, and the notable ending songs that I like are: Aishiteru (I Love You) by Mi, Kotoba (Words) and Suki Dakara (Because I Love You) by Izumi Katou, Koko ni Ite (I’m here) by Kaori Asou and Futari no Kisetsu Ga by Nozomi Sasaki.