I have been wanting to watch this show for a very long time. While it was on Funimation a service I didn’t have an account with but I had been looking forward to it coming out on DVD then…. they skipped that and went straight to Blu-ray. I was very grumpy. But then recently something happened. After Sony purchased Funimation and Crunchyroll they then merged the two of them having Fuminations library now all on Crunchyroll. So time to sit down and watch the cute anime with the adorable engine of destruction.

Based on the ongoing light novel series (cause of course it is) Bofuri (not doing the rest of the title) was released in 2017. And despite being an anime adapted from a light novel, and set in a video game… this is not a Isekai! Instead the majority of the anime is set in the VRMMORPG NewWorld Online. No one is trapped, there isn’t a survival or death game situation. Basically the scenario of the series is like that of SaO GGO Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online

The main character is Kaede Honjō  who upon being advised by her friend Risa Shiromine, starts playing the game NewWorld Online creating the character Maple (of which we shall now be calling her). But she doesn’t want to get hurt so puts all her character points into her defence… and then after acquiring some special abilities starts to break the game. She ends up as an adorable embodiment of death and destruction because of this.

The series follows Maple and her growing group of friends as they just enjoy the game, getting new abilities as they play and just have fun. This makes it a very fun and relaxing show. There are stakes, sort of… in the form of the big game events and after just how long Maple’s indestructability goes on you do feel it then when she does take damage. You feel that tense feeling since Maple and her friends have to overcome some hard challenges… once again with no real life stakes, NO ONE IS GOING TO DIE. But you can then just sit back and laugh as a series of people that all just play the game their own way and have fun because of this unstoppable force.

As said I was really disappointed when I found I wouldn’t be able to get it on DVD so it’s been something I’ve waited for so long to watch and happy I wasn’t disappointed. It really is just a bunch of friends coming together and having fun. You don’t get as much of the other guilds characters till the final few episodes which is where some tense moments actually start. Those tense moments however soon fall apart for more of the whacky insanity related to Maple basically breaking the game again not to mention all the abilities of her guild. It’s very much a fun show just to watch.

I have LOTS of anime to catch up on now, including the dubs. Already watching The Wandering Witch and the dub of the second season of Dragon Maid. So there’s many things to see for people or just for myself.

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