Bokurano

Bokurano: Ours (ぼくらの, Bokurano) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mohiro Kitoh. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Ikki from November 2003 to June 2009, with its chapters collected in 11 tankōbon volumes. It is about a group of middle-school students who, under the pretense of participating in a game, agree to the task of piloting a giant mecha in a series of battles where the survival of Earth is dependent on their continuing to win, and they gradually realise how high are the stakes of this supposed game. The series was adapted as an anime television series directed by Hiroyuki Morita and produced by Gonzo that aired from April to September 2007, and a 2007–2008 light novel series, Bokurano: Alternative, with an alternative story by Renji Ōki and character designs by Kitoh himself. The manga is licensed in English by Viz Media, which began serializing it in the online English version of Ikki in July 2009; the first print volume was published in February 2010. By November 2009, the manga had over one million copies in circulation. In 2010, Bokurano received the Excellence Award in the Manga Division at the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival.