BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense is the story of Maple, a normal (if a bit dim) high schooler who, at the behest of her friend, starts playing VRMMORPG NewWorld Online. New to the world of VRMMORPGs, Maple decides to put points into defense only going forward so that she won’t feel any pain when she takes damage in the game. This is the first of Maple’s many crazy decisions that lead to her becoming one of the game’s most powerful players.
Of course, it’s all by accident.
Image source: TVアニメ「痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。」公式 on Twitter
Sally, Maple’s best friend, is a hardcore gamer. When she begins playing NewWorld Online, she begins allocating her points to support Maple–and to break the game in her own favor. She plans out what skills she needs, what stats she needs and makes sure every point she spends has the most bang for its buck possible. This is how nearly every other player of NewWorld Online plays the game–or at least tries to. Maple, on the other hand, is the exact opposite.
Image source: TVアニメ「痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。」公式 on Twitter
Maple is about as far from a hardcore gamer as you can get. The first thing she does in the game is “play” with a monster by letting it run into her over and over again for a prolonged period of time (before she accidentally kills it). This, in turn, unlocks the first of many game-breaking skills. However, it’s important to note that it’s not like she planned for this to happen. She never plans to get any of the special abilities she obtains–and that’s the secret.
The reason Maple is so unique is the fact that she does things no “gamer” would do.
Image source: TVアニメ「痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。」公式 on Twitter
Play enough games, and you’ll start to see the pattern–the visual language of gaming. You’ll know which way to go to progress in the game and where to go to find secrets. Maple doesn’t see these patterns at all so she’s free to wander wherever.
More importantly, she doesn’t assume that the rules in place in most games are in place in NewWorld Online. Trapped by the first boss and unable to do damage to it, most people would give up and die. Then they’d come back for round two after gaining some new skills, leveling up, or buying some new equipment.
What does Maple do? She eats it–something a seasoned gamer would never even consider to be possible. Maple, on the other hand, is constrained only by the limits of her imagination.
- Fight hundreds of PVPers by having your shield eat them? Sure
- Kill an underwater boss by poisoning the water till it dies? No problem.
- Turn your pet turtle giant, make it fly, and ride it through the skies? Why not?
Image source: TVアニメ「痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。」公式 on Twitter
Maple’s inexperience grants her a freedom from the “game logic” that has been drilled into the heads of the other players without them ever knowing it from their lifetimes of gaming experience. She goes where she goes and does what she does with no fetters about what is possible or not. She’s not trying to game the system like Sally, she’s simply not treating the game like a game at all; she’s treating it like a fully fleshed-out world. And NewWorld Online rewards this type of play.
BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense can be watched on Funimation, AnimeLab (AU/NZ), Muse Asia (Singapore), Wakanim (EU).
I just wanted to give out a big thanks to Joshua Ott for sponsoring this review with his Patreon donation. (At the $60 a month tier, you are allowed to pick anything up to an including a 13ish episode series to be reviewed–which is released in addition to the one article a week I normally put out here on BiggestinJapan.com.) So thanks again!
Top image source: TVアニメ「痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。」公式 on Twitter
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