Overview

We Never Learn! (Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai! / ぼくたちは勉強ができない！) is the second season of We Never Learn. You can tell it’s the second season because this time there’s an exclamation point after the title — don’t ask me why, that’s just something a lot of anime do.

But, to make things easier I’m just going to be referring to it as Bokuben 2.

So, if you’ve already seen the first season of Bokuben, or if you know what the series is about anyway, then I’ll just make this simple and say Bokuben 2 is the same. It doesn’t introduce any new characters or any new twists; it simply continues from where the first season left off.

And with that in mind, that also means the rankings of the girls are all pretty much the same. Asumi-senpai and Kirisu-Sensei are the top-tier girls (along with Mizuki Yuiga), Fumino and Uruka are the mid-tier girls, and Rizu is down at the bottom, below the various background characters.

Interestingly, this season also seems to be the end of the anime, because there was an anime original ending that basically makes it so the series can’t continue. I’ll be spoiling that ending in a later section and will give you a warning when we get there.

However, before we get to the spoilers, we’re going to need to cover what sets Bokuben 2 apart from the original Bokuben. There are some things I think the first season did better, and there are other things I think this second season did better.

Comparison to Season One

Let’s start with the things the first season did better than the second. The main two issues with Bokuben 2 are the OP and ED, which were both far worse than their season one counterparts. The songs of both the OP and ED were worse this time around, but that isn’t really the biggest issue.

What I see as a far bigger issue with the new season is the fact that the OP was extremely bland visually. If you’ve read a lot of my reviews in the past then you’ll know animation isn’t the most important part of an anime to me, but when its your animation that sets you apart, that’s a different story.

The season one OP was so good because of the great animation it had for no real reason. And then, when we get to the season two OP, suddenly that animation is gone. I don’t know if this is the result of the two seasons both coming out in the same year, but it was a disappointment.

Luckily, despite the OP and ED being worse, I think Bokuben 2 was better compared to the first season overall.

This all comes down to the fact that Bokuben 2 had a lot more one-on-one time with the various heroines of the series. In the first season, there were a lot of scenes that included Yuiga and all three of the main girls together. This time around, they’re mostly on their own, which means they can be developed more.

It also means we get more content that’s actually fun to watch — AKA more content with girls who aren’t Rizu, and more Asumi and Kirisu content in general.

Which Girl Won?

Now is where we get into spoiler territory, because yes, there was a winner at the end of Bokuben 2. Also, this season ends with our main cast graduating from high school, so that’s just one other reason why the series can’t progress further. Skip to the conclusion if you don’t want to be spoiled.

For those of you who are still reading this, if you haven’t already seen the end of the series, I’d just like to say that there wasn’t actually a definitive winner. Instead, there was a heavily implied winner, and that was Uruka Takemoto.

I knew if there was going to be a winner it wasn’t going to be Kirisu or Asumi, but I would have preferred Fumino win over Uruka. With that said, sure, Uruka was probably the one who deserved to win the most because she actually tried to win.

But, with all that said, I’d like to bring your attention back to the point that it was only implied that Uruka won. We saw the silhouette of someone, and then we see that Uruka is happy while on her flight to America. That doesn’t necessarily mean she won.

In fact, my theory is that Uruka didn’t actually win, and that she’s just happy because she got to see Yuiga one last time before leaving.

So, who won?

I’m pretty sure the real winner was Mizuki, Yuiga’s younger sister. We know that Mizuki was present at the school festival — we see her there in episode 12 — so that much checks out. Then, we also have to consider the hairstyle the silhouette had, which was more like Mizuki’s than anyone else’s.

And, lastly, Uruka would have been behind Yuiga, not in front of him.

Conclusion

In the end, I gave We Never Learn! the same score that I gave the first season, a 7/10. However, this is a slightly higher 7/10 thanks to the improvements this season made over the first. And no, I’m not going to take away points just because the OP and ED happened to be worse.

But, if you’ve seen this series, who would you have liked to see win in the end? And what did you think of the anime original ending? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, or found it helpful in any way, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. Also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And, come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

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Overview

We Never Learn (Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai / ぼくたちは勉強ができない), or simply BokuBen, is another romantic comedy with a harem set in a high school. And, while that may at first sound boring since the sub-genre is pretty overdone, I’d say this is one of the better ones.

It actually reminded me a lot of The World God Only Knows, which is another anime in this sub-genre I consider good. If you’re a fan of The World God Only Knows, you’ll probably like BokuBen; and if you’re a fan of BokuBen, you’ll probably like The World God Only Knows.

But despite how similar these two series look and feel, their plots are very different. In BokuBen, the story focuses on a high school student who needs a recommendation from his school to get into a special academic program. And he’s offered this recommendation if he can successfully tutor some of the brightest minds in the school.

At first it seems like a fairly easy task: help girls who are already experts in their fields study. But, things get more complicated as Yuiga learns more about each of their hopes and dreams. It turns out that all of the girls are hoping to go to university for their weakest subjects, not their strong suits.

Honestly though, the gag that each girl wants to study the one thing they’re terrible at isn’t all that important. I mean, it’s important in that it’s the catalyst for them each interacting with the protagonist, but the series would have been essentially the same if these girls weren’t prodigies trying to go against their innate skills.

Main Characters

Nariyuki Yuiga is our protagonist this time around, and his appearance reminds me a lot of Keima’s from The World God Only Knows. However, unlike Keima, Yuiga is actually a functional human being. Sure, he’s a nerd and, like any good protagonist, he’s oblivious to the advances of the girls around him, but he can hold a conversation and make friends.

While Yuiga isn’t a prodigy and doesn’t excel in any one subject, he’s a jack-of-all-trades. Thanks to his relentless studying regiment, he’s climbed his way towards the top of the class in almost every subject.

So now that Yuiga’s out of the way, let’s go through all the girls from worst to best starting with Rizu Ogata. Rizu is basically the anime girl version of Einstein. She can solve any math problem put in front of her, but she wants to go to university for liberal arts instead.

Of all the girls, she’s the only one I would really call a nerd and loser. In fact, she’s less socially competent than Yuiga is, which isn’t a good sign for her.

The next two girls I actually think are tied, so we’ll start with Uraka. She’s a genius when it comes to sports, but fails at every academic subject to compensate for it. I think she wants to study English in university because I can only ever remember her studying that with Yuiga.

Uraka is also a member of the swim team and is Yuiga’s friend from middle school.

Tied with Uraka is Fumino. These two girls are very different, and I like them both for their differences. Fumino is the opposite of Rizu. She excels at literature and writing, but can’t solve an equation to save her life. Obviously she wants to study math.

Side Characters

Now that we’re past the core characters of the series, it’s time to get into the upper tier of girls. A step above Uraka and Fumino is Mafuyu Kirisu, or Kirisu-sensei. She’s a counselor at the school and former tutor of Rizu and Fumino who wanted the girls to continue on with their areas of expertise in college.

And above Kirisu-sensei we have Asumi Kominami. Despite her younger appearance, Asumi is actually the oldest “student” in the series so far. She already graduated from high school and is currently taking a gap year as she studies to get into medical school despite being terrible at science.

Asumi also works part time at a maid cafe to fund her medical school entrance exam studying.

The final, and therefore best, girl from season one of BokuBen is none other than Mizuki Yuiga, Nariyuki’s younger sister. Mizuki is a middle school student with a brother complex, like any good little sister character in anime. Unfortunately, we don’t actually see all that much of her other then when she’s cooking at home.

I’m hoping that we get more Mizuki content in season 2, along with more Kirisu-sensei and Asumi content. And the good news is that we don’t have to wait long for that. Season 2 of BokuBen begins airing in October 2019.

We can also assume that there will be some new girls added to the mix in the second season, since this is a harem series after all. Or, maybe some of the more minor characters, like Uraka’s friends from the swim team, will play a larger role.

Conclusion

We Never Learn (BokuBen) is a on the lower end of 7/10 for me. Really any episode that focused on Rizu wasn’t for me, but other than that I thought it was a good series. Most of the girls are cute, and Yuiga isn’t a completely cringe-worthy protagonist, so can you really ask for much more?

The OP and ED of this series were also pretty good, which is always a bonus. The OP is definitely the better of the two and sports the best animation in the entire series. However, I like the chalkboard aesthetic of the ED.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below and follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. You can also join our Discord server if you’re interested in watching or discussing anime with other members of the community.

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