Maple and Syrup Are Back

BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. Season 2 (Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. 2 / 痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。2) will be referred to simply as BOFURI Season 2 for the rest of this review.

The original season of BOFURI came out back in 2020. But, if you don’t remember what happened in that season, that’s not a problem. This isn’t a serious series with a real plot. It’s an anime about an overpowered girl in a video game world (not isekai).

There are quite a few characters. So, it’s understandable if you don’t remember them all from the first season. However, most of them aren’t really that important. As long as you know Maple, Syrup, and Sally, you’re good to go.

Something kind of weird about this season is that I don’t think it introduces any new characters. Usually, a sequel season would have a bunch of new characters. But, Maple Tree — Maple’s guild — doesn’t gain any new members. And from what I remember, there are no new supporting characters, either.

In some ways, that’s a good thing because it allows the series to focus more on the existing cast. But, in other ways, it holds the series back. New characters are an easy way to spice up a series. They can either change group dynamics or serve as an obstacle to overcome.

To make up for the lack of new characters, BOFURI Season 2 does something else. It introduces existing supporting characters, who haven’t met, to each other. For example, in this season, Kuromu and Misery meet for the first time. It’s not very exciting, but at least it’s something.

Nothing New to See Here

There are many issues with BOFURI Season 2. But, they all have the same source: this season does nothing new. If you’ve seen Season 1, then you’ve seen Season 2. It’s as simple as that. And that’s a huge problem.

As I’ve already mentioned, the lack of new characters leaves things pretty bland. Nobody new is coming in and changing up the dynamic within Maple Tree. It’s not like when Ilulu joined the cast of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. And since there’s no new villain, there’s also not someone for the existing characters to rally against.

In place of a villain, there are new events within the game. And sure, we see characters from various guilds teaming up to take on the event. But, it’s not as if there’s really a challenge for them to overcome. Maple and all her friends are so overpowered that nothing poses a threat.

Let’s go a bit deeper into how Maple being overpowered is a problem. Since nothing poses a threat to her, there’s no real conflict. At no point are you going to consider the possibility that Maple or her allies could fail. There’s nothing for them to overcome — they don’t need to grow.

And, this leads to another issue I have with this season. Having characters who are overpowered is only entertaining for so long. Season 1 had funny moments, like when Maple gets hit in the head with a mace and doesn’t flinch. But, we’re long past that.

Maple taking 0 damage and also being able to one-shot every boss she encounters is no longer funny. It’s repetitive. And all the new abilities Maple gains throughout the season don’t change that. Being able to one-shot a boss in a different way isn’t interesting.

One Season Too Many

BOFURI overstayed its welcome. Season 1 was enjoyable because it was new and fairly unique. We’ve had fantasy series with overpowered protagonists before. But, we hadn’t had one with an overpowered female protagonist who maxed out her defense. That was its draw.

But, without an actual plot, what’s the point of a second season? It’s not like this is a slice of life series. There’s actual progress being made. It’s just that the progress is boring because there are no stakes and no end goal. If BOFURI was a single-season anime, it would have been fine.

Now, I’d like to back up my claims with some evidence. If we look at MyAnimeList, BOFURI Season 1 has a 7.55 rating (which is higher than I gave it). And if we look at Season 2, it has a 7.23 rating. On average, viewers think the second season is worse.

But, we have to look a bit deeper to see how much worse the second season really is. There’s not a huge difference between 7.55 and 7.23. That is until we look at the number of people who watched and rated both seasons.

274,472 people watched and rated Season 1 as of the posting of this review. Meanwhile, only 39,856 people watched and rated Season 2. BOFURI Season 2 has less than 15% of Season 1’s ratings. And it’s important to consider that the people most likely to watch a sequel are those who enjoyed Season 1.

That means that, in general, those who rated Season 2 were existing fans of the series. Anyone who’s not a fan likely didn’t continue watching the series after Season 1. So, this lower rating that Season 2 has is most likely skewed higher due to fans.

Conclusion

I gave BOFURI Season 2 a 4/10. That’s 2 points lower than my rating of Season 1. And considering Season 2 didn’t bring anything new to the series, I think it’s deserved. To me, Season 2 is worse than Season 1 in every way. There was no need for it.

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Series Overview

BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. (Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. / 痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。) follows classic isekai light novel convention by having a title that’s way too long. Let’s just call it BOFURI because that’s easier.

The series follows Maple and Sally, two friends who decide to play a new MMORPG game (NewWorld Online) together. They then create a guild called Maple Tree and become some of the most powerful players in the entire game.

If you’re anything like me, you probably think this anime won’t be that good simply based on the description I just gave. But BOFURI is a comedy series that pokes fun at all the other series that follow the same formula. For example, every time Maple randomly gets a new overpowered ability, the other characters comment on how she’s cheating.

There are even a few times when the game developers attempt to nerf Maple because she’s become too strong.

Also, as your Japanese trivia for today, let’s take a look at Maple’s name because I saw a few people confused by this. Why did she choose Maple to be her username? It’s actually very simple: Her real name is Kaede, which is just Japanese for Maple.

This is also why Kaede from Magia Record has a maple tree aesthetic. I’ve discussed how anime character names can tell you a lot about them before, so if you’re interested in that, check it out here: Anime Character Names.

And as a random bonus fact, the voice of Maple is also named Kaede; Kaede Hondo.

Maple Tree Guild

I’ll be discussing Maple and Syrup on their own in the next section, so let’s cover all the other members of the Maple Tree Guild here. There are Sally, Iz, Kanade, Yui, May, Kasumi, and Kuromu. While each of these characters is strong in their own right, they’re still at the “acceptable” level of strength, unlike Maple.

Sally is the most powerful of the non-Maple members. Her playstyle is that of an assassin-type character that specializes in speed, stealth, and raw damage. She’s even strong enough to take down large bosses on her own.

Iz is the most normal of all the Maple Tree members. She’s the guild’s craftswoman who creates weapons and gear for the other members.

Kanade is a weird character who doesn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of the guild. She has a special item that grants her a different special ability each day. Her role in the guild changes depending on what skill she has that day.

Yui and May are twins who have berserker-like playstyles. While Maple put all of her skill points into defense and vitality, Yui and May put all of theirs into damage. They may be extremely slow and frail, but they pack a punch.

Kasumi is your obligatory samurai girl of the series. Honestly, name a similar series to this one that doesn’t include a samurai girl. Even when the theme of the game/other world is European high fantasy, there’s always a samurai girl.

And lastly, we have Kuromu, who’s a shield user just like Maple. However, the difference between Kuromu and Maple is that Kuromu is more of your traditional tank with reasonable skills. When you compare him to Maple, you can really see just how overpowered Maple is.

How Strong Are Maple and Syrup?

This review would be way too long if I actually went through every one of Maple’s skills, so I’m just going to be doing an overview here. If you’re looking for her full list of skills, you can find it here. It should also go without saying that this section is going to include spoilers for season 1 of the series.

Maple’s skills can be broken down into three categories: Her personal skills, her equipment skills, and her summon (Syrup) skills.

Most of Maple’s personal skills are defense buffs. Even if she doesn’t use her shield or wear her armor, she takes little to no damage from the majority of enemy attacks — as we saw when she took a spiked mace to the head without batting an eye.

However, she also has some skills which go beyond these defense buffs. For example, she can gain new skills by eating things (just like Rimuru from TenSura). She can also grant invulnerability to nearby guildmates and even turn into a giant mecha when she needs to deal some damage.

Maple’s equipment skills mainly come from her shield and her small sword/dagger. Her shield’s most overpowered skill allows her to instantly kill anything it touches. She can also commit war crimes with it by releasing toxic gas. Her sword can stun all enemies nearby and also poison them.

Finally, Maples summon is Syrup, a turtle that can grow to a massive size and also fly. But that’s not what makes Syrup so strong (s)he also basically has the defense stat of Maple and can fire a laser cannon out of (her)his mouth.

Basically, Maple (with the addition of Syrup) is a near-immortal, toxic gas-spewing, killing machine. Oh, and she can transform into a dragon.

Conclusion

The Rising of the Shield Loli BOFURI: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. is a 6/10 from me. It’s definitely an enjoyable anime, but I don’t really think it’s special enough to be more than that. Nothing about it stands out other than that Maple is an overpowered female character.

There is a second season that was confirmed, though, so there will be more BOFURI in the future. And if you haven’t read my review of Isekai Quartet 2 yet, I think there’s a fairly good chance we could see Maple, Sally, and Syrup make an appearance in season 3 of that.

If you enjoyed this review, 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.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Season 2 is available now.