Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga DekinaiWe Never Learn Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   203w6c

For the longest time the romcom/harem genre is something that I have always enjoyed watching and reading. Every season there seemed to be a new “waifu war” airing, and based on watching those particular shows I would always check out the source material if I found it interesting enough. Bokuben was one of those seasonal waifu wars that I actually did decide to pick up reading after watching the first episode. I caught up on the manga within a couple of days of watching the first episode, and let me say that I am so glad that I was able to read this manga.

1. Story ... (9/10)
If you are looking for some groundbreaking or genre-breaking story, then I’m sorry Bokuben is not the story for you. Bokuben uses a lot of common tropes and cliches to tell its story, however if you don’t mind that or appreciate those types of stories then you may actually enjoy Bokuben. For me personally, I don’t always 100% enjoy when animes/mangas just dump cliches for plot, but for Bokuben it really was one of the most enjoyable parts about it. For example, one particular chapter that I loved was the chapter in which Nariyuki’s mother couldn’t make it to work, in which he proceeds to take her spot for the day. Little does he know that his mother was working at a lingerie shop, and that he would get stuck alone in that shop while also stuck in a costume that hides his identity. And of course every single one of the main female characters would proceed to walk in and ask for help one by one. Despite it being cliche and having these crazy one in a million types of encounters, I couldn’t help but smile and enjoy these small and simple interactions that happen throughout the course of this series. And although I have only talked about these small moments and plot elements, the moments in which the series actually turns serious and wants to establish things is done really well too.

2. Art (8/10)
The art in Bokuben is really good. The character designs, both main and side characters, are drawn really unique and all have their own charm. All of the female characters are drawn in a way that really makes them stand out from each other and the rest of the characters. The reason that the art is not rated higher is that the art for Bokuben cannot compare to the other shonen powerhouses that also publish in Weekly Shonen Jump, but at the same time, it really doesn’t need super crazy double s to portray its story adequately. All of the artwork from the beginning to the end is solid and doesn’t waver in quality.

3. Character (10/10)
The one aspect of Bokuben that impresses me the most is the characters. Personally, in most romcom/harem series, I typically always only really like one of the girls and at most two. But in Bokuben, there was a certain point in which I really liked each of the five girls as the best girl. Something that Tsutsui-sensei did really well with this series that stands out above most other series in this genre is really give a platform for all of the characters to grow and shine. Nisekoi, for example, has a similar amount of girls as Bokuben, however as a reader you know at a pretty early point which girls that the main character was going to end up with, meaning that any development between the mc and those side characters were really just useless side plots. However, in Bokuben, all the girls are well-defined and all go through their own personal development throughout the course of the story. All of the girls work well both together as well as individually and all of their development is towards both the characters personally as well as their feelings towards the mc. I don’t want to spoil anything, but no matter which girl you pick you will be satisfied that the author does that character justice in the end.

4. Enjoyment (10/10)
When it comes to just about every romcom/harem series, I always enjoy the ride, but always the ending is the thing that overrides everything because I either get really happy or really salty based on how the author ends the series. I’m not gonna lie, in most cases I am on the salty side because the girl that I think is the best girl almost never wins, so when those particular mangas end, I always end up not liking it in the end because of the recency bias. Without saying too much, I can say that with the ending of Bokuben, I was very happy and satisfied in the way that Tsutsui-sensei decided to end this series. It was a pretty unique ending that I have never read or watched from another series in this genre and I promise no matter which character that you like, you won’t be disappointed with the ending. Everything that happens throughout Bokuben, whether it be the small cliche in-between moments, or the deeper moments of development that occur throughout the story, they all compile into a great story with tons of enjoyable moments.

5. Overall (10/10)
Honestly, Bokuben is a fantastic series that really stands out among other romcom/harems for its development and use of ALL characters rather than just a select few. The ending sequence that Tsutsui-sensei chose to do was really great and I hope that future series consider doing the same, because it would make the series a lot more enjoyable in the end for everyone. Thank you Tsutsui-sensei for the great ride and I look forward to your future works.

From the start, be aware this manga isn’t special from any other rom/com ecchi/harem mangas that you may know. And if you really want to read a good manga in this genre, I could recommend you ‘Yamada-kun and the seven witches’ (if you want the same amount of ecchi but with a way better story) or ‘Gotoubun no Hanayome’ (which is very similar to ‘We Never Learn’, but has a much better storytelling and success without ecchi). However, in one point it is special, at least from the mangas in this genre which I know, and that is the ending. So be warned, it will ... contain few spoilers, but I will mark it and try to spoil as little as possible. Also I will compare this title with the previously mentioned 2 mangas and to ‘Nisekoi’ a bit.

Short spoiler-free version
- Overall (6/10):
If this may be your first manga in this rom/com ecchi/harem genre, then it is a good first step. If it's at least your 10th, then you will get nothing special. Same generic minimalistic story with poor storytelling and mostly mainstream characters for every preference. Ecchi scenes get with the time more and more, to a point where you may ask yourself “Was there ever a story or was it always full with A’s and B’s?” How it ends is unusual, but also not flawless. Solid 6/10, nice for beginners, but wouldn’t recommend to advanced rom/com readers.

Long version
- Story (6/10):
First of all, I really don’t like ecchi Manga/Anime (but I love rom-coms). And this is an important aspect of the story, because at least 60% if not 80% of it is based on the protagonist’s “pervy luck”, which shows the mangakas poor story writing skills. But that wasn’t so at the beginning. It had some good, some excellent jokes and a relatively good base story with a slowly good developing chemistry between the characters. However, due to the poor story writing these jokes repeat themselves but with more and more ecchi, while the base story goes nowhere. This is a very well-known mistake in this genre, so nothing special.
But back to the beginning. Our overall best student has to tutor 2 (later more) one-subject geniuses in their worst field. However, very soon this teaching falls mostly out of the story and develops to the generic rom/com ecchi/harem story. Nonetheless the extra is the immediately starting 2 equally love-interests, and I repeat equally! While in most of these kinda manga you know from the start who will end with our protagonist, just like in ‘Nisekoi’ (which was the main reason why I didn’t like it, because it made the whole plot unnecessary), here you are totally in the dark about how it will end. And this gives this one extra point which makes this average story to a little bit above to a weak 6.
Note: A very similar base story has also ‘Gotoubun no Hanayome’ where this premise gets way more importance and with even 5 (almost) equally love-interests, with (in my opinion) a nice unpredictable ending.

So, let’s turn to the ending, because the generic middle is not even worth mentioning. In my experience, harem manga/anime ends in 2 typical ways. Either it ends with the protagonist chooses every/noone or it ends with the first girl. In the later falls ‘Nisekoi’ or ‘Yamada-kun and the seven witches’ (however, in this one it was different anyway due to the first girl was never really questioned. But I don’t want to spoil anyone, so I stop right now). But here we have 2 “first girls”, so the only way it could end is the former? To answer this either read the manga or beware of spoilers!

*spoiler mark*
If you can’t choose, you choose everyone, but here comes the twist, you also choose just one! How does this work? Easy, you create for every girl (5 in this work) different endings, just like in dating simulators. I experienced similar endings, however, there the routes changed (partly) the complete story, while here just the ending was different. And it was totally unclear until the certain point. This seems like the perfect way to end a harem, but let me explain what disturbed me.
To make different endings based on the same story is really hard, and as I mentioned the mangaka is not the best story writer. So to make it possible he has to overwrite a lot of things, like character developments or story parts, and create plot holes. There are parts where you ask yourself “Does this flashback was really in the previous chapters? Or is it part of this overwriting?”. To make things worse, this turnpoint happens relatively at the middle of this work, and if you read it week to week, you will totally forget what happened 50-80 chapters ago…
Now let us talk about the different endings. I won’t tell which girl has which scenario, so I just mention them as first to fifth. What I should mention is which was my “favorite girl”, so you know it could be a little bit subjective, and this girl was the second, while the last one was the fifth.
The first was definitely the author’s “favorite” or his main route at least. It’s also the best written, most developed and logical, because it either has plot holes or overwriting, and maybe the most romantic too. The second was a catastrophe! It wasn’t really focused on the girl, it was more about the side character. It had complete nonsense parts, plus was not really romantic. The third was okay, mostly generic. But oh boy, the fourth was unexpectedly amazing! It had it’s overwriting too, nevertheless it matched perfectly to the characters and to the previous story. By the fifth I felt the most overwriting, reused events and plot holes, like completely forgotten character developments. Also this felt the most dragged and unnatural.
*spoiler mark ends*

- Art (7/10):
For me unnecessary ecchi is one of the most hated parts in manga/anime. This is full with that, but at least it has more class than the currently ongoing ‘Ayakashi Triangle’... And even if it has a lot of ecchi which I think is unnecessary, it doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the mangaka’s artwork. He shows the readers all kinds of ecchi elements, which are nice drawn and detail-rich. Especially the character designs are above the average for a rom/com manga. Meanwhile the comedy elements are appropriately stupid and good drawn. What it lacks are the changes. Even if the characters are getting several years older (or younger in flashbacks) their designs do not really change. Also, the romantic scenes are detailed, but sometimes it still lacks the feeling of romance.

- Characters (5/10):
As I said excluding the nice artwork and the ending it’s a really generic rom/com manga, and so are the characters too. They are just some massproducted average rom/com characters. In addition, due to the poor story writing the characters are also just 1-2 charastics without any deepness or big developments. They felt like one joke comedians, showing us the same thing again and again.

- Enjoyment (5/10):
I really enjoyed the first 20-40 chapters and the last 40-50 chapters. Also the chapters where the story or the character developments were in the spotlight. Unfortunately, the good jokes from the beginning got repeating and unfunny while the ecchi ratio increased, so proportional my enjoyment decreased. However, if you are into classy ecchi stuff I think you may enjoy it way more than I did. On the other hand, the romance part was solid especially for the last chapters.

- Comparisons and recommendations:
In my opinion this title is better than ‘Nisekoi’, however it has way more ecchi. So for non-ecchi fans ‘Nisekoi’ could be the better option for starter rom/com readers. On the other hand, compared to 2 of my favorites ‘Yamada-kun and the seven witches’ (contains ecchi) and ‘Gotoubun no Hanayome’ (doesn’t contain ecchi) it struggles a lot. If you are more into story (like me) or an advanced rom/com-fan who does not read these 2 I truly recommend them. However for the (ecchi) art this manga is maybe better for you.

i have read/been reading almost 15 mangas (not to mention around the same no. of anime) with romance as a major element and this ending is the worst one i've ever read/watched.

this is a sad way to end a good-ish manga. the ending could have elevated the manga from good-ish to really good.

this ending is a disaster. please, mangakas, don't do an ending as foolish as this one.

i'm really irritated. the author could have gone anyway and i'd have loved it 100x more than this lazy ending.

quintessential quintuplets is what this manga tried to copy and do differently but ended up falling ... miserably.