Series Review – Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt So I’ll Max Out My Defense

Welcome to New World Online, an open-world game where players can form guilds to explore a multitude of levels and take on powerful monsters. As players flood the servers during the game’s launch, from among the crowd, a young newbie finds herself in a new world filled with wonder and possibilities. Written by Yuumikan, Bofuri was first released as a light novel in September 2017; it would then get an anime adaptation aired in January 2020. Maple’s adventures would continue with a second season aired in January 2023, and as of the writing of this post, there are no announcements for a third season.

Join Maple as she explores the game uncovering secrets, making friends, and all the while, stumbling into some game-breaking wacky scenarios. Throughout her various escapades, she is slowly accompanied by a cast of friendly faces. Accompanied by a crew who possess their own unique quirks and skills, Maple would establish her own top-ranking guild dubbed the “Maple Tree”. Whether she’s exploring the world with her guild mates or taking on rival top-ranking guilds in events, with a carefree smile, Maple will be an impenetrable vanguard that will guide her team through it all.

Bofuri was first released as a Japanese exclusive set in November 2020. However, with the arrival of its second season in the anime, the idea of a second set is quite possible (I hope). Although, with or without a second set, Bofuri is still filled with gimmicks and interesting abilities, so let’s dive right in and see what this series has to offer.

A bit of a prominent idea that’s seen within Bofuri is incentivizing players to purely run climaxes that share a single trigger type. One of these examples can be seen here with the arc trigger as Sally’s backrow on the left can help players gain further advantages when the arc trigger is triggered. Her backrow’s effect is the ability to filter hand through a draw, which is especially handy if you need to get rid of climaxes in your hand.

Taking inspiration from his fellow guild mate, Kanade’s backrow incentivizes players to purely run climaxes with a book trigger. Taking his own twist on the idea, Kanade’s backrow incentivizes the aforementioned climax ratio with his modified brainstormer. His salvage brainstormer’s effect checks six cards instead of the traditional four, but it only works with climaxes that carry a book trigger. As a result of this ability, Kanade’s design gives the player a higher chance to gain hand every turn through using his brainstorm but at a cost of reduced gain (you can only salvage a single character no matter how many book triggers you reveal).

With a surge of intense flames, Mii and her fellow guild mates, The Flame Emperors, do battle with Maple Tree, with both sides relentlessly exerting pressure on each other. Maple’s level one pushes forward using her standby combo and standing a summoned character. Mii’s finisher follows suit with her finisher as she can stand herself when spawned through her climax’s on-play or trigger effect. From start to finish, both guilds don’t intend to give each other a break as they constantly swarm the field with endless threats.

Moving back to the members of Maple Tree, head guild master Maple adopts her angelic form to guide and protect you and her guild. It is incentivized to run her level one combo in the center alongside her angelic finisher as her level one combo has a RESONATE effect that uses her aforementioned finisher. Maple bearing her shield in front also pairs nicely with her finisher as she can refresh your deck at the cost of discarding her finisher from hand.

Go forth into the vast world of New World Online. Join Maple and her guild as they embark on their carefree adventures. With her colourful cast of guild mates, Maple and her friends possess a couple of tricks up their sleeves and boundless surprises for both you and your opponent.