We Never Learn, also known as Bokuben, is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui. It began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on February 6, 2017, with its individual chapters collected and published by Shueisha in 15 tankōbon volumes as of 2020. The series follows the story of Nariyuki Yuiga, a high school student tasked of tutoring three female geniuses as they start to gradually develop romantic feelings for him. An anime television series adaptation by Studio Silver and Arvo Animation aired from April 7 to June 30, 2019, and a second season aired from October 6 to December 29, 2019. The manga also spawned two light novel spin-offs released in 2019. Viz Media licensed the manga in North America and serialized it in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and releases the manga in print since 2018. Shueisha began to simulpublish the series in English on the website and app Manga Plus in January 2019. The anime series is licensed by Aniplex of America.
Plot
Nariyuki Yuiga is a senior high school student attending Ichinose Academy who, in order to secure a university scholarship, must tutor three female geniuses of different subjects: Fumino Furuhashi is a genius in literature, but horrible at mathematics; Rizu Ogata is a genius in mathematics, but terrible at literature; and Uruka Takemoto is a genius in the athletic field, but dreadful at all other subjects. As the girls work with Nariyuki to achieve their academic goals, they must also deal with their growing feelings for him. As the story progresses, two other girls are focused upon: Mafuyu Kirisu, their teacher who despite her professionalism, is a slob at home and Asumi Kominami, a rōnin who has the appearance of a middle schooler despite her age. Near the end of the story, at the Ichinose School Festival, rumor has it that couples who dance together at the bonfire are destined to become a couple. During this event, Nariyuki encounters one of the girls, but her identity is obscured upon the chapter's first release. The story has five separate endings with Nariyuki ending up with one of the five girls. While their endings vary, the focused girl is the one who Nariyuki encountered at the bonfire.
Written and illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui, We Never Learn was launched in the 10th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on February 6, 2017. Viz Media announced their license of the manga for English release in North America on April 2017, which serializes it digitally in their Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. On March 30, 2018, Viz Media announced the print release of the manga later that year. Shueisha began to simultaneously publish the series in English on the website and app Manga Plus in January 2019.
Light novel
A light novel titled written by Hamubane and illustrated by Tsutsui was published on April 4, 2019 by Shueisha under their JUMP j-BOOKS imprint. A second light novel titled Bokutachi wa Benkyō ga Dekinai: Mitaiken no Jikanwari with the same writer and artist as the previous one was announced and released on December 4, 2019 by Shueisha under the JUMP J-BOOKS imprint.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the 39th issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump on August 27, 2018. The anime series is directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki and written by Gō Zappa, featuring co-animation by Studio Silver and Arvo Animation and character designs by Masakatsu Sasaki. Masato Nakayama is composing the music. The series aired from April 7 to June 30, 2019 on Tokyo MX, GTV, GYT, BS11, AT-X, MBS, and TV Aichi. The opening theme is "Seishun Seminar" and the ending theme is "Never Give It Up!!"; both are performed by Haruka Shiraishi, Miyu Tomita, and Sayumi Suzushiro under the name Study. Aniplex of America licensed the series for distribution under the title We Never Learn: BOKUBEN, and streamed the series on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and FunimationNow. In Australia and New Zealand, AnimeLab streamed the series in the region. After the series' finale, a second season was announced, and premiered on October 6, 2019. The second opening theme is "Can now, Can now", performed by Study, and the ending theme is "Hōkago no Liberty", performed by Halca. The second season ran for 13 episodes. An OVA episode was bundled with the manga's 14th volume which was released on November 1, 2019. Another OVA episode was bundled with the manga's 16th volume which was released on April 3, 2020.
Reception
In May 2018, the manga reached 1 million volumes sold. In February 2019, the sales reached 2 million volumes sold, including digital sales.
