Waku was an energetic and confident young boy who acted like a stereotypical shōnen main character. He was previously a talented soccer player and is considered popular. He wanted to become a professional player and his friends thought he had the talent for it. However, he found out that his salary-man father was a soccer player just like him in his youth and even played at the national level. The fact that someone just like him didn't make it shook Waku's resolve and he stopped playing soccer. If he had not quit the team he wouldn't have been at the summer class and become a pilot. He was chosen to become the first pilot of the children. After the battle with Bayonet, they celebrated on Zearth's shoulder. When Ushiro patted Waku on the back he fell off the side into the ocean. They thought that Ushiro accidentally pushed him but he actually died a moment before when his time as a pilot ended. His chair was a simple plastic folding chair. In the manga the number of casualties is unspecified, but in the anime there are 2,343 casualties.  (Source: Wikipedia)

During a summer camp, 15 children, 8 males and 7 females, find a grotto by the sea. Deep within they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man called Kokopelli. Kokopelli claimed to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and sign a contract. All but one of them signs, barely a moment later they mysteriously awaken on the shore believing what happened was just a dream. 
(Source: Anime News Network)


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One summer, fifteen kids innocently wander into a nearby seaside cave. There they meet a strange man who invites them to play an exciting new video game. This game, he explains, pits a lone giant robot against a horde of alien invaders. To play the game all they have to do is sign a simple contract. The game stops being fun when the kids find out the true purpose of their pact.
 
(Source: Viz Media)
 
The extra story Bokurano: Mou Hitotsu no Bokurano (Yet Another Bokurano) ran after the completion of the main story.

An alternate retelling of the manga. 
It depicts most of the original characters from the anime/manga accompanied by a handful of entirely new ones, but with the same task of piloting Zearth to protect the world at the expense of their own lives. Most of the regular characters also suffered changes in their appearance and background.

Waku Takashi