Nuku Nuku DASH! Anime Review

All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku DASH!
Bannou Bunka Neko-Musume DASH!
ADV Films
Complete Collection - 3 discs
300 mins. - 12 episodes
$44.98 (2005)
$29.98 (2003-04) Vol. 1-3/ea.
ISBN 702727142727
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Yoshitaka Fujimoto
Studio - MOVIC/Starchild

Synopsis: Ryunosuke is riding his bike home from school one day when he witnesses a beautiful girl rescue a cat from getting run over.  He arrives home to discover this same girl is now going to live with him!  His father is a research scientist who works in their basement constantly and his mother works at the Mishima Corporation's headquarters.  The girl is Atsuko Higuchi, but please call her Nuku Nuku.  She's a lovely 19-year-old who is going to be the Natsumes live-in housekeeper.  Nuku Nuku suffers from partial amnesia and Ryunosuke's father, Kyusaku, is helping treat her condition.

Kyusaku, Ryunosuke, and Nuku Nuku

Being a typical 14-year-old, Ryunosuke falls madly in love with Nuku Nuku and obsesses over her constantly.  What he doesn't know is she's the mysterious super-girl who appears in town and is seen battling Mishima Corporation weapons (they apparently test weapons within the city quite regularly).  This super-powered girl wears a tight spandex outfit, has cool shades, big antenna on the side of her head, is super resilient, and can fire energy blasts.  She's a tough customer and the Mishima Corporation is out to get her.

The beautiful mystery girl battles a Mishima mecha

Nuku Nuku is trying to find out her origin and why she is compelled by her creator to "protect all life".  She loves cats too.  Poor Ryunosuke's mother, Akiko, is a middle manager at Mishima and gets assigned to apprehend the latest runaway Androbot (android-robot) with little clue she's actually living in the same house!  What's an office worker to do when she's forced to pilot variable mecha?  Mishima has an arsenal of sinister Androbots and mecha to throw at Nuku Nuku, but Ryunosuke is more worried about convincing his friends that she's his girlfriend!  A typical horny teenager and an ultra-powerful android-robot against a ruthless corporation.

Ryunosuke's mild-mannered mother, Akiko, gets stuck piloting
the Mishima mecha which attacks Nuku Nuku

Pros: Solid characters with decent personalities, Ryunosuke is perfectly portrayed as a hormone-crazed teenager, many lighthearted moments, mild fan-service

Ryunosuke does the old 'awkwardly trip and fall on the
beautiful girl' move

Cons: Weak character and mecha designs, older animation, surprisingly bad picture quality (probably the transfer to digital), plot is fairly silly throughout, Ryunosuke's hair with the red stripe down the middle is ridiculous, title is too darn long!

Nuku Nuku battles another Androbot

Mike Tells It Straight: This series was adapted from the All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku manga by Yuzo Takada.  The manga must have been pretty popular because this series is actually the third adaptation.  The first two were a 6-episode OVA and 14-episode television series.  This series is completely unrelated to the previous two and has a few differences.  The cast is portrayed as a little bit older (i.e. Nuku Nuku is 19 here where she was around 15 in the other two series).

A charming rich guy chats up Nuku Nuku

I haven't seen the previous two series, but I found this one to be just average.  The character designs were boring and the plot was stale.  The best part of the show was Ryunosuke's crush on Nuku Nuku and his attempts to look cool to his friends.  He's a typical horny teenager, but matures a little by the end and becomes a real stand up guy.  While the plot was mostly silly and the villains were complete idiots, there were a few serious moments.

Kyusaku takes Akiko on a hot springs vacation, leaving Ryunosuke alone
with Nuku Nuku - to put moves on her.  What a cool Dad!

I was mildly amused although the picture quality wasn't very good.  The plot twist with the rich guy who meets Nuku Nuku was pretty good.  I guess this series would be suitable for beginning or younger anime watchers, but it has very mild fan-service and a little violence (a character dies too).  All the questions about Nuku Nuku's past are answered by the close of the series and the final scene was heartwarming.  A cute, but ultimately mediocre series and now I know why it was sitting on my shelf for so long!

Nuku Nuku loves cats!

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Ruin Explorers: Quest for the Ultimate Power! Anime Review

Ruin Explorers: Quest for the Ultimate Power!
Ruin Explorers Fam & Ihrie
ADV Films
Complete Collection - 1 disc
120 mins. - 4 episodes
$19.98 (2004)
$29.98 (2000)
ISBN 702727000928
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Takeshi Mori
Studio - MOVIC

Synopsis: Ihrie and Fam are treasure hunters searching through the ruins of a once-proud civilization.  The rulers of the old world possessed the Ultimate Power, but it was their undoing and the world crumbled.  Their lost power is legendary and thought to be a myth, but scores of explorers seek to uncover it along with many other secrets of the lost age.  Ihrie is the leader and a skilled swordswoman.  She can also cast spells, but an unfortunate curse as a child causes her to turn into a mouse when using magic.  Without an emergency supply of antidote she'll be stuck as a rodent forever!  Fam is a ditsy elf girl who worships the spirits of nature.  She only uses magic for constructive purposes and is a bit clumsy.

Fam and Ihrie listen to Galuff's story about a map to find the Ultimate Power

The unlikely pair eke out a living by robbing ancient ruins.  Ihrie wishes to find the Ultimate Power and break her curse while Fam wants to use it for helping people.  They meet a merchant named Galuff at an inn and he gives them information about finding the Ultimate Power.  He's a shifty fellow and another pair of ruin explorers show up to contest the treasure.  They are Rasha, the sorceress, and Miguel, the expert swordsman.  Now Ihrie and Fam must fight to keep their treasure!  Ihrie can't use magic and she's had enough of Fam's unwillingness to cast offensive spells.  Will the two break their partnership?

Rasha and Miguel cause all sorts of trouble for Ihrie and Fam

Lyle is the prince of a destroyed kingdom and on a quest for revenge against the sorcerer responsible, Ruguduroll!  The foul mage is out to get the Ultimate Power and destroy the world on a mad conquest.  Will the selfish treasure hunters help Lyle battle the frighteningly evil wizard?

The evil sorcerer Ruguduroll plans to destroy the rest of the world!

Pros: Lots of comedy, good adventure, the characters interactions were great, very brief nude scene, Ihrie turning into a mouse was pretty funny, okay plot

Ihrie takes a hot bath after a tough day exploring ruins

Cons: Fam was a bit annoying at times, music is weak, it ends

Lyle launches an attack with a mystical sword

Mike Tells It Straight: I was pleasantly surprised by Ruin Explorers and thought it was a nice little OVA (original video animation).  The storyline was solid and had a lot of amusing comedy moments.  The characters were great and despite their basic personalities had some good character development.  They really worked well together and have a fun adventure until Ruguduroll shows up to scare the crap out of everyone.

Fam summons her magical abilities

He was definitely a worthy villain and we get to see his origin.  I thought the ending was perfect and all the questions were answered - a rare occurrence in anime (which are notorious for lame endings). I came into this show with no real expectations.  I knew it had been around for awhile and was fantasy based, but that's about it.  Overall I would recommend this show if you like The Slayers and comedy mixed with fantasy.  It's a quick and entertaining watch.

Same scar on the cheek, yep, that mouse looks familiar!

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Battle Angel Anime Review

Battle Angel
ADV Films
Complete Collection - 1 disc
70 min. - 2 episodes
$29.98 (1999)
ISBN 702727000621
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Hiroshi Fukutomi
Studio - KSS, Madhouse, MOVIC

Synopsis: The floating city of Zalem is a utopia in the clouds.  Scrap Iron City has grown up around the garbage heap of Zalem and feeds from the refuse of the privileged.  Ido is a former citizen of Zalem and a gifted cybernetics doctor now residing among the filth in the city below.  He scrapes together a living by repairing broken cyborgs and one day salvages a cyborg girl from among the trash.

Zalem the floating city

He rebuilds the girl and names her Gally.  She becomes his helper and eventually like a daughter to him.  A boy named Hugo does odd jobs around the city and befriends Gally.  His secret dream is to save enough money to buy his way into Zalem one day. 

The city is a dangerous place with spine thieves and deadly criminals waiting around every corner.  Everyone lives in squalor with the sight of Zalem hanging over their heads.  Ido's disgraced former partner Chiren appears in the city and begs him to help her get back to Zalem.  She ends up working for the cyborg gladiator games and harbors a deep resentment for Ido. 


Chiren will do anything to get back up to Zalem

 Ido and Hugo are both hiding deadly secrets and Gally will sacrifice her innocence to protect the people she loves.  Hidden within her tiny frame is a startling power and she is destined to become a true "Hunter Warrior"! 

Pros: Cult classic, great characters, cool action scenes, decent music, poignant ending


Cons: Only two episodes - too short and too much story crammed into the limited time, disappointing to diehard fans of the manga, English dub is not good

Gally goes berserk



Mike Tells It Straight: My experience with Battle Angel (aka Gunnm or Battle Angel Alita) goes back to the mid-'90s when my art instructor Barron Storey at the San Francisco Academy of Art gave a VHS tape of Japanese anime as a class contest prize.  On the tape was Battle Angel, the Fist of the North Star movie (not the live action travesty), Genocyber, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man.  It blew my mind and cemented a love for anime started with the 1985 airing of Robotech.  Watching this anime again after all those years brought back a lot of fond memories from art school. 

The story is pure cyberpunk and incredibly simple yet compelling.  Gally's character is heartwarming and plucky.  All of the characters are very well done with clear motivations and defining moments.  The ending is still emotionally moving after all these years.  I consider the poignant moments in anime as the true elevation of the medium (particularly the depiction of death and duty in a mature manner - Grave of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen, and Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket come to mind).  Battle Angel has that depiction and I've loved this story since first watching it over fifteen years ago. 


The eyes of a Hunter Warrior

 It's based on a long-running manga series with its own cult following.  Those diehard fans of the manga will be sorely disappointed by the anime.  I'm pretty sure Yukito Kishiro, the original creator, was not happy with the story translation and another anime attempt has not been made. For years an American film version directed by James Cameron has been rumored and is unofficially expected in 2016.  Cameron is supposed to be a huge fan of the manga and we'll hope he can do the story justice.   

The anime butchers the manga storyline, but is a wonderful gateway to steer people towards the manga and a truly classic cyberpunk series.  I hadn't read the manga and found Battle Angel to be really great.  Imagine how good the manga is going to be.  Check out both, but start with the anime first and you won't be too disappointed.

Classic image from Gunnm - this is the Battle Angel

TO BUY and Recommendations: