Category: Finished Series: Comedy

Kuragehime – 10

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



Overall the past few episode shave lacked the consistent energy that came with the first two thirds of this series, so this episode wasn’t as addictive as it once was. To make up for it though, this episode came with a nice dose of character development.

Most surprising was Shuu. At first I thought that Shouko wouldn’t have much effect on him, but this episode was very surprising, and brought out an interesting new side for both of them. Tsukimi also finally gets out of her slump that she’s been in for the past episodes, and she worked especially nice with Chieko when designing that dress out of Kuranosuke’s mother’s clothes. Kuranosuke also was very interesting when he saw the result. It’s obvious that he didn’t like how they ruined some clothes and expensive jewelry that his mother gave him, and at the same time glad with the results.

Now, the final part of this episode did feel a little forced, and I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s part of the manga (either that or a few chapters were skipped there), as it was rather sudden. It really does hint to the creators wanting to wrap everything up here, though, which is a good sign. Let’s see if they can pull that off next week.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume Review – 82,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Shinryaku! Ika Musume




This season was actually quit ea good one for comedies. Eight series really made me laugh over and over, in completely different ways: we have a parody, a series that uses cute humour, one that uses sex and violence jokes, two that depend on the chemistry between eccentric characters and a dialogue heavy one. Squid Girl’s style of humour is entirely focused on its characterization.

The set-up is as follows: we have a Squid turned into a girl who thinks that she’s going to take over the world, who ends up working at a beach cafe. Each episode is divided into three segments, all focusing on a different scenario. Throughout the series, Squid Girl runs into a bunch of nutcases, who all react differently to her and her strange powers.

The show has a fairly large cast of characters, and granted, some of them aren’t as good as the others. The scientists in particular are a downright insult, and the obsessive Sanae is used too much throughout the series and therefore gets repetitive. Yet, The good ones however, more than make up for it. In particular, Squid Girl herself is an absolutely adorable character; her characterization is just fantastic, her antics are always fresh and hilarious. Her unconventional way of looking at the world is more than enough material to fill twelve episodes. Eiko also proved to be a wonderful straight man for her antics.

The result is a series that made me laugh many times. Out of all the comedies this season, it didn’t make me laugh the hardest, but it did make me laugh the most. There are a few segments that don’t work, but they are overshadowed by the good parts, unlike for example Mitsudomoe last season, which did get caught up with its own repetition. And yeah, you can say that it’s a very unambitious series: it’s just there to provide laughs, nothing more. But the thing is, that for a show to make me laugh so consistently with such a well characterized main character… it’s really something that deserves to be watched if you’re in for some light-hearted fun.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Builds up its jokes neatly, and knows how to deliver them.
Characters: 9/10 – Squid Girl is adorable beyond words. There are some bad characters, but they’re overshadowed by the good ones. Just don’t expect character development here.
Production-Values: 8/10 – Very good in the first few episodes, but dulls in after that.
Setting: 8/10 – Down to earth setting despite the silliness, and for a squid girl she has many interesting talents.

Suggestions:
– GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class
– Sexy Commando Gaiden
– Hyakko

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 12

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume



Aah, and it went so well!

This episode… it contained the “why the heck are you pulling so many twists at the last moment only to make them pointless at the end?”-syndrome, and it’s unfortunately the bad variant of it. Let me explain what I mean by that:

I was actually fairly impressed with this episode for its main part: the final two segments actually were an actual conclusion to the series. It was completely out of left field, but actually worked surprisingly well. Squid Girl actually suddenly loses her powers due to some mysterious reason, which pretty much makes her hopes for world conquest impossible. After returning to the sea for one year she returns and actually seems to have accepted that she’s not special anymore. She’s really about to significantly change as a character.

And then out of nowhere, the scientists launch a giant whirlpool that conveniently swallows Eiko and makes Squid Girl magically regain her powers immediately in order to save Eiko’s life, completely nullifying just about every part of the serious development that was put into Squid Girl. What the heck was that?

This episode was horribly rushed. It’s the kind of ending where the creators first want to give some decent conclusion to the characters, only to hear at the last minute that they’re not allowed to because of the possibilities of a second season that this series doesn’t need. It’s these kinds of endings that I hate, especially when it’s obvious that too little thought has been put in it. I mean, the final two segments weren’t even funny. It would have been better to just pick the funniest chapter of the manga in order to end with a bang.

This final episode is a shame, but it doesn’t ruin this series at all, because it never really was building up to it, so only these final two segments were wasted and nothing else.

I hardly ever blog pure comedy series because you never know which ones turn out to be great based on just their first episode. Squid Girl however was consistently fun to sit through and write about. It’s perhaps not the best comedy this season, but the reason why I picked this series over Panty and Stocking and Tantei Opera Milky Holmes was that it had by far the most solid characters of the three. In the end there is very little character-development, but Squid Girl’s characterization really is something the creators should be proud of.
Rating: – (Disappointing)

Kuragehime – 09

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



This was probably the funniest episode of the entire series. It’s not like a lot of new things happened, and it instead continued to develop things further. as a build-up, this was truly excellent. The portrayal of Shu who is consistently trying to get rid of that woman around him, but the point at which she found out that Shu was only a virgin really took the cake. I really have to applaud the creators for that scene.

As for Tsukimi: that’s going to be the biggest issue for the final two episodes. In this episode, she again spent most of her time sulking about Shu. Something NEEDS to happen to her now. And don’t get me wrong, her angst was quite good here: her feelings of just wanting to disappear were again very well portrayed and engaging. 11 episodes however is not the length where you can just pull this card over and over again if it’s not building up to anything.

Speaking of building up, Kuranosuke did get a great balance between build-up and actually doing something. This guy is constantly trying to pull Tsukimi out of her comfort zone and forcing her to not run away, and I also like how he was inspired by Tsukimi’s drawings. The final scene in this episode was also a nice touch.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 11

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume




What…. was the inspiration for that first segment? This show has this tendency to sometimes use really creepy jokes, and this was another one of them. I mean, Squid Girl is one thing, but even I would be disturbed if I had to sleep next to such a creepy doll. Just shows the bizarre things that kids get into at a young age. Oh, and of course Eiko as a child was awesome.

The other two segments mainly stood out because of some hilarious standalone jokes. The American researchers have always been a bit corny, but I have to admit that I laughed really hard when that black guy put on that invisibility suit and started toying with Squid Girl and Eiko. In the same way, I loved it when Squid Girl got attacked by all kinds of animals in the third segment. My favourite was the bear.

Oh, and that first segment was also good in the way that we finally saw an entire segment of Sanae without these obsessive tendencies of her. That was really needed to balance out her character, and remind us that she used to be just a normal girl and childhood friend of Eiko.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuragehime – 08

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



Awesome: this episode again keeps the balls in the air instead of waiting and dragging out for too long. The developments were fairly simple at first sight, but it’s here where the characters get themselves a bit of depth.

First and foremost, Tsukimi and Kuranosuke. At first I thought that these two were completely different in every single way, but they do have something that ties them together: they both have mother complexes. Tsukimi was wonderful in this episode, amidst the chaos that was Kuranosuke trying to get the Sisterhood to cooperate, when she lost herself in her memories of her mother with the Jellyfish dolls. It’s also interesting how Kuranosuke is always dressing up Tsukimi, only to fall for her afterwards. It’s his love for fancy dresses here that probably plays a huge part in this, along with Tsukimi’s charms that are completely different from all of the girls that he had known so far.

Yet: why are people so dense in anime? All members of the sisterhood saw Kuranosuke’s boob pads, and yet they turned it into a silly misunderstanding. Density is a way too overused plot device in anime, and unfortunately even this series didn’t escape it.

Shuu meanwhile was mostly hilarious with that private investigator that was sent after him. Especially the scene in which that driver accidentally called Shuu about the matter was hilarious.

The final three episodes can still end this show wonderfully if they want to. It’s now up to the creators to have the guts to actually do this, instead of just continuing the manga blindly until it runs out of episodes. Especially for Noitamina series a good ending is very important, since they’re so short.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 10

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume



The first segment of this episode probably was the funniest segment of Squid Girl so far. It’s just brilliant!

At first it seemed pretty boring, as everyone was inside due to heavy rain and they started to make Teruterubouzus (those things that Japanese people hang up next to their windows to try and make it stop raining), but then Squid Girl suddenly revealed her amazing drawing skills, and then proceeded to draw everyone in the way that they appeared to her. Some of these drawings were utterly priceless, like the one of herself, the one of Takeru and the one of Shizuru. It was a bizarre glimpse in what goes on in the mind of Squid Girl.

And there’s much more in this episode than just that, since it also spent quite a bit of time on Takeru making a Teruterubouzu, which eventually led to some of Squid Girl’s interpretations of it, including dressing herself up as one (very cute, by the way), a giant one, and some rejected ones with the most hilarious faces. I also loved that scene in which Squid Girl threw her Teruterubouzu dress on top of Eiko: we only saw the aftermath of it and she didn’t say anything, but her reaction was just awesome.

The second and third segment in comparison were rather mellow, although I do have to give the second credit for its creepiness factor. It’s a bit lame that it ended with a reset ending, though: Sanae is again exactly the same at the end, which is a bit of a pity. The third segment though… was just too predictable. Squid Girl enters a baseball match and blows everyone away, it wasn’t that special except for the end in which the opponent team suddenly begged Squid Girl to join them.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuragehime – 07

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



This episode was a bit of a step back from the dynamics of the previous episodes, but you can see that it was building up to something. The big challenge for this series is to make all of this build-up come together in the final four episodes: make this a real solid series instead of one that just cuts off at a certain point.

Most of the episode revolved around Kuranosuke looking for ways to get money in order to buy their own apartment, along with the aftermath of Shuu’s previous night. Most of the tension came when Kuranosuke tried to sell off Chieko’s belongings, where Banba suddenly manned up. On top of that, Shouko’s rants are also getting more enjoyable with every episode.

Tsukimi disappointed me a little, because she spent most of this episode angsting over Shu. Kuranosuke around her was still really enjoyable to watch though, especially when he nearly unconsciously ended up kissing her. Speaking of which, why didn’t Mayaya find it strange that Tsukimi suddenly had this naked buy in her room when she kicked the door open? Did she just… not notice or something?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Shinryaku! Ika-Musume – 09

by psgels, posted in Shinryaku! Ika Musume



Another hilarious episode, especially the first two parts rocked and were able to get the best out of Squid Girl. The first part was awesome because of all of the things that go on inside Squid Girl’s head, the second part was awesome because of her antics, while the third part was more focused on the side-characters, and was probably the first story in which Squid Girl did not take up one of the lead roles.

The first part was really good at Squid Girl’s usual habits of making an elephant out of a mosquito when it escalates a simple game of Knock Knock Ginger to the point of Squid Girl getting a new best friend. (On a side-note: that game really has different names in all kinds of different countries: the Japanese call it “Pin-Pon Dash”, while in the Netherlands we call it “Belletje Trekken”, which roughly translates to a childish version of “Pull the Bell”). I especially liked how her antics in this cased managed to surprise even Shizuru, who usually is in control of everything.

The second part was all about makeup. It started all innocently with some lipstick, but I especially loved the scene in which Squid Girl went to get some tips from those trendy girls and ended up looking absolutely ridiculous. This episode also had a lot of fun putting makeup on the rest of the cast, which worked surprisingly well.

The creators did miss a chance to include some neat continuity when Squid Girl ended up painting her face with some coloured marker. The segment ends quickly after that with Squid Girl looking perfectly fine in the next one. In the third segment, they could have had her complain about how long it took to get that off, to introduce some interesting continuity between the different episodes. Also, at the end of this episode the entire restaurant gets destroyed. I really fear that the next episode will just skip to the rebuilt restaurant, though it will be awesome if the next episode focused on rebuilding the entire thing.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Kuragehime – 06

by psgels, posted in Kuragehime



This show is just amazing: it just grabs its cast of characters, and instead of wasting its time with dull building up or slice of life, it just grabs its entire cast and pulls them out of their comfort zones, and it does this with such class, dynamic energy and variety that it becomes awesome to watch.

This episode continued the transformation of the sisterhood into a group of stylish ladies, and it puts them into a cafe in order to get accustomed to their new identities (and high heels. How can women walk on those?). The great part with them is their tension with Kuranosuke, who had to continue to pull them out of their shells throughout their entire adventure, and that wasn’t even the awesome part of this episode: the romantic tensions. And I don’t say that often.

There of course was Kuranosuke who against his will got turned on by Tsukimi, but I just loved Shuu and Inari Shouko in this episode, and how incredibly straight to the point the latter was when she tried to seduce Shuu: just forget building a relationship, simply drug the guy and blackmail him with a few pictures! Not to mention that the moment in which Shuu woke up was just priceless.

I can also really see this work as an 11 episode series: Noitamina’s short format really is a double-edged sword: it really forces creators to condense their stories, and weave building up more into the stories: with a pretty much guarantee that there isn’t room for a sequel in the prestigious Noitamina timeslot, the creators who realize this can get some amazing series that are short and to the point out of that. Kuragehime has also shown that it knows not to put too much on its plate, and I can really see a good conclusion for all of the characters it introduced in just five episodes.
Rating: *** (Awesome)