Anime: Bannou Bunka Nekomusume

With a rather promising premise of a good comedy where an android is given a cat brain one would think this to be hilarious. Unfortunately there are scarcly any laughoutloud moments and remains mediocre at best. The only episode that actually made me laugh was episode 5.

The characters arent really developed well and even Nuku Nuku is too "flippy" (I cant think of another word to describe her) for my liking. The plot doesnt go anywhere and there is no sense of closure. For an OVA of this lenghth that isnt good. Instead we are treated with standalone episodes with misadventures involving Nuku Nuku and her creator's wild family.

Not too bad, but doesnt live up to its potential.

Cat Girl Nuku Nuku is pretty much everything that's right with 90's anime. Simple but well planned plots, short OVAs, and tons of fan service. Nuku Nuku is funny, entertaining, and cute as heck.

Nuku Nuku is an absolute joy. She's one of the few anime characters I can think of that laughed as hard as I did. She has a harshness to her voice that is very unique to a Japanese speaker. Almost bursting with excitement, she blurts out phrases with genuine enthusiasm. It's actually very cute.

As if that wasn't enough, her outfits are just jaw dropping. Think of each episode like a cosplay experiment. We get everything from a skin tight swimsuit to a waitress, all with wonderfully tongue-in-cheek camera angles and fan service. It's obvious, but blended well with the show and serves only to enhance it's charm.

I especially loved how down right respectful the guys were toward Nuku Nuku, going so far as to pound some sense into anyone overly rude to her and form a impromptu fanclub. I can't think of many, if any, other animes where I've seen this... even though it's really not that uncommon, if perhaps a little old fashioned.

Kyusaku is hilarious as well. His average-joe antics are downright hilarious, mainly because they strike so close to home. Seeing him and a buddy do a "land rover attack" and high five afterward, or him turn to the camera and say "Yay!" with a peace sign at just the right moment had me rolling with laughter.

I even loved Cat Girl Nuku Nuku's music. An unexpected mix of techno beats, reminding me somewhat of a very high quality MIDI. Like a techno remix a fan might do of an old theme. My favorite example of this is during the underwater battle.

In the end, Nuku Nuku is an absolute classic. It's somewhat simple, but it shows everything that's right with OVAs. Short, off the wall stories can indeed be well developed, and animes do in fact have perfectly blended ratios of fan service and action. All guys are not jerks, women are jerks too, and human nature is hilarious. There's a surprising depth to such a simple anime.