Nuku Nuku Dash

Summary: >

An attack android with a cat's brain isn't what you would think would make a good housekeeper, but scientist Natsume decided that's the best excuse he could come up with while trying to keep his experiment Nuku Nuku's a secret and bringing her home. Despite the fact that Nuku's body is made of steel, she's got all the right curves - which doesn't go unnoticed Natsume's son Ryuunosuke. Around the same time a mysterious super woman appearers, who can disable an attack droid with a single blow.

Everyone has a different piece of the puzzle. Nuku Nuku has lost her memory, and tries to remember who she is. Mad scientist Natsume is trying to figure out what the Mishama cooperation is up to. His wife Akiko happens to work at Mishima cooperation, and is trying to keep her head above work, while unaware of her husband's activities. And Ryuunosuke ... well, he's all hormones. Could Nuku Nuku and the mysterious super woman be related? Nah!

Thoughts: >

The Nuku Nuku - OVA was well remembered as THE catgirl anime. A fun series which never took itself seriously. It comes as a surprise Nuku Nuku Dash would go the other direction from what made the OVA popular. Which could work, but Nuku Nuku Dash falls flat in pretty much all areas.

The designs are only ok. The animation is particularly disappointing. Nuku's episodic fight basically consists of her throwing some lame lighting balls, or a lackluster sequence of "scratching" her opponent. Hell even the stock transformation footage is pretty sad. You'd think they'd try harder on footage they reuse.

Each episode builds up to Nuku Nuku fighting something, and results are always predictable. The formula of building a background story the climactic final two episodes, didn't do a good enough job of building suspense, nor was this plot very good. With a flat story, the show could be salvaged with decent characters, but none are strong enough to do so. Romance is strangely absent considering it's heavily hinted at in the opening sequence. What I assumed would be a cornerstone of the anime turns out to be an outtake of one of Ryuunosuke's fantasies. Which is perhaps for the best because I can't imagine a girl who would be higher maintenance than an android cat.

The anime has a few good points, although not as many as the OAV did. It generally exists to exist. For me the best parts turned out to be the odd relationship between Ryuunosuke's parents. The assertive corporate wife and her wacko mad scientist husband is something I never got tired of. Which probably says a lot about a show when the part I liked most was occasional background stuff.

Nuku Nuku Dash might be okay for a rainy day, but there's certainly a lot of other anime titles better suited to that.

Screen Caps: >