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Reviewed by David Rasmussen Ah, nostalgia strikes again. Yeah, whenever I come up with a review from my past you'd become worried that I'll once again wax poetic on the title. Here's one title that I enjoyed when the first OAV series came out... for about the first half of its run, which ended when the second half came out and it was less spunky and cute and more fan service and... whatever. Gosh. What the hell happened. Didn't help any that I got excited again with the coming of the TV Series only to become disappointed again when I discovered the TV Series was a long chain of one trick pony concepts that ran episode after episode to the point I couldn't stand watching it no more (which was the length of one DVD worth of episodes). So me getting my hands on this... hmm... mixed bag. I have some fond memories of the series, and some not-so-fond memories of the series, so my reaction here would be… mixed at best. Let's see how I fare this time out with my latest look at the series with what has to be one of the longest titles in Anime/Manga history. All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, aka APCCGNN for short. Meet Inventor Kyusaku Natsume (penny-pincher extreme and kinda not-all-there-in-the-head scientist dude) and his son Ryunosuke (a pawn in the bitter broken marriage battle between rich business woman Akiko Mishima and bum inventor father Kyusaku Natsume... oh, and then there's the android he took along with his son which becomes the home of the brain of a dying cat... who in turns becomes the curvaceous totally cute (yet kinda dim in the thought processes but in a cute way) Nuku Nuku (of course depending on if you're referring to this or the Anime her cat body perished in one of two ways, but that's not important for this review). In the first story, Nuku Nuku wants better oil to drink, so she does a bit more to help the professor with his research... which doesn't exactly go well, as it includes a fire. After that it's Parent/Child day at the beach during summer… but since Ryunosuke's dad is a jerk loser it's up to Nuku Nuku to take Ryu to the beach… too bad androids can't swim no matter how curvy and "floatable" they look… wait, that sounds totally disturbing didn't it. Sorry. This is the same as the OAV episode trip to the beach, only the "conflict" is different, as is the means that Nuku Nuku is able to swim… otherwise it's the same story (not). Finally in the third story (the only full-color story of the three, which is actually rather cute of this book), the corporation run by the mom of Ryunosuke finally shows up when a strange spacecraft carrying a cat crash-lands in the area (and said cat ends up badly injured and in Nuku Nuku's care (déjà vu as it suffers the same injuries that Nuku Nuku had in the start of this manga)! Familiar members of the "enemy" show up for the first time, and it's a nice story (all color and all). And look!! This volume has a ton of postcards in the back! AWESOME!! I was disappointed with the second half of Nuku Nuku the OAV. I kinda liked but ultimately became disappointed with Nuku Nuku the TV Series. But this, this at least didn't disappoint me. In fact it reminded me rather well of what it was about the series I liked way back when when the series was new, fresh, and cute! What a nice trip back down memory lane, though I have a feeling it may be the only time I wax poetic about Nuku Nuku in manga format (which is kinda sad, actually). For bringing back some favorable memories of my fandom past? All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku the One Shot gets a B+. Thanks, the trip down memory lane was fun. Editor's Note: The picture shown is (apparently) from the anime of APCCGNN. However, an argument can be made that MangaLife is not to be blamed for failing to find an accurate cover image of this manga, as ADV's website also does not do so/does not in fact list this manga amongst its titles in a way that makes finding it feasible. --Ed. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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