Before I move on to the review, just want to point out that I recently went on a bit of a Ninku binge and watched every subbed episode up on Youtube.  Which unfortunately is a little under less than half of the whole series.  Eyup, 25 episodes in two days…  Damn good series though.  I highly recommend following suit.  I really need to see if it’s possible to track down the rest of the series (subbed, anyway… the rest is up raw).

Anyway…

Since I no longer have any VHS anime tapes I’m capable of capturing, I can now start on my DVD pile.  This is a two-episode OVA released by Pioneer in the mid 90s, and as such I wonder where the hell it’s been all my life.  I give to you…

AKA “I just took 40 screencaps on the first episode alone, so forget covering episode 2!”

I’m going to go ahead and post the opening right now because practically every single scene is screencap-worthy.

We begin our story with..

Moving on…

Our loser protagonist is Akai, just some ordinary high school student trying to save up money to upgrade his computer.  Also, he knows a secret: school beauties Mew & Mica are in fact the famous heroines, the Hyper-Dolls.

Also, they’re a couple of cold heartless bitches.

So yeah, that was quite the exposition dump, but it wasn’t exactly awkward.  It was frenetic enough to work as a joke.  It just seems wrong that it’s obvious they couldn’t afford to run this as a proper series and start off with an origin story.

Anyway, improbable public pool.

We’re one episode in and already we have the obligatory swimsuit episode.  I approve.

Very quickly we’re introduced to one of the defining characteristics of our heroines: They like to bicker.

For no reason in particular, Mica & Mew head to the public pool along with fellow student and relevant character Shoko.  They’re followed by the class loser trio, which includes Akai.

Honestly, despite how worthless these guys are, it’s utterly hilarious when they show up out of the blue.  You know that awful awkward laughter characters engage in?  They take that shit up to 11.  Then warp into an alternate dimension and kick it up.  You just have to hear it to believe it.

Suddenly…

Because when you’ve got bathing suits, what else but tentacles?

However, this seems to have been made in a time when that trope wasn’t inescapable, so there is a distinct lack of groping.  Otherwise I’m sure there would have been an amazing gag here.

The giant jellyfish absorbs water from the pool and comments on how he doesn’t even mind the chlorine.  But then he tastes “traces of ammonia,” leading to another hilarious visual gag I had to skip to save memory.  Since this monster is ruining their relaxing day, it’s time for the Hyper-Dolls to get into action!

…except Akai stops them to prevent them from exposing their secret identities in front of Shoko.

Akai (who can’t swim BTW) accidentally falls in, skips across some jellyfish, and lands on the giant jellyfish, leading up to what one can only expect is the accidental defeating of the jellyfish.

Much like the rest of the show, this is done in hilarious and absurd fashion.

BTW, this guy seems to be some important detective.  He gets named, but alas, we don’t see how relevant he is at all throughout the two episodes.  I really need to hunt down the manga for this.

Later, Shoko shows up at Akai’s house and hints that she suspects there might be some connection between the Hyper Dolls and Mew & Mica.

In an effort to stop Shoko from uttering her suspicions in front of Mew & Mica, he goes for what is perhaps the most obvious and pathetic action possible.  But I DON’T CARE.

I don’t care how often and overplayed this gag gets.  It entertains me every single time.

The next day, monster attacks.  This time, the jellyfish monster appears at the same time as a giant bug.

Akai is certain the Hyper-Dolls will save the day.

Of course, the thing with alien broads with unlimited power and immortal bodies… they get bored easily.  Also, they tend to get into bickering that inevitably ends in the casual destruction of property.

Akai steps in and tries to get Mew & Mica to quit slacking and do what they were put on this planet to do: kill monsters.

The weird pizza commander thingy chews Mew & Mica out and warns them that if they don’t perform their duty, he’ll give them a new nickname and force them to wear a cheesy angel uniform.  This seems to settle things handily, and they move into action.

Since the Hyper-Dolls need to fight two monsters at once, Mica tries to get Akai to fight the jellyfish monster since she’s not sure they can handle it.  But Akai sees through her lies easily and refuses.  Good call, kid.

The fighting style of the Hyper-Dolls can be summed up in one phrase: Casual Curb-stomping.  Hell, their catchphrase is “easy victory!”  Their WEAKEST attack is an energy blast called “Napalm Shoot.”  It deals wicked amounts of collateral damage.  And if they don’t destroy their enemy with that…

 

 

Seriously, these monsters are barely more than an annoyance for these two.

Comedy: 5
This is pretty much why I seek out old anime.  There’s always bound to be those gems that never got any recognition and are hilarious as hell.  Unfortunately, what I turn up also tends to be in a state of incompleteness.  The manga was actually licensed in English AGES ago, but not the entire series.  Funnily enough, I think I’ve actually spotted some issues at my local comic book shop.

Pleasure Rating: Damn Good Watch / Would Proudly Display in a Glass Case
The nature of the show is what prevents me from full-on going with the top score for this category.  Just too much wasted potential on multiple levels, but what we end up getting is still top quality in its own right and completely satisfying.

Rewatchability: 4
I probably will watch this again some time in the near future.  It’s a shame that Pioneer was so utterly bare bones with their early DVD releases, because this has nada.  No clean opening or the original endings or anything.  Not even proper previews of other shows; just a slideshow of what can only be described as catalog pages.  I’m glad Pioneer got better (especially when it turned into Geneon), but relics like these remind you of how bad they were in the early DVD gen.

Music: Flippin’ Awesome

Marketability: 3
There’s really only Mica & Mew, and as glorious as they can be, they’re barely a step above the Dirty Pair on the marketability scale.  Unfortunately, Dirty Pair also has being iconic in their favor, while Mica & Mew are pretty blatantly ripoffs.  The ridiculous and awesome sense of humor of the series apparently wasn’t enough to make it rise above some of the glaring cliches it relies on, and that’s just plain too bad.

So… yeah, I was NOT ready to like this as much as I did.  I’m definitely going to put some effort into tracking down the manga, even if I don’t have a lot of high expectations considering it was canceled.  Did I mention how much I like Mew?  I don’t even know why.  She’s just a slightly more chill Mica.