Di Gi Charat Summer Special 2000

You automatically temper your expectations when a company hires a studio to produce an anime as an advertisement for their business. Madhouse took free reign and whole hog license with DiGiCharat to do whatever they wanted, pull out every stop that exists, and debut some unreal talent with Miyuki Sawashiro. On top of that, they pull in Megumi Hayashibara fresh off her starring role as Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop to play Piyoko. Who even does that?

The definitive Di Gi Charat Special experience is the 144p EP Vhs rip, you will be hard pressed to find anything else and that's just okay. It's the ... only way these obscure things were ever going to make it stateside anyway.

Good satire of the American otaku of the late 20th century in this special, have fun with that.

Where the original 16-episode series is a work of comedic genius, this special falls flat. Those fast-paced, compact, wacky, absurdist episodes worked great for the show, but stretching them out into longer episodes with very little happening and little to no decent humor just makes this show drag.

That said, the introduction of Piyoko is a major boon. She is the cutest thing to ever happen to Akihabara. And she's voiced by my girl Megumi Hayashibara.

However, the antagonist bug guy, particularly his involvement in the final episode, is nothing but irritating. He adds nothing to the show and gets far too ... much screen time. I found myself fast forwarding through his parts toward the end.