Ranked #1024

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

Before you instantly downvote this Review for not being a 10, 9 or 8; I'd like to remind you that a 7 should be considered a "Good" RATING. Anything above a 5 should be considered "good". MAL reviews are broken, but I'm at least trying to fix mine. Please take the time to read it all.

Here's a quick TL;DR rundown of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

1- You've probably seen it before. There's nothing special about this Anime. The story is just a sequence of events thrown together so as to fit as many gags as possible in, the characters are recycled, the gags are overused. If you're looking for plot, or great comedy, you won't find it in Nyaruko.

2- The Anime is character based. As with all Anime targeted towards an Otaku audience aiming to be as marketable as possible, Nyaruko's strength is with it's characters. They're memorable, they're funny and they each have their own distinct trope. Some people maybe see this as a bad thing, and in a sense it is, but for what Nyaruko is aiming for, it's succeeded in making the characters as fun as possible.

3- Because it's a character-driven anime, the art and character designs are great. Who cares about plot when you have these beautiful pictures to look at? Or so they want us to think. It's not that bad though. They designs are clear-cut, distinct and present the constant moe and service very well.

4- The music is good. Catchy OP; better ED. All's nice and well. Of course, they're just OPs you've heard a million and ten times before in other Anime, and Nyaruko doesn't even try to be original. It knows it doesn't need to be.

5- It's a light hearted watch. As I've said on countless other Anime, don't take it too seriously. No; it's not GREAT, it's not groundbreaking and it certainly won't appeal to everyone. But if you want something light-hearted and fun, and you enjoy squealing at moe characters and laughing at over the top gags, then you'll probably enjoy this. read more

The most unexpected anime series airing in this 2012 spring season I would say would have to be Haiyore! Nyaruko-san. It can be categorized as both Parody and Comedy at the same time and shows great promise as it is a series that does not take itself seriously and is unafraid to show itself as such. If it's able to keep up the level of quality, this series has a good chance of becoming the best comedy series of this year.

In H.P. Lovecraft's stories, the Cthulhu was an unspeakable, indescribable horror that haunted the collective dreams of mankind. In Nyaruko-san, the Cthulhu is a cute girl sent from the stars to protect a typical normal guy.

Mahiro Yasaka is a normal high school guy until he finds himself pursued by a monster one night, only to be saved by a cute girl bloodily slaughtering the monster with her bare hands and then jauntily declaring, “I am the chaos that always creeps up to you with a smile, Nyarlothotep!”, Nyaruko for short, while striking a sentai hero-type pose.

She was sent there to protect Mahiro and it's revealed that she practically begged for the assignment, partly so that she can get her hands on some Earth entertainment (anime and manga apparently being highly-valued throughout the universe) and partly so that she can cozy up to Mahiro, much to his dismay.

However Mahiro isn't completely dominated by Nyaruko, but tries, in his own ways, to fight back the stranger who "destroyed" his peaceful life. At this point that usually involves him wielding and trying to skewer Nyaruko with a table fork.

Nyaruko, despite being in some respects the stereotypical hyper-aggressive girl, is such an abjectly ridiculous character, and is played with such unrelenting enthusiasm, that it's difficult to watch the episode without a constant bemused smirk on one's face. Nyaruko is way too perky for a creature of a well-known horror mythology and generally a lot of fun to watch. She's always moving and switches conversational modes at the drop of a hat. It helps that she looks nice as well. She also has a proportionate body without either inflate-a-boobs or a little girl figure.

The first episode enjoys small recognizable moments, with Nyaruko's back story fast-forwarded (complete with squeaky VHS sounds), comments about how the show will get taken off the air if the characters aren't careful, and a slew of images in a store that have a very familiar look to them. Add in some sentai jokes and a Pokémon reference and you get a parody element that helps to make this more entertaining than it might appear at first glance.

That said, within its hyperactive romance-comedy framework, the series works really well. Nyaruko is amusingly nuts and the jokes about her Lovecraftian origin are entertaining. She's only in cute girl form because her real form would cost Mahiro a lot of "sanity points" and her horrific origins are hilariously apparent in her sickening fighting style (brutal beat downs using rocks to crowbars). She's also refreshingly open about her feelings for Mahiro which reminds me so much of Lala from To LOVE-Ru.

The animation isn't perfect, but there's enough flow that it's easy to watch and the music has a definite sense that it could grow on you.

This looks to be a series that will have me groaning at the end of each episode, disappointed that I need to wait for the next episode. read more