Ranked #1934

Kemeko DX

Oh no! Here comes another harem parody/comedy based show (with a sci-fi twist). I normally wouldn't write a review for shows like this, but all this mediocre content is beginning to get depressing (still, some people may be entertained by it).

Kemeko DX (or Kemeko Deluxe to give it it's proper title), began life as a manga series by Iwasaki Masazaku, which began serialization in Dengeki Comic Gao! magazine in October 2007, before being transferred to it's sister publication Dengeki Daioh! in February 2008 as the former magazine ceased publication. The anime version was produced by Hal Film Maker, and was directed by Mizushima Tsutomu, who also directed Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan!, Genshiken (1st series and OVA), Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, and xxxHOLiC (both series and the movie). With a decent director at the helm, I was expecting a little more from this show than something like To-LOVE-Ru, but Kemeko DX failed to deliver the kind of laughs I was hoping for.

The story is, once again, a mish-mash of the standard harem fare. Kobayashi Sanpeita, a teenage boy, reminisces about his first love, a pink haired girl he met ten years previous, when a strange metallic chibi-woman bursts into his room and states that she is his wife. This is Kemeko, a "mech" for want of a better word, and the pilot bears a striking resemblance to the girl Sanpeita fell in love with.

The story then introduces the rest of the cast, which include all the typical harem characters - the childhood friend, the loli sister, the sidekick, the quiet girl, the combative girl, etc, etc. As I said, typical harem fare.

Art and animation for the show could have been done much better than it was. Given Mizushima's pedigree with shows like xxxHOLiC and Genshiken, I was disappointed to find the character designs were generic at best. The scenery is often standard fare, and could well have been taken straight out of any harem anime. The only plus point on the side of the animation is that the fights were sometimes well done, and that there are numerous parodies in the show which can draw a laugh - sometimes.

Sound is, again, generic at best. The OP is decent enough, although the ED can get annoying very fast. The VA's are once again, generic at best. Don't expect any great acting in this show, as it's not meant to be there. Tomatsu Haruka, the VA for M.M. (Kemeko's pilot), seems to be being groomed to take over the tsundere roles from Kugimiya Rie (Shana, Louise, Nagi Sanzenin, etc), especially as the character design for M.M. makes her look like Shana/Louise/Nagi. Strangely enough, Kemeko is actually voiced by Saito Chiwa (it would have been nice to have the one VA dealing with both roles but you can't have everything).

The sound effects are fair at best. They're generally used well, however the lack of overall background effects causes the show to lack a certain degree of "atmosphere".

The main gripe I have with this show is the characters. I'm getting very tired of seeing the same, generic, fill-in-the-blanks style character in this type of show. Sanpeita, for example, is a useless teenager who has to rely on others all the time. Add to this his tendency to lose all higher brain functions when he sees breasts, his indecisive nature, his inability to put two and two together, and his constant and annoying whining and you have the stereotypical harem comedy lead. M.M. is the generic tsundere female lead, complete with revealing outfit. Makihara Izumi is the generic, large breasted childhood friend who has secret feelings for Sanpeita.

Are you beginning to see the trend yet?

There isn't any real character growth in this show, and it may have been forgiven this lack if the show was actually good. However, due to it's mediocre nature the show should have really gone down a different avenue, instead pf trying to copy shows like To-LOVE-Ru, Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, etc, etc.

So, will you enjoy this show? Maybe, if you've had your sense of humour surgically removed, or have had a lobotomy recently. The show does have some humourous moments, however the attempts at humour often tend to pale in comparison to other shows. Instead of comedy on the level of Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, we have humour that even a hyena would find unfunny.

I don't think that I can, in good conscience (which is a rarity for me), actually recommend this to anyone. It's not a bad show, but it's not a good show either. It's not actually anything, so if you're in the market for mind numbing twaddle that will soften your brains then feel free to watch this. You may even enjoy it (you never know).

Personally though, I prefer my humour to actually be funny. read more

For me watching Kemeko DX was about as pleasant as having urine sprayed into your eyes, and about as funny. It’s supposed to be a random action-comedy that parodies other anime and pop culture. Despite featuring a cast of some of the industry’s top seiyuu talent, all this series manages to be is an uninspired, mean-spirited, and unfunny waste of one’s life.

Kemeko DX's premise is convoluted and slightly original in its presentation. A typical boring male protagonist and high school student (shocking huh?) Sanpeita finds himself with a sudden bride; a violent, scantily clad unnamed girl who pilots a chibi-fied combat robot named Kemeko. She claims she loves him, I mean who wouldn’t he’s such an interesting guy (That’s sarcasm BTW), and she must protect him from the evil Mishima corporation whose building dominates the towns skyline. What they want with him and what it actually means is poorly explained and unresolved by the end of the series. I am unsure if this means that a future season is coming to complete the story or if this is just another typical harem-comedy shitty ending. I mean they are almost synonymous with one another.

The series humor is random and spastic and it’s not meant to be taken seriously. So I wasn’t going into this expecting a deep story and complex characters. But I do expect a comedy to be funny. Kemeko DX uses mostly physical humor, sexual innuendos, and boobs to drive its comedy. The problem is it’s just not funny to anyone with any degree of sophistication. A typical episode involves one of the many girls angst over wanting to be in love with the bland lead and him getting his ass kicked by them or Kemeko, even though he’s done nothing wrong. In that sense the cruel violent humor reminds me of shows like Punie-chan and Dokuro-chan. I know the target audience of this show has to be teenage boys, and I just don’t understand why, beyond the fan service, a guy would like this sort of thing. Do guys really want to be around these crude annoying girls?

The most pathetic aspect of the series is definitely the characters. The lead Sanpeita is so ordinary and uninspired that he is completely uninteresting and the viewer will feel nothing for him one way or another. The most exasperating part of his character is why the hell he puts up with all of these mean girls who are constantly hurting him or making his life hell. At the top of the list is Kemeko/M.M. who claims to love him and wants to be his bride. Besides being very moe and cute when she’s out of her ugly robot she is totally unlikable. The rest of the cast is full of cute girls with mostly gravity and physics defying breasts and body measurements. They are all bitches. Seriously, even the most violent feminist bone in my body doesn’t have any sympathy for any of these airheads. Except one, kind of, and that’s Izumi. She was the only character who I felt any genuine feelings for because I knew how things were going to end for her. She’s the only member of the cast who you feel actually cares for the guy and is not a complete bitch. Of course we know how the childhood friend of the lead usually plays out romantically in these kinds of stories when up against aliens or mystery girls.

Animation and art is also bad. While the girls are cute and the action is pretty well delivered I can’t get past the tremendously ugly male characters. I mean what is up with that. They don’t even look like they are from the same art team when you compare them to the female cast. It’s like the art team had so much money in their budget for development costs and clearly decided the best course of action would be to put 99% of that money into the girls and boob physics. Sanpeita looks like he’s 10 and even the colors and detail of his character seem to only point out how dull and lifeless he is. I am also so tired of the same boring spiky hairdos. Get some new ideas already Japan.

Music and acting is mixed. As I mentioned at the beginning, Kemeko DX features a stellar voice cast and their performances are all pretty good. Unfortunately the material they were given to work with is bad, and no matter how talented you are you can’t turn this steaming pile of turds into a chocolate cake. The music kind of fits the random and silly themes but I didn’t particularly like any of them. The OP theme grows on you a little though.

I found very little enjoyment out of watching this show. For a comedy there were very few moments I felt the need to smile much less laugh out loud. I did feel something once during my viewing but later realized it was only because I was sitting on my remote control. My suggestion is that everyone avoids this series like you would a venereal disease.
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