Ranked #1866

Kemeko DX

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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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

Fall Series~ Back to reviewing to art thou...^__^

Story: 6/10
As most harem series being the "sudden girlfriend" approach plus the childhood friend twist makes this series kind of bland and *ugh* overused. After To Love-Ru and countless other same harem series with comedic + ecchi moments...this is as far as this series goes for me. Also redundant are the loli sister, comic one at school and of course...school setting.

Art: 7/10
Artwork is good but with some roughly drawn battle scenes and under-par chibi shots, it needs some improvements on this department. HAL is known to make cutesy animation type but so far, this needs some work.

Sound: 6/10
OP and ED themes are catchy but not much charisma to draw much attention to most viewers. BGM and SE from the scenes are also normal with not much spice in it to entice.

Character: 8/10
Probably, this department is the only one that excels on this rating, mainly due to veternan VA being utilized effectively for each of the characters. With the likes of Chiwa Saito, Rie Kugimiya, Ryoko Shiraishi, Eri Kitamura, Lala-san (Haruka Tomatsu) and loli-voiced Mai Goto in the VA line-up, each of them portrayed unique characteristics such as Sanpeita (Eri), Kemeko and Emuemu (Haruka and Chiwa) and the unusual deviation of Rie Kugimiya from tsundere character to a different one for this anime.

Enjoyment: 6/10
At the first few episodes, I admit I was laughing off the jokes and comic situations even with the sexual innuendos and ecchi moments but as it progresses, the comical side slowly fades and becomes repetitive. I'm hoping that the series will finish on a good note since Kemeko DX is just slated for maybe a 13 or 24 episode run.

Overall: 7/10
Kemeko DX was supposed to be a fresh approach for this year's Fall Anime Lineup but with the recent disappointment of To Love-Ru and my epic failure of a rating to Kamen no Maid Guy, we hope that this series would make a turn for the good but I remain pessimistic since most sudden-GF/ecchi/harem series ended up a sour taste in an otaku's mouth.

Recommend? - Maybe to those who want a few good laughs in the beginning...
Replay Value (Once?) - Uhhh, maybe just for the LULZ yeah..
(Twice?) - I don't think its necessary.

A second season might fill in BIG GAPS in the story next time, who knows? ^_^

Thanks for taking time to read. ^__^ read more

Do the people at Hal Film Maker just throw a dart on a dartboard of eechi comedies to make anime out of? First Dokuro-chan and now this.

Kemeko DX is another in a long string of "comedies" as of late that try to combine several different genres of anime into one in an attempt to be funny. You have gun fights, fan service, parodies, a girl with a giant sword, maids and even some sci-fi undertones as well. Unfortunately, the series pulls none of this off at all. It has good art, aaaaannnnndddd that's about it.

Part of the reason is because the cast is so uniformly unlikable and stereotypical. Sanpieta is a wimp, Kemeko's actions border on the psychotic, Izumi's the lame "childhood friend" with big breasts, Misaki is the obligatory perverted girl, and Ryouko the aforementioned girl with the big sword. Sanpieta also has an annoying little sister who mouths off at him every opportunity she can, with her mother being an unfunny knockoff of Mama from Kodocha. I wonder how many minutes the original manga creator spend thinking of this cast of characters!

As if that wasn't enough, the series' plot is so misguided I thought I was watching the episodes out of order like with Haruhi when I watched the fansubs. Nothing's explained until the final episode, and even then the show has the audacity to thrown in a new character in the series' final moments. It could've (and should've) been plotless: at least then my intelligence wouldn't have been insulted.

Even the audio is weak. The voice acting is atrocious and the both the opening and ending themes blow. In fact, the latter is one of the worst ending themes I've ever heard in any show, let alone anime. (In case you're curious what it is, it's a trio of those ugly-as-sin Kemeko robots dancing while a "dancing exercise" video plays, where Chiwa Satou squeaks out random usages of the words "gorgeous" and "sexy", neither of which describes Kemeko at all.)

Kemeko DX is a bad show, but even bad shows can be funny. Here, the humor might be funny if it wasn't so mean-spirited. For example, episode 7 has Kemeko chasing Sanpieta with a running chainsaw in an attempt to get him to exercise. Another has him almost getting killed by Misaki's sister, mistaking the boy for an intruder. Then she acts like nothing happened later! Oh, and don't forget the numerous times his "friends" beat him up or smack him for being a pervert / cheating on his "girlfriend" Kemeko.

That's just it, though. The biggest problem with Kemeko DX is, well, Kemeko herself. She's obnoxious, selfish, mean, ugly, and just plain insane. If the show made her wild outbursts funny or treated her with some sort of humility, she might've been a fun character. But no. Instead, she's the most obnoxious robot I've seen in an anime since the Ropponmatsu androids in Excel Saga. And like them, this robot, as well as this anime, needs to be scrapped. For good. read more

The plot and story were your usual recycled harem deal, but this may sound silly, the main thing that I enjoyed about this show was the artwork. Great style and no dips in quality, A+ all the way. Also I was glad that unlike so many other animes, the girls were not stick figures. I get tired of seeing the characters looking so fragile that they might break if you touch them.

The only thing I guess I didnt like was that the story didnt progress much from the beginning to end. Not a big deal to me but may be for some. read more

A miracle had happened.That miracle is on how I was able to watch all 12 episodes of this garbage.

If there is one anime that I abhor to the depths of my soul it is Kemeko DX. Even though the story has some potential all is for naught. All because of that godforsaken title character "Kemeko".

The only redeeming factor of this anime are the girls' character designs. They're the sexy-cute type so if you want to see them then get this anime. However prepare your eyes to be raped by the abomination that is Kemeko.

Art and sound-wise are pretty much average. Nothing to write home about. Maybe except for the terrible OP and ED.

Overall. The series is bogged down by that Kemeko as you probably already countless times. I don't know what possessed the animation studio to make this much less have their board pass this. They could have made a watchable anime instead. For me, I regret ever watching this thing and I highly recommend everyone not to watch this.

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