Kyouryuu Shoujo Gauko

Dino Girl Gauko is a series of shorts revolving around a hot-headed girl named Naoko, who will turn into a mean and violent dinosaur girl, Gauko, if pushed to her limit. It is a decent setup that leads to some great comedy, and even some surprisingly touching moments.

Don't expect any sort of complex story from these. They are just short little slice of life stories with very little continuity. However, I was sort of annoyed when certain episodes didn't actually reach a resolution, such as when Naoko starts to feel self conscious about eating too many snacks. The episode just sort of ends with the ... characters laughing it off, and her insecurity about the problem is never addressed. Other episodes, such as the one where Naoko and her mother seem suspicious about Naoko's father, were surprisingly emotional. Overall this series is all over the map in terms of tone.

First of all, the artstyle is simple but adorable. It sort of reminds me of Shin-Chan's aesthetic, but also shares OK K.O.!'s style of universe where characters can be humans, moles, fairies, comets, or anything in between. The character designs are simplistic, but each character stands out and brings a lot of style and charm to the show.

The characters are really varied in terms of likability as well. Some characters come off as overly cruel, which is a bit annoying, only to be perfectly fine in another episode. In particular I didn't like when characters tried to pressure Naoko until she became Gauko, since it felt manipulative and mean.

Overall, I would say that the shorts are fun and cute enough to be worth a look. Each episode is 9 minutes in length, so a binge is very easy. However, you get the idea of the show fairly quickly, so if you don't really like the first few shorts, you'll probably not like the others.