Kill Me Baby

I feel I have to write this review because a lot of people just aren't getting it. This show is not meant to be taken seriously it's a joke. This is not some romantic comedy where the characters drastically change and have inspirational quotes. This show is just randomness. It's like a poo poo joke that never ceases to be funny. So if you're thinking about watching this show ask yourself these questions. Do I like random acts of comedy, or do i like strong plots? Do I like generic characters or do I like characters that change over time? This is just for the newcomers who i feel might be discouraged by the previous reviewer's who just don't understand real comedy.

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I remember watching a couple scenes out of context from Kill me baby on youtube months ago and to be fair, they were random enough to be funny. The characters were quirky and the situations were absurd, which is just what any comedy of this type needs to be succesful or at the very least enjoyable. It was immediately apparent as soon as I watched the very first episodes that I was wrong.

Kill me baby is the kind of series that sets a ridiculous premise and then never lives up to it, the kind of comedy that presents itself as completely demented and over-the-top but never leaves the comfort zone of character-based jokes, the kind of experience that hypes itself to stardom but settles for mediocrity instead - It simply doesn't have enough to push the show forward.


The ridiculous premise quickly degenerates into a mere gimmick due to sheer repetition of the same trite, formulaic jokes. They all play out the same way: Yasuna does something silly, she gets knocked out by the annoyed Sonya the assassin, while Agiri the ninja does something random, if she is around while that happens… you can generally predict how the joke plays out before it even starts, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds.

But beyond that, three characters are simply not enough to carry a comedy show for twelve full-length episodes. Any succesful comedy series I can think of – let's say Azumanga Daioh – had a diverse enough set of side characters that prevented the show from reaching the point of stalemate and kept the show relatively fresh despite the length.

At this point I wonder how Kill me Baby would have fared if it was a 3-minutes short series… as a friend of mine commented on the series: “it was tolerable back when I watched it weekly”, which is something I can honestly believe, as from my experience, the more often I watched an episode of Kill me Baby, the harder it was to pull through it and by applying that rule on a more abstract level, then you're better off not watching it at all. The opening track, "Kill Me Baby", arguably the worst opening song for a show of all time pretty much represents the show as a whole - weird at first, annoying and repetitive after you hear it once. Stay away.

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Kill Me Baby is one interesting anime to watch and to review, but particularly to evolve with the characters and how you relate to their presence on each episode and the show in general, which makes it sort of slow started, but ends up being an endearing 4-koma. So, here we go:

Story - 6
Look at it however you want, this is, at the end of the day, just another slapstick show about wacky schoolgirls. The story isn't anything special, and, at first it doesn't even seem to have a story per se. However it's not the same as saying it's a bad thing, because on this sort of shows, the focus isn't the story, and it's more about providing a background where the characters can show what they're worth at making us spend a good 20 mins each week.

Art - 6
Not a masterpiece of detail and fluid overwhelming animation, but again, it's a show that doesn't demand such a thing, it's just, right for what the concept of KMB really is. The designs are very simple, the backgrounds have that borderline children anime watercolor innocence to it, but overall, the characters are very cute and expressive, and look chibi.

Sound - 7
After an OP that sounds so irritating at the first 2 episodes but ends up getting unavoidable to listen to each week, and after an ED that was awesome since the first day i heard it and even became a popular track for remixes and loops on the internet, what's left to mention is the good job that was done on how the sound carries many of the logic and punch lines behind a huge variety of the hilarious skits along the show. In the end, while the quality of the sound isn't anything of intricate quality, we see a show where the sound plays as much of a role to make things funny as the visuals do.

Character - 8
We have 2 main characters: blonde assassin/student from Russia, Sonya, and short/brown haired airhead Yasuna. Sonya keeps feeling bothered about Yasuna's uncanny will to be friends, and have fun together, and she often comes out as being an impossible to like character due to her cruelty, but which is an interesting approach on a girl which is supposed to be a cold blooded assassin. Yasuna starts the show as the merely annoying dumb girl who always ends up being a victim despite wanting to be friends so badly, however the same insistence of her that feels a bit annoying for how dumb and masochistic it seems early in the show, ends up making Yasuna an endearing character with a simple mind but a huge heart, as she always worried about Sonya and tries to straighten her way out of murderous jobs. These characters are enveloped in an actually touching undertone which never falls off from the humour priority of KMB, but is felt through each time we see Yasuna fall innocently, climaxing in the last episode which, without spoiling, actually made me cry. As the series approach an ending, i couldn't get enough of Yasuna's voice acting and preciousness and even Sonya managed to become somewhat likeable as she's slowly softened up (but not much) by her loyal classmate. Given that "Character" was the stat i gave a better rating, it's getting a bit long, but i shall hurry it up with the 3rd main/support character, and perhaps the most popular of the whole show given that many people couldn't see beyond Yasuna's early annoying masochistic antics, Agiri-san simply had, i believe, no defects (perhaps the only problem was not giving her enough air time). Agiri-san is complicated to describe, with a presence and voice that are as feeble as they are powerful, like a drowzee but aware, airheaded but smart or talented but effortless character, she was purely awesome and with a voice as memorable as Yasuna's (except, i believe most people felt captivated by Agiri from her very first appearance) and was one of the driving reasons i waited eagerly for the next episode. Always linked to wacky unexpectedly justifiable ninja techniques with a twist, Agiri often appeared as a random element of surprise, to help out Yasuna and Sonya's troubles or to aid the scenes that otherwise could become too dull.
There's a 4th character that appears only on about 3 or 4 scenes and the OP, a character that seems pointless, she has no name, and her purpose in appearing is the simple joke (i believe that's the joke) that she's useless and never noticed.

Enjoyment - 7
This was a show that needed your patience to win your heart because, i understand that, other than Agiri-san, it's not very compelling from the start, until Yasuna's voice and attitude get deep into your head and you get to hope Sonya's ice might be eventually melted somehow. Some early episodes had plenty of dry and dull jokes as well as some drink spilling hilarious ones, whoever with a not very favourable ratio between the two. Overall it does get much better with time because you get to know and antecipate the characters and the type of puns more and more. Personally, early on, i thought i'd end up giving a 6 at best, to this show, but i ended up connecting to the characters more than i imagined, and even got emotional in the last ep. Check it out sometime!

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Overview:

Remember Hetalia? The series that used stereotypical characters to represent countries and got WAY more popular in the US than it actually deserved? Imagine you took the characters Italy, Germany, and Japan and put them in a highschool by themselves. Now keep the dynamic and everything about the characters the same only change them from male to female. Lastly get rid of the few fragments of history Hetalia actually had. That is Kill me Baby!

Plot and characters: 2/10

There really isn't a plot. It is just random shenanigans and the airhead Yasuna (Italy) annoying the short fused "assassin" Sonya (Germany). Sometimes the mysterious Agiri(Japan) shows up, but she doesn't really add much. Hetalia wasn't very funny or well written in the first place, but it had highly talented voice actors for the English dub. They could simply yell stupid shit and it would be funny. Unfortunately, this series has voice actors who just don't give a shit! They don't want to work on this series any more than the viewer wants to watch it! It would have at least had a few laughs if it had Patrick Seitz screaming in his terrible German accent.

Animation: 2/10

It is the same moe style animation that Hetalia used with cutesy character designs and very little background art detail or animation budget.

Sound: 1/10

The soundtrack gave me an ulcer.

Enjoyment: 2/10

I think it may have had 1 scene that was sort of funny. This was based on a 4 panel Newspaper manga where there is only time to set up a quick and simple joke each week similar to Garfield or Dilbert. It can be quite challenging to adapt an anime from that kind of format, although Azumanga Daioh pulled it off.

Overall: 2/10

This is one of those lousy anime that follow in the wake of a popular series and try to rip it off to make a quick dollar. Whenever a blockbuster movie is released, some terrible company like The Assylum or Full Moon will make a cheap ripoff like Snakes on a Train. This is like the Assylum ripoff of Axis Powers Hetalia. Be afraid! Be very afraid!

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