Yuri Seijin Naoko-san (2012)

Yuri Seijin Naoko-san is a crazy little piece. It's a little hard to describe, but if you're familiar with the "denpa" aesthetic, you'll get this.

STORY: 6
There really isn't any story to be had here. Misuzu's sister left a while back and she's been replaced by a perverted alien who goes by the name of Naoko. Craziness ensues. The focus is obviously on the rapid-fire gags which will be hit or miss. There's one scene in which Misuzu dreams of her older sister which added a nice contrasting touch of nostalgia; it was very well done. Overall, it's all over the place, but that's the point.


ART: ... 8
It's very well animated. Seeing how it's only half an hour long or so, I would say watch it just for the pictures alone. It got me pumped up. The disconnected feel of the whole thing is both familiar and foreign--it's perfect for setting and motif. It's very denpa-kei.


SOUND: 9
BGM fits. OP and ED are awesome. If you like MOSAIC.WAV, watch it.


CHARACTER: 7
No depth. No development. Still, these characters are a pretty fun bunch and their interactions are lively.


ENJOYMENT: 8
I really liked this. It was very straightforward and it was a fun ride. Despite being little more than a half hour of gags, there's a sense of cohesion and scope. There's a sense of the ephemeral. When it isn't pounding you with excitement, it feels like you're drifting. Naoko-san can be summed up in the OP and ED. If anything, watch those.


OVERALL: 7
If you have time to kill, watch it.

This little gem really is underrated, with brilliant animation from Tetsuya Takeuchi and a pretty good OP and END theme.

Story: It's basically about an alien trying to conquer the earth by yurifying it. Not much else happens this this is an ova, but if you really wanted to get the whole thing I'd definitely recommend the manga.

Art: The animation is amazing, with maximum efficiency and minimal frames, from the brilliantly talented Tetsuya Takeuchi. You probably don't know, but his animation style usually fits into that category. The art is light and colourful, maintaining quality all throughout both ova's running time.

Sound: The show has ... a very retro feel to it, one that you would find on some of the old arcade machines and early 90's home consoles. Overall it's pretty enjoyable.

Character: Because this show is so short, there isn't room for much character development at all, but you get the idea that Naoko is trying yurify everything, with Misuzu disapproving of everything like a regular person would. But of course there isn't much room for character development, so once again I heavily recommend the manga.

Enjoyment: There were some pretty good moments all throughout the entire show, you'd think the entire thing would just be filled with lewd joke after lewd joke, which it is. However they are pretty funny throughout both ovas.

Overall: You can definitely tell Tetsuya Takeuchi cared about this, you can tell that he actually read the entire manga to get a feel of the characters and how they would react. And I definitely hope he gets more opportunities to show off his talent because I'd certainly watch whatever he makes.

8/10 They really need to make more of this

[Note: this is a review of both episodes of this franchise]

This was quite a surprise for an OVA with only two episodes (6 min. and 28 min.)

Story-wise, there's not much that happens; in fact, the first episode sort of just drops you into the middle of everything and you don't learn any back story until the second episode, so it relies more on its comedy and bizarre surrealistic sensibilities to hold your attention, both of which are almost always on-target. It isn't technically a yuri title, but it does use that theme for a lot of its comedy, and as someone whose enjoys that ... kind of humor, I got quite a few laughs out of this anime. It also has a very deadpan style of humor that doesn't need extreme character reactions to tell you that something was funny. All of the characters were really funny and also kind of endearing by the time the series was over.

With animation, however, there's a lot more going. I absolutely adored the aesthetic that this anime carried with its barely-outlined character, striking character designs, and just barely muted color palette. The animation also had an extremely fluid and free moving style, another aesthetic that I really love seeing and wish I could see in more anime.

Most of this, of course, is due to Tetsuya Takeuchi's heavy involvement with the series (director, script, storyboard, screenplay, key animation, character designs, AND animation director; plus he was also involved in End of Evangelion, R.O.D., Love Hina, and Nodame Cantabile). You can really tell that this guy has a truly unique vision and it comes through beautifully in this anime.

Oh by the way this was animated by ufotable. Yeah, THAT ufotable.

I also liked the editing style a lot as well. It's a lot slower than the norm and not even close to being as spastic as more modern comedic series, and the longer takes and fewer cuts let the bizarre comedy and surrealism shine through without being interrupted by constant cutting, which I appreciated a lot.

Music was very minimal, but when it did show up, it added the perfect touch of strangeness to an already strange environment.

Overall, this is a highly underrated gem that I definitely recommend. It only takes about 35 minutes to get through both episodes, so time commitment is a non issue. Even if it was, I'd still recommend this series, and I hope to see more from this series and from Takeuchi in the future.