Aguu: Tensai Ningyou

If the phrase "So Bad It's Good" means anything to you, you will likely get a kick out of Aguu. I most certainly have. Make no mistake, Aguu is bad. It's confusing, ugly, annoying, convoluted, and most of all really really weird. The whole thing blends together into a thoroughly entertaining mess that has to be seen to be believed. If you need a nice, warm dumpster fire to keep you warm at night, this one is a great choice.

Story:
Holy shit, buckle your seatbelts. Evil Purple People who look like the Apple Bonkers from Yellow Submarine suck the talent out of talented people and make ... them into gross little bondage fetus doll things. These people are called "Tailors" and they are without exception a bunch of annoying crazy assholes who monologue a lot. They then stick these gross fetus balls (Aguu) into other people for exorbitant amounts of money, upon which insertion the doll's talent is transferred to the recipient. Also they wear fabulous hats.

People called "Saviors," who so far consist of an old man, an EXTREMELY annoying kid sidekick, and our main character Ai, try to help save the Aguu from their fate as gross fetus balls and beat up the Tailors for being so violent and off-putting.

After Ai's friend Machi has fallen in with the Tailors, Ai and the other saviors chase them around Asia. It's really really dumb, and really poorly animated. Loved it.

Art:
As previously mentioned, completely terrible. Everything is boxy and flat, the color palate is insane (think Barney, all purple and green), the animation is mostly non-existent. It looks like approximately 0 effort was put into the polishing in this show, but I will be damned if it is not really fun to look at. I never know what's coming next, but it is almost always worse than I expect and better than I hoped for. This show looks like ass, but it is at least a funny looking ass.

Sound:
Kinda whatever. The OP makes me feel uncomfortable, but so does the show as a whole so I guess there you go. I haven't noticed the music enough to comment. It seems adequate and forgettable. People's voices are pretty hammy and over the top, but it adds to the camp factor already very much present in the show.

Characters:
Probably the best part? It's absolutely nuts. Seriously, just google "applebonkers." That is, no lie, EXACTLY what the bad guys look like. They are all silly petulant crazy people with a penchant for the dramatic. People's faces are crazy, people are strange colors, their clothes are nuts. Think acid trip fancy dress tea party. Even the non Tailor characters are pretty weird. The characters are what has me rating this show so highly even though it is admittedly terrible.

Enjoyment:
Just the most. This show has cheers me up every time I watch it. It is adorably ugly and stupid, kind of like a pug. Camp and trash may not be for everyone, but it sure is for me and I liked this show a whole bunch. Aguu is not as good as the tragic masterpieces that are Vatican Miracle Examiner or Qualedia Code, each magnificent and flawless trash heaps, but it is really entertainingly hilariously bad and if that's something you appreciate you will appreciate this.

I don't think this show has gotten the credit it deserves nor the attention. Currently the rating is 5.58 as i'm writing this and I doubt that will change much.

Story:
The concept of Aguu is a bit weird and isn't explained well in the first few episodes, but the concept catches on quite quickly. Other reviews already explain it so I won't touch on it, however, the actually story itself has pretty solid writing and an interesting view on the subject of people wanting talent and what they will do for it.

Art:
This is the elephant in the room. On first glance you can instantly tell that ... the art isn't detailed, the backdrops are simple and somewhat stylized. A lot of people might have issue with this, but personality I think this is way better than some other shows which try to have detail background but just fails on it. Beyond this, the art is pretty average.

Characters:
This is the area where the anime shines, because the plot is more character driven then anything. The two main leads are written as best friends who genuinely care for each other and their relationship organically builds, they are written as actual humans. The other characters aren't as fleshed out, but they all have a moments of reflection, goal, and/or reasons to who they are and why they are like this. The only two characters who aren't fleshed out are one-off villains who are quirky enough to keep the audience attention.

Overall:
I would give it a solid 7. It's not the best show and it's not for everyone, but the show isn't so bad that it should be rated this low. If you're looking into sassy show with a darker premise. Then give it a shot.

Story:
Initially going into Aguu: Tensai Ningyou, the first couple of episodes presented what I though had the makings of an interesting psychological thriller story, I was entirely wrong though, episode two and three made me realize that this show really just follows a more conventional action plot line, with people with powers fighting people with powers, what I like and what I think makes the show's story unique though is who and what the opposing parties are and what they're fighting for(which is what makes any action series interesting though really) and I think that the show does a good job helping you understand that ... and fleshing that out so far.

Visuals/Art:
Visually or art wise the story has a very interesting dark and somewhat horror or gothic inspired art style, well contrasted with normal modern day as well. I enjoyed the character designs, they look good proportionally and stylistically but may not be the most detailed or unique in design among other anime.The animation itself is decent, it gets better during action scenes, but is still never lacking or underperforming outside of them. The backgrounds are the worst part about the show visually, they do well in terms of color and art style, they really suit the shows characters and the shows tone, but in terms of the detail and the quality of the art of the backgrounds, this show doesn't do too well, the backgrounds don't feel alive at all, they just feel like backdrops.

Sound:
I don't really want to talk too much about sound since good sound is invisible unless its either spectacular or abysmal, I will say though that I enjoyed the OP, visually it gives me the psycho thriller I wanted out of the show, and sonically I just really like the song, metal instrumentals with a cute girl vocal, that just suits the visual really well.

Characters:
Character wise, the two girls that the majority of the first three episodes were about were good, their interactions, their backstory, their history, and their motives all pretty good, the problem lies with the rest of the characters, as of the first three episodes no one is even remotely as fleshed out as them, I don't doubt that this won't be a problem proceeding further into the show though.

Conclusion:
This is nowhere near the best show out there but it really has promise from what I've seen so far, production wise it's decent, character wise its good so far, story wise its not bad, and offers a unique and interesting world to explore.

Rating: I'd rate this show somewhere between 6.5 and 7, high 6 to 7 out of 10.