Narue no Sekai

I recently purchased the collector's boxset of this for a very good price, having not seen a single episode before. I was able to get through all 12 eps in a day; for someone who can barely stand five eps of anime per day sometimes...well, that says something I guess. Now, let's get down to it.

Story 6/10
Nothing really new here. The World of Narue is, at first glance, a rather bland romantic, high-school comedy involving 14-year olds. The difference here lies in simple execution; each episode brings something new, but adds a nice degree of continuity to the story as a whole. As it develops, ... Kazuto and Narue have to deal with a lot of obstacles as a new couple; the biggest of which is Narue's status as an alien. As in any rom-com, they meet new friends, learn new lessons, share new experiences, etc etc.

Art 7/10
Can't really compare the manga since I haven't read it, but Studio Live's anime production does a decent job to say the least, with 3D help from Gonzo (who seem to always do well when they're not PRODUCING shows). I didn't notice any major issues with the animation.

Sound 7/10
Takayuki Negishi (Card Captor Sakura) offers his music-making talents for the show. The show benefits most, however, from the rather famous music production studio of Lantis, who have worked on dozens of notable titles.

Character 9/10
Like most romantic comedies, the biggest key to success is characterization, and development of such; relationships, motivation, plausibility, etc. I believe this show does an oustanding job of showing how two people have to overcome various hardships due to their ethnic diversity (not just one example in it, either). I almost melted more than a few times at various scenes with Kazuto and Narue, especially with Mamiko Noto's usual A+ performance as the heroine. Being an alien must be tough, though...

Enjoyment 8/10
What can I say, I'm a sucker for a romance that actually WORKS. I enjoyed pretty much every episode of this to an extent, despite how cliche-riddled it can get. It should definitely get filed on any anime enthusiast's shelf as a good "pick-me-up anime."

Overall 8/10
This show is probably severely underrated. Simply put, if you like these kinds of shows, then you're welcome to join me in Narue's world. Download the 12 episodes of it, or buy it at a very reasonable price (should be just over $20 on DVD Pacific).

One of the reasons why anime has become jaded and bland is the same reason series like this anime get released. It’s not so bad to have anime clichés in your anime, it’s how you use them. This series uses them in the most boring manner imaginable.

The anime plot is pretty basic. Girl saves boy, girl is alien, girl and guy get in to wacky adventures, guy wants to pork said alien. Shocker, the boy is a fucking otaku and the girl is a walking doormat. Narue is the alien and Kazuto is the bitch, I mean boy. There are no plot twists and ... from there it turns into a slice of life. There isn't much sci-fi going on despite its premise. If I had to compare this story to any other anime it would be Oh! My Goddess. The girl is a reason why the I’m not completely opposed to the feminist movement. She’s exactly the type of girl meant to appeal to otaku fetishists. Not to mention the mechaphiles. There’s a ship that turns into a woman. Feel free to stop reading the review now if that was enough to seal the deal. The only people that are going to be watching a show with a story like this are either otaku idealists or young girls who find this show cute. The biggest problem with romantic comedy/slice of life type of shows is their endings. This anime takes the cake. It just…ends. In the same vein that I hated Kare Kano for just ending. How does it end though? In the most otaku’s wet dream imaginable. A cosplay contest to please her man.
The art is nothing special. There are no great fight scenes, no amazing romantic kiss scene...everything is just mediocre. All the characters look like stock anime characters. In short, make sure to drink some coffee before you pop this in the DVD player. I looked up the character design and it looks like some guy named Takaaki Hirayama did the character designs. What else has this guy done? Motherfucking Mamotte Shugogetten, another “let me please you because I’m willing to do whatever for you” anime.

As far as sound goes, this anime goes nowhere. Narue’s soundtrack sounds a lot like that of a visual novel. It’s pretty bland and does nothing to bring up any emotions. The Japanese track for this is not half bad. A lot of the seiyuu aren’t high-pitched annoying, just there. I knew I’d heard Kazuto’s voice somewhere before though..somewhere bad.. MOTHERFUCKING MAMOTTE SHUGOGETTEN! Mr. Daisuke Sakaguchi is just one of those guys I will never ever accept his voice after series like this. As for the English dub, it’s flat. Nothing special, it gets the job done for a series like this.

I hate everyone in this series. Everyone. I hate to rag on series as if they’re terrible, but everyone is so mediocre. The only highlight of this whole series is the ship woman. She wants to get married. If you had to see one episode of this series, it’s the ship relationship episode. I for one do not condone mecha-human relationships. It’s wrong and immoral and God would not stand for it.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. It’s not that this show is bad, it’s just mediocre, and mediocrity is what really sucks. However, I know people will watch this because of its‘ moe♥moe kyuun aspect. However, those people don’t read my reviews..well no one really does, but you get the point. Don’t buy it, don’t download it, just pretend you never read this or even heard of the series.

You can read more of my reviews at kanjiiz.wordpress.com

There are good shows, there are bad shows, and there are shows that leave no real lasting impression. The World of Narue (or Narue no Sekai) fits squarely into the third category. This somewhat pleasant sci-fi romantic comedy manages to retread overused material without being offensive. It is also so pedestrian that it fails to be memorable.

Right from the get-go, the show proves to be completely unambitious. The story follows the relationship of Kazuto Iizuki and Narue Nanase. Events unfold very typically: boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl turns out to be an alien (weird so call such an event typical, but ... in anime, it is). What follows is a string of misadventures and shenanigans that's only focus is to put the couple in weird situations. Often these situations will somehow end up showing the devotion they have for one another. There really is not much of a moving plot in this show, rather things just happen.

The show never takes itself seriously (or at least not too seriously), which actually is a good move by the staff. Given that the material is so tired, it would take exceptionally good writing to carry the show dramatically, something World of Narue is definitely lacking. Instead, the show opts to retain a light atmosphere and fool around its entire run. This actually makes the show enjoyable if you are willing to turn your brain off, and watch the characters' silly antics. The sci-fi elements in the show are rather silly, featuring beautiful woman androids that control ships and space ninjas. Most of the characters also seem to take things in stride, even the weirdest, most outlandish situations. All this comes together to give the show a campy feel, which makes the show's gigantic gaps in logic easy enough to accept so long as you don't think about them too much.

There are a few times the show actually does attempt serious drama. More often than not these moments involve Naure and Kazuto relationship, putting the couple through spats of jealousy and dangerous situations. However, there are some that involve other characters, like the arrival of Naure's older yet younger sister (it's complicated), and the love affair of a runaway military android. These attempts at drama are brief, forced, and lack impact; so it is good the show does not take itself serious most of the time.

The characters themselves, again, are more or less familiar anime archetypes. Narue is the nice and caring, but weird leading lady. Kazuto is the well meaning dork who is always accepting of Narue. Narue's father is the typical clueless parental unit; Kasuto's friend Maruo is carefree... the list of typical character traits goes on and on. There is a bit of a stand out in the UFO obsessed Hajime Yagi, whose alien centered rambling is always entertaining; and also in Kanaka, Narue's mischievous older/younger sister. Even still, there really is not anything remarkable about these characters; there is little in way of complex characterization, and because of that none of the characters are particularly memorable.

Visually, and I'm starting to feel like a broken record, the show fails to distinguish itself. This is pretty much as generic as an anime can look. Characters are generally cute, in their big-eyed expressiveness, but the same can be said about any slice-of-life anime. Backgrounds consist of the usual urban landscape, and school classrooms and hallways. Likewise, the music is the usual bubbly stuff that plays in the casual moments of most anime, with a typical sci-fi score for the space and action scenes.

This animated adaptation of a manga is the perfect picture of an inoffensive but completely uninspired show. Everything you will see here, you have seen elsewhere; possibly even better. I really wish I could say more, but there is nothing left to say. You know the phrase: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag for me. World of Narue seemingly mixes around sci-fi, romantic comedy and slice-of-life in its focus on our female alien lead Narue who gets a human boyfriend named Kazuto as they try maintaining a normal relationship despite Narue's alien origins leading to sometimes hostile, sometimes bizarre situations. There are some aspects of its storytelling that aren't executed well such as its implementation of action with the two incidents with alien ninjas and the sudden developments that lead Narue and Kazuto into becoming a couple.

On the plus side though, the series does offer a decent amount of depth ... and development with its characters and premise as we do get a sense of how complicated Narue's life is with her alien origins and how her father decided to wind up living on Earth. Additional characters are introduced among both humans and aliens who also get some fleshing out in regards to their life on Earth and connection to Narue.

The comedy to the series mostly comes from the chemistry in Narue and Kazuto's relationship, as well as some of the bizarre predicaments they sometimes get into thanks to alien technology that is employed. For the most part though, I was indifferent towards this. There are also some otaku bits shown at points in the series such as Kazuto's interest in a magical girl anime and some fan service with Narue, but these don't detract too much from the series at all for the most part.

The visuals for the series are rather standard for an early 2000s anime. Characters are drawn with conventional designs and scenic shots are nicely drawn with a decent amount of detail, though are nothing out of the ordinary. Animation shortcuts are milked at points in the series with still shots and jump cuts, though CG animation is employed at points whenever alien spaceships or gadgets are used. The average presentation doesn't detract from the series too much given its premise, but it doesn't stick out too much either.

Overall, the series is a decent time-killer with what it offers up with its light romantic content as it is charming and offers decent focus on its cast without overdoing things with its sci-fi approach. It's a pretty cheap addition you can make for your anime collection as well as I got my copy of the complete series for only $10.

I watched the fansubs from AnimeJunkies and ANBU, here's thanks to them b4 I start my review.

Synopsis: This is a story of Narue, a half-alien living in human society. She finds a boyfriend and have various encounters with both human culture and alien elements.

Story:8
A very unique story. This series concentrates on mainly trans-species/planetary love and slice of life and school life. This is in contrast to DearS and Chobits, where the non-human knows nothing and act blur, needing a human guy to teach em stuff while they act cute. Narue and her companions from space seem to have blended well into human culture (a little ... too well in fact).

The story is quite focused on romance, and have about 3 pairs of couples included, instead of the usual 1. All 3 are not human-human relationships and therefore there are obstacles that occurred. However, romance was formed a bit too easily, more emphasis was placed on how the guy and gal cherish each other. Therefore, if you are looking for a build-up to romance story (eg. ToraDora, Lovely Complex) this series may not be for you.

Slice of life was quite unique, given the supernatural equipment that the characters had. Somehow I felt the slice of life elements to be similar to Wagaya no Oinari-sama. School life was portrayed in quite an interesting manner, but in the later episodes school was not focused much upon.

There were hardly much action scenes, and I felt that the producers made the right decision. The action scenes featured were somewhat of a lower quality compared to slower scenes.

The ending was kinda un-conclusive (according to MangaUpdates this anime is until vol.4 of the manga) which can be understood. However, there isn't much of a closure (which B Gata H Kei managed well) as well, which is a bit disappointing.

Animation:6
The colours were a bit dull, even though this show was produced in 2003. Also, the action scenes were a bit... in slow motion and doesn't look very realistic. But the art was consistent.

Sound:8
Not a great variety of sound effects (eg. bgm) featured. However, the bgm was used well, and helped to create the mood for the scenes.

A highlight of this show is the OP AND ED.

The OP "Shooting Star" by CooRie was done amazingly, and is definitely one of my fav OPs ever (It tells of the determination of a person to treasure and maintain a relationship despite difficulties)... one that can match the level of "Shooting Star" by Kotoko in the series Onegai Teacher.

The ED "Ice Cream" by Saeko Chiba is a sweet song about romance, about how the person accidentally fell in love without being mentally prepared first.

Both were so great that I watched all the 12 eps' OP and ED without skipping, which is seriously rare.

Character:6
Characters were slightly less spectacular in this series. Some character development and character interaction were done, and done well, but I felt that too little emphasis was given to Narue and Kazuto (her bf).

The content was spaced out quite evenly among the main characters and some extra characters, but Narue is supposed to be the most important character in this series. Yet, there wasn't that much content about her. Narue's sister had some unfinished development as well.

The characters' personalities were done well. Unique traits were emphasised over and over again. Eg. Narue being very very thrifty (money-pincher?) Most importantly, the personalities they had were put to good use

Enjoyment:9
After the first few eps, which were kinda slow, I began to be addicted to the series. There were tons of emotional and touching moments. But, some problems were resolved a bit too easily... The romance in this series is really unique and great as well, similar to Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, although this series has more couples being focused on.

Overall:7
Take note that this anime is NOT MEANT TO BE CONCLUSIVE as it only ends at vol 4 of manga. While I'm writing this review, I believe the manga is still ongoing at vol 7. This anime is sweet and light, but at times a bit tear-jerking.
I recommend it for people who enjoyed romance series like Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, where there is little build-up to romance but more emphasis after the boy-girl relationship is formed.

:)Hi, This Story, There's a lot of random story in this ep of Narue no Seka. This isn’t to say that the characters don’t develop.

There’s a chapter with Narue’s sister Kanaka making friends with Hajime, a bizarre story where Kazuto turns into a cat (and travels in time), and a cosplay episode. They even manage to fit two beach episodes in! Well, a beach and a pool episode, It had little comedy, romance, this anime more about sci-fi.

The last Ep was yes bad.

Story (5): The story was pretty basic and didn't really go anywhere by the last episode. The adventures Narue and Kasu had we're entertaining, but that's literally it. The episodes felt like filler and didn't follow the story synopsis very much. The adventure part yes, and the "fighting space invaders and androids" for like 2 or 3 episodes. The rest of them were just random episodes of them just doing different things.

Art/Animation (7): For it's time this was pretty good. I like the colors, and animation was decent! I will say that the characters designs were pretty generic though.

Sound: (7): I enjoyed the ... ambient piano soundtrack through the series. The OP and ED were solid aswell.

Character: (5): These characters aren't very interesting unfortunately. They get the job done i guess, but personality wise and design wise, they just kinda fade into obscurity. Quite forgettable! Hajime was probably the most entertaining character due to her being obsessed with exposing Narue for being an alien and was funny. BUT 100% I absolutely thought that the 3 school girls who we're bullies with straight up annoying. I hated seeing them, luckily only for a few episodes.

Overall (6): i can't really recommend anyone to watch this due too the fact that it doesn't have enough going for it. Not much story, the villains are one-dimensional and barely there, characters are forgettable and are okay for getting the job done. It has some funny moments and the show is still entertaining to watch, just don't go into it expecting a ton from it. It is still a cute show but it has it's own issues.

6/10. It is fine.

"Don't judge a book by it's cover" That's what we are all told, There are times where this advice is useful like watching Madoka, Gakkou Garashi, or even Yurikuma Arashi based on the openings alone. But for every action there is an equal/opposite reaction and that is the casw with me. I always have the luck of watching a show with a great opening but the actual show itself is soooooooo bad. This is one case. I will try to make this review as short as possible

Narue no Sekai(the World of Narue) is pretty much Onegai Teacher but it's not as cringey. There is ... guy named Densuke i mean, Kazuto and she meets the grown up version of Chiyo chan from Azumanga Daioh who was actually an alien the whole time and changed her name to Narue.And this is a story that is about love, at least you think it is. But actually this story for some reason is about annoying people, annoying little sisters,annoying animals, and very annoying voice actors. Not to mention really stupid situations. Throughout the whole show instead of building romance of the two your supposed to care about but the show fails on making it look like there was relationship in the first place going on.INstead we got cosplay competitions and the good ol date stakeout. And then there is some background episodes that really don't freaking matter because they don't even try to make Narue interesting to the point where we want to know about her powers and her annoying AF sister.But that's only the beginning.


The art is okay it's not great but it's not Isuca so that's all that matters. It really just doesn't age well.This show came out in Spring 2003 and it really didn't stand a chance against Kaleido Star , Technolyze and freaking Wolf's Rain which aired the previous year.The special effects are nice but they are still special effects. The actual animation is Sky Wizards Academy level.(which is a compliment on Narue 's part since this came out in 2003 and Sky Wizards Academy came out in 2015.well anyways. What I don't understand is why this show has so many panty shots. This show is not an ecchi at all but still there are so many useless panty shots.The actual 3D in the show is good. Oh i'm not talking about the show, i'm talking about the opening because it's freaking amazing, actually it's the entire reason that I watched this show from beginning to end just to watch the opening speaking of which

The Opening
The opening of the show is amazing because it takes everything nice and puts it together. First the 3D is amazing and the overlay of the snow effects and the colors for the different seasons of year look amazing . The magic alien effects are great too. I even like the little bit that introduces all the minor characters because they are in snyc

The music . Wait there was music? Oh I didn't know because I was busy gushing over the OP and ED themes. The ED is one of the best endings I have ever heard. Because it hits the ball in the right places in its genre alone. It's not some bubblegum pop crap. It was full of guitars and wind instruments and it was amazing. The same thing goes for the OP, holy crap. The OP would not have been the same without it and I would be here all day talking about it.I almost forgot to talk about the voice acting for the dub. It is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very bad.The best voice actress is Veronica Taylor who did a lot of work on Sailor Moon and even Ikki tousen, ironically.I thought she did a good job because she didn't have to do that much work.Her acting counterpart only has a limited amount of emotions, Happy,Sad, Slightly Annoyed,Loving, and Sweet. And that's it. Everyone else has the same amount of limited emotions, but they fail epically.The voice actor for Kazuto is very awkward but when he is not supposed to be awkward he is still awkward,The girl with the glasses sounds like she doesn't want to be in the recording booth. and the comic relief character has the most aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyying acting I have ever seen.And everyone else realized that they did not want to be there.I know because their acting shows it.



I am really waisting my time talking about the character because if they are not boring, they are annoying.Kazuto is a very terrible person. This guy gets himself in bad situations but doesn't do anything about it and expects for Narue to get him out. Also, there are times that other girls try to take Kazuto away from Narue and he just lets it happen. He doesn't comply with Narue at all and she has to do just about everything.Speaking of her, Narue as a character is all right, but she just has so many things against her since almost all the characters are complete freaking idiots.Her father is a complete pushover, her boyfriend is a complete c*nt, and don't even get me started about her OLDER YOUNGER sister.

I don't hate the show, I just hate the fact that I actually bought the show on DVD because the opening and ending alone are phenomenal. But that's it. The show is just not remarkable. Like the interesting cover of a terrible book AKA"The Maze Runner Series". It looks good , but still not worth 10 hours of your life.
Overall-5
There is also another show that I unfortunately trick myself into watching
I may get to that soon.