Shinryaku! Ika Musume

I’m not going to lie, this show is a weird one to talk about. Not because of the actual premise, although it does add a little to it, but on the way it’s structured. It reminded me of my childhood shows with three separate story arcs that had a basic theme. With an anime plot involving a cute squid girl trying to invade the entire planet by herself only to be undermined by many people who own a food court near a beach, you’d think that would speak of random hijinks that will only appeal to prepubescent girls. Fortunately, there can be some merits here ... that could appeal to any age group.

Squid Girl has a plot that is hardly focused or has any substance to the original goal that the squid character, Ike, intended to do. It mainly involves her trying to learn about humanity and the culture of Japan that she is settling in. It’s essentially a show based on culture shock and how foreigners try to adapt to a different country that they have no idea about. The tone of the series is light-hearted and comedic; they handle it pretty well without hampering the basic premise conflicting with the comedy. It’s pretty entertaining to watch and, at times, funny to see Ike acting very holier than thou upon the people she meets when she has no power over the others whatsoever.

With a show like Squid Girl, you need to supply great characters that are both funny and memorable to watch. While some garner a lot of entertainment, others are not fully realized and don’t add much depth to the comedy. The best ones that I liked the most were Ike, Eiko, and Chizuru. They all have so much great chemistry together and make many great gags work perfectly. Chizuru provides some of the best scenes involving her having a friendly personality. Still, once something terrible happens to her or the workplace, she turns menacing to the person doing the trouble-making. Ike herself, voiced by the always charming Hisako Kanemoto, gives the show a great sense of passion towards making this Slice of life atmosphere into an entertaining comedy with her constant alluring presence in every scene.

Unfortunately, not all of the cast hits the level of greatness and our three main characters. Sanae, Takeru, and Goro all don’t have the same great chemistry with Ike as she does with Eiko and Chizuru. That’s not to say they’re terrible, they do have some funny moments, but it’s essentially just them acting very googly-eyed over Ike’s presence in the world that quickly doesn’t have much to go for in the grand scheme of things. For example, Sanae’s only gag for existing in the show is to be all lovey-dovey over Ike and nothing else. Sure it does get a few laughs, but after a while, the joke falls flat and gets old quickly. If it weren’t for Kanae Itou’s sweet voice playing Sanae, I would probably think lesser of Sanae, to be honest.

Another problem with the show was how each plot arc ended so abruptly. There are times when a plot arc would end, and it didn’t feel like that particular scene felt any closure for it. It ends relatively quickly, and we’re brought up in a different scene. The problem is that they interlude between a different arc by showing a cut of arrows that are supposed to tell us that we’re doing a different arc. Still, it happens so fast that you barely notice it because the arc beforehand hardly had an ending. In turn, some of the arcs felt rushed or weren’t finished in the writing process during production.

In short, I thought there wasn’t anything special to be found in Squid Girl. It might be something that you might show to your younger daughter to have some fun with, but on the other hand, there is some decent humor for adults. It might be a stretch to say that this is Japan’s answer to Spongebob. The only difference is that Spongebob had a lot of great memorable characters while Squid Girl only had three that are even worth discussing over. It’s a harmless show for what it is, a decently entertaining show for older kids. Even with some of the adult innuendo thrown in, that’s at least that's something that most kids' shows are hardly about these days.

Grade: B-

I started watching this sereis out of boredom but its fairly entertaining. Yes the overall story is pretty bad the characters are underdeveloped and the style of them feels rather american, but for some reason I cant stop watching, the way Squid girly is so oblivious of human life and all the squid related puns are amusing. I will defiantly continue watching but there has to be no way she will ever take over the world.

So, short, simple, to the point...
very childish
this show is cute and stupidly funny. I did actually laugh at a few parts so it's not all horrible. If you like cute, you'll like squid girl.
One thing about this show I found EXTREMELY annoying was the ocean puns. soooo many of them didn't even make sense and weren't put in the right contexts. they were dumb and awful to put it into simpler terms. I could rant for so long about the puns...lol anyway
the last episode she also says "you know" WAAAAAAAAY too much. So many phrases are repeated and it obviously did not take much thought ... to produce this anime
overall a sucky anime unless you like cutesy anime or anime you don't have to think much for...

This anime is about a girl that is part squid and came to the land of Japan to take vengeance on the humans. The series is episodic in its story lines and it is the type of anime were you can enjoy it with out a brain. The main character herself seemed to me the child of a tentacle hentai, if you know what I mean. But other than that it is an anime in which is enjoyable for most audiences. It is more of a comedy than anything else but it is some thing to watch in between dramatic anime or just some thing ... to make you awkwardly smile.

Summer is supposedly a good time for swimsuits, swimming in pools and oceans, seasonal work, tanning, the air conditioner, and mainly having fun. (Also for "getting laid.") And we humans still need to remind ourselves that our environment is not something you can mindlessly throw in the trash can.

Said trash can is where latter message went; with this "comedy" called Shinryaku Ika Musume. This anime is about the plight of a "moe-tized" squid as she tries to exact her revenge against us "evil humans" yet can't even defeat those humans who run and frequent a seaside restaurant.

Two issues I have with this title:

1) The Invincible ... Chizuru. She has no weak spot or exploitable weakness. She just cuts anybody down to size. Despite her sweetness, her character's NO GOOD.

2) Japan's blatant anti-American, "non-Asians are stupid / the bad guys (if they're not hot chicks or cute jailbaits)" strikes once again here. (I mean... Media Blasters had license this for Western release, right?)

I held my tongue about the lack of good male lead in this anime. (Takeru is a little boy and Goro is in his 20s.) But DAMN, animu industry! Summer's mainly about having fun! Why does YOUR idea of "having fun" need to ruin it for everybody else?!

'Shinryaku! Ika Musume' is an extremely wholesome and cheerful show with a touch of misanthropy. Things can get pretty goofy or whacky, but there are also times where it might make you cry (in the good way). The characters are oddballs, but that's what makes them so lovable. Squid girl's attempts to take over humanity are as cute as they are amusing. It might even motivate you to take better care of the environment. This show may be too childish for some audiences, but it's quite heartfelt and positive so you might like it anyway. IMO, this show is pretty underrated.