I'm beginning to see a pattern here of Media Blasters licenses and off beat comedy/parody/excessively violent or salacious anime. Next on the list of Magical Girl Parodies™ is the (not so) esteemed Club to Death Angel Dokuro-chan. I may have set the bar too high by watching Punie first, but dang if I still don't enjoy a bloody meat fountain caused by a dangerous and violent, but cutesy little moe blob.
Artwork and Animation: 6
Despite being by the venerable Geneon, Dokuro looks pretty average. Maybe they were saving up for Ergo Proxy, which was to come the next year, but for something made in 2005, it's not a visual feast. There's a lot of chibi style comedy and grotesque, distorted faces to spice up the otherwise bland visual style, though. Grievous injuries and gleeful beatdowns also splatter a dash of color across the screen quite frequently. And by quite frequently, I mean at least 4-5 times per 13 minute episode.
Sound and Voice Acting: 7
As a big Johnny Yong Bosch fan, I have to say this is not one of his better roles as the moronic ninnyboy Sakura. While he definitely puts on a show as a whining idiot, it's so grating to hear Sakura speak sometimes that I was just waiting for his next bludgeoning so he'll shut up for a few seconds, or at least scream in agony in sync with my ears.
Wendee Lee likewise has been in better roles, but fills the petulant and obnoxious Dokuro's shoes very well. Honestly the best role was a supporting one from Mela Lee as Rin Tohsaka, I mean, Shizuki.
On a good note... the opening song is incredibly catchy- good luck getting PI PIRU PIRU PI PIRU PI unstuck from your head after watching this.
Story and Characters: 5
The premise is that Dokuro-chan is sent from Heaven to kill Sakura and stop him from creating a technology that stops women's physical aging at 12. In her mind though, this mission is instead to just interfere with his everyday life so much that he'll somehow forget about the thing he's supposed to invent in the future, and only kill him when he or some outside stimulus sets her off- but promptly revive him.
Well, here's basically how each 13 minute double episode goes: the idiot Sakura is minding his own business and gets put in a situation that reflects pervertedly with him and someone else, typically Dokuro. Dokuro, ever the excitable, malicious fiend that she is, then takes her bat, Excalibolg, and pummels Sakura into oblivion before resurrecting him with her angel magic. The plot is pretty nonsensical, and doesn't really go anywhere- due to Dokuro's near-constant interference in every single activity that Sakura tries to perform.
Enjoyment: 7
Is it funny to watch them squirm? Yeah, sometimes. Is it extremely juvenile and heavy handed with the humor? Absolutely. Is the show really obnoxious? Yes.
If I wasn't a fan of ultraviolence as a source of humor, this show would have been so irritating to watch I'd probably have spooned my eyeballs out and flattened them with hot irons after replacing about 10% of my blood with liquid meth after the first 10 minutes or so. That said, Dokuro did have just enough laughs in there to keep me watching, and a little blood never hurt anybody.
That's a lie, everyone has at least 5 gallons of blood in this.
Overall and Recommendation: 6
Definitely not as good, nor anywhere near as clever as Punie, but if one enjoys the bloodthirsty and dangerous moe girl type magical girl parodies, this one should definitely be on the list.
