This review is for both Haiyore! Nyaruko-san and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W
STORY
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is a take on the Lovecraftian myths mixed with your usual ecchi harem setting. The outcome is strange, to say the least.
The protaganist is Mahiro Yasaka a cardboard-cutout, self-inserting relationship oblivious high school boy who stumbles into a world of magical crap. Sound familiar? It is. The real personalities of the show are the three side characters, all based off of Cthulu mythos malign deities.
Nyaruko is the personification of the outer god Nyarlathotep. She comes to Earth on a mission to save Mahiro, and subsequently falls in love wit him. She also has one of the longest ahoge I have ever seen.
Secondly is Cthuko, the red headed Cthughan who is love with Nyaruko for whatever reason, however eventually she understands the point of a harem and starts going after Mahiro too.
Finally is the god of wind, Hastur, who's chosen form is an adrogenous boy with hair that looks like a beetle. He is also officially classed as a whiny shit. He looks up to Mahiro for tripping him up or something. Literally no one likes him, not even his own family.
There are also quite a few side characters ranging from Mahiro's Mum who turns out to be a monster hunter, a shit 'childhood friend' trope character and a space bat that can turn into a 10 year old girl.
Most episodes are isolated , with the staus quoue being reestablished at the end of each episode. Every single arc seems to go like this: SoL shenanigans for 10 mins, an alien is invading Earth or some shit and everything is serious, the only way to stop them is to throw powerlevels at eachother in an over the top fight scene while Mahiro comes along and does nothing except get in the way, it turns out the villian's motivation was really stupid and there wasn't anything to worry about anyway and so everyone goes back home and tries to have sex with Mahiro. There you go, no need to watch it, that's what happens.
PRODUCTION
Overall the quality of the animation was decent, as long as no one moved. Most of the action sequences happened when the writer's seemed to be getting bored of a serious plotline, and so, to fit in with the ridiculous situation, the animation was bad. However this didn't seem too bad, because it fits with the series' tone. Kudos to Xebec, the studio that always seems to make sub-par animation seem bareable.
On the other hand, the soundtrack was amazing. With a relatively small number of tracks, all were very well made and fitting to an adaptation of the Cthulu mythos. Also both OPs, entitled 'I want a gay Horse' and 'Sons of Bitches', are some of the catchiest songs ever made.
CONCLUSION
Overall I recommend skipping this show. It has it's highlights but is a pretty meh show in general. The story is generic, the story pacing was awful and the entire thing is drenched in references, most of which no one got. I would recommend watching the first OP and first episode, followed by the second OP and then nothing more. Also, as is with most harem anime, nobody wins, which is always annoying. However, if you are really into the whole Cthulu mythos, then ignore this show entirely, except for character names, there are no similarities what so ever.
Also remember that Xebec made Love Hina and you should watch that because it's good(ish).
META
Length- 2 cours / 24 eps / 9.6 hrs
Release- Spring 2012 & Spring 2013
Studio- Xebec
Source- 2009 LN by Manta Aisora / 1928 Novel by HP Lovecraft
Alts- OVA / 2x Manga / OVA / Game
RATING
Watch?- No
Best Character- Nyaruko
Worst Character- Hasta
Best Feature- Both OPs
