Its a great slice of life and spends most of its time on the beach in a cafe hut and its surroundings and is just brilliant at how it uses its comedy, which mostly comes from Ika Musume out lead girls over active imagination and thus always comes up with new jokes while recycling some jokes multiple times as well.
Each episode is split up into three parts and focuses on something different each time and after each part it seems to have reset itself as if the previous actions never happened but does reference past events, a beach hut magically is completley rebuilt by the next episode.
The opening theme song is a typical catchy tune you expect from these type of comedies and is sung by one of the side characters and has a few cute visuals accompanying it. The ending is a slow song compared to the opening and is decent as it a nice comparison. Voice acting is ok, they do there job in making each character adorable especially Ika whose ~de gezo is addictive.
Art is simple, the character designs are really simple and not a lot of detail goes into them, there actions however are well drawn and animated and some unatural parts can be forgiven like the sisters hair. Backgrounds are simple as well but they don't require super high detail, one thing i didn't like and never like in any show is lack of movement in those backgrounds, some wide shots including people on the beach are completely static.
Characters the most important part of this show as i makes up for the simple art and sound. Ika Musume or protagonist is the messenger from see who want to take revenge for the pollution of her home, the ocean, things don't quite go as planned as she is soon forced into working off her debt, the comedy of her imagination and her love of shrimp are the driving force for this show. Eiko is the one that forces Ika into working at her beachhouse and does not hold back when Ika screws up. Chizuru is Eikos sister and on the surface is the most caring of the two and really cares for Ika but deeper inside lies a more darker Chizuru and is one of the things that Ika is terrified of and she seems to always come to the rescue in various events. All side characters are great though are used to repeat jokes, we have a lifesaver who has a crush on chizuru, a girl who is stalkeresque towards Ika, a group of MIT graduates that believe Ika is an alien and wish to study her but get on your nerves no end. The sisters little brother and Nagisa a girl terrified of Ika make up the cast.
Shinryaku! Ika Musume is a very sweet show that is incredibly funny and even throws in a little tear jerkiness during one of the parts of an episode and its wide variety of characters will keep you laughing.
