One of those rare series's that comes along once in a while and manages to entertain without relying on the same old acceptable writing tool - infact, it actually turn the conventional up-side-down.
How often do we have:
- Comic violence dished out on a female by a male?
Pretty much never, but we do within this
- How often is comic violence nessessary to a plot?
Rarely - yet in this case, it is very nessessary (training from hell)
- An anime that doesn't hype up sexualisation to keep the viewers interested?
Rarely, yet within this series, there's - no ecchi and ecchi related missunderstanding, no romance in general actually and no drilling into the viewers heads that 'This character is attractive!' - characters are respected for their acheivements and actions; such as the beautiful idol who has managed to sell 3 billion records going further into the 'unconventional'; the two key mains in the series are; a very petite school girl with short hair and a well dressed, uncharming guy who litterally has two unpleasant faces.
Story...
A demon named Neuro has left Hell and came to Earth in order to seek out 'myseries' - to be more specific, the evil entent behind secretive offenders, as this 'negitive engergy' is his source of food.
He selects a schoolgirl named Yako, who's dad as just died under mysterious circumstances to be his assistant, as he picks up on her drive to get to the bottom of her 'mystery' - he's basically just using her and her vunerable position.
From then on, the series is a combination of comedy and seriousness; some horror and quirky comedy with character development and plot progression threwout (litterally, each episode); characters 'learning' new things and becomeing wise is a key component within this story - nothing is insignificant.
Art...
Very pleasant; nice and colourful, changing sceneries, abstract, darkness when needed and neon lighting at times.
Characters...
Not the usual type.
We have a troll as the main who is known for obscure acts of sadism, though he's actually on the planet for selfish, his agenda isn't 'do as much harm as possible' and infact, his presence proves beneifical to the public.
We have a teen girl who has been threw a recent tradgedy, yet is suprisingly optimistic; a possitive person with her head screwed on right; she's accepts her new lifestyle, she's egar to learn and can be quite fearless; her relationship with the above seems to be vary from; partner, to friend, to student to hostage.
These two (above) are the basis on the series and what makes the 'character' aspect stand out.
The two of them are accompanied by a irate yakuza guy who is pretty much, like the feamle lead, in a hostage situation.
We also have a cool, calm police officer and his bubbeling, newbie young partner.
Enjoyment...
Very funny - Scooby Doo style mysteries; the best part is waiting to find out who the offender is and hearing the explianation - the offenders in this are truely bonkers.
When serious - As stated, we find out that pretty much everything that happens is improtiant; from the comical tourture, to the 'horror' rich tourture dished out on the badies.
Overall...
Very balanced and possibly, one of the few anime's out there that could be ranked 'unique'.
This is worth watching even if you have read the anime, if you have not read the anime, that's worth reading too, as the two actually complement eachother - though the anime has a 'Geko ending', the ending is still, on a whole, good, whereas there are enough slight (not drastic, but slight) changes to justify starting both from scratch - neither should appear boring.
