Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - 03

No anime in recent memory has made me wish I still had my “Deities & Demigods (Cthulhu Edition) Handbook” like this one has.

There’s not a whole lot to say about Haiyore! that hasn’t been said, really. It throws more self-referential humor around then any ten other series this year and pushes all the right buttons, which is why it’s so unsurprising that stalker points indicate it’s going to be the monster hit of the season. That bothers me a little when there are so many truly excellent series out there, none of which will sell nearly so many Blu-rays, but it doesn’t bother me all that much because this show is very funny. It’s not groundbreaking or brilliant, but it’s completely lacking in pretense and gives you more bad jokes per 22 minutes than anything on the air.

My favorite references this week were the Ishikawa Goemon “Once again I’ve cut something worthless” chainsaw bit, and Nyaruko’s exchange with Mahiro where she offers to call him “Nii-nii” (seiyuu Asumi Kana also voices little sister Miya fron Amagami SS). Nyaruko is definitely what makes this show tick – her machine-gun delivery and absolute cluelessness are the source of most of the best comedy, and she never lets up. Of Kuko your opinion will probably depend on what you think of the trope. For me, we’ve seen this stalker lesbian act a thousand times before, and it feels pretty stale (albeit incredibly popular). Kuko has one joke – she lusts after Nyaruko endlessly and talks dirty about her fantasies. When the focus shifts to her for too long, the pacing feels off and the energy levels drops unpleasantly. I’d rather she be in a supporting mode.

The exchanges between Nyaruko and Mahiro are much more entertaining – the aforementioned little sister conversation, and a funny riff of tsun and dere and perversion and masochism standing out this week. We also met Nyaruko’s seemingly even crazier big brother Nyaruo (Kusao Takeshi), who harbors an Old Gods-sized inferiority complex, and again meet Shanta-kun (Arai Satomi), the cutest little shantak Cthulhu bird-bat thing you’ll ever see (until he recovers, anyway). Gender being somewhat differently defined in the Chulhu realm he can also lay eggs, in addition to a useful transformational skill. Next week brings the arrival of the one whose name (and apparently gender) must not be spoken, and also Mahiro’s Mom (Hisakawa Aya, a true seiyuu legend) – who I have every expectation will be just as nuts as the rest of the cast.

19 comments

Fencedude

April 24, 2012 at 6:52 am

Fundamentally (and the show kinda went out of their way to make this point), Kuuko is doing to Nyarko EXACTLY what Nyarko is doing to Mahiro, and provoking the exact same reaction.

admin

April 24, 2012 at 6:56 am

No, that's absolutely true – and the joke of course is that she's so clueless she doesn't even realize it. I just feel like the joke is made, and loses its impact if it's made 100 times. And for me Nyaruko is a much more entertaining character thank Kuko, so it's more fun to see her put the make on Mahiro than it is to see Kuko put the make on her.

dv

April 24, 2012 at 3:36 pm

i think she knows that she is irritating the hell out of mahiro. BUT that she how she gets her man. being aggressive.

Myssa Rei

April 24, 2012 at 6:54 am

Deities and Demigods nothing, it's Call of Cthulhu all the way, with a sidetrek to the source Mythos. Never has being a geek of an obscure and xenophobic author of cosmic horror stories been so fruitful (and just as SANity-blasting) as through this show. It's a good bet that a good portion of its creators are fans of the Mythos (and the games that were based on it), and as such, insane as well.

Anonymous

April 24, 2012 at 7:19 am

I must say I really love this show (not to mention I can't get enough of Nyarlko, so cute and funny). Just sheer ridiculousness of it makes the show definitely worthwhile to watch.

SQA

April 24, 2012 at 9:12 am

Nyarko would like to see Mahiro's "dere" side a bit more. A joke that works both in Anime culture & English, haha.

I do have to admit the Nurse's Office scene had me in stitches. Ah, so many trope inversions.

I'm still curious about the crowbar. Is that a reference other than to Half-life? I know in episode 2, she was using it like a Final Fantasy sword (the slash was I think Cloud's from FF7), but I'm curious if it's a reference to another series.

Oh, and Kuuko pulling out all of those Gun orbs was I think a reference to Roberta in Black Lagoon's first season. And where DID Nyarko pull out that chainsaw? haha

Cybersteel

April 24, 2012 at 2:20 pm

The equivalent exchange from Fullmetal Alchemist and the Form Ride + "this will hurt a little" dialogue made me bawl.

dv

April 24, 2012 at 3:38 pm

This is show is fun to relax on. But it aint that good. These jokes have been recycled and reused in so many other shows.

P.S. @Enzo. This is not really lesbian. If a 1000 faces creature can change into a human girl. "Girl" may not even be a gender… Which is why Kuuko says that she wants Nya's kid. It may be possible

Myssa Rei

April 24, 2012 at 5:36 pm

One of the later novels actually points out that Nyaruko spent a LONG time thinking about a form that would most appeal to Mahiro's "tastes", and the cute silver-haired girl we see now is the end result of that. Suffice to say that it isn't really her default form, in the same way that Cuuko's *real* form is a smiling fireball with twintails.

admin

April 24, 2012 at 5:40 pm

That begs the question – did she make the right choice? Did you choose the wrong form, or is Mahiro turned on by her assets but turned off by her incessant wackiness and attempted deflowerings?

SQA

April 24, 2012 at 9:37 pm

I'm going to go with "it's really her pushy personality" that causes the problem. Oh, and the Super Sadist levels of Sanity Point theft.

daniel_w

April 24, 2012 at 3:54 pm

Oh, Nyaruko can give her sperm all she want, I bet.
But as a hardcore otaku, she has already fallen for Mahiro, which apparently cute enough to be made protagonist of a BL show.
😛
I wonder if there's anyone who's hardcore enough to list all the reference.
When the pet dragon turned into a motorbike, what does it refer to?
Oh, yeah. Getting hit in the toe sure hurts like hell. LOL. It's hurting enough to be flying away like Team Rocket.

Myssa Rei

April 24, 2012 at 5:34 pm

Turning Shantak-kun (who ISN'T a dragon; shantak-birds are different) into a bike is a reference to Kamen Rider Decade (the Final Form Ride thing was so obvious), down to the "This will only hurt a little" catchphrase.

admin

April 24, 2012 at 4:08 pm

The Team Rocket thing has been spoofed so many times now I'm not even sure it qualifies as a spoof anymore.

Anonymous

April 25, 2012 at 2:39 am

OMG … you also had the 1st ed Deities & Demigods manual Enzo?

So did I!

So … you were a first gen PnP gamer, were you?

I knew there was something good about you somewhere beneath all that sort of thing! 😛

– Flower

admin

April 25, 2012 at 2:49 am

Not quite first damn you! But yes, I know my way around a 20-sided die. Not just the Deities & Demigods – I had the Fiend Folio, Players Handbook, and the DMG (the Daddy of them all).

Anonymous

April 25, 2012 at 2:59 am

Yep, yep, yep – my first set was the famous "blue box" set (before ADnD hard cover books but after the Chainmail style pbk books).

Anyhoo, the 1st ed Deities and Demigods was my first exposure to the Cthulu "mythos" (or whatever you want to call it), as well as my first exposure in terms of visual references. For example when I hear the word "Shoggoth" I still think of Erol Otus' stunning illustration – and he was an ideal artist to depict Cthulian beings.

To be honest when I first came across the early flash animated series Erol Otus' images were the first thing to occur to me, and they still remain in the background when watching the current series. I guess that is one of the (many) reasons the show continues to tickle me in a "just right" way. 🙂

– Flower

admin

April 25, 2012 at 3:05 am

Yeah, Otus' illustrations are still how I see the Cthulhu Gods, and a bunch of other mythical beings too.

Eternia

April 25, 2012 at 8:26 am

HorribleSubs has never translated OP songs and ED songs.
I am curious to know what the OP song says.
It sounds like "Manko, manko."
LOL.

Haiyore! Nyaruko-san – 03

Guardian Enzo

19 comments

Fencedude

admin

dv

Myssa Rei

Anonymous

SQA

Cybersteel

dv

Myssa Rei

admin

SQA

daniel_w

Myssa Rei

admin

Anonymous

admin

Anonymous

admin

Eternia

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19 comments

Fencedude

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Anonymous

SQA

Cybersteel

dv

Myssa Rei

admin

SQA

daniel_w

Myssa Rei

admin

Anonymous

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Anonymous

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Eternia

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