If You Like Madcap Anime Comedies... (Nurse Witch Komugi (DVD))

Member Name: Mask_and_Mirror

Product:	Nurse Witch Komugi (DVD)
Date:	22/07/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious dialogue, funny characters and ideas

Disadvantages: Relatively low production value, confusing elements, short

Nurse Witch Komugi is a short anime comedy series starring an odd magical girl called Komugi Nakahara. Komugi works for a talent agency as a cosplay idol by day and by night transforms into a magical nurse (a talent given to her by the 'goddess of vaccines') to combat deadly 'viruses' sent by the faceless aggressor "Angrar the King of Viruses".

It sounds ridiculous, and it is, but that's the point. The series is intended as a spoof of both the cosplay and magical girl genres of anime, whilst also containing many silly references to other anime series.

The series can sometimes be confusing, as the overall storyline is not very clearly developed. This appears intentional though; the main theme of the series is parody, and it's own thin premise is frequently satirised throughout the series. On the other hand, some may find this offputting as the viewer is sometimes hard pressed to know what is going on.

The characters are for the most part very funny and well designed. Komugi herself is cute and crazy, and her wisecracking (rabbit?) sidekick Mugi-maru is a worthy foil for her antics. To me, some of the characters look a little too similar, considering most of them have an alternate form of some kind sometimes I mistook one for another. The hilarious dialogue makes up for this issue though.

Visually it is attractive, but not up to the standards of most similar series such as Excel Saga. My first impression was that it was clearly made on a lower budget. While it does not match the high standards of the genre, it maintains a comic quality that stands well against the best of them, making this a worthwhile purchase for any fan of madcap anime comedies such as Excel Saga or Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.

This 2 DVD set contains all six episodes of the series (because of the numbering of the episodes, it may look like there are only five, but there is an episode 2.5 between episodes 2 and 3). That may seem short, but it is widely available for less than £5, so it is actually very good value.

Summary: Not an exceptional series, but worth seeing if you are fan of crazy anime comedies like Excel Saga.