The World of Narue

One of the reasons why anime has become jaded and bland is the same reason series like this anime get released. It’s not so bad to have anime clichés in your anime, it’s how you use them. This series uses them in the most boring manner imaginable. The anime plot is pretty basic. Girl saves boy, girl is alien, girl and guy get in to wacky adventures, guy wants to pork said alien. Shocker, the boy is a fucking otaku and the girl is a walking doormat. Narue is the alien and Kazuto is the bitch, I mean boy. There are no plot twists andfrom there it turns into a slice of life. There isn't much sci-fi going on despite its premise. If I had to compare this story to any other anime it would be Oh! My Goddess. The girl is a reason why the I’m not completely opposed to the feminist movement. She’s exactly the type of girl meant to appeal to otaku fetishists. Not to mention the mechaphiles. There’s a ship that turns into a woman. Feel free to stop reading the review now if that was enough to seal the deal. The only people that are going to be watching a show with a story like this are either otaku idealists or young girls who find this show cute. The biggest problem with romantic comedy/slice of life type of shows is their endings. This anime takes the cake. It just…ends. In the same vein that I hated Kare Kano for just ending. How does it end though? In the most otaku’s wet dream imaginable. A cosplay contest to please her man. The art is nothing special. There are no great fight scenes, no amazing romantic kiss scene...everything is just mediocre. All the characters look like stock anime characters. In short, make sure to drink some coffee before you pop this in the DVD player. I looked up the character design and it looks like some guy named Takaaki Hirayama did the character designs. What else has this guy done? Motherfucking Mamotte Shugogetten, another “let me please you because I’m willing to do whatever for you” anime. As far as sound goes, this anime goes nowhere. Narue’s soundtrack sounds a lot like that of a visual novel. It’s pretty bland and does nothing to bring up any emotions. The Japanese track for this is not half bad. A lot of the seiyuu aren’t high-pitched annoying, just there. I knew I’d heard Kazuto’s voice somewhere before though..somewhere bad.. MOTHERFUCKING MAMOTTE SHUGOGETTEN! Mr. Daisuke Sakaguchi is just one of those guys I will never ever accept his voice after series like this. As for the English dub, it’s flat. Nothing special, it gets the job done for a series like this. I hate everyone in this series. Everyone. I hate to rag on series as if they’re terrible, but everyone is so mediocre. The only highlight of this whole series is the ship woman. She wants to get married. If you had to see one episode of this series, it’s the ship relationship episode. I for one do not condone mecha-human relationships. It’s wrong and immoral and God would not stand for it. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. It’s not that this show is bad, it’s just mediocre, and mediocrity is what really sucks. However, I know people will watch this because of its‘ moe♥moe kyuun aspect. However, those people don’t read my reviews..well no one really does, but you get the point. Don’t buy it, don’t download it, just pretend you never read this or even heard of the series. You can read more of my reviews at kanjiiz.wordpress.com

There are good shows, there are bad shows, and there are shows that leave no real lasting impression. The World of Narue (or Narue no Sekai) fits squarely into the third category. This somewhat pleasant sci-fi romantic comedy manages to retread overused material without being offensive. It is also so pedestrian that it fails to be memorable. Right from the get-go, the show proves to be completely unambitious. The story follows the relationship of Kazuto Iizuki and Narue Nanase. Events unfold very typically: boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl turns out to be an alien (weird so call such an event typical, butin anime, it is). What follows is a string of misadventures and shenanigans that's only focus is to put the couple in weird situations. Often these situations will somehow end up showing the devotion they have for one another. There really is not much of a moving plot in this show, rather things just happen. The show never takes itself seriously (or at least not too seriously), which actually is a good move by the staff. Given that the material is so tired, it would take exceptionally good writing to carry the show dramatically, something World of Narue is definitely lacking. Instead, the show opts to retain a light atmosphere and fool around its entire run. This actually makes the show enjoyable if you are willing to turn your brain off, and watch the characters' silly antics. The sci-fi elements in the show are rather silly, featuring beautiful woman androids that control ships and space ninjas. Most of the characters also seem to take things in stride, even the weirdest, most outlandish situations. All this comes together to give the show a campy feel, which makes the show's gigantic gaps in logic easy enough to accept so long as you don't think about them too much. There are a few times the show actually does attempt serious drama. More often than not these moments involve Naure and Kazuto relationship, putting the couple through spats of jealousy and dangerous situations. However, there are some that involve other characters, like the arrival of Naure's older yet younger sister (it's complicated), and the love affair of a runaway military android. These attempts at drama are brief, forced, and lack impact; so it is good the show does not take itself serious most of the time. The characters themselves, again, are more or less familiar anime archetypes. Narue is the nice and caring, but weird leading lady. Kazuto is the well meaning dork who is always accepting of Narue. Narue's father is the typical clueless parental unit; Kasuto's friend Maruo is carefree... the list of typical character traits goes on and on. There is a bit of a stand out in the UFO obsessed Hajime Yagi, whose alien centered rambling is always entertaining; and also in Kanaka, Narue's mischievous older/younger sister. Even still, there really is not anything remarkable about these characters; there is little in way of complex characterization, and because of that none of the characters are particularly memorable. Visually, and I'm starting to feel like a broken record, the show fails to distinguish itself. This is pretty much as generic as an anime can look. Characters are generally cute, in their big-eyed expressiveness, but the same can be said about any slice-of-life anime. Backgrounds consist of the usual urban landscape, and school classrooms and hallways. Likewise, the music is the usual bubbly stuff that plays in the casual moments of most anime, with a typical sci-fi score for the space and action scenes. This animated adaptation of a manga is the perfect picture of an inoffensive but completely uninspired show. Everything you will see here, you have seen elsewhere; possibly even better. I really wish I could say more, but there is nothing left to say. You know the phrase: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag for me. World of Narue seemingly mixes around sci-fi, romantic comedy and slice-of-life in its focus on our female alien lead Narue who gets a human boyfriend named Kazuto as they try maintaining a normal relationship despite Narue's alien origins leading to sometimes hostile, sometimes bizarre situations. There are some aspects of its storytelling that aren't executed well such as its implementation of action with the two incidents with alien ninjas and the sudden developments that lead Narue and Kazuto into becoming a couple. On the plus side though, the series does offer a decent amount of depthand development with its characters and premise as we do get a sense of how complicated Narue's life is with her alien origins and how her father decided to wind up living on Earth. Additional characters are introduced among both humans and aliens who also get some fleshing out in regards to their life on Earth and connection to Narue. The comedy to the series mostly comes from the chemistry in Narue and Kazuto's relationship, as well as some of the bizarre predicaments they sometimes get into thanks to alien technology that is employed. For the most part though, I was indifferent towards this. There are also some otaku bits shown at points in the series such as Kazuto's interest in a magical girl anime and some fan service with Narue, but these don't detract too much from the series at all for the most part. The visuals for the series are rather standard for an early 2000s anime. Characters are drawn with conventional designs and scenic shots are nicely drawn with a decent amount of detail, though are nothing out of the ordinary. Animation shortcuts are milked at points in the series with still shots and jump cuts, though CG animation is employed at points whenever alien spaceships or gadgets are used. The average presentation doesn't detract from the series too much given its premise, but it doesn't stick out too much either. Overall, the series is a decent time-killer with what it offers up with its light romantic content as it is charming and offers decent focus on its cast without overdoing things with its sci-fi approach. It's a pretty cheap addition you can make for your anime collection as well as I got my copy of the complete series for only $10.

I watched the fansubs from AnimeJunkies and ANBU, here's thanks to them b4 I start my review. Synopsis: This is a story of Narue, a half-alien living in human society. She finds a boyfriend and have various encounters with both human culture and alien elements. Story:8 A very unique story. This series concentrates on mainly trans-species/planetary love and slice of life and school life. This is in contrast to DearS and Chobits, where the non-human knows nothing and act blur, needing a human guy to teach em stuff while they act cute. Narue and her companions from space seem to have blended well into human culture (a littletoo well in fact). The story is quite focused on romance, and have about 3 pairs of couples included, instead of the usual 1. All 3 are not human-human relationships and therefore there are obstacles that occurred. However, romance was formed a bit too easily, more emphasis was placed on how the guy and gal cherish each other. Therefore, if you are looking for a build-up to romance story (eg. ToraDora, Lovely Complex) this series may not be for you. Slice of life was quite unique, given the supernatural equipment that the characters had. Somehow I felt the slice of life elements to be similar to Wagaya no Oinari-sama. School life was portrayed in quite an interesting manner, but in the later episodes school was not focused much upon. There were hardly much action scenes, and I felt that the producers made the right decision. The action scenes featured were somewhat of a lower quality compared to slower scenes. The ending was kinda un-conclusive (according to MangaUpdates this anime is until vol.4 of the manga) which can be understood. However, there isn't much of a closure (which B Gata H Kei managed well) as well, which is a bit disappointing. Animation:6 The colours were a bit dull, even though this show was produced in 2003. Also, the action scenes were a bit... in slow motion and doesn't look very realistic. But the art was consistent. Sound:8 Not a great variety of sound effects (eg. bgm) featured. However, the bgm was used well, and helped to create the mood for the scenes. A highlight of this show is the OP AND ED. The OP "Shooting Star" by CooRie was done amazingly, and is definitely one of my fav OPs ever (It tells of the determination of a person to treasure and maintain a relationship despite difficulties)... one that can match the level of "Shooting Star" by Kotoko in the series Onegai Teacher. The ED "Ice Cream" by Saeko Chiba is a sweet song about romance, about how the person accidentally fell in love without being mentally prepared first. Both were so great that I watched all the 12 eps' OP and ED without skipping, which is seriously rare. Character:6 Characters were slightly less spectacular in this series. Some character development and character interaction were done, and done well, but I felt that too little emphasis was given to Narue and Kazuto (her bf). The content was spaced out quite evenly among the main characters and some extra characters, but Narue is supposed to be the most important character in this series. Yet, there wasn't that much content about her. Narue's sister had some unfinished development as well. The characters' personalities were done well. Unique traits were emphasised over and over again. Eg. Narue being very very thrifty (money-pincher?) Most importantly, the personalities they had were put to good use Enjoyment:9 After the first few eps, which were kinda slow, I began to be addicted to the series. There were tons of emotional and touching moments. But, some problems were resolved a bit too easily... The romance in this series is really unique and great as well, similar to Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, although this series has more couples being focused on. Overall:7 Take note that this anime is NOT MEANT TO BE CONCLUSIVE as it only ends at vol 4 of manga. While I'm writing this review, I believe the manga is still ongoing at vol 7. This anime is sweet and light, but at times a bit tear-jerking. I recommend it for people who enjoyed romance series like Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, where there is little build-up to romance but more emphasis after the boy-girl relationship is formed.