"All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku" (Anime)

[pkristen]

6 Episode OVA. Originally Fully Reviewed on January 10, 2002.

Summary
Scientist/Inventor father Kyasuku is on the run with his young son Ryunosuke and a stolen military android body. In the process of a wild chase by minions of the wife Akiko, the son takes in a stray cat that is unfortunately killed by stray gunfire. In a desperate attempt to appease his heartbroken son, Kyasuku comes up with a plan to transfer the cat’s brain into that the android body, creating teenage “catgirl” Nuku Nuku.

General Review
I got the three Nuku Nuku OVA tapes when I went on a buying spree of the bargain bin at Right Stuf Int’l. It took me a while to get around to it but now that I have, I’m hooked.It’s a charming, sweet and fresh sci-fi/comedy devoted to, of all things, a custody battle of extreme proportions. After all, Dad has Nuku Nuku, a military android and weird gadgets/weapons, and Mom has battle armor and out of control female soldiers/office ladies. And little boy Ryonosuke is caught in the middle, obviously much to his dismay.

Nuku Nuku serves as both Ryonosuke’s older sister as well as protector, even with her cat-like habits surfacing on occasion. And the rest of the cast is made up of equally quirky but genuinely well-meaning personalities.

What’s also interesting about the series is the fact that even though there is an underlying desire of wanting the divorced mother and father to be reunited, it sticks by the idea that these are two people who love each other but are definitely better off living separately.

Yes, it does sneak in the occasional panty-shot and such, especially when “evil” android Eimi comes into the picture, but it’s easily forgivable when you consider what the series has to offer as a whole.

Sadly, the from what I remember (because it’s been a while since I watched them), the two subsequent t.v. series are just lame and doesn’t have any noteworthy lesbian stuff going on. A case of different universes (and different orientations.) If I end up watching them again in any capacity and notice something, I’ll correct this statement. But don’t hold your breath.

Lesbian Analysis
Nuku Nuku – teenage catgirl, body of an military android and mind/heart of a cat
* She doesn’t have any love interest throughout the series of the human or cat variety.
* She’s a pretty straightforward character that seems oblivious to the teenage boy hormones that are raging around her.
* There is one extremely cute and brief scene where we see her checking out a cat in the back of a minivan, with a blush in her cheek, before she promptly wiped out on her bike. The thing is, we can’t tell for certain if it was a boy or girl cat, and we know better than to assume.

Eimi Yoshikawa – slightly younger teenager, who is also a little on the, um, intellectually-challenged side.
* By far the most sexually-minded of the entire cast of characters. In the obvious way that the villain of any piece should be a sexual deviant, Eimi takes on the elements of this role by doing the following:
* Accusing Akiko and her pair of soldiers/OLs of S&M level torture, with strong hints of sexual undertones.
* Yes, she feels up Nuku Nuku in the public baths in obviously a viewer comedic/titillation scene, which really serves as her cover for trying to find Nuku Nuku’s “off” switch.
* She comes on to the even younger Ryonosuke.
* I don’t think she actually has a particular orientation in terms of expressing any real romantic emotions or attraction. But she does seem obsessed with the idea of killing Nuku Nuku to get her body, literally speaking.

Kyouko – One of the two OL/Soldiers (with Arisa) who do Akiko’s dirty work of trying to track down Ryonosuke and getting him from his dad.
* The less gun-crazy of the OL duo, but still goes along with all of the schemes her partner comes up with, no matter how suicidal or insane.
* Shares a one-bed, single room apartment with Arisa, yet also does a shared moment of lamenting the fact that men haven’t asked them out since they work so much overtime together. (Gee, I wonder why…)
* Do I honestly think she’s a lesbian? Well, if she’s not, then she should move out of an one-bed, single room apartment with her equally crazy best female friend, or at the very least buy another bed.

Arisa – The other of the two OL/Soldiers who do Akiko’s dirty work.
* Yes, she’s the other occupant of the one-bed, single room apartment.
* Also shares the one moan about no male interest.
* And my stance is the same as Kyouko in that if Arisa is NOT a lesbian, she’s definitely not giving much evidence to support it.
* Additionally, Arisa admits she idolizes Akiko “for standing up to male oppression.”
* When she has an opportunity to punish Nuku Nuku for bad waitress service (it’ll make sense if you see it), tells the catgirl to “get naked and do a handstand.” (Now, what kind of straight woman would come up with that?!)
* She even stands over Akiko’s sleeping form in the latter’s bedroom when she makes a decision to leave because Akiko was no longer worthy in her eyes. (Don’t worry. It’s only temporary.)
* Yes, I’d label her as “suspiciously inconclusive” in the sense of someone who just needs her eyes opened a little bit more. (And Kyouko isn’t that far behind.)