Wild and frenetic battle of the sexes
that is obviously meant for a male audience, but stays light enough for the ladies
too. Now, I know there are some inherently sexist messages strewn throughout this
show, but I honestly can't bring myself to care. Nuku-Nuku is a delight, another
spin on the usual Hayashibara innocent-sex-kitten-on-steroids role as the
guardian of the little boy in the the center of his parents' grandiose custody
battle. His smothering businesswoman mother and her henchgirls have a particular
fondness for using heavy artillery to prove their points. His scientist father,
and Nuku-Nuku's beloved creator, is the wiser of the two parents, and prefers
to undermine his ex-wife's schemes on the defensive.
The
story works because we realize that the feuding couple really do love each other.
Both just have to grow up enough live with each other first. And though the mother
is generally shown to be in the wrong, the father could certainly use a push in
the right direction too. This isn't dwelt on very heavily in the show, as this
is a comedy after all, and the focus often strays to kitty-brained Nuku-Nuku's
cheerfully destructive adventures as she deals with a combustive rival, a waitressing
job, and other tangents. Animation is dynamic and detailed, about what we'd expect
from an OAV. No real ending, but is followed by a reputedly vastly inferior TV
series and two other OAVs.
(3.5)
