released 11 feb 05 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU (CGNN) is a short (6 episode) comedy anime series on one DVD, involving the adventures of the heroine of the title, which is more technically ALL PURPOSE CULTURAL CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU -- I suspect this sounds extremely silly in Japanese. Nuku Nuku is a super-powered android with the appearance of a really cute high-school girl with long red hair, fitted with the cyber-augmented brain of a kittycat.
It all began when mad scientist Kyusaku Natsumi decided that he was tired of working on weapon systems for Mishima Heavy Industries and left abruptly with his new prototype combat android. This was no mere employee defection, because the company president, Akiko Mishima, was also his wife, and he took their son Ryonosuke (pronounced "ryon-skay") with him. Ryonosuke picked up a friendly kittycat during the getaway but the poor feline was injured in the subsequent battle, and so Kyusaku decided to implant its brain into the android body. Now Ryonosuke has both a pet kittycat and a super-powered protective big sister.
CGNN is a fairly typical piece of anime for its period (late 1980s / early 1990s) in terms of production and story concept, but it somehow manages to rise above the crowd through a dash of charm and a dose of humor. Nuku Nuku is endearing with her earnest and kittenish ways and her certain cluelessness about humans -- for example, she has no real idea of why the boys just flock around her wherever she goes. The series also manages to maintain an unusually high level of humor. Most anime comedy is lame and tedious, but though CGNN is not non-stop laughs by any means, it does have more than its moments of humor, particularly with Akiko's half-clever / half-inept lackeys Arisa and Kyouku, whose malevolent plots against Nuku Nuku always go badly wrong.
There's also the running feud between Kyusaku and Akiko, which can't be described so much as a "love / hate" relationship as a "love / engage in battles with mecha and heavy weapons" relationship, refereed to an extent by the level-headed, strong-willed Ryonosuke. Another fun bit is Nuku Nuku's encounter with a young bachelor on a trip to the beach; he keeps finding out as he makes advances on this cute little thing that there is something definitely strange about her.
I really liked CGNN, but I can't overpraise it. It's not a great work of art, certainly nothing special in terms of its production, and it's pure silliness. But at least it's silliness that works!
