muteki kanban musume 1
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Tagged: muteki kanban musume
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How would you like your ramen? With soy sauce? With gyoza? With emo?
(Tagged this post as spoiler since I give away a few gags. Kinda hard to talk about this Muteki Kanban Musume without talking about a few of them.)
At its heart, Muteki Kanban Musume (The Invincible Poster Girl, 12 episodes planned, official site) is about one girl’s efforts to help make the world a better place. Unfortunately, her real job of being a waitress/hostess/poster girl for her mom’s ramen shop gets in the way. By no means a series carried by plot, fanservice, h-game pedigree, tsunderes, big name cast, or giant mecha, Muteki Kanban Musume relies purely on its brand of over-the-top humor.
The New Characters
The Invincible Poster Girl. Not to be confused with the Invincible Chambermaid, though that would be one hell of a shootout.
The insane antics of the characters carry the show. You really don’t know what any of them are capable of until they do it… just keep in mind that common sense is highly lacking in Miki. Her strength is beyond superhuman… I’m afraid to wager who’d win if she got into an arm wrestling match with Mad Dog.
Carries an inferiority complex because she’s always second to Miki (reminds me of Ayane and Suzu from that manga that desperately needs to be a HDTV anime series) and is always trying to one up Miki. Just as insane, but not as powerful physically, so she compensates from being a projectile-tossin’ master (I swear I just saw an episode of My Name Is Earl that featured a similar plotline… please don’t ask why I’m watching My Name Is Earl… I’m embarrassed as is).
(Megumi kinda reminds me of Ryuuka from La Verite crossed with that rich girl from Mahoraba, only she’s not rich. Must be the “Oh ho ho ho ho”‘s. And Megumi desperately needs a bonnet to “complete the look,” if you get my drift.)
Miki’s mom who is the only one who can kick Miki’s ass. She’s Strike Freedom, Infinite Justice, Wing Zero, Powered Natsumi, Kagutsuchi, and Zegapain all rolled up into one. And I think that’s an understatement.
Weighs in as a narrator/only sane one. Kinda transparent character… I forget that he’s around sometimes. He’s more Dororo than Kyon.
The seiyuu cast is a mixed bag, with School Rumble‘s D-Cup, Harry, and Tenma anchoring the rotation. For all I can tell, the remainder of the cast consists of first timers… considering that fact and also the sparseness of the animation, I can safely say that this series isn’t a big budget affair. I don’t even think it’s a medium budget affair. If you can get past this, there’s a few hilarious moments during this episode that made me LOL and spit out my Diet Pepsi.
1. Miki catching that pop fly… with her ramen. I was like, “No… NO… NOOOOO!”… I haven’t shouted at the TV like that since Mai Otome 24. Good times.
2. Megumi tossing the darts at Miki the first time, missing, and Miki tossing the darts back at her… only they impale the grocer instead. If there’s one thing that anime has taught me is that near death experiences can be funny, right Hyatt-san?
3. Miki challenging Megumi to a poster girl showdown to see who can attract the most customers, and Megumi changes into a fairly moe outfit. Miki changes into well… I’m not giving it away. Watch the episode and try not to kero. (Mikuru would wipe the floor with these two… I’m sorry, she’s the real invincible poster girl. Ass of steel + Mikuru-beam = no contest.)
4. Miki’s first fight with her mom. Child abuse Maebara-san can shake a bat at.
5. Miki gets the two delinquints into the store and urges them to settle their argument peacefully– over an eating contest. So the two start… only Miki starts competing against them. High comedy.
6. First time I saw Miki’s emo facial distortion. Giddy. Delighted. Overjoyed. This show may replace Higurashi in my line-up… if they start showing fanservice in MKM, it’s over Rena-chan. Sorry. Hey, don’t point that machete at me…
I enjoyed the episode… between Miki’s complete insanity and all the emo facial distorting, I was like crack cocaine for me. MKM is like if they gave Fumoffu‘s police chix0r her own series… while I found the show to be enjoyable, it’ll be silly for me to pretend it’s a top tier series. There’s just fundamental problems of the production quality, the lack of comedy beyond the physical comedy, and the danger of the gags getting old keep it from being truly great. Don’t go in having high expectations, and you’ll come out laughing.
18 Responses to “muteki kanban musume 1”
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Too much slapstick. I like the emo facial contortions though. Very… unconventional… I’m waiting to see where that funny dog in the ending theme comes in.
This show sort of creeps me out. (well, this and Welcome to NHK)
As a fan of Psycho-moe, those screenshots crack me up. Guess I will check it out.
Cheers.
It reminds me of ARIA SD. I am now intrigued I guess it is something to look forward to once this tour is done.
i’ve watch this anime. i wonder why ?
it’s really really sad .
but i guess episode 2 is even sadder >_
I wonder why so many people seem to find this anime sub-par. It’s totally freaking awesome!
I agree. This is a wonderful show, incredibly funny ^_^
I’d have expected you to comment on the OP persiflage of Gundam, too.
Well, I have watched the first episode, and the first thing that came to mind was Stephan Chow. The comedy may not be high-classed, but it is comedy that is universal( aka, anybody can get it).
Like how Shaolin Soccer will never be a Lord of the Rings, Muteki Kanban Musume(MKM) will never be a TMoSH; BUT, it is still highly entertaining.
Yes, some of the jokes are groan-inducing, but for the most part, the comic timing is there.
The animation is simple, but clean and consistent. So I would rank it fairly high here( for the first episode). I do not need CGI/multilayers/etc… to be impressed. So long as they maintain a standard, and stick with it, I am contented( off-hand, Suzuka and Higurashi score low here).
I also noticed that MKM had a lot of parodies, which unfortunately, were not mentioned in the fansubs. For example, the first screenshot in this blog entry. It is a spoof of the famous MGM opener( hmm… MKM… MGM). Instead of a lion roaring, we have Miki roaring.
On a random thought, I was amused that the teacher did not stop to ask himself why Megumi needed to learn dart-throwing in order to capture a parakeet… I was expecting to see a skit where a parakeet got darted. Disappointment!
Other than that, between Ramen and Bread, I am more of a bread fanatic. :) I can happily eat bread all day long, even if it is plain bread.
In conclusion, if MKM can maintain this level of comedy, I will be willing to stick with it. Judging from the OP… we have one more girl with issues, to appear in the show.
Cheers.
Nothing can replace Higurashi….nothing….
I wonder if Rena will attack this anime, ka na ka na?
So…Jaso….return to Higurashi……
USSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Muteki Kanban Musume gets only better as the series goes on! Shinkansen 4tw!
It’s like watching the bread-and-ramen version of Slayers, complete with Lina & Naga and the early 90’s average production value.
Annnnnd Seyluun sells me on it.
I’m surprised that nobody made any comparisons with “Yakitake Japan!” Not watching either to any great extent, I am unable to make them myself. Perhaps there aren’t any, but still…
I definitely thought of Yakitate when the rival appeared (as she runs a bakery) but I wouldn’t say the show is similar.
I’d say it most reminds me of Excel Saga with all its energy and waywardness of the main character.
If Miki was Sagara, then her mom would be Chidori.
I think the wussy narrator guy’s badass stance/pan-around in the intro is the funniest thing so far, in retrospect.
That and the whole ‘train thing’ from ep. 2.
Now that I actually saw 3 episodes, I have to say:
a) Thank You Very Much. The write-up was so ideal that it made me give this show a consideration it would not get otherwise
b) If I can take the Yakitake comparison back, I’d like to offer another one. MKM seems what Dokuro-chan would be if they used actual humor and comedy in place of crude sexual innuendo.
Miki is awesome. I love how all of the characters are, eh… lovable. And as for the post above me, Hey! I liked Dokuro-Chan!