All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku: Dash! Mode 1 (1998)
Production: Banneko Dash Committee Ashi Production
Released by: ADV Films
Official Website: All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku: Dash! Mode 1
Episodes: 1-4
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Back in the early 90’s AD Vision had released the 6 episode OVA series "All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku" subtitled to home video. Not knowing what the show was really about (I had only seen photos of it in Newtype Magazine) I still thought it was worth giving it a shot as it looked interesting. Sure enough I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and recommending it to other people. It was a fun little series, the kind I refer to sometimes as Popcorn anime, meaning that you can just sit down and enjoy it without need of getting too vested on details and complicated plots.

Flash forward to 2004 and ADV Films has now released the "Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku Dash" OVA series that came out in 1998, on subtitled DVD’s. Again, I found myself not exactly knowing what I was getting myself into with this show, but like 10+ years ago (wow! I’m getting old!), I thought it might prove itself a fun anime choice.

Story

"It’s love at first sight when 14-year-old Ryunoske Natsume has a chance encounter with the purr-fect beauty he will come to know as Nuku Nuku. Atsuko Higuchi, aka Nuku Nuku, shows up at the Natsume residence one afternoon not knowing where she came from or where she will end up.

One person, however, knows more about the elusive Nuku Nuku than he is letting on. While Kyusaku tries to discover the secrets of this androbot All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl, his son Ryunoske is tormented by his deepening love for his new live-in companion. Meanwhile, Akiko Natsume finds herself being reassigned at Mashima Industries and heading up an impossible mission. As Nuku Nuku tries to adjust to life with the Natsumes’, she finds herself up against a string of adversaries, but little does she know it’s Akiko who is the deadliest foe. This is the All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl like you’ve never seen her before! "-- ADV's All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku Page

Review

The series starts off with Nuku Nuku’s introduction to the Higuchi family, her origins hardly explained to the fourteen year old Ryunosuke, who had run into the enigmatic young girl earlier in the day and witnessed her amazing skills when she saved a cat from being run over by a truck. With Nuku Nuku’s arrival the stage is then set for a variety of continuing themes and plot devices that will slowly develop and start coming together over the first 4 episodes contained in this particular DVD volume.

In particular there are two main plots that seem to run through these first four episodes, Ryunosuke's ever growing infatuation with Nuku Nuku and the mystery that lies behind the title character's creation as well as her superior design & abilities. I thought both were well implemented and explored throughout each episode, with the former helping lighten up the overall tone of the series through some nice comedic scenes and setups.

Overall, this was a great retelling of the early 90’s series as it addressed several of the issues that OVA had. Specifically it toned down some of the more over the top humor and introduced more serious components to the story, which balanced everything out.

From all the elements that were revamped for this anime series update I think one in specific would be of great interest to JH fans. Unlike in the original OVA where Nuku Nuku was just a regular android that engaged in somewhat comedic combat whenever it was called for, in this anime the revamped Cat Girl engages in what could be best described as “henshin-oriented” fights! Whenever human lives are threatened our heroine activates her combat mode, which results in a very nice Henshin sequence and even better costumed Nuku Nuku! This is then usually followed by some really fun action scenes in which she takes on whatever new menace has appeared to hunt her down in that particular episode.

Aesthetically I thought the series was more accomplished than its predecessor, with better character and mechanical designs, which are of a simpler nature, something that is always a plus for me. The animation gets the job done with a competent frame-rate and excellent sequences like Nuku Nuku’s transformation scene. Sound wise the series was pretty good, with the new opening theme song being especially noteworthy.

The DVD itself contains the first four episodes in this OVA, including:

Episode 1 - The Happiness Came With Spring Breeze
Episode 2 - Midnight Cats
Episode 3 - Distance in Between Two – Close and Far
Episode 4 - Akiko’s Melancholy

It also comes with a really nice booklet inlieu of the normal one-sheet insert. This 6-page color booklet contains a lot of great information on the series, characters, etc; quite a nice packaging bonus! Other extras include clean copies of the opening & closing themes as well as a collection of previews for other ADV Films releases.

Final Thoughts

If you are in search of a fun anime series that you won't be able to put down Nuku Nuku is it! From beginning to end this was a very fun retelling of the original anime series. I can't wait to get volume two and learn more about Nuku Nuku's origins and hopefully see some of the other battle modes that are alluded to on the booklet that came with the DVD! Great Stuff!!

Jeffrey Couto