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Amazing Nurse Nanako
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Title Info
- seen: 1-6 of 6
- type: OAV
- grade: flawed
- Other elements of this title:
- This title may offend the sensitive.
- Contains excessive fan service.
- form: sub
- made: unknown
- Review created: Tue Mar 6 11:28:57 EST 2001
- mod: none
The distributor had to think they were on a good thing here. A bit of drama, a lot of comedy, and most of it focused on a young girl with ample proportions and a very short uniform. However, some of the choices by the creators are rather questionable.
The plot is centered at Ogami medical centre, which is placed on an American military base somewhere in the world. This center practices some pretty exotic forms of medicine and medical research, and the staff are downright strange. There's a witch, a expert in oriental medicine and a couple of others. However it doesn't matter, the focus is on Dr. Ogami himself, considered one of the worlds most brilliant medical researchers, and his maid Nanako. Nanako is simple minded, whiny and incompetent but she's got (as mentioned) ample proportions and a very short maids uniform, so that's alright. Her relationship with Dr. Ogami is very strange, part sister, part pet and part test subject.
In the background a more serious plot brews and bubbles. It seems that powerful forces in society, in particular the military and the church, have discovered a suprising interest in medical research. An interest fueled with such an intensity that both sides obviously believe big rewards are possible. And part of this interest stems from gaining access to rather exotic genetic materials. In such an atmosphere Dr. Ogami, and strangely Nanako herself, become important pieces in a complex game.
It's not for everyone, and it's definitely not for me. Try as I might I found Nanako herself to alternate between annoying and pitiful. And the doctors attitude is filled with affectionate cruelty. Had the ambience been a bit less cold, and Nanako not quite so stupid, it might have managed cute, but I don't think it actually does. And the addition of fan service, including Nanako's elastic breasts, simply made it worse, in addition to being quite unattractive in itself.
The remainder of the characters are almost completely useless. These obscure and strange members of Ogami medical centre get occasional little cameo's and moments but not enough to develop a personality or explain who they are or why they're there. The background stories are actually quite good, with Nanako's secret and the `conspiracy' getting spelled out in the last tape. The problem is that they don't really connect with what we've been watching for the past four episodes. It would have made a good conspiracy film, or a fan-service laced `comedy' but it doesn't really manage to merge both of these elements. It certainly doesn't explain the actions of Dr. Ogami towards Nanako.
The animation is quite reasonable. There was obviously a fair amount of money in the production, and some of the weird science is very well designed and represented. Given that it is strange that Nanako looks so cartoony and suprisingly un-cute. There's some decent action, even some mecha stuff, including some suprisingly violent gunfights at the end. In all it's good stuff with clean, sharp color and good production values. I just wish it had been used on a stronger story. The voices are alright, although Nanako grates and some of the centre staff are too weird to be believable. The music was strangely cheery.
Other Reviews
- Anime Review review The Anime Review is not impressed, stating that this show's main claim to fame is bringing misogyny to the masses. Even independant of that he finds no charm or humor in evidence (1/5).
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:14 WST 2009