Anime Meta-Review
Mahoujin Guru Guru
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Title Info
- seen: 1-4
- type: TV
- grade: watchable
- made: 1994
- Review created: A while ago, i'll revise it eventually.
- mod: none
This is a very specialised anime. Those who remember the early days of console games (say in the super-nintendo period) will probably remember simple and cheery rpg's (role playing games) in which the young hero wanders the land slaying endless monsters and gathering cool treasures. Well, if you animated those games, and added a splash of humor and rpg parody, you'd probably end up with something like this. The story concerns the 12 year old hero Nike who has been trained by his hero-otaku (hero fan) parents because the hero is always the central character in adventures. Joining him is the equally young female mage Kukuri who has been living in seclusion learning magic (albeit not very well) her entire life and thus is frighteningly naieve. The name of the show actually represents the type of magic she practices, of which she is the last practitioner. Of course while her magic is powerful it is far from reliable, but then she is only first level.
These two have been selected to defeat the lord of dark magic, who has recovered from a 300 year banishment and intends to take over the land. The sense of playful adventure, the simple plot (matched by equally simple animation) matches the early console RPG's, but it goes much further than that. For example little pop up ballons filled with icons comment on the action, such as `the hero has taken two points of damage' and name characters (complete with levels and stats). The story itself also harks back to the source, with villagers always having a quest needing doing and an exotic magic item to gift the hero with. The interesting and cute lead characters, the ever-present humor and the parody element (for example the two characters commenting on whether they have a sufficient level) flesh out the simple story to make a lightweight but pleasant watch.
The animation is very simple, with characters looking cute but `doll' like and lesser characters being almost diagrammatic. This simple animation actually matches the feel of the source, and is watchable, but will certainly not impress those seeking visual thrills. The story has an unhurried leisurely pace, but it will be interesting to see how it develops.
There are no reviews of this title on the pages I source, indeed the anipike did not have any english language homepages, so it looks like this counts as an obscure title.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:21 WST 2009