Title - "Nakoruru ~ Ano Hito Kara no Okurimono"
Alternative title(s) - "Nakoruru ~ The Gift Behind That Person"
Genre(s) - Drama, action, and fantasy
Keep in mind that I am a big fan of the Ainu sisters.
"Nakoruru" originally was supposed to be a 6-OVA series, but because it did not get much recognition in Japan and only Kamui-sama knows why, it was cut down to only 2 OVAs. This series is based on the adventure game of the same name for the PC and Dreamcast.
Note to self: try to get adventure game demo as soon as possible.
Where was I? Oh yeah. This series is based on an adventure game of the same name. I only saw the first OVA, but I hope it gets better towards the end. It came out last year and I believe the game for the PC came out just a bit before the anime. The same can be said for the Dreamcast port.
I've been talking about the game so much that I have forgotten to talk about the story. The game takes place between the first two "Samurai Spirits" games. It mainly talks about the life of the Ainu sisters. Nakoruru returns to her home village Kamuikotan and various people are worried about her, including her sister Rimururu as well as Manali and Yantamuu, their friends. However, a greater evil shows up and so does Rera, the troubled side of Nakoruru.
Fun - 7
Oh, I wanted to give this a higher score. As far as I know, only the first OVA has been fan subbed and we'll probably never know what will happen afterwards. It has been a year or so since I last saw this. Thus, don't expect much.
The characters are the same. There are some funny moments, including one little accident from Yantam
. I won't tell you what happens. See it for yourself.
As for flaws, I will mention what I will say a few times throughout this review. If you're not familiar with the games, you will be more lost than up and you probably won't enjoy this. Oh and there were moments that felt slow. I guess I'll have to watch the raw version of it if I want to see the conclusion. That is if I can find one.
Life - 6
A six-OVA series with a big cut. That spells trouble, ne?
Story - 7
Although it is a decent story and one that follows the game, people who have never played this game as well as the others in general will just be flat out lost.
Audio - 10
The good news for people who have played this game and the Hyper Neo-Geo games is that the voice actress of the sisters, Ikoma Harumi-san and Kamitani Keiko-san as Nakoruru and Rimururu respectively, are back. Also, Manali and Yantamuu are played by Kawasumi Ayako-san and Koyasu Takehito-san respectively and you hear Shizen no Utage (Nakoruru's theme song in the first and forth game as well as the 3-D ones again for those who have never played the games). Of course, I prefer Sakurai Tomo-san as Rimururu, but that's just me. (She played as Rimururu in the third game, Matsumoto Megumi-chan in the fourth one and Kamitani Keiko-san just before the most recent game.)
Art - 9
The art looks really nice indeed. I can't tell if Nanase Aoi-sensei (a former designer of the "Samurai Spirits" series who is now a mangaka) had some sort of involvement here. Most likely, I doubt it.
As for what's wrong, how can I say this? Maybe I shouldn't have said this to begin with just because I have never played the game before, but I find Nakoruru having her alternate shura outfit, well, weird. (Fans of the "SS" games know that she always wears a red outfit.) Rimururu's outfit is new and that threw me off as well.
So, that's that. The art looks nice, but the changes surprised me. I am running out of statements to say here.
Overall - 8
"Nakoruru" is not an easy anime to like, even though I gave it a good score. You have to remeber the fact that I am a fan of the Ainu sisters. If you were to ask a person who has seen this and is not much of a fan of the Ainu sisters, there's a chance that the person will say it's mediocre or right around there. Yeah, honestly, like the people said, if I wasn't biased towards the sisters and familiar with most of the games, I would have given this a "6" pretty much. So, if you surprisingly have the opportunity to watch this, take it because you won't get many chances and have an open mind if you plan on liking it. As for a reason why this was never popular, maybe it was because at the time, SNK really had money problems and that started a domino effect.
+
You have more goodness of the Ainu sisters.
-
This is pretty much a series for the Samurai Spirits fans, especially the Ainu sisters fans and in general, there are some slow moments.
Date of creation - 12/15/03
Last update - 8/10/04