First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

OP Sequence:

OP: “Kemeko Deluxe!” 「ケメコデラックス！」 by Saitou Chiwa (斎藤 千和), Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥), Takahashi Mikako (高橋 美佳子),
          Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵), Shiraishi Ryouko (白石 涼子), Kawasumi Ayako (川澄 綾子), Gotou Mai (後藤 麻衣)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼

ED Sequence:

ED: “Purippurin Taisou” 「プリップリン体操」 by Saitou Chiwa (斎藤 千和)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Show Streaming ▼

「鋼鉄の花嫁」 (Koutetsu no Hanayome)
“Steel Bride”

First Glance:
From Hal Film Maker and Genshiken director Mizushima Tsutomu comes an outrageous new adaptation starring a beautiful pink-haired girl who defies physical boundaries by riding in a super small robot. Named Kemeko, the super-deformed, green-haired robot has a spunky personality of its own and packs a wallop whether it be from gatling guns or hand-to-hand combat. In what seems to be an alternate take on To LOVE-Ru, the story involves M.M.‘s sudden return to Kobayashi Sanpeita‘s life after a ten year absence, intent on becoming his bride like she promised when they were kids. However, there are now unknown forces after Sanpeita’s life, so M.M. decides to protect him with Kemeko. While certainly different in its approach, the whole pink-haired alien (?) bride bit sure reminds me a lot of Lala Satalin Deviluke, which is befitting given how Tomatsu Haruka now plays M.M.

In what appears to be a romance comedy, there’s a bit of fan-service floating about (primarily from M.M.’s undergarments), but the series is otherwise pretty “clean” thus far. Judging from the opening though, it looks like we’re in store for some fan-service (at least of the robot kind) alongside a lot of male protagonist abuse. As such, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of depth to this series, so I view it more along the lines of Kamen no Maid Guy or a much less lewd version of Kanokon. Surprisingly though, I find myself inexplicably interested in this series after watching the cast interview and Kemeko fight scene with the giant rice cooker—the latter of which was an epic display of martial arts that was animated really nicely. Saitou Chiwa does a good job in bringing out the serious personality of Kemeko in those situations, and is able to convey a sillier side when needed. Production quality doesn’t seem very high from Hal Film Maker on this one — the studio that’s best known for its work on the ARIA franchise — but I find myself wanting to watch more of this just for the comedy surrounding the extremely cute M.M. I’m not a huge fan of series that involve an over-abused male lead, but I did enjoy Nagasarete Airantou and Seto no Hanayome a fair bit, so I’m willing to give Kemeko Deluxe! the benefit of the doubt in that regard.

With that said, I wasn’t originally planning to check this series out, but the exceptional all-female cast was one of the biggest reasons why I did. In addition to casting Tomatsu Haruka (who I absolutely love as of late), the series also features the likes of Kitamura Eri as our male lead Sanpeita, Takahashi Mikako as childhood friend Makimura Izumi, Kugimiya Rie as odd ball Hayakawa Misaki, Kawasumi Ayako as Sanpeita’s mother Tamako (left), and Gotou Mai (Mika in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu) as Sanpeita’s younger sister Fumiko. Shiraishi Ryouko, Endou Aya, Mitsuishi Kotono, and Chiba Saeko are present as well, leaving me rest-assured that the characters will be portrayed well. As for the opening and ending themes, they were performed by the cast and just silly in general, so there isn’t too much else to say about them. I did find the Kemeko workout video ending sequence creative though, even though Chiwa’s singing there was more of a rap than anything else.

From the first episode alone, I find it difficult to see where this one’s headed, but I saw enough things that I like to keep me checking back for at least a couple more. I can see the comedic potential in this series, so hopefully they’ll make good on it.

Update: Added a video clip of the Kemeko fight scene plus the first appearance of M.M., which is what has me drawn to the series so much.
Watch the clip ▼

 

Notable Cast:
– Kemeko (ケメコ) : Saitou Chiwa (斎藤 千和)
– M.M. (エムエム) : Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
– Kobayashi Sanpeita (小林 三平太) : Kitamura Eri (喜多村 英梨)
– Makimura Izumi (牧原 イズミ) : Takahashi Mikako (高橋 美佳子)
– Kurosaki Ryouko (黒崎 リョーコ) : Shiraishi Ryouko (白石 涼子)
– Hayakawa Misaki (早川 美咲) : Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵)
– Minamino Ryouta (南野 リョータ) : Mizusawa Fumie (水沢 史絵)
– Kobayashi Tamako (小林 タマ子) : Gotou Mai (後藤 麻衣)
– Kobayashi Fumiko (小林 ふみ子) : Kawasumi Ayako (川澄 綾子)
– Vanilla M. Repairs (ヴァニラ・M・リペアーズ) : Endou Aya (遠藤 綾)
– Kiriko (キリコ) : Mitsuishi Kotono (三石 琴乃)
– Aoi-chan (葵ちゃん) : Chiba Saeko (千葉 紗子)

28 Comments

  6. You DO KNOW there this is based on a manga series RIGHT?

    Its pretty faithful to the manga (unlike To-Love-Ru) so I have some expectations of this series not ending up as a steaming pile of **** unlike other adaptations.

    Drakron
    Reply

  21. The part where he’s imaging what she’d look like as she ages and then she turns into the chubby Kemeko suit made me burst out laughing. That was just so hilarious. I’m not sure if I’ll follow this, but it did make me laugh pretty hard at times, so maybe I’ll keep an eye on it.

    Nazarielle
    Reply

  25. Is Kiriko`s seiyuu really Mitsuishi Kotono?
    Of Sailor moon`s Tsukino Usagi, Excel Saga`s Excel and many more great characters?
    I thought she has left anime.
    The Show? I will definitely follow this wherever it goes to.

    Savofenno
    Reply

  27. Funniest show I have seen for a year or two, I’ve watched ep1 three times.

    This is the director of Jungle Wa Itsumo and Dai Mahou Touge, both favorites of mine and he has done it again, it’s great.

    Takarada
    Reply

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