Final Impressions / First Impressions / Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

「夢見るままに待ちいたり」 (Yume Miru Mama ni Machiitari)
“He Waits..Dreaming”

After a slight gap in coverage (it wasn’t my fault, blame un-chan, DON’T HIT ME!!), we’re back with the final episode of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san. For those of you that didn’t tune in for episode 11, Mahiro and co were surprised when Mahiro’s mother Yasaka Yoriko (Hisakawa Aya) asked them to look after the lost lil loli malign deity Ghutatan (Mikami Shiroi) she came across while hunting. Long story short, Mahiro got mad because Ghutatan was hurt while Nyaruko and the others were fighting off some baddies, so he told them off. They didn’t come home that night, nor the day after – which was, in fact, the same day as before repeated again.

This series has never been terribly interested in being serious, but when it decides to be it actually does it decently well, such as when Nyaruko dropped the joking at the beach a few episodes back. Here we got that again, with a side of confused dread. Now, I won’t claim I thought there might not be a happy ending to this – Nyaruko’s tone has been firmly set from the get-go, and nothing they could do would make me think it’d nose dive into a BAD END. That wasn’t the point, though. The point was to get across the loneliness that Mahiro was feeling, and to make him finally come to terms with the fact that he really does want Nyaruko, Cthuko, and Hasta (Kugumiya Rie) in his life.

Mission accomplished. I definitely felt his desperation as he ran through the city, but the point where it dialed up a notch was when he cried out for Nyaruko to save him – and she didn’t come. If this was just another Nyaruko troll, she would have been there at exactly that moment, but not this time. Fortunately, Mahiro realized this in time to pull out the present Nyaruko gave him and save his own life. Huzzah! Not only did Xebec defy expectations and heighten the tension, but Mahiro proved that he’s not totally useless in a crisis. Glad to see it. I’ve never been much fond of damsels in distress, even if the damsel happens to be a guy.

As for Ghutatan’s role in Mahiro’s dream world, I didn’t doubt that for a second. What I didn’t call was Roy Fogger the Lloigor’s (Nakata Jouji) turn for the antagonistic. I could not be more pleased, though! That guy is an awesome villain (for this show) – Not only did he accidentally encourage some character development in Mahiro, but his ridiculous plan and even more ridiculous conclusion (Mahiro is with Nyaruko, therefore Mahiro = ULTRAMANIAC!! Flawless logic) fits right in line with this series when it’s at its best. And him threatening Nyaruko with some tentacle trouble is sure to make a certain kind of pervert happy.

…d-don’t look at me like that! I didn’t mean me! M-moving on!!

Of course, the payoff was when Nyaruko popped out of the mirror and (along with the others) saved the day. I’m a sucker for when the whole team gets together to fight, and adding Yoriko and Luhy (Kouda Mariko) was appreciated. S-class milf + busty failure onee-san FTW!

Then there was the mass glomp, and then another one. About here is where I started nearly dying from the HNNNG and D’AAAWWW! Mahiro added a loli to his harem, and might have even turned Cthuko bi! Actually, I’m going to ignore any unfortunate implications there and assume she was always bi, but you get the point…its looking like she’s on Team Mahiro now. Nyaruko and Mahiro both as Cthuko’s wives? I do believe that’s what we call the BEST ENDO, my friends.

And that’s how a tsundere falls. Nyaruko x Mahiro x Cthuko might be the Best End, but make no mistake about it, Nyaruko x Mahiro is the True End for sure. I’m fine with this. Keep after him, Nyaruko-chan. As for you Mahiro, just close your eyes and let her crawl all over you, ne? ; )

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – One last ridiculous villain accidentally forces some char development in Mahiro. Thanks. Much appreciated! Also, D’AAAWW!! #Nyaruko

Random thoughts:

  • I positively love this show’s OP (the ED too, though that’s not relevant right now), but it wasn’t really appropriate for the unsure, worried mood that Mahiro was in at the beginning of the episode. That’s a pretty minor complaint, though.
  • So who caught what Xebec did to the cast page on the official site before this episode aired? In case you didn’t, they took out all the characters save for Mahiro. I respect that level of commitment in screwing with their audience. Thumbs up!
  • Nyaruko-tan? IS THAT NYARUKO-TAN?? Quick, someone get her some melonpan so she can ride on Mahiro’s head!
  • Poor Kurei. Maybe she’s targeting Cthuko now? We can only hope >:3

Full-length images: 26, 36.

Epilogue:

Final Impressions:

From the moment I read the premise about this show, I knew I would be watching it. One of the things I love about anime – and this is something I’ve gone on about at some length before – is that the very basis behind them can be so crazy that it makes my hurl my disbelief out the window and just sit back and enjoy the ride. So it was here! I mean, just the thought of Lovecraft rolling in his grave (mayherestinpeace) at the thought of his characters being so perverted (pun definitely intended) makes me laugh. How could a show about crazy moe cthulu deities be anything but awesome?

And it was! Week after week, this was one of the shows I most looked forward to, and invariably enjoyed when I sat down to watch it. Making a romcom based off the Cthulu mythos is one thing, but having all these aliens come to Earth because of our entertainment industry took it up another level. Then there was Space CQC, and sanity points, and yaoi kidnapping, and mind-warping video game systems, and, and, and…! Each thing that happened dialed the absurdity up another level, and always got a ton of laughs in the process.

To me, the characters were always the keys when an episode was great, with Nyaruko proudly leading the pack. Her silly, super-genki antics always brought a smile to my face, especially when she was charging straight towards Mahiro-san. Remember that episode one confession? Marvelous! Many shows need time to gather up their cast before they get really good, but as soon as Nyaruko stepped onto the stage we were off and running. I give massive props to Asumi Kana’s voice work for this. Whether it was saying something immoral, throwing out some engrish, taking a tonkatsu superhero pose, or sentencing an enemy to die (painfully), Kana gave the role a thousand percent each and every time. After this, last season’s Ano Natsu de Matteru, and of course her illustrious performance as Miya-chan in Amagami SS’s (nishishi ^^), she’s rapidly climbing the ranks of Stilts Favorite Seiyuu List. That’s a great honor.

Not that it didn’t get better when the cast was assembled. Cthuko’s super-horny lesbian antics were always hilarious to see, and Hasta’s adorable shyness made him one of the shoutas most likely to cause conflicting feelings in his male viewers. Once again, superb voice acting was at play – it felt delightfully blasphemous to hear Cthuko moan and talk about how wet she was in Matsuki Miyu’s voice, and Kugumiya Rie boku’d it up just the right amount for a not-really-trying-to-hide-it trap – which is to say, not very much. Kurei, Yoichi, and Luhy were all entertaining characters who had their moments, though of the secondary characters I preferred Mahiro’s mom. A powerful god hunter, avid retro gamer, and hot milf who loves to glomp? Two please!

Then there was our lead. Shackled with the necessity of playing the straight man to the entire friggin’ world – and fending off Nyaruko’s advances long enough to not be a papa by the end of the season – Mahiro sometimes came off as a buzz kill, but he never bothered me. For one, the show was only one cour – if this went on for a few more season, I’d probably start getting annoyed and be yelling things like “just give in and do her!!” at the screen, but twelve episodes with some definite defrosting by the end? Cool with me. Plus, let’s face it…Nyaruko and the others really do take it too far a lot 😛 Besides that, I enjoyed the reversal of having the girl chase the tsundere boy. Once again, props to the seiyuu – I didn’t even realize Kitamura Eri was playing him until I looked it up, though it definitely became more obvious during the body swap episodes (which were awesome, by the way). Super well done by everybody there.

I think the thing about Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is that it’s a show that knows exactly what it wants to be, and it does it well. Its very premise is patently absurd, but it doesn’t try to be a drama or anything – it takes the absurd angle and plays it up to the hilt, and clearly has a blast while doing it. In this it was a lot like Korezon, save with no plot problems at the end to hold it back. Yes, that’s right…I found Nyaruko to be the better show! The animation was good, the flow was great, the characters were awesome, every episode was fun to watch, and they served up plenty of shots of Nyaruko’s delicious thighs for us to enjoy. Sounds like a good day’s work to me!

The bottom line is this: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is a series I would happily watch again. Hell, even if I never have the time to do that – there are so many new things coming out, and not enough time to watch them! – I can easily see myself remembering a particularly funny scene, and immediately rushing over to my computer to watch it again. And then a couple more. And probably a few more after that. How do I know? Because that’s exactly what I did while I was writing this post. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san gets full marks in my “batshit crazy-awesome romcom” category. May more like it grace our screens soon!

33 Comments

  4. Regardless of whether RandomC covered it or not, this series was freakin’ hilarious. It was so full of in(dustry) jokes and anime tropes that were turned slightly askew, it was entertaining just trying to figure out what they were putting into the show. For example, the very first episode, all the exclamations made by Nyarlko were not “ouch” or “ow” but mobile suit names. Then in episode two we get Cthuko showing up. Oh, it must be a harem and here’s the tsundere. But wait, she’s in love with Nyarlko. So now we have the yuri angle. And it just kept on going. Highly recommend watching it, especially after many years of anime viewing, to fully appreciate all the jokes.

    bertman4
    Reply

  6. A show I’m gonna miss 🙁 Where will I get my weekly dose of Nyaruko now? D;

    I really loved that part in the epilogue where Nyaruko playfully feeds Mahiro as usual, only for Mahiro to unexpectedly accept- cue Nyaruko suddenly blushing when she realises all her hard work paid off!

    Beedle
    Reply

  7. Only Nyaruko know how to use body swap properly. Show Spoiler ▼

    I wonder if other character can use swaping body as good as her or not.

    Neo
    Reply

  8. This is one of those shows that I watched habitually just because by the time I realized it wasn’t really good, I had already invested too much of my time in it.

    A lot of people have an aversion to parody-themed anime in general, but this show really gives the whole genre a bad name. It doesn’t use references to set up its own jokes (like Hayate) or to be meta-critical (like the recent parts of Medaka Box). This show really doesn’t even try to stand by itself. The characters don’t show any depths beyond the templates that they’re introduced as when they show up, and the plots are no-effort contrivances for them to be doing something.

    When Nyaruko dresses up as a Kamen Rider, she just shouts a bunch of disconnected Kamen Rider quotes. Same when they referenced Jojo. That’s not parody, it’s regurgitation. It makes me wonder if the anime industry has achieved a sort of critical mass where writers can build an entire show on references without writing anything original.

    tldr: This is the Scary Movie 5 of animes. Shouting “Hey! Remember when this happened in another series!” isn’t a formula that has lasting value.

    Jukehead
    Reply

  11. I’d like to see this get a second season.

    I really looked forward to Nyaruko antics and I thought the seriousness in the series
    between her and Mahiro (ep 7 + 8) flowed well with the premise and story. It had its
    share of cute moments and funny moments.

    mac65
    Reply

  13. Better late than never in getting a Nyaruko-san post here at RC. I got curious the moment I saw a book flying towards Nyaruko’s face in the PV, was even more interested after hearing that addictive “uuhh nyaa” in the opening, and was completely hooked with the Kamen Rider references (especially the Kamen Rider references) and parodiesShow Spoiler ▼

    Love Nyaruko and kudos to Asumi Kana for her performance. Very special mention too to Matsuki Miyu for her portrayal as Kuuko. Second season please!

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  19. A Nyaruko post! This is why Stilts nii nii is awesome
    Noooooo… I want Cthuko to stay a lesbian!
    Not enough love for Hastur-tan. Come on guys, embrace your inner shoutacon =3

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

  23. Pretty sure that Nyaruko-tan was a reference to Demonbane, the other Lovecraft-centric show. At least seeing her floating beside Mahiro-san instantly gave me chibi-Al Azif vibes.

    SingerOfW
    Reply

  26. Way too many flashbacks for the first eight minutes. Instead of emphasizing loneliness it simply made me skip it because I was sick of seeing scenes I had already seen weeks ago. I also wasn’t really pleased at Cthuko’s sudden change.

    Grant
    Reply

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