First Impressions / Series Introduction / Shinryaku! Ika Musume

OP Sequence

[flv:Shinryaku_Ika_Musume_OP.mp4 512 288]

OP: 「侵略ノススメ☆」 (Shinryaku no Susume ☆) by ULTRA-PRISM with イカ娘 （CV.金元寿子）
(ULTRA-PRISM with Ika Musume (CV. Kanemoto Hisako))
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I love the quirky opening theme with the 8-bit Ika Musume RPG scene.

Ika Musume is here to subjugate mankind for polluting the ocean! Too bad nobody cares.

「侵略しなイカ？／同胞じゃなイカ？／最強じゃなイカ？」
(Shinryaku Shinai ka? / Douhou Janai ka? / Saikyou Janai ka?)
“Aren’t I Invading? / Aren’t You a Fellow Brethren? / Isn’t She the Most Powerful?”

The invasion of the squid girl is here! While I enjoyed the bit of the manga I read in preparation for this adaptation, it’s far better animated than even I was expecting. Diomedea’s animation is crisp and the lush colors have a lot of “pop”. Best of all, Ika Musume herself is absolutely adorable with the way Kanemoto Hisako plays her. The way she replaces “desu” with “de geso” (Japanese for “squid tentacle”) is one of her cuter nuances, but I particularly enjoy seeing how naive she is and how easily she gets caught up in the flow of things. Aizawa Eiko (Fujimura Ayumi) is notoriously good at getting Ika sidetracked about invading the surface world for polluting the ocean, and even better at putting her to work against her will. She also hit Ika with the reality stick on how she’s up against some six billion people and not the mere thousand she thought she was, paving way to some great comedic pauses and some ridiculously cute whining. Though she whines, Ika doesn’t come off as terribly annoying since the Aizawa siblings completely take advantage of her. Forget taking over the world. She can’t even handle them.

One of the cutest aspects is that Ika starts working diligently for short spurts at a time without even realizing how she got herself into that situation. During all that, the fact that no one takes her seriously even after she displays impeccable control of her hair-like tentacles is what had me amused the most. This includes the Aizawa sisters’ little brother Takeru (Ootani Miki), who takes enjoyment in being thrown around by her tentacles and earnestly wants to be her servant. Naivety isn’t the only thing that plagues Ika’s squid brain though. She can’t even recognize Takeru anymore with just with a makeshift, squid-shaped, paper hat and some blue streamers, and honestly believed he was a squid boy — a misunderstanding that led to some hilarious results. If that weren’t funny enough, my absolute favorite part from the earlier parts of the manga came up at the very end. i.e. The squid ink that Ika produces like saliva and can vomit in large volumes to make squid ink spaghetti for Chizuru (Tanaka Rie). Eiko’s reaction to her older sister’s interest in it after being sneezed on was pretty priceless, which was befittingly followed up with her realization of how good it tastes. Leading to to that, Chizuru also showed off her lightning fast hands and fighting ability that I mentioned in the Fall 2010 Preview, which had Ika quickly realizing that there’s no way she’s going to subjugate mankind when she can’t even take over Lemon and make it her base.

Broken up into three mini episodes, the format doesn’t feel the least bit disjointed. If anything, it’s reflective of the short chapters in the manga, much like in the case of Arakawa Under the Bridge. While I had already read about everything that was covered in this premiere episode, I still found myself chuckling at all character interactions. Simply put, it’s so much better animated. I dare say I was almost giddy from enjoyment. This series is definitely worth checking out for some innocent lighthearted laughs. See below for some episode commentary.

Note: All the episode titles purposely end with “-i ka?” as a play on the word “ika”.

 

Forget six billion humans. Ika has enough trouble trying to kill a fly.

Ika isn’t the least bit happy about Eiko hitting her with a reality check.

But she’s still determined to show what she can do by killing that damn fly. Evil Ika Musume has arrived!

Oh she sure showed that fly. Eiko’s not the least bit happy about the wall though.

Those tentacles sure come in handy… for serving customers their food.

Rather than taking her demonstration of power seriously, Takeru thinks it’s some sort of roller coaster ride. Odds are he’s going to grow up to be a masochist.

Prime example of Ika losing focus. All it took was the thought of having an underling doing her bidding.

It looks like infiltrating the ocean wouldn’t be too hard. You just need to put a paper cap on your head and the squid people think you’re one of them.

Somebody’s looking confident about having a kid with a paper hat as reinforcements.

Takeru’s hat flies off and she thinks the squid boy is dead. We barely knew you!

Squid ink is supposedly saliva to Ika, but that sure looks like a thick stream of vomit to me.

Chizuru is quick to take a lick, whereas Ika’s feeling pretty confident about taking over Lemon on a rainy day without customers.

Mwahahaha!

Note to self, don’t mess with Chizuru’s siblings regardless of whether or not Takeru wanted in on the tentacle action.

Law of anime: A character who normally doesn’t open their eyes means business when they do. They’re generally psychotic on some level as well.

Squid ink spaghetti anyone? YUMMY.

It’s probably safe to say Ika’s given up on taking over Lemon as long as Chizuru’s around.

Eiko discovers how delicious that vomit is and Ika is milked dry of every drop she has for their customers.

Chizuru gives Ika the stare down to keep her working. “Continue throwing up de geso.”

ED Sequence

[flv:Shinryaku_Ika_Musume_ED.mp4 512 288]

ED: 「メタメリズム」 (Metamerism) by 伊藤かな恵 (Itou Kanae)
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An ending theme by Itou Kanae, whose character is slated to show up next time.

Preview

As is the lifeguard Arashiyama Gorou (Nakamura Yuuichi), who has a bit of a thing for Chizuru.

Eyecatch

These are some pretty nice sponsor message eyecatches. I’ll likely continue including them in my posts.

50 Comments

  5. Even with your high regards of it in the season preview, I wasn’t sure if this was something I would enjoy/follow. Well, color me sold! Great post, especially for someone like myself who was on the fence about whether to give it a try or not.

    Xin
    Reply

  8. This is exactly why I love this site. I would have never considered this Anime, it just did not look like my kind of show. But after reading this and seeing the screen-caps, I am going to check it out.

    I was sold at the “Mwahahaha!”. 🙂

    XxDestinyXx
    Reply

  9. Wow i got a few of the things watching the raw. Funny, funny, funny stuff!! I am glad there’s a slice of life comedy without the drama. I love Chizuru’s squid ink ability. It makes her cooler. besides paper mario loves squid ink spaghetti. I should draw that someday. Plus Takeru is my favourite character. Take the abuse with a smile. definite watch!!

    Richfeet
    Reply

  18. Wow I don’t even remember seeing this in the previews. Looks pretty cute and the plot sounds like it will most likely bring some laughs out of me to say the least.

    Wow I originally intended to only watch 2-3 shows from this season all these summaries are making that build up D: Goodbye my education/future~

    kuripuri
    Reply

  24. Oh my gosh. I think i just found my silly series of the season. Watching the PV, I thought I heard Ayana narrating and thought “she’s in ANOTHER show?!” I’m really finding the “geso” verbal tic amusing as well.

    fall3nbs
    Reply

  25. LOL. i love the ink. XDD but srsly, this gave me some good laugh.LOL. not to mention those tentacles..this series MIGHT help me get away from k-on goodness for just a while..XPP

    keiOnDaisuki
    Reply

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