Every anime company I’m sure is looking for something that’s just a little bit different. While I can never get sick of them, there really are only so many high school comedies and mecha anime that can be released before some fans grow tired of them (but again, how could you.) You may think that you’ve seen just about everything that anime has to offer you, but I beg to differ. You’ve never seen anything like the Nerima Daikon Brothers. It’s not science fiction, it’s certainly not drama, but it is a comedy, but then again, not quite like what you’ve seen before. You see, this series is actually a musical.

Yeah, that’s right, it’s a musical, but not in the fashion of Disney or The Sound of Music.

The Nerima Daikon Brothers are a musical trio, one of them is actually not even male, and I suppose if the other two are really brothers or not is sort of up in the air at this point. Meet Ichiro, Hideki and Mako, three relatives with the same dream; to build a coliseum in their daikon field in Nerima so they can hold concerts and bring in fans by the thousands (more or less.) Building such a place however is going to take money, a lot of it, and they aren’t necessary wealth . . . not even close. So, they need to come up with a way to make some big bucks and quick. It’s just too bad every opportunity they find may have them fighting wealthy villains, but they soon loose the cash right afterwards putting them back to square one.

Let’s get a Japanese perspective of the series first, and you can take this with a grain of salt. No less than two minutes into one episode, my wife told me, “This is stupid, turn it off.” Okay, so she’s not a big fan obviously and certainly not willing to give the series a chance.

I however am willing to give the series a chance and it becomes very obvious right from the opening credits that the goal of The Nerima Daikon Brothers is to lampoon none other that The Blues Brothers, at least to some extent. It’s not a direct parody however and merely has some resemblances to the characters made famous by John Belusi and Dan Aykroyd. But, how exactly is it a musical? Well, much in the way of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, rare is the time when you have five minutes that lack any type of song or dance. Hey, these three are performers, music is in their blood, and it’s the only thing they know. Well, that and growing daikon, and maybe tormenting a poor panda that has found his way into the garden.

The premise is very simple right from the start; the trio need money and the means to get it. We also see quite quickly that Hide has a huge crush on his cousin Mako, thus bringing a lot of sexual humor and tension into the series, while Ichiro may (or may not) be just a little bit gay. This brings a vast number of sexual connotations into the series all revolving around the phallus in various ways, but it’s not actually seen so much as represented in a number of different ways. Come on, you know that you can think of at least five things right off the top of your head that look just like one, and the series does the same with sausage, daikon . . . pretty much anything else.

So, what kind of villainy is in store for our band of merry minstrels? Plenty actually, and in each episode they encounter some greedy soul that’s more than happy to get all the money they can from innocent, hard working people. It could be a pachinko scam or a hospital overcharging patients, but no matter what the scam, people are losing a huge amount of cash. That’s when Hide and the rest leap into action, or rather sing and dance their way into action, but the musicians aren’t quite up to snuff as it were when it come to fighting these forces of evil. They fortunately have a little help and in a dark alley, a mysterious individual always has just the right item. All we know about him is that he has a huge afro. Hmmmmm. Have you seen Excel Saga? Yeah, you might know exactly who he is.

When it’s not focusing on music though, and that rarely happens, The Nerima Daikon Brothers are working hard on the parodies, and there are plenty of them. You’ll find that the series is ripe with cultural references of all kinds, including the fact that, believe it or not, Korean programming is extremely popular in Japan at the moment. It’s culture, it’s other anime, it’s manga, it’s basically everything that the creators can think of, and that’s all more fuel for the fire of comedy. You may notice as well while watching the series that there is a tendency to use the same music over and over again just with new lyrics. You might question just how many times The Nerima Daikon Brothers can in fact write the same song, but what about AC/DC, The Ramones, or Motorhead (come on, they have a ton of songs that sound just like Ace of Spades, but I like them nevertheless.)

The Nerima Daikon Brothers might not have the best animation ever seen in anime, but that’s part of the charm. The series actually has more in common with older anime than many of the new titles that have been coming out over the past few years, though there are a few titles that might be a good comparison for more modern anime, such as another ADV series, Papuwa. The design of the characters is more simplistic, but this anime doesn’t need to be complicated in the least.

With all the cultural references though, how exactly can you keep up with all of them? With AD Vid Notes of course, something that has been seen a few times with other ADV releases. This will fill you in on things that otherwise, you probably are going to miss, and it help add to the comedy. ADV has also added something very cool in the extras, and it’s commentary, but it’s not with the English voice cast, oh no. Instead, you have two different options here, one featuring Nabeshin and Haruka, the technician for the series, the other with Nabeshin and the voice of Hideki, Shigeru Matsuzaki. That’s right, both commentary selections are in Japanese and include subtitles.

The DVD also includes clean versions of the opening and closing animations, but there are still a couple more features to check out. There is a music video from the series, and not animated, but instead featuring the seiyuu from the series and if you want to sing along with the Nerima Daikon Brothers, there’s no need to fear. There’s an option that will turn on the subtitles and let you join in the musical. The DVD also comes with an insert that’s going to provide even further information, so all the extras should be music to your ear.

Who would have thought there would be an anime musical, though I’m sure it’s not the only one. With song and dance and some wacky comedy, The Nerima Daikon Brothers is certain to grow on fans that have a more open mind to anime and looking for something that is extraordinarily different. There’s honestly no comparison to other anime that are currently available, and this is one series that is going to be well-loved by some, despised by others, but as far as I’m concerned, The Nerima Daikon Brothers is a series that everyone should be singing praises of.

Episode 1 – Please Touch My Nerima Daikon

In order to make their dream of having a concert hall to perform in a reality, the Nerima Daikon Brothers are going to need money and a panda that has shown up in the fields might be just the thing . . . or not. Ichiro however has been asked to audition for a studio executive who has other things on his mind besides the music.

Episode 2 – Sa Rang Hey Yo with My Balls

Make needs a bit of extra cash to play some pachinko, and when Hideki realizes that there may be some big money to be found there, and the possibility of seeing Mako stripped . . . of all her cash, he rushes to the rescue. He and Ichiro soon find themselves in a spicy situation while Mako is chased by a Korean pervert who has something unusual in store for her.

Episode 3 – My Shot Will Crash Into Your Backside

Ichiro is attacked in an alley and ends up in the hospital. When Hide and Mako go to visit, Hide ends up there as well while Mako has been enlisted by the head nurse to help assist in bringing in patients by any means necessary and overcharging them. Looks like it’s another job to try and get some money from those who don’t deserve it.

Episode 4 – My Gadget (Detective) is Huge, Huh?

A police officer has come to visit the brothers (and Mako) and she has questions about three recent crimes involving a heist of money and jewels. Of course, these are the three events they recently been a part of, but they play dumb, at least most of them, and when Ichiro gets information about corrupt cops with a huge amount of ill-gotten gains, they simply can’t stay away.

-mike-
 

Genre: Musical / Comedy   Series Director: Watanabe Shinichi   Directed by: Episode 1 – Nariaki Saitou Episode 2 – Nariaki Saitou & Kazuo Yamada Episode 3 – Tomomasu Yamazaki & Masahiro Takada Episode 4 – Mazuki Mizumoto   Written By: Yoshio Urasawa   Original Japanese Title: Nankai Kio Neoranga   Voice Cast: Shigeru Matsuzaki (Hideki) Showtaro Marikubo (Ichiro) Ayano Matsumoto (Mako)

DVD Features: Dual Language Japanese/English English Subtitles AD-Vid Notes Clean Opening Animation Clean Closing Animation Commentary w/Nabeshin & Haruka Commentary w/Nabeshin & Shigeru Matsuzaki Music Video Nerima Daikon Sing-a-Long Contains Episodes 1 - 4