Haiyore! Nyarlko-san OVA episode 01 review
這いよれ！ニャル子さん OVA

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Everyone is watching a “tokusatsu” (FX) Japanese superhero show, followed by a mahou shoujo anime as Cthuko and especially Nyarlko are excited by the transformation sequences. Mahiro notes that if Nyarlko defeated enemies the way the magic girls do, it would be much better than her normal, gory slaughter. As such, he asks Nyarlko if her “henshin” (transformation) cravings could be satiated if she were a magic girl. She says she prefers the FX super heroes.  Mahiro decides that from this day forward, Nyarlko will be a magic girl.

The group, including Mahiro’s mom and Shanta-kun, head to Luhy’s luxury apartment to consult with her on making Nyarlko a magic girl since Luhy had recently done some of this kind of work in a public show. Though reluctant, Luhy agrees despite Nyarlko’s insult on becoming a magic girl after the age of 30. She leads the group to a subspace domain, where time is accelerated vs. the real world. Here, she plans to send Nyarlko through basic training for one month in order to make Nyarlko a proper magic girl, demanding that Nyarlko say “Hanyaan” to start and complete every sentence.

With that, the group leave Luhy to her work. When she later emerges with Nyarlko, it does appear she’s got a different personality, with a bit of evil on the side. Nyarlko senses something bad and races off after a mahou shoujo line, leading Mahiro to question Luhy on whether the training really worked. Luhy won’t even look Mahiro in the eyes. However, the group decides to go to where Nyarlko is, where they discover she is facing a group of Nightgaunts. Nyarlko gives her magic girl speech, then has a transformation sequence where she calls herself Mahou Shoujo Crawling Nyarlko.

Initially, it looks like Nyarlko may use a mahou shoujo purifying attack as pretty stars shoot from her crowbar, but the nightguants start spewing blood, causing Mahiro to again question Luhy. Nyarlko shows she has become insane and decides to send the purified monsters’ bodies to heaven, so she ignites the lot of them, causing them to die in a gory fashion. After crushing the head of a nightguant, Cthuko suggests a way to make Nyarlko return to normal with a Neuralyzer. After flashing Nyarlko, they return her home where she wakes up with no memories of what transpired after watching TV. When asked, she says she prefers the FX superhero shows, leading the group to think she’s returned to normal. However, after Mahiro gets her to lay back down on the couch, it is revealed that she hasn’t been cured at all.

Thoughts/Review:

I was missing my usual Nyarlko-san fix when I saw I should watch the OVA episode that came out prior to the Haiyore! Nyarlko-san W series. So, here I am.

One of the many fun elements of the Nyarlko-san franchise has been the parodies. This was no exception and there were moments where I was pretty excited by what I saw. ^_^

For starters, beyond the general mahou shoujo parody stuff, I loved the Cardcaptor Sakura nods. There’s Sakura’s trademark “Hanyaan” catchphrase as well as her card capture/activation pose. (As an aside, I still chide Dark Horse for “translating” that in their official English manga publication as “floaty”.)

Though I’ve not seen Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, I did get the parody references. I couldn’t help but remember the parody image I found a while back featuring Sakura and the girls from Madoka.

Luhy as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket? I LOVED it. ^_^

Luhy as Gendou from Neon Genesis Evangelion? Almost just as good. ^_^

Though they’ve done it before, I did enjoy the Men in Black parody moment as well.

Despite the gore, the black humor of Nyarlko going insane and the gruesome method she slaughtered the nightgaunts did make me laugh. Yeah, I’m a bad, bad boy. ^_~

Beyond that, not a whole lot to say about this very fun episode. We has only one real ecchi moment, and Cthuko’s cliched reaction to that. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed myself.