Released in the USA by ADV films, Nerima Daikon Brothers is a rarity amongst anime titles. When you’ve watched enough anime, there are certain things you come to expect. Good background music, a bit of fanservice, and a plot that is just a bit further out than anything you might find in its live action counterpart to name a few. There are certainly some anime that have incorporated a bit of song and dance. Nerima Daikon Bros has gone just one step further and blossomed into a full blown musical. Supposedly it is based loosely on a US film called the Blues Brothers. I can’t attest to that, having never seen the film for myself. I can say they did manage to get it right with a short 12 episodes. It was long enough that I found myself picking up the music and not so long that I found myself getting sick of it.
The music is obviously the main focus of the series. I found myself wanting to sing along. my apologies to my poor family and any neighbors within earshot…The “rental song” and the song that plays with the ending credits are both very catchy. The same basic tune’s are used throuought the series with the lyrics altered to suit each episode’s plot. The overall plot is standard fare. Where the Daikon Brothers shines is in the villains who crop up for each new episode. Imagine how dull a marvel comic would be without some over the top villain to offset the good guy. Nerima Daikon Brothers find themselves going up against everything from a Hindu Alien Turnip looking Psychic to Michael Jackson and the Prime Minister of Japan.
The main characters Mako, Hideki, and Ichiro (Ichijiro?) are a band living and working in a daikon white radish field on a stage they built. Their goal, build a Stadium to hold concerts in and get famous. Mako is a self declared hottie. Ichiro is a host club floozie. Hideki is the moronic glue that holds the two together. Joined in the beginning by Pandaikon, a panda bear who sneaks into their field to steal daikon, the trio find themselves borrowing and stealing to make their dreams come true. Nabashin whom you would recognise from Excel Saga and Puni Puni Poemy makes an appearance as the Rental Guy. He says “I’ll loan you anything but money” and in the series he does. At one instance he loans them a rocket powered sex toy, while another time its a harrier jet. No matter how good of a looting job they pull they always end up broke by the end of the episode.
Later in the story they are joined by a fourth main character Inspecter Gidget. A very literal play on the american cartoon character Inspecter Gadget. With its perverse to the point of morbidity sense of humor there are all kinds of things coming out of her. I’ll just leave you to wonder on that one…
If you haven’t guessed it by now, I have to give this one a strong Buy it rating. I loved every minute of Nerima Daikon Brothers. It is only fair to caution potential viewers of mature content. There isn’t any nudity or very much overly foul language. The suggestive nature of the show however does reach the point where it is obviously not meant for children. I know I’m had some strange dreams after watching this series. There is something about the ATM loan clone dancers I find both alluring and creepy. Creepy to the point of inducing bizzare nightmares.
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