A dull boy finds the recipient of a rash promise made as a child return ten years later, to claim him as her husband.
No, it’s not Urusei Yatsura: Only You, it’s Kemeko Deluxe, the new series from Tsutomu Mizushima (Hare+Guu, xxxHolic, Big Windup!, Genshiken, Dokuro-chan), based on Masakazu Iwasaki’s manga.
This sort of home invasion comedy thing has been done to death, so you really better be bringing something good to the table if you’re going to add to this tired “genre”.
Well this does bring something to the table, and that is Mizushima.
The original manga is above standard fare, the Kemeko “character” being visually quite unlike most leads in this sort of thing, and it has a nice line in absurd mecha (somewhat reminiscent of Cat Girl Nuku Nuku – is the company name Mishima here a homage to that series?). So it has a head start on most these shows.
In addition to that strong basis, Mizushima has brought with him the blatant ribaldry of his own series Dokoro-chan & Dai Mahou Touge, and his excellent comedic timing. Equally at home with blue comedy, Raimi/Stooges slapstick and the comedy of embarrassment, he brings out the best in the source material. While Kemeko is not quite the genius creation that Guu was, she is still the best character he’s brought to life since that series. Chiwa Saito ably matches the animation performance with a vocal performance that really stretches her comedic range.
The weak point in all of this is the romantic element, Kemeko’s alter-ego Emuemu is somewhat disappointing compared to Kemeko, her stereotypical nature reinforced by the casting of Haruka Tomatsu fresh from playing the very similar Lala in the very average To Love-Ru. The good news is that, unlike the comedy, this element doesn’t get expanded upon in the script or direction.
Of special note should be the opening and ending, which are so dementedly perverse that you know you could only be watching a Mizushima show.
A promising start, and a show I’ll be following for now.