Kemeko Deluxe!

Title:Kemeko Deluxe!
Kemeko-DX, The Unknown Girl Friend
The Unknown Girl Friend
ケメコデラックス!
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: KITAMURA Eri
KUGIMIYA Rie
SAITO Chiwa
TOMATSU Haruka
The high-school student Sanpeita had reoccurring dreams in which he was engaged to a beautiful girl. Then one morning, a strange homely girl suddenly breaks through a wall in his bedroom to tell him that she is his bride and that her name is Kemeko. Confused and bewildered by the girl, Sanpeita fled his house and escapes to school, but Kemeko follows. And things got only stranger when Sanpeita was targeted by something that looks like a rice cooker on the school's rooftop. As Sanpeita and his childhood friend Izumi were being attacked, strange little Kemeko intervenes to save them both. Just who is Kemeko? Someone who claims to be Sanpeita's new steel bride!?

Sanpeita is surprised to learn that Kemeko is really a girl-style powered-combat-suit and that the pilot is actually a cute girl. A heavily armed and violent girl perhaps, but still very cute.

Based on a manga by Iwasaki Masakazu, serialised in Dengeki Comic Gao.

Animation by Hal Film Maker.
Series aired Oct 5th thru Dec '08.
12 TV Episodes.

1:30min Series Opening - YouTube Video
Episode Details 
CVR1
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated chibi [series:1901#2380]
I don't know, I can like a show that's funny but doesn't make sense, or visa-versa, but this one doesn't seem to have either. Amped-up action isn't an adequate substitute, but I'm still watching to see what develops.

Oh, and I think Tenshi Ni Narumon featured an attack by a giant rice cooker.

Last updated Sunday, October 26 2008. Created Sunday, October 26 2008.
Watch Jan-Chan [series:1901#967]
A very strange series that does not make a lick of sense. No real linear plot here!!! Just mass anarchy, paired with gratuitousness amounts of fanservice and over-the-top slapstick violence. Stretch might use the term whacked!! I just might want to call it silly, funny and WEIRD!!

But that does not really make up for a number of short-comings in this short series. NOTHING REALLY DEVELOPS!! Don't know where Kemeko came from or what MM really wants. Don't really know why everyone is interested in Sanpeita or what his secret ##### really is. Just too many questions - questions that are begging for an answer, but then series just ends.....

But still, together with Macademi Wasshoi!, these are my current 'nonsensical' comedic favorites.... Don't try to figure anything out, so it is best to just sit back-n-watch and hang-on for the ride for as long as it lasts.....

Last updated Wednesday, November 18 2009. Created Monday, October 13 2008.
Watch Stretch [series:1901#628]
(All episodes watched):

My first impressions were that this show is whacked--it takes a sort of gleefully naughty attitude. That seemed like a good idea; if there's going to be fanservice, make it absurd, laughable fanservice. The animation style of the first episode action scenes reminded me of old American cartoons of the 'twenties or 'thirties. I really, really did not want one of the principal characters to be drawn in a hideously ugly SD mode, but I breathe a sigh of relief now that I see that that wasn't the case. This looked like fun.

Jokes were fairly good, but during episode two what I really wanted was some hint of what the hell was going on and who this strange woman is, especially if she's not Sanpeita's childhood sweetheart. I'd have gladly traded a number of good jokes for some information. In episode three the balance between jokes and confusion worked better, for me at least. One nice touch: Sanpeita is thrown through the air and lands on his head in what would be a fatal or crippling way in real life. It happens everyday in anime, of course, and the characters are back to normal in fifteen seconds, except that here the absurdity is reinforced as his head even smashes a hole in the concrete.

But would this show ever make any sense? It was semi funny, but somehow a lack of a foundation to fix the jokes to made it difficult to fully enjoy them. When "clues" to this strange woman's story turn up, should they be taken seriously or were they just part of odd jokes? As I've mentioned before, I think humor occurs when something which is unexpected yet makes some sense happens. But so many events are unexpected in this show that it almost makes what you do expect to be unusual; and whether these things make sense is often anybody's guess. Hence, I'm often more confused than amused. One thought which often occurs to me is that I wish we'd see less of the various incarnations of Kemeko and more of MM when she's not inside it. She has a completely different personality without the suit, a more understandable one which would make some sense. It is interesting in itself, and what I really want is to know where things are going between her and Sanpeita.

Perhaps the biggest problem, however, is that Kemeko has an obnoxious, annoying personality which never really improves. The same goes for a number of other characters. Early on the strangeness of the premise seemed to promise that the show would eventually deliver a lot of fun, but it never really did so. I really hate Sanpeita getting repeatedly beaten up while I am supposed to laugh at it. This rude people/humorous brutality approach was mildly funny--or should I say tolerable--for awhile, but gets very old before long. The plot never develops much either; it serves as just a loose framework onto which more incidents of absurd, confusing humor and antisocial behavior can be attached. This turned out to be a show which I considered worth watching, but just barely; the sort where I would promise myself that if I watched the latest episode of Kemeko, I'd then reward myself by watching something much better.

(Intereting side note: in episode eight I heard the word "f---ing" spoken in English by a Japanese VA for the first time I can recall)


Last updated Tuesday, February 10 2009. Created Saturday, October 11 2008.
Unevaluated Forbin [series:1901#1573]
First Look:

For something I considered a 'Guarantee' the first episode was sorta boring.

Macademia was much more fun than this.

Last updated Thursday, October 09 2008. Created Thursday, October 09 2008.

Other Sites
NameURL
Wikipedia (English) Info Page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemeko_Deluxe!
Japanese Series Web Site http://kemeko.jp/

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