Mahoujin GuruGuru

Title:Mahoujin GuruGuru
Magical Circle GuruGuru
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables:
With the reawakening of the devil lord Giri from a 200 old year slumber, two young heroes are called upon to save their world. Nike, a trained sword fighter and the son of professional hero, and Kukuri, a struggling sorceress and the last of the sorcerer MiguMigu tribe, join forces to gather those special weapons and skills that will be required to confront and defeat the evil Giri and his hordes of daemons.

With lots of humor and parody, this spoof on a role-playing-game follows the two young teens through their adventures on a wild and comedic quest in their distant and strange land.


45 episodes (released in 1994/95)
Produced by Nippon Animation

See sequel Mahoujin Guruguru Doki Doki Legend
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 9 8 8 8 Jan-Chan [series:772#967]
This series is definitely very kawaii, but if you have ever found your self rolling some odd shaped dice, (while murmuring something about needing a critical hit), or have ever desperately pounded a keyboard,(while watching a hit-point color bar quickly go to red), then you will find an innocent measure of amusement in this series.

The two main characters, Nike and Kukuri are absolutely button-cute 13 year olds, who have been informed that they have been tasked to defeat the evil lord Giri who has broken a seal of imprisonment after 200 years. With a story line that most definitely will appeal to the 12+ year old crowd, this series does manage to slip in enough humor, parody and low key adult humor to keep the older crowd entertained.

Nike, armed only with a dagger, is full of false self-assurance, and Kukuri, while unsure of her abilities, proves herself to be exceedingly resourceful with her limited magic abilities. And the two learn to be trusting and confident in each others abilities and succeed (somehow) in overcoming every situation. With pop up windows that summarize most every situation, one can be amazed how the letters HP, LVL and MP appear to be universal in any language as hit-points, level and mana-points. And with a kindly maternal voice of a female adventure-mistress' chiming in at every appropriate moment to explain any situation or rules that might be unclear, the story tumbles and rumbles along. And with the assistance of a friendly spirit called Gipple and despite the repeated appearance of the kita-kita grass-skirted hoola-dancer grandfather, the two manage to muddle their way along their adventure, as they encounter fairies, witches, cursed villages and the sundry assortment of riff-raff underlings of the evil lord Giri.

The monsters are true cartoon beasts, with the rat-man being the most common. The stronger beasts can be easily be identified by their larger teeth and how many more horns they have. But as this is truly a parody, in which any pending combat might be stopped with a simple word to permit an over-dramatized romantic moment to be concluded (with a pop-up card reading romantic embellishment +200), before the three rat-men, the bird man and weird headed beast can carry on with their lame imitation of the power rangers. The monsters are a joke, the combat is farce, and the victory for the good guys a forgone conclusion, but what can you expect on a spoof of an adventure anime.

And so this series goes throughout all of the 45 episodes. One just has to accept a fantastic story that is at times outrageous, even outlandish, but always surprisingly ingenious, and very creative and very entertaining. I almost regret not being able to understand Japanese, as I am certain the script contains a lot of whimsical word play and innuendo, but what does come across in the subtitles is entertaining and alot of fun. The facial and physical humor does translate very well and succeeds in making the series even more enjoyable. There is a fair amount of adult innuendo, in which Nike is always willing to be charmed by yet another pretty face, and Kukuri is even quicker to remind him who is he should be loyal to(WACK!!)...err.what their mission is. At one point, Kukuri has been kidnapped and Nike can not seem to remember her face, but he does remember her butt (wearing over sized bloomer underwear, but HEH!!, this is a parody.) But the Japanese anime series are a bit more permissive than most, and Kururi does get cursed into a pre-strip tease dance, but other than a dance and a bounce of the hips, no harm is done. And this is about how deep the adult innuendo goes, it would prove to be on pare with a 'Pink Panther' movie (which is pretty tame).

If you have found humor in the book Bored of the Rings', or perhaps the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy', (or perhaps even, more cyptic, the movie Princess Bride',) then you will find yourself laughing and chuckling through this series. Using very simple characters, a lot of creativity has been invested in a very entertaining and subtle story line. If you have kids with a sense of adventure, then they will love this series, and if you are a kid-at-heart, then you will enjoy it even more. Who really cares where the story goes, there is a lot of fun in the adventure of getting there, whereever it might lead.

Last updated Wednesday, April 14 2004. Created Monday, April 12 2004.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Japanese Series Web Site http://www.nippon-animation.co.jp/na/guruguru/index.htm

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