Rumik World: Warau Hyouteki

Title:Rumik World: Warau Hyouteki
Laughing Target
Rumic World: Warau Hyouteki
Rumik World: The Laughing Target
The Laughing Target
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Original Concept - TAKAHASHI Rumiko
SATOU Ai
SHIOYA Yoku
TSURU Hiromi

Something happened to Shiga Azusa when she was a young child, so much so that it caused her mother, the leader of the Shiga family, much fear. As such, she arranged for Azusa to be married to Shiga Yuzuru, the son of her brother.

Now a teenager, Yuzuru has forgotten about that arranged marriage and is involved with his high school sweetheart and fellow archer club member, Satomi. When Azusa's mother dies mysteriously and Yuzuru's father agrees to take her in, Azusa can only think of being Yuzuru-chan's wife and does not take kindly to Satomi's presence. What will she do to make sure her dreams of Yuzuru come true?


[1 OAV episode (~48-minutes) from the manga created by [notable:TAKAHASHI Rumiko]. Part of the Rumic World collection. No longer licensed in the U.S. See also: The Supergal, Rumik World: En Tripper]

OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 6 5 6 6 7 Ggultra2764 [series:310#1552]
A solid time-killer, Laughing Target focuses on a teenage boy and his girlfriend being the targets of the boy's cousin who she got in an arranged marriage with years ago. Much of the horror and suspense for this one-shot OVA comes from Azusa's threats toward Satomi and Yuzuru trying to piece together what is happening with his girlfriend. Despite its premise being pretty predictable, there are some genuinely suspenseful moments created with Azusa's life-threatening actions towards Satomi and Azusa's backstory is genuinely tragic for the problems she faced growing up thanks to her cursed existence. There could have been some more fleshing out on elements to its story such as how Azusa became cursed and what led Satomi and Azusa to become a couple. But other than that, this is a decent 50-minute horror title that is worth a quick look if you can hunt it down.

Last updated Sunday, March 16 2014. Created Sunday, March 16 2014.
Watch 6 8 6 0 5 KBanger1 [series:310#1694]
Rumiko Takahashi...the man who brought Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, and Inuyasha. I've always admired his work (especially with Ranma 1/2) and I also wanted to see this title. Part of his Rumic World series, Laughing Target is about a teenager (Yuzuru) and his cousin (Azuza). Apparently, they were arranged to be married when they were little to continue the Shiga family bloodline. However, what Yuzuru didn't know about Azuza was that she was harboring a corpse eating demon inside her. Now, as a teen, Yuzuru has his own girlfriend and Azuza is coming to claim what she believes is hers.

Normally, this kind of plot would intrigue me since I like situations like this one where a love triangle exists and one of them would do anything to eliminate his/her rival. It takes a supernatural twist with Azuza who's not only a hottie, but the fact that she's possessed and obsessed makes her a great character. The downfall of this is that it's too one-sided. Since Azuza is possessed, Satomi (Yuzuru's girlfriend) becomes the stereotypical victim. Just like any love triangle, there will always be conflict. This conflict between Azuza and Satomi is too predictable. Which leads to a predictable ending. With that in mind, the length of this OVA is really short. It feels rushed and I don't like that. If it was developed like a series (maybe three episodes long) I think it would have been a decent stand-alone OVA. I'm kind of disappointed but that's my fault for thinking too highly of it and giving a little more credit to Takahashi than he deserved for "Laughing Target".

Any Inuyasha fan out there, I strongly suggest you watch this to know what Takahashi is capable of outside of Inuyasha. Although I rated it for a "Watch" it would more likely be a "Rent" for at least the younger generation of anime viewers. Not exactly the best title, but something that would at least expand their "Inuyasha invisible border". That just means, anyone who thinks that Inuyasha is the only series worth watching will play down anything else. Give it a shot before thinking that way. All in all, not a bad title. Could have been more in depth, but still not bad.

Last updated Sunday, December 07 2008. Created Sunday, December 07 2008.
Watch AstroNerdBoy [series:310#436]

As a story goes, this one is pretty straight forward with very predictable and cliched moments throughout. As an early work by Takahashi-sensei (and not knowing how much was left out of the anime from the original manga), I suppose this is to be expected. Interestingly enough, some elements in this OAV would be used again in her very popular title, Inuyasha. Assuming you can find a copy of this now-rare title, I'll let you decide what character Azusa sorta morphed into for Inuyasha.

Still, despite its predictablility, there were some moments of tragic interest. Azusa having "whatever" happen to her at such a young age, then as a young girl she is nearly raped and again as a teen she is nearly raped. What she does in those instances to her attackers is not unjustified, even if vicious. That aside, everything else was just OK. Still, I wonder why it is that the Japanese get so hung up on childhood promises. I though of Aoi-chan from Ai Yori Aoshi as I watched this with her childhood arranged marriage and subsequent "I live only for him" mentality. I suppose that makes Azusa's story more tragic.

Bottom line: fans of Takahashi-sensei will want to watch this just to see more of her early works. Others wanting to see an old anime horror flick (though not scary if you are an adult) may want to catch this too. Otherwise, you aren't missing much.

Last updated Sunday, December 03 2006. Created Sunday, December 03 2006.

Watch 6 6 5 6 Kaitou Juliet [series:310#137]

As I've said elsewhere, horror isn't really my "thing"; I just have this friend who keeps talking me into watching it. This show looks pretty good despite its age and has a nice, creepy feel to it. It's not too gory/scary for a wimp like me, but it's still able to hold the attention of a horror conoisseur like my friend. The plot is solid, although a few things are left vague which could have been better explained.

The main thing of interest to a non-horror fan is the way Takahashi works in some of the themes that show up in her comedy: arranged marriages, possessive women, and reluctant men. But the treatment here is, of course, much darker.

Bottom line: Seek it out if you're a horror fan. If you're not, it's probably not worth hunting down, but you still might find it interesting.



Last updated Friday, October 18 2002. Created Tuesday, July 24 2001.

Other Sites
NameURL
Rumic Theater http://furinkan.com/rumictheater/
Part of a larger Takahashi-sensei fan site dedicated to her short stories.

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