Summer 2010 – First Impressions (Nurarihyon no Mago)

Nurarihyon no Mago is the next new show I sampled.

Nuraihyon no Mago (Grandchild of Nurarihyon)

I have a weakness for shounen anime – this series has successfully tapped into that despite my best efforts to resist (my head’s telling me ‘its DEEN! you’re bound to be disappointed!’). Still this was a very solid introductory episode and I’m quite interested in seeing where it’s all going. I like the fact that the main lead is surprisingly grounded for a shounen lead. He’s not an idiot, nor is he overpowered and hotheaded. Rather he’s a child that has firmly decided what he wants out of life and strives for a normal life (despite the fact he lives with youkai). The episode itself had a rather contrived plotline – the typical test of courage through an abandoned school building, but it was still quite fun and had enough tension to hold my attention.

The animation is attractive, and I really like the character designs (although human Rikuo reminds me of Negi from Negima). The youkai are really varied, going from cute chibi things, through tradition designs to bishounen/bishoujo. I don’t if it’s because Rikuo shares a voice actor with Watanuki, but the show vaguely put me in mind of early episodes of xxxHOLiC; especially with the traditional youkai designs and the failing about Rikuo does to prevent his friends seeing them. On the subject of voice acting – the cast is star-studded, but the script is pretty simple so there’s not a lot to work with really.

The music needs to be mentioned. It’s quite an impressive score and really adds to the atmosphere of the show. I quite liked the OP (even though it ends very suddenly) and the ED is weirdly catchy with its dancing chibi animation.

So yeah, I am weak and have been sucked into this. Story seems childish, but promising so I’ll probably stick with this to the end. Just hope Studio DEEN do a good job and this doesn’t turn into another flop (/kidding myself).