6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Saying that Junpei Kosaka's allergic to cats is something of an understatement, just thinking about cats can make him sneeze. A fact that seems to be lost on his mother and sister, who both adore cats. And if that wasn't bad enough, when Junpei inadvertently damages a statue of a cat deity, he becomes cursed with the ability to understand felines. Now Junpei must perform one hundred great favors for cat-kind or face the fate of being turned into a cat himself.
Starring: Shintarô Asanuma, Yuka Iguchi, Ryôko Shiraishi, Yû Kobayashi, Rina SatôAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 92% |
Comedy | 29% |
Comic book | 24% |
Romance | 19% |
Supernatural | 8% |
Teen | 7% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Are you a dog person or a cat person? Humanity seems to be firmly divided into camps that prefer one kind of pet over the other, and I personally make no bones about the fact that I am resolutely in the canine camp, though I certainly have nothing specific against cats. But I’m beginning to wonder if some Japanese cat deity (and there are evidently such things) has cast a spell over current anime production houses, for there have suddenly been an absolute glut of recent anime which feature cats in some way, shape or form. Nyan Koi! is one of the most overt of this seeming new subgenre, for it deals specifically with a kid who can’t stand cats, but who of course ends up having to deal with them in an almost absurdly up close and personal way. Jyunpei Kousaka is a more or less typical high school kids whose severe allergy to cats is hampered by the fact that the rest of his family seems to absolutely adore the species. This sad state of affairs obviously frustrates Jyunpei, who wants nothing other than to stay as far away from cats as humanly possible. Jyunpei manages to take his mind off of his cat troubles by concentrating on his pretty schoolmate Kaede Mizuno, but that all changes drastically when one day Jyunpei manages to break a sacred totem of a cat deity (see, I told you there are such things) and as a result suddenly finds himself privy to the thoughts of every passing feline. That sets up the “quest” of sorts around which Nyan Koi! is structured, for Jyunpei is conscripted more or less to perform one hundred tasks for various cats as punishment for having broken the cat deity statue. Furthermore, if he doesn’t manage to complete this five-score quantity of activities, Jyunpei himself will be turned into a cat, which will instantly kill him, perhaps either due to his own self loathing or (truth be told) from his horrible allergy. Nyan Koi! is a patently silly goof of a show, but it’s frequently pretty funny, especially if you tend to look at least slightly askance at the imperious attitudes that cats frequently seem to have. The series has a few pacing issues which get in its way from time to time, but it’s unpretentious and delivers a fair amount of whimsical enjoyment.
Nyan Koi! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The character designs are probably the most distinctive feature of this anime, and they look quite good—if not totally spectacular —in high definition. Jyunpei's oddly angular features pop well enough, with solid line detail, and some of the curvaceous aspects of the female characters (which never quite tip into fan service territory) also look great. But it's the several cat characters that are the most fun here, none more so than pudgy Nyamsus, whose disapproving glare from pale blue eyes and bright red bandana help to make the character one of the more visually interesting in the series. While there's nothing truly remarkable about the look of the series or its high definition presentation, it's nicely sharp and well detailed and has no egregious issues like banding or macroblocking to be concerned about.
Nyan Koi! is trumpeting its new English dub as a major selling point, and both it and the original Japanese track are presented via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. There's actually some decent channel separation here, with sound effects clearly emanating from the right or left channels. But this is a fairly resolutely dialogue driven show, and so there's not a lot of depth or aural "wow" that will impress most audiophiles. Instead, what's here is solid, if unspectacular, with absolutely no issues of any kind to report. The English dub is quite good, for those who don't care to read subtitles. Marcy Bannor's Nyamsus is a hoot.
Nyan Koi! is silly, unadulterated fun, without much in the way of moralizing or other similar nuisances. The series takes on a kind of quasi-shōnen feeling while never really delving into some of the clichés that that subgenre regularly offers. The cat characters here are quite a bit of fun, especially Nyamsus, who should really settle down to a bus and truck company version of The Odd Couple with Garfield. While the video and audio here can't be lauded as anything special, they look and sound fine given reasonable expectations, and Nyan Koi! comes Recommended.
Limited Edition
2013
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2013-2014
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