Rating: **
Review Date: 6/25/17
Divided into fourteen episodes.
An alternate retelling of the Nuku Nuku story that parodies itself in addition to anime in general. Atsuko Natsume (a.k.a. Nuku Nuku) is a cat that was transformed into an androbot by the brilliantly crazy Dr. Kyusaku. The series revolves around Nuku Nuku trying to integrate into human society by attending a local high school, and the evil Mishima corporation's absurd attempts to take over the world with its faulty and useless technology products. Typically, Mishima's silly plans backfire and the good-natured Nuku Nuku shows up to save the day with a well-placed punch or kick. The show draws a lot of inspiration from "Urusei Yatsura" with its eclectic cast of high school students, and their wacky eccentricities drive most of the humor. You have the overly strict class president, the quiet bookworm, the occult enthusiast, the science geek, the singing guy (whose musical interludes are quite amusing), the nihilistic pretty boy, and the rich snobby girl whose name Nuku Nuku can't pronounce (which is the funniest recurring gag in the show). Many of the gags are quite funny, but the recycled humor gets old fairly quickly. It's definitely a low budget production, with sloppy animation, disappointing action sequences, and weak character designs. The voice acting is very good and Megumi Hayashibara once again lends her considerable talents to Nuku Nuku. She really brings the character to life and I never get tired of listening to her perform.