Haiyore! Nyaruko manages to provide a fairly proper conclusion to a completely garbled concoction – a rather “one of a kind” series overall, although most should already have realized it’s not for everyone.
Being direct, the expectation for this series was that it would be terrible upon its debut, particularly as the studio behind it, Xebec, hasn’t even a half-decent series to their name – yet it somehow proved so much otherwise. This is perhaps Xebec’s calling – a genre of nonsense. Haiyore! Nyaruko is a parody of all sorts of assorted series, media, and tropes, from top to bottom – an entirely indiscriminate affair of comedy which ridicules everything with no remorse, a detail best noted in how our creeping cuteness has a bikini printed with the words “Love” and “Craft”.
This series does nothing with hesitation, which is one of the reasons it’s so easy to love – and the humor is incredibly relevant to its target audience. When the first episode hit, and the heroine of all characters was expressing her unwavering love for ero-games, it felt as if one has truly found someone who can sympathize and understand their lifestyle like no one else can. And in fact, although he’s a bit incompetent and rude at times, Mahiro is a fine leading male as well as he manages to give a great contrast – the harsh reality of a predominantly anti-otaku world.
Secondly, our adorable Nyarlathotep’s high energy personality is one of the absolute factors of captivation – never before has a slice of life series, a category usually as slow as snails, opened and accelerated forward just instantly. Nyaruko managed propel this series herself thanks to her spontaneously reactive moe – in the earlier portions of the anime, surely most of us were ensnared by her nonstop gag delivery immediately.
Yet additionally, it was highly interesting to see that she didn’t remain alone with the male lead for long – it wasn’t more than an episode or two till the hot loli entered the series, and then finally, the yaoi yellow shota kid. At which point, the anime exquisitely made a transition from more worldly features of satirical comedy – to entering levels even more completely ridiculous, with the Cthulhu Mythos bits becoming indistinguishable from regular playful aspects.
The heated competition for love between the mythos three is by far the most amusing facet, the glistening center of the series, as it essentially serves as the route to everything else – and in fact, that’s where the plot lies as where. Haiyore! Nyaruko does have an actual story despite not being particularly boasting of it in the same manner as one would typically think. There’s indeed a heavy bulk exterior of giggles – although the inner core of the series consists of a girl who loves a boy, the fact that she’s a mythological creature and whatnot is all simply extra.
And this final episode does well to exemplify everything which has made up the series thus far – our foolish protagonist who turned lonely once he alienated all his friends finds that rather than having scared them away, he’s been exiled into an alternate dimension where there’s none but him. A lonesome place till monsters of many kind start to sprout – yet luckily for this forgettable protagonist of ours, he recalls the mirror of Nyaruko, an object which delightfully brings rise to a real Nyaruko now equipped with a Nyaruko puppet.
Nyaruko pulls our protagonist back to reality, and then she, alongside the other colorful friends of Cthulhu Mythos, begin to battle against the episodic menial antagonist – the spherical creature which followed and served as the butler of the princess loli girl. The ball shaped creature becomes a giga-sized atrocity within the ever-poplar setting of the park – and the reason behind his evil is that our protagonist has no respect for eroges whatsoever.
A grand fight then ensues with crowbars and Kamen Rider cosplay – till finally, the enemy is defeated, and all returns to the usual state of cheerful abnormality, with a well-deserved kiss between Nyarlathotep and shounen to close it all.
Overall, this series does what it does exceptionally well to the point it will, and should, appeal to most any with a more open taste – a terribly terrific escapade into all the modern day extensions of an otaku lifestyle, alongside some resurrected classic themes, and a spine of the ever-necessary story components.
Jun 25, 2012 @ 22:28 CDT
There are two underlying themes that pervade the Lovecraftian Mythos (I abstain from calling it the Cthulhu Mythos….Luli was not a main character, and all the printed matter and it’s antecedents are the spawn of Howard Phillips, himself…yes, he would have rolled over in his grave from this story, not just because of the wackiness…but because it was foreign….he was quite xenophobic…but of the more Earthly stripe). The first is that the gods, creatures, monsters, and assorted bugaboos are of such a long life span, civilizations fall at the footsteps of these legendary beings. But, the important part of the Mythos is…we all light a candle to curse the darkness. No matter how small the flame, we stand in the light and fight the darkness.
As you says with eloquence, Seven, Otaku and Anti-Otaku. Dichotomy. The Mythos is knowledge that Man is not Meant to Know. Eroge, it seems, is Knowledge That Aliens Are Not Meant to Know. A Reverse Dichotomy.
You cannot help it. You fall in love with someone. You cannot help it, someone falls in love with you. A Dichotomy to be cherished?
….
Jun 25, 2012 @ 23:34 CDT
Huh?
Oh hey look. Kud Wafter! http://dalian.7thstyle.com/2012/06/haiyore-nyaruko-ep-12-008.jpg
Jun 26, 2012 @ 3:28 CDT
What happened to the 4chan posts of the series in Lovecraft form? Did they give up?
Jun 26, 2012 @ 8:50 CDT
Perhaps they did – cause I haven’t found any in a long while.
Jun 26, 2012 @ 22:37 CDT
Actually, I found it, he posted episode 12 today, and there’s caps of the previous 11 in the thread too.
http://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/67695938
Jun 26, 2012 @ 22:49 CDT
Nice find.