NOTE:
Please keep in mind that this review is old, so while some editting
has been done to make it read a little more timelessly, a lot of it
is obviously dated. As such, where some things may be noted as
'spoilers', they probably no longer are.
Ah,
'The World of Narue'. I first became aware of this title because of
this AMV.
After
seeing it, I became interested in this title and asked some friends
about it to get some feedback. I was told that it was a great little
show that slipped under the radar, and that I should get it when I
can. It took me a while, but I finally got around to this one.
The
story of Narue follows the titular character and her boyfriend
Kazuto, and their manic adventures. It all begins when Kazuto, on his
way home from school, tries to save a puppy in a box from the rain.
When the puppy turns out to be an alien in disguise, Narue saves him
with a swift hit from her bat. After that, Kazuto is head over heels
in love with her, and Narue feels for him deeply too, as he's the
first person to accept her for what she is - an alien herself.
Other
recurring characters pad out the roster, like Tadashi Nanase, Narue's
soft-spoken father; Masaki Maruo, Kazuto's best friend and
self-appointed expert at, well, everything; Hajime Yagi, a girl
obsessed with proving Naru a liar about her species; and Kanaka
Nanase, Narue's younger older sister. And yes, you read that right.
Each
episode is pretty stand-alone, other than obviously introducing
characters by and by that will appear more later on. And though
there's alien devices and creatures galore, the story stays pretty
grounded in being about Kazuto and Narue's relationship, both from an
EArthling perspective and an alien one. Some episodes even cover a
bit of Kazuto's fandom, as he was apparently a nerd for a magical
girl show prior to the show's start.
Considering
the dub was done by CPM, it's surprisingly not bad. Well, let me
re-phrase that - it's not as bad as to be expected from them.
Veronica Taylor sounds absolutely adorable as the titular Narue, and
is one of my favorite characters for her now. Dan Green turns in an
interesting and respectable performance for Narue's dad as well, and
Rachael Lillis does an outstanding job as Narue's sister. The
accolades for the dub stop there though, as Jamie McGonnigal as
Kazuto takes some time to grow on you. In the end you can accept him
as the character, more or less, but a worse problem is Jimmy Zoppi as
his friend Maruo. The voice fits the personality pretty well, but
it's grating and really doesn't fit the face much at all.
I'd
like to make special mention for Michele Knotz as Yagi however.
According to a bonus on the DVD (and there's quite a few, including
some commentaries from the Japanese actors and director), she was a
winner of a contest at a New York Anime Festival, where first prize
was a role in an anime dub. That considered, she did an awesome job,
and I rather hope she was able to stay in the business and continue
to improve.
Even
with the less than stellar performances by some, and the overall
wonkiness that is a CPM dub, it's nice to hear more work from a New
York casting pool. In particular, Vernoica Taylor and Rachael Lillis
both should never be thrown under the same bus as 4Kids, simply
because they've done some work with them. It's all further proof that
it's the directors and adapters of the New York area that make some
of the dubs come out the way they do, not the actors.
In
the end, Narue is a cute little slice-of-life show that when it's
over, you'll really wish it'd lasted longer. At a measly 12 episodes,
the show is nothing groundbreaking, and I definitely wouldn't call it
a must-see title. But you could do far worse for yourself in this
genre, and to top it off, this title can still be found cheaply. I
recommend you pick it up from RightStuf as I did, for a meager $20.
It's hard to turn down a deal like that, and trust me, it's well
worth it.
If
you decide to pass this one up, you're not missing out on anything
legendary, but I definitely recommend it to anyone in the mood for a
light slice-of-life title. As our heroine says, it's a direct hit -
to your heart!
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