Amazing Nurse Nanako Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-27 (updated 2012-10-15)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Roughly equal parts overblown evil conspiracy plot and silly action-comedy, Amazing Nurse Nanako is a series that can't quite seem to make up its mind about what it's pretending to be. It can, however, make up its mind about one thing: What it's actually about is staring at various parts of Nanako's anatomy in various states of undress, with her preposterously large and extremely "lively" bust taking center stage. Surprisingly enough, though, despite the sleaze and brutal misogyny, it does have good points: it looks rather nice, has a couple of reasonably funny moments (if your taste is simple), and the plot, once it comes together, is an uncommonly wild four-way conspiracy collision, even by the standards of anime conspiracy theories. Despite the title character's cleavage, it's somewhat surprisingly her voice that is most memorable----Maria Yamamoto's husky, energetic whining is wildly different from the norm, and practically makes the whole thing worth watching.

Don't come looking for highbrow entertainment, intelligence, originality, or even much in the way of a coherent plot, but I will admit that the lively characters and out-there conspiracy train-wreck might be enough to make it passably interesting even if you're the type who bases your viewing decisions on more than just the bust size of the main character.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-27 (updated 2012-10-15)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

What do you get when you combine a classic anime conspiracy plot with a classic dumb comedy? In the case of Amazing Nurse Nanako, exactly what the picture on the front of the box implies: A T&A flick.

The story of Amazing Nurse Nanako is composed of roughly equal parts wild conspiracy drama and very silly comedy. On one hand, we've got mysterious fellows from powerful organizations meeting in dramatically underlit rooms to discuss schemes that the world at large isn't intended to know about. On the other, we've got the crew of misfits at the Ogami Hospital, who would do any wacky anime comedy proud. The only overlap is Dr. Ogami himself, who's a crazy enough mad scientist to fit in with the wacky crowd, but creepy enough to be periodically employed by the conspiracy for his unique skills.

And stuck in the middle is Nanako, a beleaguered and rather empty-headed girl with a needy personality who's not good for much more than laughs, and has less of a clue about what's going on than the hapless viewer. She's also ridiculously well-endowed, and whenever she's onscreen just about the only thing you'll end up paying attention to is extreme bounciness, awkward camera angles, and a gratuitous string of fetish-y costumes (or lack thereof), all of which go well beyond incidental fanservice.

That, unfortunately, seems to be the point of the whole show--for all the backstory and involved exposition, most of the effort seems to be spent coming up with demeaning, misogynistic ways to show off Nanako's attention-demanding chest.

It's kind of a shame, because after dropping obtuse hints for four episodes, when Nanako and Ogami's backstory finally gets explained it's actually reasonably interesting. It's even a bit emotionally effective at the very end, at least in concept. (I say "in concept" because you'll need to factor out how completely nuts Ogami is, and pretty much the entire plot up to that point.)

The conspiracy is impressively out-there--it manages to include the US military, the Vatican, NASA, two mad scientists, and a self-serving double-agent, all coming together in the pursuit of four completely different semi-to-very-nefarious (and semi-to-very insane) goals. The DaVinci Code has got nothing on this pileup.

But then there's the actual plots of individual episodes: Each of the four episodes prior to the final two-parter consists of the goofy side-characters doing something silly, then the conspiracy having Dr. Ogami do something that results in at least one action scene, which invariably involves Nanako ending up in weird costumes, naked, or both. They have nothing at all to do with each other, barely make sense even within the tenuous logic of the setting, and have little more than a theoretical connection to the main story. They essentially feel like particularly random side-story episodes in a long TV series, except that's all there is.

As a result, even if you pretend the whole thing isn't just a bounce-fetish video with too much plot, there's no flow and it feels somewhere between random and incoherent.

It's not a total loss, though. The main appeal (assuming Nanako's gravity-defying breasts don't do it for you) is the humor, which is basic but does serve up a few good gags. The best of it is the general incongruence of it all--some dark, violent (it's unexpectedly gory), nefarious thing is going on, then bumbling Nanako and usually some of the other wacky cast members will stumble into the middle of it. There's also a thoroughly amusing chunk of backstory surrounding the cybernetic design tendencies of the more-than-a-little-mad scientists.

The biggest selling point for me, however, is Nanako. No, not her cleavage--I prefer characters with breasts smaller than their head. It's that Maria Yamamoto's performance does something entirely unexpected with a character written as a complete dunce. Yamamoto's surprisingly deep voice, energetic stupidity, and loose, natural, humorously over-the-top acting gives the character a fun, likable personality that I enjoyed a lot. Nanako easily steals the show, but the rest of the Japanese cast is fine--a couple of fun old fogies, and the doctor, whose slightly-cracked evil scientist personality ends up a little funnier because of Takehito Koyasu's ultra-studly (and rather menacing) voice.

In Pioneer's English dub, Nanako's voice is less memorable, and the rest of the dub cast is a little weak. I did like the English version of the mysterious religious leader--he's believably acted, and has a smooth tone and British accent that work very well. At least the English casting is good, and I probably preferred Ogami's higher-pitched voice to the better-acted but slightly-too-cool Japanese version.

The music isn't special one way or another--humorously overdramatic but otherwise forgettable background music, a somewhat incongruently ominous instrumental opening, and an unremarkable, peppy end theme sung by Yamamoto. It's worth noting that the volume on the background music in the dub is much lower than in the sub, enough so that the whole production seems a little quiet, and the music loses any of its humorous effect.

Visually, on the other hand, the series is unexpectedly good. The dark, dramatic parts are, for the most part, indeed dark and dramatic, and would feel quite comfortable in a more serious series. The action looks decent, though there isn't a lot of it and it alternates randomly between quite gory and silly. (An aside, I do rather like the spiffy laser-axe thing in the first episode.) The humorous parts are more consistent--properly exaggerated, with smooth character animation and relatively attractive art. The character designs are standard, but still attractive. Nanako is the only standout... and that's because she does, indeed, stand out. Seriously, her breasts are among the most exaggeratedly large that I've seen in non-H anime. On the topic, they're also animated--I can't exactly say well, but certainly a lot.

In all, Amazing Nurse Nanako is a T & A flick dressed up in a rather weird mix of overly-dramatic conspiracy drama and very silly comedy. Don't come looking for highbrow entertainment, intelligence, originality, or even much in the way of a coherent plot. Despite all that and some pretty brutal misogyny, I will admit that the lively characters and out-there conspiracy train-wreck might be enough to make it passably interesting even if you're the type who bases your viewing decisions on more than just the bust size of the main character, and Maria Yamamoto's unexpectedly entertaining take on said character practically makes the whole thing worth watching.

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Related Recommendations

On the breast fetish count, Jungle De Ikou is a safe bet, or Kanokon if you're more into maternal fetish than ditzy-maid-fetish, or Eiken if you want even less story and breasts so preposterous they make Nanako look reasonable. For some reason it vaguely reminds me of Gestalt, and also has a tiny bit in common with the Battle Athletes Victory TV series (not the more serious OAVs).