Anime Review: Squid Girl

Another show that was totally under my radar until I saw some good reviews for it when the series started. I don't usually watch that much comedy anime actually since usually I'm just not in the mood for it but somehow just an episode or two of this show every week felt right and it was pretty funny.

Squid Girl (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)

Summary: Squid Girl has become fed up with the way that humans pollute everywhere and has decided to conquer the world in order to stop it. She makes a small restaurant by the sea her base but, between working there to pay off damages and the fact that no one takes her seriously, this could be harder than she expected.

The Good: One reason I normally avoid comedies (and this really applies to all mediums actually) is that it's really hard to be funny and stay funny for more than a short period of time. Squid Girl gets around this by having three parts to each episode (so about seven or eight minutes long each) and each involve a different situation that Ika-chan is experiencing. The show actually reminds me a little of Yotsuba&, everyday situations that Ika-chan is completely mystified by and does some pretty strange/amusing stuff in reaction to it.

The Bad: The show tried to end the season by using two sections to show Ika-chan's farewell and what happened next but I honestly don't think it worked very well. Yes since there is no guarantee of a second season you do need to come up with an ending but it just didn't feel right. And of course, some skits worked less well than others (the one with the turning dolls was more creepy than anything else) and that will come down to personal preference more than anything else.


The Art: The picture up there pretty much sums it up, it's pretty cutesy (I would even call it semi-moe), simple style of art that works with the unserious manner of the series and there's not much else to say about it. Although, Squid Girl's design is really cute, I might need to make a plushie out of her sometime soon.


The Music: Now that is a peppy opening song, it almost scared me off the first time I watched it. It certainly does work within the series but it honestly feels like you took an already peppy Japanese idol, gave her a week's worth of sugar in one go, and then had her sing the song. The ending song is much more mellow (note, I have no idea what the lyrics for either song are) and I liked how a few details changed from episode in the otherwise still image. 




I've seen a lot of people say this show is similar to Sgt. Frog (and the premise does sound similar I'll admit) but I haven't seen any of the anime/read the manga recently enough to comment on that. It's on my to-watch list actually, just very low on it.