The Intro
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When I first popped World of Narue into my DVD player. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew it that it fell into the sci fi romance category (whatever that is). What I quickly learned though is that this series is not just ANY sci fi romance, it is an incredibly touching, moving, sweet, thoughtful, romantic show that’s filled with tear jerking episodes, a plot that is anything but contrived, beautiful writing and music and has instantly shot to #2 on my top 10 animes of all time list!
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The Story
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The story of this anime isn’t as weird as you might think it is. Kazu is a very regular 14 year old boy in jr. high. He is a little weird and very shy but all in all, he’s a great kid. On the way home from school one day he is attacked by an alien puppy with four mouths and teeth that could bite your head off in one gulp. He ends up being saved by a girl he’s never met before and after finding her in his school to thank her, he finds out that she is actually an alien but being that he is just that much of a great kid, he isn’t fazed at all and so begins the first love and relationship of two teenagers.
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This series spans over 12 episodes but amazingly enough, it doesn’t feel like 12 episodes and while you are still dying to see more, you are completely satisfied with what you were shown over the four volumes.
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The Good and the Bad
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OK, I’m going to be really blunt right here. This series is so incredibly close to flawless that this section of my review is almost completely pointless. I have even gone to others in order to get their thoughts on this series and no one could give me any real complaints about this series. While some did say that it wasn’t their preference in anime, they still had no real complaints about it.
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Central Park Media put out an absolutely wonderful release with this series. The menu screens are well designed and really easy to navigate, there are tons of extras and the English dub tracks are just as good as the original Japanese.
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Another part that I absolutely loved about this release is the subtitles. Included within the subtitles are additional notes at times which explain some cultural references and jokes which many Americans would not understand without living in the country and so these notes were incredibly helpful to me so that not only could I understand more of the jokes that were made but also learned a bit more about some general cultural notes.
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As I mentioned earlier, the story in this series is far from contrived. While it may not be the most original story out there, the way that it is presented makes it feel like it’s something completely new. But what’s a good story without incredible characters to make that story worth watching? Absolutely nothing! So, on that note we have two wonderful lead characters and some just as wonderful supporting characters.
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The main couple that we are dealing with would be Kazu and Narue (pronounced Nar-way). Then we have their friends Maruo (Mar-ooh-oh) and Yagi. After that, we have the character that I consider to be the completely show stealer which would be Narue’s older sister Kanaka who is always so incredible to watch! She’s sweet, she’s sassy, she’s funny! While there are still many characters that I’m not mentioning to talk about any of them would just provide way too many spoilers so I will leave you to discover them all on your own!
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I think the main complain that I would bring up about this series is the one that I am saying the most constantly and that would be that this series is much too short. At only 12 episodes long, you are left with a serious desire to see more and more. While I have heard rumors of a second season being made in Japan and then released here, those rumors have yet to be confirmed so I guess that just means I’m going to have to wait for it just like everyone else.
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Music
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The music in this series is soooooo wonderful!!! Goodness, I haven’t heard music this great in forever! The music in this anime is something that you can listen to over and over! The opening theme of this anime is called “Shooting Star*” (yes, it even includes the star in the title) and the lyrics are so sweet. I think the most noteworthy of which would be
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“The world is spinning faster and the brakes don’t work/
as long as I am with you I can go anywhere.”
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The closing theme that I love is called “Ice Cream” and just like the opening theme, the lyrics are incredibly moving and touching and go along with the soft music that is played along with it. I could listen to these two songs over and over again and actually have done so ever since I finished the series and acquired the song the next day.
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Extras
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Anyone who reads my anime reviews knows how much I absolutely love DVD extras and this box set is not afraid to deliver in the least!
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Here is a list of all the extras that you get in this series:
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~Japanese Language
~English Language
~English Subtitles
~Director’s commentary on episodes 1-3
~Japanese actor’s commentary
~Textless Opening
~Textless Ending
~Interviews with both the American and Japanese casts
~Original Japanese TV ads for the DVD releases
~Art Frames (shots from the actual show, and other pictures of characters)
~Pencil Sketches
~Storyboards
~Manga to Anime comparisons
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All of these extras are worth watching at least once though I do wish that the Art shots lasted a lot longer (each volume only has about a minute worth of shots). Something that I’m not too wild about is that the commentaries from the Japanese casts aren’t that interesting because most of the time they seem to have trouble staying on topic and seem to spend most of the time just joking with each other but again, there are some interesting cultural notes made within the subtitles so it may be worth watching but definitely not something that the children will be interested in.
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Overall
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Overall this is an incredible series that shot to #2 on my list of all time favorite animes beaten only by Princess Nine. The only reason why Princess Nine beat out this series is because I enjoyed every single episode of Princess Nine but episode 10 of World of Narue didn’t really go over well with me.
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This is a series that I feel very comfortable recommending for kids aged 9 and up and adults. Parents might want to be cautioned that there is a little bit of minor language and some panty shots but other than that, nothing that I would be afraid to show to children. The presentation here tells us everything that we need to know… love is beautiful and should be cherished in all it’s forms.