"Amazing Failure"
Amazing Nurse Nanako
1999 OVA, 6 episodes
Studio-Radix, Director-Hiroshi Negishi
Writers: Yano Rasputin and Ryo Yoshida
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| One of the few SFW pics I could find for this... |
Note: I bought this from Amazon.com for
50 cents (the 3.99 S&H notwithstanding)
Oh, boy, I'm the Eclectic Dude and
this time...well...I got a special kind of show today to talk about.
For the past few reviews I have talked about shows that in one way or
another, are like well-oiled machines where everything runs smoothly
and operates as a coherent whole. However, there's the other side of
the quality spectrum, where all aspects of the show don't work at all
and therefore does not operate as a coherent, much less cohesive
whole. Amazing Nurse Nanako is a perfect example, a show that tries
desperately to succeed but fails in every conceivable way in the most
spectacular fashion possible.
Amazing Nurse Nanako, or Nanako Kaitai
Shinsho, is a 1999 6 episode OVA directed by Hiroshi Negishi (Tenchi
Muyo, Burn Up W, KO Beast, Master of Mosquiton) and animation
production by Studio Radix. Released on DVD by Pioneer/Geneon in
2003, its obstentily about the story of Nanako, a nurse who works for
the mysterious Ogami Hospital, whose head doctor Kyoji is brought in
to conduct experiments on 'special' patients that the military bring
him in some vaguely explained conspiracy.
At least it would be, but instead of
telling a good or compelling story it focuses on fanservice and
comedy slapstick. But it fails in these two endeavors. First, the
fanservice is not titillating at all, just very stupid and hilarious.
No female is this show (only Nanako and one other) don't seem to wear
bras at all, with some prominent tent poles abound. The boob physics
is probably the most nuts I've seen in ages, and possibly more so
then modern ecchi shows. Then again, it doesn't surpasses Eiken
levels of fanservice, so at least I'm grateful for that. Second, the
comedy slapstick fails due to the subject matter which is abuse and
torture of Nanako. It is not funny, despite the efforts of the
writing to make it so; it is rather off-putting and awkward. It
barely reaches the point of being cringe-worthy, but thankfully
doesn't sustain that for too long.
Even when it does focus on the story,
which it does for about half the runtime, it is also a glorious mess.
It is a patische of military/religious conspiracy and
bizarro-science ideas that really don't gel at all. Even at the end,
when the serious and compelling story comes into force, it is too
little, too late. It seems to me that there is a good story here, but
it is muddled by tracks of poor decisions, like the stuff I mentioned
above.
That, and the animation, to be blunt,
looks like crap. This was made in that halcyon era of early digital
paint/animation techniques of the late '90s and early '00s and shows
itself here, more so than other series from that time. Obvious CG
work and off model shots abound, especially in the ending song. The
only good I can say about the animation is that very retro-90s look
to it, but's that about it.
Finally, the only thing that salvages
this show is the English dub, which takes the bad writing and makes
it at least looking like it was done as a deliberate parody. It has
some good actors in (Patrick Seitz and some others) who try and make
this show works a bit better, despite the poor source material.
Nevertheless, this show needs to be
seen to be believed. It is great fun, though for not the same reasons
the creators didn't intend for. And it is interesting to see this
show as it does serve as a template for future ecchi shows to come,
as shades of this show can be seen by the more astute viewer in shows
like Sora no Otoshimono and Rosario+Vampire. I recommend it, but only
barely.
Next Time: Magic Users' Club OVA
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