When Kuune escapes from the pocket dimension that Nyarko trapped her in, the gang expect trouble. But things don’t pan out quite how they expected…
What They Say:
“I’m the chaos that always crawls up to you with a smile, Nyarlathotep.” A silver haired girl appeared with this nonsensical catch phrase!
The Review:
Kuune’s managed to escape from the pocket dimension that Nyaruko locked her in, and Nyaruko’s expecting that she’ll be out for revenge. For the moment at least, she’s disappeared – but that’s just giving Kuuko time to think about all the different forms her sister’s vengeance is likely to take. They’re not happy thoughts. When the gang go to school, though, they find that Kuune seems to have gotten there before them, and set a few traps…
What you expect as the episode starts to play out: a battle royale between Kuuko, Nyarko and Kuune. What you get: something else. There’s definitely a little bait-and-switch going on here, although ‘battle royale’ might just about still count as a description of how the episode eventually unfolds – just instead of getting a series of bloody battles (which would’ve been fun), we get a series of board & card games where no-one can resist cheating (which isn’t so much fun).
Yup, it’s another episode of Nyarko-san that doesn’t live up to its own billing. I’d be annoyed if that wasn’t what I’ve really come to expect from this series now. There’s the usual mix of elements here: recurring gags, references to other shows, and Nyarko getting overly-possessive over poor Mahiro. In order, some of those gags are wearing thin now, referencing other shows is a Bad Idea when it only serves to remind you just how good those other shows were compared to this, and give it up, Nyarko.
Curiously, for all that the buildup to the episode is on just how pissed Kuune’s going to be, when she does finally turn up she provides the best part of the episode – by being completely oblivious to what’s going on around her. It may just be a few scenes to round the episode off, but it’s the only part of the episode that actually managed to get a snigger out of me. Not a good sign for a comedy, that.
In Summary:
Better than the last few episodes, but that’s not really saying much, as Nyarko-san has been bouncing along the bottom of the marking scale for a while now. So much potential to have fun with the characters and the setting they’ve been put in, so little effort to capitalise on that – Nyaruko-san W continues to be this season’s big disappointment.
Content Grade: C+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
27” Apple iMac, 2.9GHz Core i5, 32GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.8.4