“I Hate You, Nii-chan”
What They Say:
The “Nyanbo” are creatures with square bodies with ears and tails that came to Earth from outer space. There’s Tora, who dreams of repairing their broken UFO and returning to space, as well as his sister Kotora, the precocious Shiro, the mischievous Mike, the mysterious Kuro, and many more. All of these Nyanbos are now happily living much like cats, free-spirited and sometimes getting into trouble, in places that humans don’t know about.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a focus on the mecha side of things the last time around, Nyanbo had its cute moments but didn’t do much for me. This episode shifts us back to the core group as we get Kotora in a bit of a state after she ends up losing the teddy bear that she was given to by her makeshift family here. Kotora tends to just get cute moments throughout the show and doesn’t cause too much trouble but enough to be frustrating to Tora at the least. We get some fun in seeing her playing and getting involved in things all around but it gets more problematic when she returns home and discovers that the stuffed animal was lost. This has its sad moments that play well and has her running off to try and find it, which has Tora following since even as frustrated with her as he is, he still cares for her. It’s familiar trappings but it plays well for some simple but effective emotions.
In Summary:
Nyanbo’s focus on Kotora is solid and it gives us a little bit of Tora to deal with as well since he gets to be angry for a bit and discipline her, which doesn’t play out too well. It’s an interesting angle to follow about what kind of discipline to engage in and the ramifications of it, but in the end it all comes back to the bonding between the group and doing what’s best for Kotora. It’s cute and has some nice emotional beats overall to make you enjoy it and see why they do function as the kind of odd group that they are.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
