, shortened to ''Nuku Nuku DASH'', is a 12-episode

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

series and the third adaptation of the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, ''

All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Yuzo Takada. It was serialized in ''Weekly Manga Action'' for only three issues in 1991, with the three published stories later compiled in a single volume collection in December 1997. The ...

'', created by

Yuzo Takada is the pseudonym of , a popular Japanese manga artist. He worked as an assistant for manga artist Fujihiko Hosono before starting his career as an original author. His first work appeared in November 1983 in ''Young Magazine'', and his first seri ...

. ''Nuku Nuku DASH'' was produced by the Banneko Dash Committee, which included

Ashi Productions is a Japanese anime studio, located in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, known for its four magical-girl anime, especially ''Magical Princess Minky Momo''. It was established by Toshihiko Sato and other artists on December 20, 1975, as ''Ashi Productions ...

MOVIC is a Japanese company which specializes in the publication of trading cards, figures, CDs, and other general media related to the anime industry. Movic is a part of the Animate group. Anime involved in *'' Ah! My Goddess: The Movie'': Producti ...

, and

Starchild Records , commonly known as King Records, is a Japanese record company founded in January 1931 as a division of the Japanese publisher Kodansha. It initially began operating as an independent entity in the 1950s. It later became part of the Otowa Group ...

, and directed by

Yoshitaka Fujimoto Yoshitaka is a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings Yoshitaka can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義孝, "justice, filial piety" *義隆, "justice, no ...

. The series was released on

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in three volumes from September 23, 1998, to December 23, 1998. The English language was licensed by

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and was also released on three DVD volumes from October 28, 2003, to January 20, 2004.

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

announced the rescue license of this series, along with the original OVA and TV Series.

Plot summary

The Natsume family — Professor Kyusaku, his wife Akiko, and fourteen-year-old son Ryunosuke — take in a young woman by the name of Atsuko, who has lost her memory. Unbeknownst to all of them, Atsuko is an Androrobot prototype which has escaped from the power Mishima Corporation's research facilities. In order to track down the missing prototype, Mishima transferred Akiko, who is employed by the corporation, to a new secret department the hunt for the Androrobot. Professor Kyusaku has secrets of his own and discovers that Atsuko is an Androrobot and sneaks Atsuko down into his hidden lab under the house in order to attempt to unlock her secrets. Ryunosuke knows there's something different about Atsuko but she seems pretty normal outside of the fact that she can't remember anything about herself, and he is quite happy to have her around.

Differences from previous adaptations

''Nuku Nuku DASH!'' is a completely alternate universe, as evidenced by the radical change in the ages and general appearances of most of the characters, though they do tend to retain some of their original look. In ''DASH!'', Nuku Nuku has matured from a 14- to 16-year-old appearance to a 19-year-old and is much curvier than in the original OVAs or ''Nuku Nuku TV''. She also sports green hair of a shade so light that it is often mistaken for blonde and golden eyes and has a form of selective memory loss, which is later explained near the end of the series when her memories are regained. She also enters tactical form, in which she can use her androbot powers, whenever the need arises. The civilians call Nuku Nuku in tactical form, 'Super Dynamite Girl'. Kyusaku is not her creator in ''DASH!'' but rather is a friend of her creator, a man known simply as Professor Higuchi. As a result, Nuku Nuku, despite still using the familiar nickname, is actually named Atsuko Higuchi in this series, and Kyusaku's son Ryunosuke falls head over heels in love with Nuku Nuku, occasionally encountering her super heroic alter ego, but does not learn the truth until the end of the series. Akiko's Henchwomen Arisa and Kyouko are the same, with more significant changes to their personalities. The two have switched bodies. Arisa is now less implosive and more laid back and not as prone to violence, while Kyouko is now more aggressive and takes her job very seriously.

Reception

The English language release of ''Nuku Nuku Dash'' was received poorly by anime reviews, obtaining an overall score of 32 out of 100 from the Meta Anime Review Project. Jason Carter of the web publication ''Anime Jump!'' stated that he hated the series. Don Houston of ''DVD Talk'' complained that the show that appeared to be much older than it really was, using concepts that were ready done to death. Carlos Ross of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews states that "DASH has little of what made 'All Purpose Cultural Cat-Girl Nuku Nuku''work - when it comes to the been-there, done-that, so-last-century action sequences. What cheapens them even further is that this series has so much potential." Reviewer Chris Beveridge of AnimeOnDVD.com, however, gave a more positive light to the series by stating that he enjoyed the series more than he has expected to since he wasn't sure what else there could be done after the original series.

References

External links

Starchild's official website
{{Ashi Productions 1998 anime OVAs Action anime and manga Comedy anime and manga Mecha anime and manga ja:万能文化猫娘DASH!