Nerima Daikon Brothers

Synopsis:

Episodes:

• Episode 1: More of My Nerima Daikon, Please (Aired: 01/10/2006)
• Episode 2: My Ball at the Salon (Aired: 01/17/2006)
• Episode 3: My Shot Will Crash Into Your Backside (Aired: 01/24/2006)
• Episode 4: My Gadget (Detective) Is Huge, Huh? (Aired: 01/31/2006)
• Episode 5: Roll Mine, No. 1 (Aired: 02/07/2006)
• ... and 7 more episodes

Characters:

• Hideki (Main) - Voice Actors: Ayres, Greg, Matsuzaki, Shigeru
• Ichiro (Main) - Voice Actors: Morikubo, Shoutarou, Patton, Chris
• Mako (Main) - Voice Actors: Christian, Luci, Niina, Ayano
• Conchiki Mart President (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Madono, Mitsuaki, Born, David
• Doctor Lady (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Watanabe, Misa, Mendez, Sofia
• Donabenabe (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Inada, Tetsu
• Gokutsubushi (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sakamoto, Chika, Rial, Monica
• Hakushon, Yuukel (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yuuki, Hiro, McFarland, Mike
• Hospital Director (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yamamoto, Keiko
• Kakuhama, Attorney (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Mignogna, Vic, Nishimura, Tomohiro
• Karakuri, Yukika (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Inoue, Marina, Mosier, Carli
• Korean Pachinko Parlor Owner (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Inoue, Kazuhiko, Laskowski, Mark
• Kyousai (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Takeuchi, Junko, Rae, Marcy
• Miyo (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Matsuki, Miyu, Karbowski, Brittney
• Nabeshin (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Weaver, Brett, Watanabe, Shinichi
• No.1 (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Suzuki, Chihiro, Guardiola, Illich
• Oizumi, Prime Minister (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yao, Kazuki, McAvin, Andy
• Pandaikon (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Vincent-Davis, Kira
• Police Chief (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Nishimoto, Riichi, Swasey, John
• Production Company President (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Genda, Tesshou
• Yakuza Boss (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ono, Daisuke, Gremillion, John

Staff:

• Watanabe, Shinichi (Director, Episode Director, Storyboard)
• Ebina, Yasunori (Sound Director)
• Igusa, Kahoru (Episode Director)
• Matsuura, Johei (Episode Director)
• Miyoshi, Masato (Episode Director)
• Mizumoto, Hazuki (Episode Director)
• Okazaki, Yukio (Episode Director)
• Saitou, Noriaki (Episode Director, Key Animation)
• Takada, Masahiro (Episode Director)
• Ushiro, Shinji (Episode Director)
• Yusa, Kazushige (Episode Director, Key Animation)
• Miura, Tatsuo (Storyboard)
• Ayres, Greg (Theme Song Performance)
• Christian, Luci (Theme Song Performance)
• Matsuzaki, Shigeru (Theme Song Performance)
• Morikubo, Shoutarou (Theme Song Performance)
• Niina, Ayano (Theme Song Performance)
• Patton, Chris (Theme Song Performance)
• Amisaki, Ryouko (Animation Director)
• Ayres, Christopher (ADR Director)
• Baba, Ryuuichi (Key Animation)
• Fukushima, Toyoaki (Animation Director)
• Igawa, Reina (Key Animation)
• Kondou, Takamitsu (Character Design)
• Niimura, Kyouko (In-Between Animation)
• Okano, Kuniharu (Color Setting, Special Effects)
• Ozeki, Miyabi (Animation Director)
• Urasawa, Yoshio (Series Composition)
• Utsugi, Isamu (Animation Director)
• Yamasawa, Minoru (Animation Director)
• Yamazaki, Chika (Key Animation)
• Yasukata, Yoshimi (Animation Director)

Reviews:

• User Splitter (Score: 8/10):
  Nabeshin, most famous as the afro-sporting director of Excel Saga, thrives with material no one in their right mind would even think to create. With Nerima Daikon Brothers, he molds the story of two brothers, their cousin, and a soft... VERY soft... panda, who want nothing more but to turn their paltry daikon field into a concert dome where they can perform their music. But this is Nabeshin, so there has to be a catch, and it's a doozy... you see, Nerima Daikon Brothers is an anime musical. Singing, dancing, and lots of it. Every episode deals with the Nerima Daikon Brothers looking for a break,finding corrupt rich people, and taking their money then losing it all once again. Though the episodes are formulaic, enough elements carry over and alter the story so no episode is exactly the same as the last. Ongoing jokes seldom get old.nnThe characters themselves, including a shadowy Nabeshin, are not so much in it to grow or learn, but to wreak havoc, and they do it in spades. Hideki is a loudmouth horndog, Ichiro is a monotonous douche, and Mako is a materialistic bitch. They're selfish, foul, and incredibly loveable. Though they are nothing more than caricatures of themselves, the whole show feels like a caricature of itself, so it works well. Even when a certain infamous pop star becomes a recurring role, it just works because at that point, you're willing to believe anything the series throws at you.nnThe art as zany and colorful just like the show's atmosphere. Much of the time it straddles the line between American animation and Japanese. This gives it a unique and fun look, energetic but never sloppy, that can really be appreciated after the same constant anime designs over and over for the average otaku.nnAlso keeping in mind this is technically a musical, the show thrives on the sound element. Dialogue turns into well-timed puns with bizarre numbers on panda sex and following inane laws. The energy and pure randomness of it really sell it though. Recurring numbers such as the money song and rental shop song are fun, catchy, and brilliantly written to keep in line with the series structure. The dub especially so.nnNerima Daikon Brothers is a show you don't have to think about when you watch. It's pure, zany fun beginning to end. Many comedy shows these days are full of more cynical, deadpan humor, but Nerima's selling point is it's cartoonish brand of comedy that is actually funny more than it is groan-worthy. For a good belly laugh, just pop this in and enjoy. It's nothing memorable, but it's a solid 12 episodes of fun.nnOverall, I give Nerima Daikon Brothers an 8 out of 10.
• User sen_mcgrath (Score: 7/10):
  I actually analyzed this series for a University paper (yeah, you read that right...) Directed by the infamous Nabeshin, this is exactly what one should expect from him, with a twist. This is the first ever anime musical comedy. While fans of the typical Nabeshin screwball comedy will love it's off the wall flavour, it was also the pioneer of a new subgenre. Unfortunately...the pioneer was drunk off his ass and ran his covered wagon into many a ditch. Story: The show does have a basic plot that tie all of the events together. Hideki, Ichiro and their cousinMako have big dreams of building a concert dome on their daikon field in the suburb of Nerima, where they will perform for sold out crowds of adoring fans. The problem? The brothers and cousin are perpetually broke due to freak acts of nature, evil corperations, and Mako's horrible spending habits. The plot, believe it or not, can be heavily paralleled with 'The Blues Brothers' and the main characters even dress similarly to Jake and Elwood Blues. nnIn all actuality though, the series is actually a scathing political commentary on Japan in the year 2005. Nobody is safe from Nabeshin's satire. Issues dealt with within the series include privatization of land, the Japanese health care system, partner abuse, police corruption, sexual harassment, homosexuality, the horrors of the music industry, the Korean Wave and gambling, to name a few. Some political and social figures are even spoofed. The Prime Minister, Michael Jackson, and Johnny and Associates are all satirized. The political commentary was very clever, but is now unfortunately outdated, and fairly irrelevant to American viewers. nnArt: nnIt's...Nabeshin. So expect a lot of eye poping, over the top visuals, and for stuff to literally come out of nowhere. The laws of physics do not apply. This is far from the fluid animation of animes like Fullmetal Alchemist, or with the detailed scenery of Le Chevalier D'Eon. It's zany, cartoony, and it fits. Scenes and visuals are routinely recycled along with musical numbers, which gets slightly grating. Charicatures of real people are often diformed and discoloured (Michael Jackson's counterpart 'Yukel Hakushon' has purple hair, yellow skin and a detachable nose.) There are also plenty of visual references and puns, though with quite a few of them you need a basic knowledge of Japanese, which the English language team tried to adapt, sometimes ineffectively. nnSound: nnHideki's Japanese voice is perfect for the lead singer of a blues band. The Japanese crew has a much better balance than the English crew, but the dub still manages to convey all the humour of their Japanese counterparts. One main complaint the fandom has is Mako's Southern Belle accent (she speaks in Osakan dialect in Japanese). It can get fairly annoying after prolongued viewing. Another complaint is that the songs, while pretty good, and catchy, get repeated from episode to episode, with different lyrics. Remember what I said earlier about the pioneer for this genre drunkly driving the covered…
• User gedata (Score: 7/10):
  For lack of a better comparison (never saw Blues Brothers, and I’m not totally well versed in the Blues as a whole) Nerima Daikon Brothers is kinda the closest we’ve ever gotten to an anime version of Elite Beat Agents, except less dancing and more singing. It’s got a rather simple premise, as it takes place in little town called Nerima and follows a goofy trio of that live on a stage in the middle of a daikon field that’s owned a by the leader of the group, a square-jawed daikon farmer named Hideaki. Oh and their mascot, Pandaikon . He along with his cohorts,cousin Mako (the clingy gold digger) and Ichiro (doesn’t seem to care about anything, and oh yeah, he works for a sleazy bar) aim to rake in enough cash to build their own stadium and share their music as the “Nerima Daikon Brothers”, get famous, and become the pride of their city. Most episodes plays out in a rather formulaic path, they normally include get rich quick plots that have the Nerima Daikon Brothers run across rather nasty swindler each episode. The Daikon Bros then take it upon themselves to rid the town of this threat (with the help of a rental object from my favorite afro’d director of course) and get try to get the money they need to fulfill their dreams, the latter failing miserably each time.nnThe fact that the majority of the humor and story of this show is done through song is what sets this title apart from any other formulaic comedy out there. However, if the term “formulaic” hasn’t been used in this review enough for you to notice, the show’s pretty darn repetitive. One thing worth noting too is that even though this is a musical comedy, the show’s got a rather limited pool of tunes, seriously, it’s got like 5, MAX. They also all play at the same given time each episode. There’s the “I’m the villain and here’s my evil plan” song, the “Mako being a vain bitch” song, the “hey Nabeshin, we’re looking pretty screwed, so give as a random Deus ex Machina to kick some jerk’s ass” song and the “hey we’re the Nerima Daikon Brothers and we’re here to wreck your evil plan and get rich at the same time” song. It’s strange, I honestly suspected that a show this repetitive would’ve worn me down to my last nerve by the time it ended, but it never did. I credit that to the fact that it seemed to me that the show knew which parts to keep the same, and what to change each time in order to keep itself from becoming dull. The length of the series also helps since this is probably the only comedy I liked, finished, and was glad their was never anything more made of it. I’m sure that had it taken another cour of my life, the act would’ve gotten old well before the end.nnSo what is it that…
• ... and 4 more reviews

Forum Topics:

• Nerima Daikon Brothers dubbed version
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 12 Discussion
• Soundtrack
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 11 Discussion
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 9 Discussion
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 10 Discussion
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 1 Discussion
• Nerima Daikon Brothers Episode 2 Discussion

External Links:

• Official Site
• AniDB
• ANN
• Wikipedia

Related Anime/Manga:

• Nerima Daikon Brothers (manga - Adaptation)