Squid Girl

Ok, so this wasn't my Christmas present. It was actually my sisters but anyway, it's February and I'm still getting through Christmas presents? Stay tuned though, the anime you've recommended will be reviewed! Time for some anime now.

Squid Girl or 'The Squid Girl: The Invader comes from the Bottom of the Sea' is a short comedy about a squid-girl hybrid who wants to conquer the earth. Strangely she never gets a real name and instead is always referred to as 'Squid Girl' she has powerful tentacles and a solid motive; she wants to rule humans because she's fed up of all the pollution and littering we cause. I assumed that the anime was going to give loads of green peace messages through out, but boy was I wrong! When she first comes to land she decides to take the nearest beach house as her mission headquarters but she accidentally breaks the wall and ends up being tricked into working there instead. I would be hard pressed to call it a slice-of-life anime because slice-of-lifes are supposed to be about everyday occurrences and personally I haven't heard of many encounters with squid girls, but it is without much development. It's extremely funny though and that's the main point. Me and my family were in hysterics at all the fishy puns like 'inkvasion', they are pulled off very well. Everything is so ridiculous to the point were you just have to laugh so I would definitely call this anime a win!
The art is really cute! They made squid girl look like a child and not intimidating in slightest, and they still got the features of a squid in there! Her silly hat that vaguely resembles the head of a squid and her blue tentacle hair, it's adorable really, but you can tell she's a squid! The humans however, all look a bit funny. I think it's the hair, it kind of defies gravity it almost makes me think of Pokemon with the ridiculous hairstyles! But yeah, it's a very simplistic art style just like most "slice-of-life" anime (they call it that on ANN so I'll just go with that). I do really like squid girl's design though!

The anime also does a really good job on their characters as they are all so different! Eiko Aizawa, owner of the beach hut that squid girl tries to take is a stubborn loud-mouthed girl. Always degrading squid girl, she wasn't even shocked when she first appeared! Then there's Chizuru Aizawa, Eiko's more gentle looking sister. At first I assumed she was the all important moe character of the show but she soon shows squid girl who's boss when she releases her total ninja side and permanently traumatizes squid girl! While this isn't a completely novel character idea, it was totally surprising and extremely entertaining since as the series progressed we got to see more and more of her darker side! Finally, the star of the show squid girl, just like a hyper child she quickly becomes distracted by all the new things around her. Although extremely foolish and gullible squid girl has some amazing talent in pointless things like math! But it's her total child/squid like nature that completes the show. Her stubborn attitude makes it difficult for her to admit that no one will be scared of her when she has such a cute demeanor! Her useless skills and over-used puns make her the most entertaining character and, in fact, the most entertaining part of the show!
The laughs are light and carefree and the mini-episode style means you can easily put this show on and relax. Although there are episodes which show a fair bit of sentiment and it starts of very well-meaning, it's rare that anything comes from these rare moments of emotion. But I really love squid girl as a character and since she is completely dominant in the series of course it's good! The animation suits the genre and the opening sequence is amazing! There's no plot or character development but the jokes and hilarity of the show can give you all the entertainment you need!

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