Nurse Witch Komugi

Introduction

Cosplay is that curiously Japanese invention, where fans of an anime show dress up as their favourite characters. And shame on you if you buy your costume off the peg. In this production line world, cosplay may be the only thing keeping the art of the seamstress alive. Your average anime convention is filled with the real life counterparts of 2-dimensional cel-shaded characters. Competitions are held to determine the best looking costume, and simply wearing it isn't enough. You have to have a routine, a talent to showcase your cosplay skills. There are people who can actually make a living from cosplay, and the ultimate goal is to be a cosplay idol. Except it isn't a Japanese invention at all, as anyone who has ever wandered into a Star Trek convention by mistake can attest to.

Nurse Witch Komugi is a parody spin-off from the Soultaker anime series, sharing the same characters and cast, although since Soultaker has never been released in the UK, and since I've never seen it, it's pretty pointless me mentioning it. I'll have to take Nurse Witch Komugi on its own merits. It so transpires that the evil Virus King Ungrar escaped from Vaccine World and fled to Earth to wreak havoc. Maya, goddess of Vaccine World sent Mugimaru to Earth to find Ungrar and bring him back. But the trouble is that Vaccine World people can't use their magic on Earth. Mugimaru has to recruit someone to wield the magic wand he carries and capture Ungrar and in the process save the world. That someone turns out to be Komugi Nakahara, high school student, aspiring idol and cosplay specialist. But when she waves her magic wand and says the magic words, she becomes Magical Nurse Komugi, able to defeat the deadliest of viruses with her magic syringe.

5 and a bit OVA episodes are presented across 2 discs by ADV films. There are also a healthy brace of extras to peruse.


Disc 1

1. Smash! Komugi VS Hikky - The Biggest Battle in Akihabara
Things aren't going well for Komugi, she keeps fluffing her lines during a movie with her idol Kyousuke Date, and that doesn't help her standing at the talent agency where her agent can't protect her from the ire of the company president. She has a chance to make up for her poor performance by cosplaying at a tech fair that weekend at Akihabara. But there is trouble ahead for Komugi and her sidekick Mugimaru. At school, Kaneda, one of the class nerds has been oddly absent, and her best friend Koyori Kokubunji has a secret identity. That weekend, a computer virus created by Kaneda will escape into the real world, spread by the evil Magical Maid Koyori. Magical Nurse Komugi is the only one that can save the world from the ASCII virus.

2. Horror! Magical Maid Girl Descends - Decisive Battle at the Top of Odaiba!
Komugi is hard at work cosplaying, as well as meeting and greeting her many fans, well those that security deem aren't too weird. Least weird is Inaba, who creates fan comics of his heroine, and Komugi's next appearance will be at the upcoming Comiket. But Magical Maid Koyori has set her eyes on manga as the next disease vector. Only cosplay can save us all now.


2.5. Special Episode to Return to the Main Subject - Hunch of Another Festival, Heave-Ho!
There was a pretty hefty gap between episodes 2 and 3 of the OVAs, so to ease fans back into the Nurse Witch Komugi phenomenon, the creators made 2.5, which gave us a glimpse of the characters at work in a cosplay café, to remind us of who they are and their interrelationships, and also sell a few records by sticking a few songs in.

Disc 2

3. Serious! Komugi Dies Two or Three Times?! Horrifying Izu-Ito Road with Flowers Blooming Out of Season
It's not the brightest start to the morning to be hit and killed by a truck, but Komugi soldiers on in spirit, especially when she realises that her friends and colleagues at the talent agency aren't showing her the appropriate amount of solemn respect. She resolves to stick around and haunt them until they do. But Komugi's absence has made life simple for Magical Maid Koyori, who's now spreading a little road rage virus around town. It's time for a resurrection or three.


4. Pioneer! The Anime Studio that Invites Storms. Great Blast of Suidobashi?!
Komugi's expanding her fanbase by becoming a pro-wrestler, and it looks to be succeeding too. At least fans are clamouring for a Muscle Cutie Komugi anime series. Komugi visits the anime studio to see what's what, and when the director quits in a huff, a cost-cutting producer sits Komugi down in the director's chair. The deadline for the first episode approaches, time runs out and the pressure mounts. It's the perfect circumstance for Magical Maid Koyori to cook up a new virus.

5. The Encounter Has Come
There is a new player in town. Magical Teacher Komachi has arrived and defeated Magical Maid Koyori, and placed everyone in thrall of her educative prowess. Now everyone is enrolled in her high school, and Komugi is left bereft, in the ruins of the talent agency. Then Goddess Maya comes to Earth to put the matter in its correct perspective for Komugi, and put her on the road to saving her friends, and the world. There will be a massive three-way confrontation between all the Magical Girls, but first Komugi has to get to school.

Picture

Nurse Witch Komugi gets a 4:3 transfer from ADV that is heavy on the bright primary colours, bold artwork and simple appealing character designs. There's no problem to really report with the transfer, apart from a greater degree of aliasing than normal in anime discs. It's not enough to affect your enjoyment of the show though.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese, along with optional translated subtitles and signs. The dialogue is clear in both versions, and the music is suitably perky for an irreverent comedy anime. I suppose there is a little more presence with the English track, but I've come to loathe comedy anime dubs, where louder apparently equates to funnier. I stuck with the Japanese for the duration, but found Komugi's voice actress to be only marginally more tolerable than the English version. It's not one of my favourite anime when it comes to audio.

Extras

Both discs come with animated menus and jacket pictures. They are held inside a normal Amaray sized case, with one disc to a side. The sleeve is reversible and has a selection of character bios on the inside.

Disc 1

Trailers for Tree of Palme, Guyver, DNAngel, Shadow Skill and Jinki Extend

You also get the clean credits, a 5-minute production art slideshow, and the Japanese TV spot.

The How To Anime Documentary lasts 6½ minutes and is an irreverent behind the scenes look at the studio that makes Komugi.

The big extra on the disc is the Commentary on episode 2 with ADR Director Scott McClennen, and English voice of Komugi, Jocelyne Loewen. There is a good deal of info about the original Soultaker series, which shares both the Japanese and dub casts with Komugi. There's also a bit about the ADR process and the usual chitchat you find on these tracks.


Disc 2

You get trailers for The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Get Backers, Madlax, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, and Aquarian Age.

Also on this disc are the clean credit sequences, a 5-minute Production Sketch slideshow, and TV spots.

Alongside episode 4, Scott McClennen gets together with Kira Vincent-Davis (Koyori) and Luci Christian (Mugimaru) and the three settle down for a nice chat about the anime industry. Normally this would be called a commentary, but since they don't really talk about the episode, or even the Nurse Witch Komugi series, that wouldn't really be the case.

Conclusion

You actually have a choice of Cosplay anime comedies. I wouldn't have thought it to be such a fecund genre, but ADV have brought both Nurse Witch Komugi and Cosplay Complex to the UK. Neither is about to set the world alight in terms of brilliance, but in my opinion, Cosplay Complex has the edge on Nurse Witch Komugi in three areas. First, it actually has cosplay in, which is always useful, second, the comedy is a little more adult, a little more ribald, but most important of all, it's shorter. Nurse Witch Komugi is twice the length at its 5 and half episodes, which is stretching a joke out too far, it's a lot more juvenile in its humour, and it just plays lip service to the idea of cosplay. Cosplay Complex had lots of costumes in it, plenty of opportunity to search for your favourite shows' references and it even comes with a five-minute clip reel to point them out. There are only one or two recognisable costumes in Nurse Witch Komugi, and most of the others generic cute outfits could come from any show at all. Komugi isn't so much a cosplay comedy as it is a send up of the magical girl genre, those shows where a young girls twirls a baton, flashy lights appear, a hint of nudity and a transformation into a world saving super-heroine, typified by the Sailor Moon series.


Nurse Witch Komugi starts off well, with a satirical bent and sharp wit targeting otaku and anime fans, poking fun at the very audience that will most likely buy the show. The first episode sets up the premise, having a jab at the idol phenomenon, the Japanese equivalent of the It-Girl, where fame comes from looking pretty and behaving inanely, and careers are crafted around that fame, rather than vice versa. Komugi is part of a talent agency, which is looking to expand her presence from beyond cosplay into other areas such as acting and music. Of course it means lots of hard work catering to public demand. Komugi's first appearance is at an expo at Akihabara, geek heaven where gadget fans and anime aficionados gather to spend their hard earned yen. One of those geeks has been hard at work creating a virus that will be unleashed by the villainous Koyori, turning all its victims into ASCII characters. The second episode turns its attention to the Doujinshi movement. Fans of manga and anime needn't stop at consuming their favourite creators' output, they can turn their hand at creating themselves, and copyright usually turns a blind eye to these homemade comics that send familiar characters on unexpected adventures and cross-overs. Of course some would-be artists let their imaginations run away on wholly salacious trips, but there are Doujinshi that have become manga creators in their own right. There are comic fairs where these fan-artists come together to show off their creations, and one of these is the next venue for a virus attack. This is also one of the shows with a recognisable parody. G-Force!


But the following episodes lose momentum. The parodies become less sharp and the humour less incisive. They really are just magical girl stories with a zany sense of humour, and parody and satire are significantly lacking. The third episode seems lifted from an Excel Saga script, which leads to a cameo in the fourth episode. That fourth episode does appear to get back on track with a poke at the anime industry, but its heart really isn't in it anymore, and there is a depressing predictability to the proceedings. The final episode doesn't bother with any pretence of intelligence, and instead pulls out a stock zany concluding episode where the humour is daft and the story pointless.


For me the biggest disappointment with Nurse Witch Komugi was the title character. Komugi was an annoying and somewhat stereotypical brat, and lacked the charm and quirkiness that would have helped her stand out. It's a shame as the supporting cast was far more interesting, the frazzled President Yui, the venal Manager Shiro, the rival Megumi, the smart beyond her years Runa, and the busty nemesis Koyori. I also liked the lecherous mascot Mugimaru, who would drop the high-pitched cute voice whenever his thoughts ventured towards the carnal. Nurse Witch Komugi was a nice idea that just didn't have the chops to carry beyond the first two episodes. If you can find this two-disc set as cheaply as I did, then it will do for a giggle, but not much more than that.