Ordinary
teenager Mahiro Yasaka is saved from a monster one night by a mysterious girl
who declares that she is none other than Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. Unlike
the terrifying, pharaonic sorcerer of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, Nyarko, as
she calls herself, is a cute girl who promptly moves into Mahiro’s house. Good
thing his parents are away on their honeymoon.
She explains
that the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos are actually species, many of whom are
members of an interstellar organization that protects Earth from aliens
involved in human trafficking and smuggling (Earth entertainment is all the
rage across the cosmos, but governed by strict import laws). Nyarko has been
assigned to protect Mahiro because he seems to be a target. Rather, she begged
for the assignment because she’s madly, and openly, in love with him.
After Nyarko
transfers into Mahiro’s class the pair travel to R’lyeh and thwart an illegal auction
(Mahiro was going to be bid on to be the protagonist of a yaoi film). While
there they encounter a Cthugan girl named Kuuko, who is either Nyarko’s
long-time rival or the bearer of unrequited love for the latter, depending on
which of them you ask. Kuuko promptly joins Nyarko’s organization and transfers
into Mahiro’s class as well.
Together,
they are assigned to investigate the recent murder of some of the gods of the
Dreamlands. Unbeknownst to them the culprit is Nyarko’s jealous older brother,
who is promptly defeated when Nyarko accidentally stubs his toe. Nyarko and Kuuko
are assigned to stay on Earth and help the surviving Dreamlands gods, which
involves Kuuko also moving into
Mahiro’s house with a similar non-asking of permission. And now his mom’s
called and says she’ll be home in less than a minute…
Thoughts
After
watching this I imagined Nyarko pulling the exact same thing with Lovecraft
eighty-some years ago, which caused him to go insane and write the Cthulhu
Mythos stories. Which apparently
is the case, more or less. Makes sense to me.
Lovecraftian
trappings aside though, this series is a typical ‘normal boy meets weird girl’
romantic comedy. I suspect there will be a plot eventually, but the first three
episodes revolved primarily around Nyarko being a spaz and openly failing to
respect Mahiro’s personal space, when she’s not bloodily slaughtering monsters
just out of view to protect him, and Mahiro stabbing her in the head with a
fork whenever she gets out of line. To his credit, Mahiro doesn’t take any of this
lying down (see the aforementioned use of a fork), but other than that theres’
nothing interesting about him, and while Nyarko’s over-the-top characterization
no doubt has its appeal, I didn’t find it or any of the supporting cast so far
particularly compelling either. There’s also the usual bits of fanservice –
Nyarko trying to take a bath with Mahiro, Kuuko fighting naked (with red
patches providing the strategic censoring), etc. – which is fine if you’re into
that sort of thing but not going to hook you otherwise.
On the
technical side, the animation was pretty good and shifted appropriately between
bright and colorful during the comedic/slapstick parts and a more subdued
palette with shadows and blood-red skies during monster attacks and Lovecraftian
locations like R’lyeh and the Dreamlands.
I could go
on about how this entire premise makes no sense when Lovecraft’s stories are about
how humanity is an insignificant speck in the cosmos, which is populated by
beings of unfathomable horror that can drive you mad just by looking at them. Nyarko
even makes a nod to this when she says taking the kind of form Mahiro expects
would cause him to lose Sanity (a reference to the Call of Cthulhu RPG). But that’s taking it way more seriously than
it’s meant to be. The disconnect inherent in a Lovecraftian being having a
blatant schoolgirl crush on a boy is clearly the entire point. Lovecraft is
probably turning over in his grave, and if you prefer your Cthulhu Mythos dark
and ‘humanity is an insignificant speck in the cosmos’, you probably won’t
enjoy this, nor will you if you’re looking for an anime that breaks new ground.
If you’re looking for a standard slapstick romantic comedy with an over-the-top
protagonist, and a humorous take on the grim Cthulhu Mythos sounds like fun, you
might wanna check this out. Me, it's not something I'll go out of my way to follow.
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