Shinryaku! Ika Musume is the second most enjoyable comedy show besides Milky Holmes from the fall 2010 season. The show involves a squid in human form with the desire to invade human kind. Popular culture depicts squids as villains and typically uses their tentacles in a naughty manner. On the other hand, a human form of a squid is really cute and seems so harmless that everyone abuses him/her. Humanity in the past and present continues to be a big jerk to mother nature. This is proven with the BP Oil Spill, the biggest man-made environmental disasters that most people have already forgotten. Regardless, I really enjoyed the show with the character driven comedy and watching Ika do really funny things that it gave me a smile. (Image Source)
The story involves a squid girl called Ika Musume, which came up shore and eventually meeting Eiko, Chizuru and Takeru in her attempt to take over a food stand they owned. Unfortunately, Ika made a hole in the wall with her tenticles and has to work with them forever so she could pay off her debt. This is where Ika starts to learn more on how humans live and meet people along the way with some who are very obsessed with her presence. Each episode is split up into three segments showing a different slice of life moment. My most favorite slice of life moments out of the 36 has to be Mini Ika in episode 5 since it was so cute that it caused a nosebleed. The segment was simply heartwarming and at the same time, tragic.
Besides the really naive Ika Musume, there are other enjoyable characters with their good or even quirky personalities. The two main girls besides Ika are seen in most of the episodes are Eiko, a tomboy who easily gets irritated of Ika and Chizuru, which influences people with the fear of seeing her scary face. On the other hand, there are some really crazy people like Sanae who obsess over Ika and Cindy, an alien scientist that suspects that Ika is an Alien. She has three male MIT scientists that accompany her and stirs trouble. Nevertheless, the characters of the story drive the comedy and make an appearance depending on the segment in the episode.
The production values for this show are is good. The animation and art style is rather cute and colorful. The scenery gives the feeling of summer, which went well with the story. Besides the animation, the opening and ending songs sounded good. The opening, Shinryaku no Susume sounds pretty catchy that it becomes addiction despite the weirdness of the promotional video. The ending is pretty calm and sounded good despite not listening to the full track. The ending has some change every episode even though it stays on the beach, which is an added bonus.
Overall, I enjoyed Shinryaku! Ika Musume since it was filled with fun and gave me a smile on my face every time I watch every episode. Sure, the jokes at times seemed a bit corny, but watching Ika Musume acting differently compared to a human and people abusing her made it up. While it’s not the best comedy in the fall 2010 season since Milky Holmes is funnier. Nevertheless, I still recommend Ika Musume since it’s cute, fun and relaxing.
Overall Rating
8.8/10, B+, Very Good ¶
I loved this show! Every episode had something fun about it not to mention Ika is so fun to watch, I will admit the De geso was a bit like uh this is different! Not that original since there are several anime characters who have similar end sentence things.
This was my top 1 of 2010! Mostly for the laughs and addictive characters.
Ah, Mini-Squid truly is one of the most heartwarming and incredible moments in 2010, it was so well written and executed, even with my heroine, Sanae’s sadness due to it not being her dream.
Overall, I agree with you that this show was awesome from start to finish. I look forward to the Squid of destiny’s return later this year, I think.