Kemeko DX - Episode 3 (Dropped)

After fully expecting to drop Kemeko DX after its second episode, I pretty much surprised myself by giving it a reprieve to at least see how episode three shaped up, and whether it could continue that slight improvement that I could see in the second instalment.

However, the word "Dropped" next to the title to this entry should tell you that any such improvement was short lived, as this third episode went back to everything I disliked about the opener - Randomness for the sake of randomness, with nothing that I could really call humour, and characters that generally rather got on my nerves. Kemeko is rather too over-the-top for my tastes, while Sanpeita as a character is virtually non-existant, and many of the other main supporting characters don't do a lot for me either.


The attempts at plot progression on show here weren't particularly impressive either, it all felt very old hat and cliche with its talk of dormant secret powers from many years ago and so on, leaving me cold as far as actually caring what Mishima Electronics (who I noticed in one shot are responsible for making Kemeko's suit by the way) are up to.

In short then, I guess I have to somewhat salute this series for trying, and actually putting out a reasonable second episode, but as per Kyouran Kazoku Nikki earlier this year it simply tries too hard to be crazy and zany sometimes, and that forced feeling ends up leaving us with a dull and irritating series.

Kemeko DX - Episode 2

The opening episode of Kemeko DX quite frankly left me cold, and sorely tempted to drop the series after that single instalment. However, fair guy that I am, I wanted to at least give it a second chance to redeem itself.


To be fair, episode two of the series has in fact at least given it a stay of execution in my anime-watching schedule. While a lot of the madcap craziness continues to be almost totally devoid of amusement to me, this second instalment managed to worm its way ever-so-slightly into my heart by piling on a large number of pop culture and anime cross-references, from Ghost in the Shell to a completely random reference to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (which seems to be turning up all over the place at the moment, even Toradora! revolved an entire conversation around a phrase from that show), whilst even poking a little fun at the brothers who founded Kadokawa who produce the series. It also managed to amuse somewhat with its depiction of Sanpeita's Mum, the horribly overworked manga artist who (along with a colleague) has just pulled four straight all-nighters in this episode - Her sleep deprived behaviour is probably the highlight of this instalment.

Aside from the humour, as far as the plot goes we get introduced to Tamiko (Sanpeita's sister), and also find out that the girl inside Kemeko doesn't appear to be the girl Sanpeita promised to marry ten years ago, while also discovering just who Kemeko and the girl who 'drives' her is supposed to be fighting against.

So, I suppose what we've learned here is that throwing a bunch of cultural references into an anime series tends to make me far more forgiving of its flaws than usual. The whole Kemeko suit thing just annoys me hugely for some reason, and the general premise and humour of the series does nothing, but as long as it can remain sly and clever in its use of other materials to bolster it, then I might actually find myself watching the series from beginning to end without ever mustering up the heart to drop it.

Kemeko DX - Episode 1

When Sanpeita promised a girl that he's marry her ten years later, he doubtless wasn't planning on said marriage involving a fat, ugly mecha and a giant evil, rice cooker. But that's the way his particular cookie crumbles in this first episode of Kemeko DX.

As Sanpeita dreams more and more frequently of the girl to which he promised to be betrothed, he wakes up one morning to find a spaceship full of robot spiders crash-landing in his room, which re then dealt with by the aforementioned fat, ugly thing with the help of big machine gun. Somehow managing to shrug this off, he makes it to school where things only get worse, and said fat, ugly thing tries to marry him before defeating both the rice cooker and a giant hand to save him. The only good news is that inside that hideous mecha appears to be the girl he made that promise to ten years ago... but never mind that, what the hell is going on?


If you can't guess from the synopsis, Kemeko DX is the latest series that wants to be either FLCL or Excel Saga, but it also appears to be the latest series to reach the heights of neither judging by this first episode. To be honest, I can't find anything to recommend it from this opening - The characters aren't particularly interesting, Kemeko's rip-off of Asuka's Neon Genesis Evangelion plug suit only takes it so far, and the humour aspect of the series really doesn't work on me at all, barely raising a smile during episode one. Even Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, the other recent series to go down the "Hey, look at me, I'm crazy!" route managed to offer a lot more in its first episode.

I'll carry on watching this series next episode to see if it has more to offer than it first appears to, but as of right now I can see Kemeko DX being the first series to get dropped this season, as at first glance I simply can't see any redeeming features for it.