Shinryaku! Ika Musume (trans. Invasion! Squid Girl) is a comedy anime based on the manga with the same by Masahiro Anbe. The said anime is produced by Diomedea and aired in Japan during the Fall 2010 anime season. Based on most reviews, it has the same Keroro vibe, but is it like Keroro, or something different? Here’s the review to find out if it is!
Ika Musume is your average squid girl but because of humans polluting the sea, she vows revenge on all humans because of their crimes! And so, to start her campaign to invade the surface, she tries to invade beach house, Lemon owned by the Aizawa siblings… but ends up working for them because she broke a wall of their beach house! And so, can Ika invade the surface while she tries to pay the damages she did? Or like that frog, Keroro will end up in utter failure?
On to the review, from all the Fall 2010 titles I watched, this is probably the funniest. Sure, some might say that The World God Only Knows is the funniest but I haven’t watched it due to the lack of disk space (As of press time, I haven’t finished Durarara!!! yet), so yeah, let’s focus on Ika Musume and Ika Musume alone. Anyways, each episode has three stand-alone segments that will bring sure laughs.
Each stand-alone segment is fun in their own way, such as the 1st part of the segment of the sixth episode that featured a Kamen Rider; parody thanks to Noh Kamen Rider (will review this segment soon for the heck of it). The only problem with this structure is that, these segments can work well as stand-alone episodes also, since they are three individual segments, it felt like they left some running plot points “hanging” since some parts that are introduced in the episode felt hanging since they decided to jump into the next segment and left some questions unanswered. But hey, these segments gave a few good laughs so let’s ignore it. The only time they ignore this structure is in the first episode and the last two segments of the last episode in which finally, they gave Ika the character development she truly needs.
As for the characters, firs the Aizawa siblings, since I will make a full-blown segment about her, Takeru is just that kid who likes to tag along with Ika and play with her so yeah, nothing special. Eiko looks similar to Minori of Toradora! fame, but she is different from her. Unlike her who has this very nice aura around her, she is strong-headed girl and is constantly annoyed by Ika and that is why I like her character but because of it, it made another sibling stand out, and that is Chizuru. To be honest, I find her not a special character at first, until the third part of the first episode aired; I was amazed on how awesome she is, along with how intimidating she is! And for that, she is my favorite character in the series.
As for the minor characters such as Cindy and those MIT guys, Sanae, Nagisa and Gorou, only a few of them made an impact in the series and if I would list their “achievements” in this show, Sanae is probably on top and so, I will talk about her. She is basically “that girl who is obsessed with Ika’s extreme cuteness.” And so, she will do everything for her to be noticed, even dress up as a giant shrimp for the sake of her own joy as an obsessed fan. I love watching Sanae doing those idiotic (yet fun!) ways on how to impress Ika! Another important group of character is Cindy and the MIT guys, they are just a bunch of obsessed guys who wants to see an alien and thinks Ika as an opportunity to finally have a decent alien (technically, alien means some guy who is not here, and therefore, Ika is an alien) to investigate!
Now for Ika, she is similar to Keroro in every aspect. Seriously, change assembling Gundam model kits with shrimp, also remove the frog, add a cute girl with squid attributes we have Ika! As for her personality, she is too clueless with the human world that she finds inflatable sharks scary along with umbrellas being good weapons to fight against humans! This side of Ika is one of the reasons why she is enjoyable to watch. For the 12 episodes this show has, they are running with this pattern most of the time which involved Ika’s curiosity with the things human does and the objects they had, such as thinking that anything that comes out from the 3D are real!
Because of this, it is pretty rare we saw any character growth on Ika. The only time I saw her growth as a squid person is when she first made her first human friend in the form of Kiyomi and when she lost her powers and meets another girl who is hinted to be similar to her. Both in those segments, Ika became your not just your average moe character into some character that is worth seeing at not just for the laughs.
Overall, Ika Musume is good series to watch if you want the some good laughs in short time while you are enjoying the same “failed invader” humor perfected by those crazy invading frogs coming the planet Pekopon. If there are problems with the series, probably how the episodes are structured (two segments in an episode are okay in an anime but three? Not sure…), but hey, they made it up with good laughs.
As for the animation, I have no problems with it and since I enjoyed this show this much; I can’t wait for the Mini-Ika Musume extras (which were enjoyable in the series) and the upcoming second season! If the second season will finally give us a good answer about the plot point left hanging in the finale of the first season and still never lost its laugher, bring it on, squid girl, try to invade the surface with all your might!