The Essentials
Name: The World of Narue, Narue no Sekai
Genre:: Romance, Comedy, Sci-fi
Episodes: 12
Released: April 5, 2003 – June 28, 2003
Based On: The World of Narue manga series by Tomohiro Marukawa
Director: Nobuaki Nakanishi
Produced By: BeSTACK, Imagica, Media Factory
US Distribution By: ADV Films; U.S. Manga Corp (originally)
Cast
| Character | Japanese Cast | English Cast |
|---|---|---|
| Narue Nanase: | Mamiko Noto | Veronica Taylor |
| Kazuto Izuka: | Daisuke Sakaguchi | Jamie McGonnigal |
| Kanaka Nanase: | Junko Minagawa | Rachael Lillis |
| Bathyscaphe: | Mami Kosuge | Carol Jacobanis |
| Masaki Maruo: | Jun Fukuyama | Jimmy Zoppi |
| Hajime Yagi: | Saeko Chiba | Michele Knotz |
| Tadashi Nanase: | Junichi Sugawara | Dan Green |
| Tail Messa: | Tomomichi Nishimura | Tristan Goddard |
| Rin Asakura: | Oma Ichimura | Jessica Calvello |
Review
In The World of Narue, Kazuto, a fairly normal high school nerd, spots a poor puppy left out in the rain when coming home from school someday. However, when he picks it up, to morphs into a space monster and tries to attack him. However, suddenly, a girl, Narue, shows up and beats the monster away with her bat. Fascinated with Narue, Kazuto asks Narue out on a date. Before accepting, she asks Kazuto if it’s OK that she’s an alien. Kazuto says yes, though he is, obviously, rather surprised about the news. Narue is thrilled, however, that someone appeared to accept her alien heritage so easily.
Narue’s life on Earth isn’t totally peaceful, however. Her father was observing Earth for the Galaxy Federation when he fell in love with a human woman. When the Galaxy Federation asked Narue’s father to leave Earth due to a resolution passed by the Galaxy Federation demanding non-interference of Earth’s civilization, he refused, choosing to stay. This in turn prompted alien terrorists who oppose any Galaxy Federation presence on Earth of any kind to try to attack Narue and her father.
All of this activity constantly reminds Narue of her alien heritage, even though she longs to be accepted by everyone as also being half-human and living her life peacefully on Earth.
World of Narue presents a nice balanced mix of romance, sci-fi, drama, and occasional action and combines them into a show which is actually pretty solid, overall. The show presents several interesting scenarios, such as Narue wanting to be accepted as who she is, her younger “older” sister who has traveled to earth, but has hardly aged since she was traveling near the speed of light, and Narue’s alien-obsessed classmate who has such a narrow view of what aliens could look and act like that she’s clueless that one is right in front of her.
The only really minus I have to say about this series is that it does contain some needless fan service. It’s not gratuitous – mainly things like panty or bra shots, but it’s still a little bit annoying. Some might also find this show a bit too “cute,” though I didn’t think it was really a problem.
I thought the animation was overall pretty good, as well as the music. The dubs are competently done, though I think they could have been a bit better, all around.
Overall, this series is just a lot of fun and is enjoyable to watch, with several memorable characters. Some people may find the lack of any heavy plot boring, but I think many people will find it entertaining.
Scores
Animation: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Dubs: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
First Watched: February – March 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes