Nerima Daikon Brothers

Hideki is a poor daikon farmer who lives with his trampy cousin Mako and his soft spoken, effeminate brother Ichiro, the trio long to be music superstars but don't posses the funds to break into the big time. Thus the plot revolves around the trio's schemes/attempts to get there hands on enough cash to realize their dreams; although they are constantly being scammed by various villains who the characters eventually take revenge apon and unwittingly help those who were also victimized.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is a musical. Yes, elaborate song and dance numbers often break out at random in this oddball comedy by Excel Saga director Wantanabe. As awesome as a anime musical by Wantanabe might sound, the end result is less than stellar. Wantanabe's directorial style that worked so well in Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy and The Wallflower falls flat here, the jokes tend to be more miss than hit, gags are endlessly recycled and series crass sexually oriented humor is sometimes funny and but some scenes(particularly in the first episode) are far more squirm inducing and unpleasant than humorous. Perhaps the biggest issue is the extremely repetitive episode structure that quickly becomes stale and renders the proceedings largely uninteresting after the first four or five episodes.

To be fair Nerima Daikon Brothers isn't a total flop; some of the humor is genuinely funny, there was one moment in particular were I had to hit the pause button because I was laughing so hard. Likewise while the musical numbers are a mixed bag, the ones that work are pretty clever and irresistibly fun. It's moments like these that showcase this shows true potential, ah, what could have been.

Grade: C-/C

Reviewed: episodes 7/12 Format: English Dub, DVD.