[Anime Review]/Shinryaku! Ika Musume - Oh the Squidmanity!

What can I say? Squid Girl has been a favorite for a long time around here and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write a little something on it. It's really hard to pass up on this literal fish out of water story. The writers have managed to capture the insanity extremely well and do their best to make sure that nothing gets too stale over the course of the two seasons that have been released.

Not only is the animation great, but the writing here definitely kicks it up a notch for your general multi-episode per show series. Each manages to build off each other and you can actually see character development that goes on throughout the series. Which, for something of this nature is extremely nice to see happen.

• Genre: Comedy
• Length: 24ep (2 Seasons)
• Rating: 9/10
• Recommendation: Just watch it already, you'll laugh your ass off.

While the premise may seem simple enough, Squid Girl is an invader from the sea and hell bent on taking over the surface world due to the destruction and pollution that people cause the ocean. One could easily hit the brakes right there and go "Whoa, this is probably awash in environmental messages and themes" and then walk away. Don't be so quick, there's not nearly that much going on as you'd think but the parts that do include it makes sense as Japan is a very pollution conscious country and they also provide a slightly more serious undertone to some episodes amongst the insanity of the rest. So, while there is some, it's not overpowering or forced on we the viewers at all and usually ends up in some kind of comic relief of the whole thing. So, if you have any thoughts of that, just get them out...right now. I'll wait. No rush. Have a drink or three. It may even make the rest of this make sense.

As I said above, Squid Girl is after world conquest. However, she gets in her own way 90% of the time and the arrangement she makes at the Lemon Beach house leads her to get into all kinds of trouble. Which is either caused by herself not understanding how the surface world works or pushing things too far and any number of the cast going completely mental on her. Whether it's stalker to the extreme behavior, government scientists or just the rival Beach House owner's creepy robotic heads, there's always something truly terrifying to our Squidvader around the corner. The two biggest concerns there? Chizaru and Eiko Aizawa. Both proving to be extremely formidable obstacles for our pint sized invader with the "magic hair". (Did I mention her hair is made up of tentacles that can do some pretty astonishing stuff? No? Oh...well there ya have it).

It's not all just laughs, though it is a comedy, there is a decent amount of character development going on here as well. You see a definite growing relationship between Squid Girl and those around her as well as personal development as well. So much so that at times it becomes much less about invading and more about friendship and family. Again, it's refreshing to see in a comedy and it really helps people connect with the characters and situations as there are some genuine heart felt moments throughout the series.

Overall the casting on this one was near perfect and it seems like the VA's were having a lot fun with the situations and characters. A lot of these tend to get bogged down, but Squid Girl manages to get things going in the right direction 99% of the time. Some may get annoyed by the "squidifying" speech, but hey...most of the time it works and makes you go "WTF?!" a lot of the time so it's not such a bad thing at all.  
I could probably say a lot more about this series, but I think that would be a bit too much. It's really one of those "You have to just watch it" kind of things because yes, it actually is that good and funny. Well, at least in our opinion around here...

Here's to looking for the new OVA release in June!