Nurse Witch Komugi - Reviews

Well, here’s the thing about this anime right here. This is a spinoff OVA to their sister series SoulTaker and yet I’m going in without watching the original series. From what I heard about the show, people absolutely hated it, mostly because they found the character Komugi was so annoying in SoulTaker, a whole OVA series that revolves around her would spell anger into a lot of fans, non-fans and even anime reviewers, especially a certain wolf/angel-based reviewer I know. *wink wink*.

Ungrar, the King of Viruses, has escaped from his prison cell in Vaccine World. Maya, the Goddess of Vaccine World sends Mugimaru down to Earth to find a human to accept the powers of Vaccine World and become the Magical Nurse. He finds the best (and the only willing) person for the job when he meets Komugi Nakahara.

“Komugi is a playful, lazy, and easily distracted (typical) teenager whose dream is to become a cosplay idol and balancing her career with the Kiri-Pro Promotion Company and her new job battling Ungrar's loyal henchman and the Magical Maid Koyori.” – That’s what part of the plot synopsis said when I read it on ANN, I swear.

Well, Komugi is all those things but sometimes she gets very cringe worthy to deal with and it’s not just her. I really can’t stand the constant bickering between Komugi and Megumi, who mostly tease each other’s breast size and they do it every time and it gets real old real fast……in other words, I can’t just both of these girls. Then came Koyori, who is Komugi’s friend that works as a model and cosplayer and yet she’s also her rival when it comes to them being magical girls. But how does she turn into that? She loses consciousness………yeah. There is also Runa, a child star who also works for Kiri Pro with Komugi and also teases her about her being flat-chested but yet she seems to be the one that annoys her the least but not a favorite of mine.

Matter of fact, nobody on this show is a favorite character of mine. There are either too bland or too annoying to give a shit about. I’m sure some of the characters from the original series have more character than they do here. They scream, yell too much, overact, and try to overexcite one too many times.

Now for the animation department, Tatsunoko Pro, being the original animation company for SoulTaker but in here, they are around with the help of Kyoto Animation……yes, that Kyoto Animation and for what it is, the animation is fine with what it is and there is some hiccups especially in some of the magical girl and fight sequences in between the series, thankfully it lasted 5 episodes or 6 if you count episode 2.5 or the other OVAs that I didn’t know of.


The music does have that very cutesy J-Popish sound that many people know and the music is about as bland as the rest of the series. The first time I listened to these songs I just wanted to skip the whole music sequence together and for you either liked these songs, then all the power to you. As for the English dub, some of the original SoulTaker cast from The Ocean Group/Geneon dub does appear in here, although NWK was distributed by ADV Films but yet it was such a chore to go through. The voice actress for Komugi, Jocelyne Loewen, is really grating on the ears and feels like her motivation in the script is to annoy you. Luci Christian does play the role of Mugi-maru and yet it’s sad to see her doing this part considering she really is a great voice-actress and they got her sounding like Webby from Ducktales smoking up menthols.

FINAL VERDICT: As it all comes down to this, this OVA is really so damn annoying but it’s nothing to rage about and the simple fact that it’s too dull to rage this series. It’s something nobody really wanted or needed but either way you watched it and regret it but not really care for it.

As in, this series ----- here’s the truth, I’m…. PLANET TYRO RATING: NOT FEELING THIS 2/10.

Welcome to my nightmare… If Kurai really wanted to break me, this is a really good one to use. I don’t know who decided to actually make an anime out of the stupid pinked haired girl Komugi from SoulTaker, but they need to be forced to watch this themselves.

The story starts out talking about a rather odd place called Vaccine World where a virus has broken out of prison and went to earth. Because of this, the Goddess of Vaccine World sent this little talking… squirrel-puffball-annoying sidekick-thing… to go find a human to use the magic baton to defeat the virus. He finds Komugi who takes the job only because she wanted to cosplay as a nurse witch. Yep, its one of those shows… the shows where its all fun and games to the person trying to save the earth. I wish he would of at least looked around a bit more or at least thought twice about giving the baton/wand to the first girl he saw. At least someone who gives a crap what the hell the magic was actually supposed to be used for! She, of course, is in love with Kyosuke Date like in SoulTaker. Unlike SoulTaker though, he has the personality of a wet noodle. I have a feeling that this is what Komugi wanted him to be. In fact, I would consider this to be exactly what was going on in Komugi’s empty head all threw Soultaker.

Anyway, then we have Runa who in SoulTaker was the sister of Kyosuke but in this world is nothing more then a childhood actor who does anything for money. There’s Asuka who is a movie actress here but is the love interest sort of in SoulTaker. There’s Shiro who is her manager Yui… both really doesn’t have much of a personality on there own.

I guess the show isn’t all bad, its better then Puni Puni Poemii by a long shot. The artwork is better and the story is a bit more consistent then Puni. If it has fan service, then it has fan service… if it wants to play on parodies, then they do it. They know exactly what they want to be and don’t try to be anything more.

The animation is actually quite good, though sometimes not consistent throughout. I was surprised that Kyoto actually had in doing the artwork and it shows with its rather bright and detailed artwork in no matter what part. The lines are crisp and the colors fill the whole area. Characters don’t normally lose their proportions unless its to push the comedic affect. The characters do look like they were pulled straight from SoulTaker (however, their personalities are actually destroyed) to the point that it’s easy to see who was who.

The English voices are consistent with SoulTaker and so must of it will be said in my review on that series but her’s the low down on this, I CAN’T STAND KOMUGI’S VOICE! She’s a whinny, immature, shell of a girl who is pretty much played off as just the normal everyday high school girl with a crush and a secret. Of course, in order to combat her voice, they have little puffball there a 12-cigarette pack a day voice with a high pitch whine. This we have to hear everytime he talks with Komugi with almost all his sentences ending in ‘Komugi’… ‘We got to save the world, Komugi. Your our only hope, Komugi’… Um… Ya… I like Kyosuke’s voice yet it doesn’t work for the personality they did for him. The opening music is actually quite catchy, and a rather cute piece. Some of the other songs like when Kyosuke is supposed t be singing is actually some pretty nice stuff. I have to say that most of the soundtrack is created rather well and has a nice tone to it, at least when there are vocals. On the flip side, when there is only background music, it doesn’t stand out much and just gets lost or unnoticeable.

In the end, its bad, but not as bad as some others I watched. It’s nothing I can’t deal with having to watch.

Synopsis: The world becomes consumed with chaos when the evil Ungrar decides to infect the planet with his various strands of viruses.  The world’s need for a savior appears in the form of a…Nurse Witch?  Seventeen-year-old Komugi becomes blessed with the power to vaccinate the viruses through the help of Maya, Goddess of Vaccine world.  The Nurse Witch’s rival appears on the scene in the form of Magical Maid Koyori, who happens to be Komugi’s best friend.  The road to tread upon to save the planet becomes filled with hilarity, heinous acts, and battles that tests the Nurse Witch’s resolve to cure the Earth from the disease known as Ungrar.

Story (5.2) I hate magical girls.  I do not like the genre at all.  So why did I choose to watch and write this review?  Well, it is simple.  Nurse Witch Komugi’s an OVA spin-off of the Soul Taker OVA.  The show tries to poke fun at the magical girl genre and it succeeds.  Komugi’s role in this show allows the character to adopt her strange, but cute personality from The Soul Taker, and channel it into a goofy project.  The Nurse Witch Komugi anime allows fans of The Soul Taker to see various characters reappear and be portrayed in a new perspective.  The characters are more energetic and happy rather than being violent, aggressive, and depressing.  Tatsunoko Productions does a great job in making their pre-established characters act the opposite of how they performed in The Soul Taker.  Tastunoko Productions also provides fans with cameos from their other popular works, adding to the Nurse Witch Komugi’s bizarre charm.

The premise of having Komugi thwarting Ungrar’s plans becomes repetitive and struggles to maintain a solid plot.  The episodes focus more on comical aspects of Komugi and her companion, Mugimaru, squaring off against Magical Maid Koyori.  The comedic portions of various episodes make the show bearable through Komugi’s retaliation of viruses that make fun of her bust size and Mugimaru’s perverted nature.  Koyori’s presence adds to the fan service and that is about it.

Animation (7.0) The animation shows Tatsunoko Productions evolvement over the years that makes the short OVA appealing to the eye.  The flashy transformation sequences and use of special abilities contributes to the show’s concept of presenting an anime that morphs characters from a darker show into another cutesy magical girl rehash.  I like the animator’s ability to demonstrate their talent of reviving heroes, in the form of cameos, which Komugi portrays when she fights Koyori and rebels against Muigmaru.

Sound (6.0) Episode 2.5 allows anime fans to watch music videos through Kyosuke Date and Komugi.  Komugi’s action through that episode boosts the catchy songs that the Japanese voice actress sings.  However, episode 2.5 becomes the main focal point of having good sound quality.  The rest of the OVA’s musical score is not memorable.

Characters (7.7) Komugi’s the reason to watch the OVA.  Nurse Witch Komugi serves as a springboard for Komugi’s character to launch the character’s role in The Soul Taker into a more active and amusing performance.  Koyori’s presence compliments Komugi’s reactions to situations where she must vaccinate an area, while receiving harassment.  Komugi’s jealous ranting toward Kyosuke’s interaction with other female members allows Komugi’s aggressive side from The Soul Taker to emerge and remind fans of her roots.  Komugi made the show entertaining for me, but I only wanted to see the OVA because it had characters from The Soul Taker.

Overall (5.1) Fans of The Soul Taker may find Nurse Witch Komugi enjoyable.  The show reaffirms the motifs set in the formulaic magical girl genre, but provides more of a comedic tone to it.  Tatsunoko Productions decision to reuse characters and change their demeanors makes the OVA interesting, while promoting The Soul Taker.  Since I love The Soul Taker show, I gave Nurse Witch Komugi a chance.  It is a decent magical girl type show that brings the humor, but does not offer up anything new.