Overview

There's an old proverb that goes something like this: "No good deed goes unpunished." Sort of the bane of all Boy Scouts, but it can be, at times, remarkably accurate... Sometimes, the good deed just plain ain't worth the trouble that follows in its wake. Consider, if you will, the main character in Kaibutsu Oujo, Hiro Hiyorimi. Hiro lives up to the homonym of his name... and winds up dead for taking the trouble. Like I said, "No good deed goes unpunished." Unfortunately for our dearly departed hero, the punishment is only just beginning... he does, though, make for a very nice corpse.

Review

Some guys just can't catch a break - and some catch every broken-bone thrown at them. Hiro, for example, catches himself a slight case of death when he shoves a beautiful girl out from under a load of steel girders that slip their restraints. The girl in question, a blond haired, crimson eyed babe in a black dress, observes, as he breathes his last, that he makes a very handsome corpse. Well, it'd be an awfully short story... except that a little later, we find our beautiful girl in black dress standing over Hiro's body with a rather unique grin, before reciting a well-known verse from The Mythos, before putting a little flame into Hiro's chest. And so the punishment begins, because Hiro, our sorry hero, has just become the servant of Hime, second princess of Hell, ruler of all monsters. And his role as servant?

Folks, let's face it... the anime version of Hiro is there to be a white knight chew toy. I mean, literally. His primary purpose is to run head long into the big bad of the week and get spit out with lots of quick-healing chew marks - half the time from his own comrades. He's got a sorry lot in life, excuse me, unlife... and I love every damn minute of it. Kaibutsu Oujo has been making me laugh my ass off for the last three months, because it's a damned good combination of funny, slapstick style humor and a surprisingly deep at times story.

Aside from Hiro, we have Hime, second princess of Hell. She carries her noble upbringing right down to the way she finishes off those that attack her without hesitation - or doesn't, should the situation call for it. Just remember folks... she... is... COMPASIONATE. (You'll understand when you watch the series.) She's also apparently a dragon-belt in 'Hammerspace-fu,' as through the episodes she produces, without warning, everything from hammers, to rapiers, swords, chainsaws, and more. It's almost as interesting to see what sort of weapon she's going to come up with when as it is to watch the rest of the episode. Filling out the ranks are Furandre, Hime's mono-wordic android servant, and Riza, a half-werewolf. There's also Hiro's sister Sawawa, who works for Hime as a maid, and Reiri, a vampire school girl out for a little cocktail of noble blood. That covers the primary cast, and the series has a rather expansive collection of supporting characters.

Hime, and the rest of her siblings, are involved in a multiple sided war for who gets to succeed the throne of Hell. The only reason given for this is that it is the fate of all the children of the ruler of hell - only one can survive to take the throne. Hime is the second eldest of the princesses - we also meet Sherwood, her younger sister, and there is an older sister out there somewhere - but she professes to have no interest in the throne, only in surviving. Despite this, she is under constant siege, not only from her other siblings, but from outside forces, such as the vampires Zeppeli and Dracul. Her only defense in this war is in the form of 'flame warriors,' which spring from the royalty's ability to grant half-immortality to the dead by sharing their 'flame' with them. An aside note - the anime deviates quite a bit from the manga, and this is one of the key things that it changes; in the manga, they are blood warriors, and she shares her blood with Hiro, rather than simply implanting a little spark of flame.

The nice thing about the Kaibutsu Oujo anime is that it really doesn't take itself too seriously, in a season where there have been a lot of very serious, very deep series released. That means that it also strays rather considerably from the manga incarnation in terms of scope and general feel - but that's another review, and one that I suspect my co-writer K`thardin will be taking up before too long. For my part, I'll admit that sometimes it's a little sad to see just how neutered poor Hiro is. His lot in the anime is to suffer, and so far he has done just that with considerable zeal. I'd compare him in personality a bit to Keichi Morisato of Ah My Goddess - except that Keichi is willing to stand up for himself. Still, the two characters do share a certain amount of character traits.

The animation for Kaibutsu Oujo has been excellent thus far, consistent and smooth. Of the character designs, only Hiro himself stands out as being particularly plain, and I rather strongly suspect that that was an intended effect, given his status in the anime. Hime's dress, for being just plain black, is surprisingly well detailed, and Riza's... "outfit" is delicious... so to speak. The animators didn't skimp on the extended cast either, and while the detail work isn't quite as fine as on the primary cast, it is still there.

The voice acting has been better than average thus far, with no real major quirks that have gotten my attention. The VA's seem to like their roles, and have been doing a good job of matching the scenes and character personalities. Hime's voice is always calm and cool, even in the sharpest fights; Hiro tends toward borderline, but surprisingly contained panic. The series music is pretty good too, though unfortunately the opening and ending themes don't stand out as much as they could. That is, as with many of the series this season, as much due to the fact that there has been a treasure trove of great op/ends as there is that Kaibutsu Oujo's are just better than average.

Overall

Hey, like I said, this series has had me laughing nearly to tears for a good three months now. Unfortunately, as I said, it deviates rather considerably from the more hack-and-guts origins in its manga form, but honestly I don't mind much. There were a lot of series this season that focused on hard action and blood, so Kaibutsu Oujo actually makes for a nice little light spot while still holding a good bit of action itself. Poor Hiro makes for one of the most inept heroes we've seen for awhile, but the guy does have some balls... occasionally. The writers have also done a pretty good job of re-weaving the storyline for the anime version, though on that I'm pretty sure K`thardin would disagree. Still, worth a look for some good laughs and some good action. Oh, and hey - if you see Hiro's foot laying around, would you give it back to the poor guy so he can fuse it back on?