Nerima Daikon Brothers

Japanese manga and anime series

Nerima Daikon Brothers (おろしたてミュージカル 練馬大根ブラザーズ) is a Japanese manga and anime comedy series that follows the adventures of two brothers (and their cousin) Hideki, Ichiro, and Mako who form the band, "Nerima Daikon Brothers." The show uses a musical comedy format, with the characters often breaking out in song to show their emotions or go through a montage scene. The melodies of the songs are sometimes recycled episode after episode with different lyrics substituted for the particular situation. The musical comedy format is rare in Japanese animation and the show's style is heavily influenced by musicals such as The Blues Brothers and Kollywood musicals such as Muthu. The show was originally licensed by ADV for $124,800 and the first volume was released on DVD in December 2006. In 2008, the show became one of the ADV titles transferred to Funimation Entertainment.

The trio lives on a stage constructed in Hideki's daikon patch in the Nerima ward of Tokyo. They dream of building a concert dome on the site and performing their musical act to sold out crowds. They must avoid both an overzealous policewoman who has caught on to their money making schemes and the desires of powerful people who want to take over the daikon field. The characters are aided in their adventures by the show's director, Shinichi Watanabe, who injects himself (in the form of his Nabeshin character from Excel Saga) into the story as a rental shop owner. The show parodies many famous people and institutions in Japan including Junichiro Koizumi and his political followers; Michael Jackson; the fortune teller Kazuko Hosoki, Star Wars, Host club entertainers among many others. Until recently, anime television series did not make overt jokes about the current news topics like homosexual love, consumer credit, or the success of Korean artists in Japan such as Bae Yong joon. Nerima Daikon Brothers features overt sexual gags such as in the first episode where a male casting director fondles Ichiro's crotch as he sits there and moans.

The show's producers used both veteran and up in coming voice actors to fill in the guest roles for each weekly episode who were usually the characters who swindled the Brothers out of money. This type of casting has been used in other recent productions by Yoshio Urasawa, the series script writer and series coordinator. Roles are listed by episode number. 1. Casting Director
A parody of controversial boy band manager Johnny Kitagawa. 2. Korean Pachinko Parlor Owner
A parody of Bae Yong joon, a Korean actor popular in Japan. 3. Hospital Director
3. Chief Doctor
4. Police Chief
4. Yakuza Boss
5. No.1
5. The Iron Handed Wife
6. Madame Gokutsobushi
A parody of Kazuko Hosoki, a Japanese fortune teller and "Iron Chef" judge. The word "tsubushi" means "good for nothing" in Japanese. 7. Attorney Kakuhama
Parody of Kazuya Maruyama, a famous Japanese lawyer and television personality. The word Kakuhama means "beach bum" in Japanese. 7. Miyo chan
8. Discount Store Owner
A parody of "Don Quijote" a discount store chain in Japan.

The final episode of the series contains many references and criticisms of politics of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi. The episode begins with the cliffhanger from episode 11 where Prime Minister "Oizumi" loudly proclaimed "I will privatize Nerima!" (私は練馬を民営化します!) from the National Diet Building (which is propelled by jet engines high above the city.) Shortly thereafter troops, tanks, aircraft, and even ships begin swarming the (inland) ward forcing the city to privatize. Later he uses a bad pun on the word privatize (民営化): Everyone in agreement will experience the pleasant feeling of a good mood! (皆で ええ感じに いい気分で 快感を味わう) This pun mirror's Koizumi's catch phrase From public to private (官から民へ) in his goal of privatizing the Japanese postal system. The episode also plays heavily on the Koizumi's "lion" theme. His face is caricatured with a lion nose and lion whiskers. Koizumi gained the nickname because of his lion like mane of hair. Koizumi and his party have embraced the nickname. Koizumi himself pens an e mail column called "Lion Heart." His party also produced and marketed a lion character with Koizumi's face called "Shishiro". The episode features Koizumi's supporters dressed in lion costumes, very similar to Shishiro, who go after the Brothers. In addition, this episode makes reference to several happenings of the 2005 general election. Koizumi called the election after bills to privatize Japan Post were voted down in the upper house. In order to defeat those who had voted against the measure, Koizumi employed "a star studded cast of female candidates , now ubiquitously referred to in the national media as Koizumi's assassins (shikoku), [whose] mission [was] to take out the prime minister's political enemies in the old boys' network that long held sway over the LDP." Koizumi had also instructed one of the candidates "to pitch herself to voters as 'the Madonna of reform'." These things are heavily referenced in the final episode. Oizumi is flanked by a cast of female Diet members who repeat every word he says. He calls Yūkel and Donabe his "children." And when he needs assistance in taking the daikon field he sends his "assassins", dressed in lion suits, to beat up the hold outs.

A manga version was published in Jive's Monthly Comic Rush and was published monthly from December 2005 until May 2006 according to the publisher's website. The manga was drawn by Takamitsu Kondō and conceived by Aniplex and Studio Hibari.

The show was lauded at first for its novelty as a musical anime and gags on taboo topics. However, the ratings began to dive as the series got repetitive due to the reuse of songs in every episode and the quality of the animation declining. No. English TitleJapanese TitleWeekRank *Rating Data1/15#16543 [218.1res/m] (+286)03My Shot Will Crash into Your Backside俺のお注射お尻にクラッシュ1/22#35845 [194.8res/m] (−698)04My Gadget (Detective) is Huge, Huh?俺のカラクリいでしょ1/29#55476 [182.5res/m] (−369)05Roll Mine, No.1俺のを転がせNo.12/05#54996 [166.5res/m] (−480)06My Backroom Fortune Telling俺のウラウラうらない2/12#35653 [188.4res/m] (+657)07Play with Mine! Sue Me!俺ので奏でて! 訴えて!2/19#45024 [167.5res/m] (+629)08My Dirt Cheap Rocket is About to Launch! 俺の激安ロケット発射寸前!2/26#44780 [159.3res/m] (−244)09Cook Up an Erection in Mine!俺のをなべなべおっ立てろ!3/05#73795 [126.5res/m] (−985)10Give My "Bad" a Thrilla Thriller! ♪ 俺のバッドをスリスリらー♪3/12n/a4659 [no data](+864)11A Threesome in My Dome?!俺のドームで3人プレイ! ?3/19#34622 [154.1res/m] (−37)12My Finish! Take a Look at This!俺のフィニッシュ! 見ておくんなま!3/26n/anodata
Note: This from a ranking of animated programs in the Tokyo area only. Also note: The English titles are not exact translations, however are the actual English titles.