Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos is an anime series based on a light novel series written by Manta Aisora. This 12-episode anime series is inspired by H.P. Lovercraft's Cthulhu mythos, and to make it more interesting, it has too many anime, manga and tokusatsu references.
The anime is about Nyarlathotep or simply known as Nyarko, a formless deity of chaos who takes the form of a silver-haired girl. Her mission is to protect a boy named Mahiro Yasaka from aliens that are sent to Earth to kidnap him. Did I mention that Nyarko has this uncontrollable crush on Mahiro that she will do every means to have him? Later in the series, they are joined by Kuko (Cthugha) and Hasuta (Hastur) who ends up becoming freeloaders in Mahiro's place.
To be honest, I have no interest watching this series at first because the first visuals I saw gave me this impression that this will be one generic harem anime. I mean, the protagonist looks plain and the lead female looks hyperactive. Then I saw some of the first images of those who watched the series online. The lead female character likes to do Kamen Rider references, but still, I am not interested. I mean, a lot of shows do Kamen Rider references from time to time so there is nothing special in it. That is until I saw my brother watched a stream of the show's 2nd episode. If there is one thing that made me interested in this series aside from Kuko's "intimate moment" with Nyarko, are the Kamen Rider V3 and Den-O references.
Since the show still has Kamen Rider references in its 3rd episode, guess it is part of the show's concept then, so I decided to give the show a try. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed it. The amount of random Japanese pop culture references is the best parts of the show and how can Nyarko "force" Mahiro to fall for her. It's so fun that you can say that it is really addicting that I ended up marathoning the series in just one day! Even with the amount of anime, manga, tokusatsu and Western sci-fi references this show has, how about the show's plot? For 12 episodes, it seems like most of the major plots of the series all lead up to a rather bizarre ending.
Here's how most story arcs of Nyarko are: some big problem arrives, MC tries to solve it, the reveal is something that has something to do with Earth's entertainment and by Earth entertainment, and I mean video games, to be more specific, visual novels and Japanese comic books. Yep, our main character places his life on the line just for the sake of yaoi doujinshi, alien game consoles and in the last story arc, some alien butler who doesn't want his ward to discover his love for eroge because his ward is a minor.
So yeah, the series basically poked fun on big plot developments and lampshades it at the very last part of the story arc... and I like it! I mean, having some big reveal like X wants the MC because he is the chosen one thus they must destroy him before he master his powers is getting too overused. The series lampshades its story arc build ups for something so ridiculous that you just can't help but laugh because it's so stupid... and you need to laugh out your frustration, especially the first big revelation this series had.
Dai... Henshin!
As for the characters, they are all entertaining, to be more specific, Nyarko, Kuko and Mahiro. Some of the secondary characters that appeared in the series from time to time are fun to watch as well, especially Mahiro's mom. Seriously, every time she appears, I can't wait what Kamen Rider catchphrase she will say to her enemies before fighting them. Speaking of fights, they are fun to watch, especially Nyarko's Space CQC. Lastly, can this series stand on its own without the pop culture references? To be honest, the references are what make the series so fun to watch. Without it, the show becomes that generic harem anime series with a love sick female protagonist. Speaking of which, I can't wait to see the second season as it goes Double-Boiled Extreme!
