Vintage: 2002

# of Episodes: 1

It must seem like a no-lose proposition to an animation studio: make an anime show based on a fighting game and take advantage of a built-in fanbase. Problem is, even the more well-known fighting games make for lousy shows, and if the franchise isn’t good to begin with, the no-lose proposition soon turns to no-win. Especially when that franchise is Samurai Showdown, oops, I mean Samurai Shodown, and double especially when you choose to make the show centered around one bland character.

The plot is this: the titular Nakoruru is found walking through the snow with a big gash on her back until she collapses and is found by two even duller characters. They take her to a village, animals start acting up, Nakorururu goes to sleep and has a nightmare, Bland Female Character 2 sings a song, bear attacks and dies, some plague woman comes by, landslide, plague woman cackles ominously.

That’s it.

That’s literally the entire show.

This means either production stopped after one episode because the studio ran out of money, or the other episodes withered away in shame.

Rating: Don’t have a rating system yet, so I think I’ll start with 2.5 out of 5 and add/subtract points arbitrarily.

2.5/5.0

+ .5 = show doesn’t look half bad

+ .5 = somehow got character designer from Mezzo Forte so characters look aight

– .5 = a Samurai Shodown show and no Earthquake?

– .5 = seriously, no Earthquake?

– .5 = plot starts a growing conflict but doesn’t finish it…

– .5 = …but the scriptwriters found time for a 2 minute song

Final Score: 1.5/5.0