Anime Remix: Forums

Alternative title:
Sumomomo Momomo - The Strongest Bride on Earth
Sumomomo Momomo: Chijou Saikyou no Yome (Japanese)
すもももももも～地上最強のヨメ～ (Japanese)

Genres: Martial Arts, Romance, Comedy

Plot Summary:

Spoiler:

Momoko Kuzuryuu is a martial-arts crazed teenage girl who has grown up in the mountains with her father, a legendary fighter. However, one day her father tells her that because she is a girl, she will never be able to master the family's ultimate technique. The only thing for her to do is go marry the strongest warrior, and produce the strongest offspring. Her unlikely fiance is the handsome but weak Koushi Inuzuka, the son of her father's best friend and rival. Their marriage was agreed upon by their fathers before they were born. However, Koushi has no interest in martial arts; in fact, he is a coward who freezes whenever he sees violence. Instead, he wants to become a prosecutor, so that no criminal can escape capital punishment. Despite Koushi's adamant refusal to marry her and his subsequent displays of cowardice, Momoko falls in love with him and swears to remain in his house and train with his father in order to become the strongest fiance ever.

Story: Hooray, romantic comedy! There's really no shortage of romantic comedies, but rarely do they contain... things like this. In summary I suppose the turn of events is akin to any fantasy martial arts story, but even though it's just another combination of things we've seen before [think X meets Slayers meets _____ schoolgirl anime], they got a lot of things right. The main problem that happens, particularly found in anime for some reason, is that they'll try to combine the serious and the silly. I've seen countless anime not separate them properly, and the pacing might not be too great and your emotions will be ravaged and tattered and oh god it's confusing. Anyway, Sumomomomomomomomo didn't have this problem. In fact the comedy was really great, I was laughing aloud at some parts, but at the same time they didn't ruin the parts that were supposed to be serious with it. The overall pace of the show was pretty good, and there were even a few filler episodes that didn't feel like filler episodes, and one of them had a very nice romance story focusing on a minor character and another who only shows up for the one episode, but didn't feel too short or sudden. In this new age of derivative anime, kudos for not being totally boring [you can tell I'm becoming a cynical and jaded otaku oh my god what am I doing with my life]. ***

Art: Momoko was cute :3 but I don't think a lot of thought went into character designs. Once again it's kind of standard anime fare here. Nothing really unique about the art at all. SHUNNNNNNNN. *

Sound: Well, it wasn't annoying. But if you've heard the soundtrack for one comedy anime, you've heard them all. Casiocore for the win! *

Overall: 6/10. Whoever said there was nothing new under the sun was only half-right. You can combine the old stuff for maximum recyclability. Sumomomo momomo momomomo is worth watching for the good humor, and probably more if you aren't turning into a grumpy old cynic like I am.