It's no secret that many anime series are full of cliches, so much so that we have countless spin-offs made just to parody them. However, much like American "teen" movies, animation companies still continue to produce the formulaic series just for money, rarely even trying to twist on plot points to make the latest drone even the tiniest bit notable. The most famous of these are the boy-with-lots-of-pretty girls animes which, just as the title insinuated, fulfill many a teenage male's fantasy by putting several rambunctious cute girls in a house with one passive male. Not only that, but in past few years the genre has "evolved" into making said cute girls into androids at the beck and call of the male, thus furthering the fantasy even more. With this familiar (and many times annoying to female viewers) theme, you might think Steel Angel Kurumi is not worth a watch, but sometimes things just have a way of growing on you.

Our ever-so-common plot begins as shy, young Nakahito, a mystic priest in training, is bullied by his "friends" to sneak into the local mad doctor's house. Once inside, he comes across a beautiful pink-haired girl who is apparently unconscious. Then, by accidentally kissing her (yes, accidentally), Nakahito "awakens" the young lass, who then reveals herself to be the ultra hyper "Steel Angel (read: android)" Kurumi, who is apparently now under the complete servitude to Nakahito because he woke her. However, this awkward meeting is interrupted first by Dr. Aynokoji, who is the owner of the house, and then by a giant mecha crashing into the basement, which is operated by Dr. Reiko Amagi, a scientist working for the government. It seems Reiko is under orders to steal Kurumi and take her back for analyzing, but predictably Kurumi saves the day (because they threatened Nakahito) and ends up carrying both Nakahito and Dr. Aynokoji back to the former's home. Things progress in a conventional way from there, including the introduction of the "true" villain and also the second Steel Angel, Saki.

A fateful yet accidental kiss sets the stage for young shinto priest Nakahito's future misadventures.	Unfortunately for the unsuspecting Nakahito, other forces are out to claim this steel angel for themselves.

Probably the biggest gripe I had with the show, if you haven't been able to guess by now, is the sheer lack of originality. While watching, I felt as if I had seen every plot point, every joke, and heard every line before. Of course, seeing as how "Kurumi" had originally aired as part of an hour-long anime variety show, novelty wasn't too important. But when watching it alone the ability to guess the next progression of the plot certainly becomes horrendously apparent.

Seeing as how the plot is entirely throwaway, the only redeeming grace it possibly could have had were the characters, and there I can give a slightly higher endorsement. Most of the characters follow every archetype expected in an anime such as this, with Kurumi the hyper I'm-not-familiar-with-this-world-but-I-just-want-to-help girl and Nakahito laying on the naive passive boy shtick thickly. However, a few of the secondary characters, namely Dr. Amagi and Saki, did catch my interest and provided me the main reason to enjoy the show. While some might pigeonhole Dr. Amagi as the stereotypical tough woman in a man's world, I found that the fact that they had showed her romantic and maternal sides strangely fresh. Most of this I credit to the always-fabulous Ai Orikasa, who gives a killer performance, infusing Reiko with much-needed reality. In contrast, I was also pleased with the character of Saki entirely for her comedic value. While her character is a blatant rip-off of Saber Marionette J's Cherry (actually, the entire show follows SMJ character archetypes and plot), the twist on her romantic feelings provided the only truly original laughs in the entire series.

In the visual department, it's mostly a mixed bag. Being a 15-minute per-episode series, the regular TV budget is allowed to stretch to a great extent, providing us with some of the best animation on a television series I've seen in a while. However, whenever cheap comedy rolls around (and this is often), they revert to the old-standby of cartoony chibi characters, which can either be taken as amusing or annoying. It's your call. However, the audio in the entire series is fantastic. The OP is light-hearted and very catchy, with the ED not quite as good but certainly not bad. The BGM is forgettable, as most are, but does not take away at all.

Moving to the disc itself, ADV has done manufactured of the best anime DVDs I've seen yet. The cover art is very appealing, featuring a fantastic artistically done semi-nude shot of Kurumi, though I must admit it does not match the mood the show. Likewise, the menus are great, with just enough animation. However, the true reason the disk gets a gold medal is the fantastic extras. Along with the usual, they have also included liner notes that are informative and easy to read, and also a 30 minute behind-the-scenes clip with interviews of the dub cast. While I am a pro-subber all the way, it is nice to see companies putting some thought into their dub cast these days, and the appearance by Farscape cast member Claudia Black certainly doesn't hurt.

Overall, I give Steel Angel Kurumi's first volume thumbs up, but not too high up. The plot is completely average, and most of the characters are archetypical and predictable to a fault. Also, this show yet again degrades the roles of the female characters by putting them in complete servitude to the males, which won't go over well with feminists. However, somewhere in there is a sweetness and innocence that I can't help but enjoy, and with my attachment to the aforementioned two characters, I'll be back for more.

Distributor: ADV Films
Creator: Kaishaku / Kadokawa Shoten
Released: 2000

Video Quality: A
Audio Quality: A-
Presentation: A+
Content: B
Overall: B