Majokko Tsukune-chan

Majokko Tsukune-chan is a delightful little surreal comedy anime with fantastic comedic timing and an abiding early 2000s style and atmosphere that not only compliments the comedy, but also enhances the nostalgia factor. The story follows the everyday life of Tsukune-chan, a witch who wants to do good in the world, even if she's a little heavy handed about it. The comedy is lightning fast, while still being relatively easy to follow, which makes for a perfect combination. Whether it be her niece that causes a magic explosion any time she sneezes, the ghost of Tsukune-chan's dead familiar haunting her in every episode, or the ... layabout mayor getting himself caught up in her schemes and plots, this is an anime that had me rolling from start to finish. It absolutely holds up today, and if anything, is even funnier now. Like with the familiar's ghost, my favorite parts of the comedy are the persistent gags that made their way through every episode of the entire anime.

The art, as mentioned above, is a great example of a fundamental kind of 2000s style, but it also impresses with a rather unexpected use of multimedia, even going so far as to include a claymation segment in one episode.

The sound is good, with strong, fast-paced voice work. The characters are the central pillar of the comedy in this anime, and the best part of what makes it all work is their interplay with each other, so I'd say they're the strongest aspect of this anime. The casual disregard Tsukune has for the mayor, the rivalry between her and Shioretta Flowers, and everything in between just feels so natural and funny. Of them, Shioretta Flowers is my favorite character for the absurd lengths to which she goes to compete with Tsukune-chan. All in all, not only does this anime reveal a great deal of care put into its writing and comedy, it's also clear that the team behind it had a blast while making it, and on these merits alone it is enough for me to easily recommend this title to anybody who's down for a good laugh.

Majokko Tsukune-chan is a 6-episode (technically three as each episode is half-length) comedy directed by Sakurai Hiroaki who did Daa! Daa! Daa!, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, and Kodocha. It also has a storyboard by the famed comedy director Daichi Akitarou, the guy behind Fruits Basket, Kamisama Hajimemashita, Kodocha (again), and Now and Then, Here and There (which isn't a comedy, but hey, it's still famed). It is a comedy that tells the misadventures of a witch called Tsukune-chan and her daily life with all of her friends.

Due to the fact that Majokko Tsukune-Chan is a comedy, fans of action and plot would call it boring, as ... besides comedy there isn't much to offer. There is no story to speak of, and little continuity between the skits in each episodes. Stuff blows up, but then, a minute later, everything is fine! (expect Tsukune's little mascot thing, which dies in the first skit and remains dead throughout the whole show) However, as a comedy, Tsukune-chan does what it wants to do and it does it well. Tsukune-chan constantly gets herself into absurd situations, like in one skit she becomes Santa's reindeer. Then Devil Santa kills regular Santa, and a scientist makes Mecha Santa to deliver the presents. Okay, maybe that sounds really dumb on paper, but it works, trust me. The humor of this show is rather dark typically, and is very snarky. Our main character, Tsukune-chan, is typically always happy and optimistic and seems to be oblivious to the ways everything is messed up in this show, but she is snarky too when she wants to and is the best character of the show. There's also several side-characters, like the goofy Mr. Mayor, the “rival” witch character, and several other members of the cast. The show manages to be goofy enough to be funny, but doesn't fully rely on random comedy and rarely repeats jokes. It rarely gets boring, with perhaps one skit as an expectation.

Animation and sound... The show skimps a bit. The animation is very poor, with really simple character designs and not much movement. Backgrounds are typically very cartoonish. Now, Tsukune-chan is a comedy so it doesn't need to have good animation, but still. What music there is is very relaxing, though it reuses tracks too often and has a full-length opening and ending theme despite its shorter episode length.

Majokko Tsukune-chan Final Consensus
Story: Entertaining comedy- 8.
Characters: Really good bunch of unique, wacky characters-8.
Art: Poor- 5.
Sound- Reuses tracks too much-7.
Overall I give Majokko Tsukune-chan a rating of 7, and a recommendation to watch it. It is only an hour and a half long, so why not give it a try, huh?

Tsukune-Chan is a kind-hearted witch who goes around trying to assist people in trouble. To put it nicely, she does not do a very good job of it, and often leaves the situation worse than when she arrived, usually with multiple fatalities. This is played for laughs.

The art style is highly reminiscent of 2x2 Shinobuden, except without the fanservice, so that's a plus. Often, the art would switch into a purposely low-budget appearance to add to the surreality of it. Trading out Rie Kugimiya for Haruko Momoi is a wash. Both have the kind of voice that just makes me want to throttle something. I've ... never heard of any of the other seiyuu.

As for the comedy, well, I had to invent the "Crack is a hell of a drug" tag for this one (and promptly tagged six other shows with it). It's nuts. Half of the jokes have nothing to do with anything, and the other half of the jokes are gallows humor. Women are stalked. People are implied to be pedophiles. People are killed by grenades, getting sniped, explosive sneezes, falling off buildings, drowning in oil, other massive explosions, and getting eaten by sharks and dinosaurs. All played for laughs. I appreciated it. The author had to be on crack cocaine when he/she was coming up with this thing.

The Christmas story was by far the most awesome part of the show. Words cannot express how preposterous it was.

All in all, I'm sure I would have found it funnier if I wasn't in such a poor mood to begin with, but a grade just under a 7 will suffice. Can I recommend this to people? If you like absurdist humor (if you liked Bobobo for example) and can put up with the voice of Anise Tatlin, then sure. If you prefer shows like Kanon, then you should probably stay away.