Denpa Teki na Kanojo

Alternate Titles:  Electromagnetic Girlfriend

Original Japanese Release Date: May 1st, 2009

Episode Length/Run-time: 2 OVA

Summary:
Juuzawa Juu is a typical high school delinquent.  One day he is approahed by a girl, Ochibana Ame who claims to be a “knight” of his from a past life.  Soon afterwards, a rash of serial killings begin occuring in Tokyo and after one of their classmates is murdered the two team up to try to unravel the mystery and catch the murderer.

Review:
What an interesting anime this is.  It exists essentially as a two hour movie and because it’s so engrossing, boy does it fly by quickly. The serial killings make an excellent backdrop for the anime and creates a tense atmosphere fitting of a horror thriller.

Speaking of the murders, this anime doesn’t mess around.   Between the gruesome serial killing scenes and the violent and mature content between the sstudents and throughout society, Denpa Teki na Kanojo is definately an anime intended for more mature audiences.  Most of the killers victims are either stabbed or beaten to death and then strangled with wire.  Juu’s classmate actually gets strung up in a back alley like a puppet.

The character Juuzawa Juu is a very believable and likable high school boy.  He is realistic and the actions and reactions of him and most other characters in the anime are generally realistic and give the anime as a whole the feel of having realistic setting.

In addition, because it’s an OVA, the shows art and animation are top notch.  The background detail and the fluidity of the movement is quite impressive.  It may remind you at times of a Miyazaki or Shinkai film.  Also, the character designs are very likeable. I loved the way that the characters looked in this anime.  Even the level of detail on the movement of the facial expressions are accurate and make the characters feel more human.  I wish that more shows would follow it’s eample and use the same character design style.

If I could come up with just a couple complaints about the anime it would be that there was a lot of character interaction but not enough of the “thriller” genre in the content.  By that I mean I wish a few more people had been murdered and I wanted the anime to simply be a little more gritty.  I suppose this is a minor complaint though as I was never bored watching this anime.  Also, there wasn’t much character background given.  Certain things are mentioned but all in all the character development and background history is kept to a minimum.  I don’t care if the anime is a 2 hour OVA or 100 episodes, character background should always be given attention, at least for important characters.

[starrater]