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[Assemble Insert box art]
AKA: アッセンブル・インサート
Genre: Parody / comedy
Length: OAV series, 2 episodes, 30 minutes each
Distributor: R1 DVD from Right Stuf
Content Rating: 13+ (lots of bloodless anti-mecha violence, brief scenes of sexual implication)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: Nurse Witch Komugi-chan, Project A-ko
Notes:
Rating:

Assemble Insert

Synopsis

Employing advanced powered battle armor, the criminal gang Demon Seed is seemingly unstoppable. While all conventional efforts to stop the gang have failed, the special Counter-Demon Seed Task Force has a secret weapon: the cute but inexplicably strong Namikaze Maron. Not only do they have a weapon against the Demon Seed, but a potential super idol!


Review

This title is a broad brush parody of a number of eighties anime elements, Japanese entertainment culture, media culture, and several minor additional aspects of Japanese life from that general period. You cannot begin to even remotely take it seriously or try to judge it with the conventional concepts of plausible plots, deep characters, and the like. Most of the characterization is fairly shallow, as the characters exist to fill niches and archetypes to mock.

Not all parody titles work, this one did, for me at least. While not as gutwrenchingly hilarious as some I have seen, I did laugh aloud during several scenes. There were a lot of nice touches added to make it a bit more amusing such as the use of a live action commercial parody and some great direct references to other popular series of the period. Yawara fans in particular need to make sure they watch through the entire end credits of the second episode for an amusing homage.

While certain parts of this OAV series' humor are easy for anyone to relate to (such as the shallowness of the media in building up future stars) a lot of the elements being parodied are based on other rather old shows or just somewhat obscure material. Newer fans of anime or those with only minimal knowledge of many aspects of Japanese culture may find some of the humor more baffling than amusing.

On the technical side, this is not a particularly stunning title. Even adjusting for the age of the show, the animation is particularly average and at times substandard. The character designs are unusually simplistic as well. The music doesn't really stand out at all and Maron's main idol theme is fairly forgettable.

A fun, but not too deep, quick hour of laughs. If you are the type that really loves dissecting parody shows and tracing their references you might want to add a star, if you a bit newer to anime and Japanese culture many of the jokes will probably fall flat and you'll want to subtract a star or two.Jeremy A Beard

Recommended Audience: Maron tosses around a lot of the Demon Seed, but there is very little actually injury depicted. Mostly the violence results in simple property destruction more than anything else. There are two very brief scenes that involve implications of sexuality and an extremely brief shot of an adult video cover with a semi-nude woman on the cover. Blink and you would even miss the scenes but they are there, though the rest of this is fairly safe for most audiences, though I doubt a parody show like this would amuse children much.



Version(s) Viewed: R1 DVD
Review Status: Full (2/2)
Assemble Insert © 1989 Pioneer LDC / Studio Core / Tohoku Shinsha Film
 
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