AKA: ミニモニ。やるのだぴょん

Genre: Extremely sugary idol singer comedy

Length: Television series, 66 episodes, 2 minutes each

Distributor: Currently unlicensed in North America

Content Rating: G (nothing objectionable, other than extreme cuteness)

Related Series: Mini Moni the TV

Also Recommended: Anything other than this. Heck, just go watch some videos of the real Mini Moni group. They'll probably be much more entertaining than this load of wombat dung.

Notes: This anime was shown as part of TV Tokyo's "OhaStar" program in 2001, hence its short length. It is based on the real-life idol group Mini Moni, which were a subgroup of another idol group, Morning Musume (whose member count at one time was around 16-21 people!). The first-generation lineup of Mini Moni consisted of Morning Musume members Yaguchi Mari, Kago Ai, and Tsuji Nozomi along with Coconuts Musume member Mika Todd. (This is the lineup featured in this anime.) Mini Moni was disbanded in 2004 when Mika Todd left for Los Angeles and Kago Ai and Tsuji Nozomi formed their own subgroup, W. This show also spawned a 4-panel gag comic strip in Shogakukan's shoujo manga magazine Ciao, as well as numerous other merchandise.

Rating:

Mini Moni Yaru no da Pyon!

Synopsis

Yaguchi Mari, Kago "Aibon" Ai, Tsuji "Nono-chan" Nozomi, and Mika Todd are the members of the idol pop group Mini Moni, which sings extremely cutesy songs geared to little kids. This anime focuses on their various adventures and misadventures, all with lots and lots of "-da pyon"-ing, food, and sugary cuteness.

Review

And you thought Di Gi Charat and Bottle Fairy were too cute....

Compared to those anime, Mini Moni Yaru no da Pyon! is as cute as a big fluffy doink. The cuteness found in this anime will certainly make you want to go to the dentist da pyon, and add da pyon to all your sentences da pyon. That is how cute it is.

Then again, this is a Mini Moni anime, which means it stars the J-pop group of that same name that sings about telephones ringing and how tasty cake and strawberry pies are. In other words, Mini Moni is certainly not X Japan, so of course Mini Moni Yaru no da Pyon! would be extremely cute. However, even for this Mini Moni and Morning Musume fan, this anime is pretty much over the edge. It has leaped the fence between "cute" and "extremely annoying and doinky", and, well, it has not landed on the good side.

First off, all the characters are the same. Mari, Ai, Nozomi, and Mika all have the same personality: cutesy. They run around doing cutesy things and singing cutesy songs and do really, really, really cute things and say da pyon at the ends of their sentences. That's just all they do. And not only that, they are pretty much the only characters in this anime. The real Mini Moni did much of this same shtick in their skits for various other TV shows, but at least there it was enjoyable. Here, though, it's just annoying and doinky and it's repeated in every single episode.

The plot? There is no plot in this anime. It's just the members of Mini Moni doing random cutesy things, such as blowing bubbles, doing impersonations, eating, dancing, playing volleyball, eating, trying to become sexy with Mari's Sexy Beam, eating, bouncing on trampolines, Nozomi helping Ai become a magical girl (seriously!), and eating. It has the sole purpose of entertaining little doinks and rotting the teeth of anyone over five with its sugary sweetness.

The music also reeks with cuteness, which is probably no surprise. The opening theme is sung by Mini Moni themselves, with each girl introducing themselves by spelling out their names. There is no ending theme. The seiyuu are the actual members of Mini Moni da pyon, and they do an OK job da pyon, considering they're in such a doinky anime da pyon.

The artwork and animation are extremely simple. The colors are extremely bright and loud. The frame rate is OK, but I could catch some repetitive frames here and there, and some stock footage in a couple episodes. However, the character designs, especially the eyes, are awful looking and aren't appealing very much at all. Odd, considering they're supposed to be "cute"...

In short, although I do like the actual idol group Mini Moni, and I've found myself enjoying their songs, I do not like this anime very much at all. I enjoy cute anime, but combined with the extreme cuteness that is Mini Moni, it just explodes in a shower of cake frosting and sugar. In other words, unless you are a diehard fan of Morning Musume and Mini Moni, stay away.

If it weren't connected with Mini Moni and MoMusu, I probably would have given it only one star. Add a star or two if you enjoy sugary anime and/or are extreme fans who have to see every Morning Musume- and Mini Moni-related show ever. — Jennifer Berman

Recommended Audience: There's nothing objectionable, since this was made for the target audience of Mini Moni: 3 to 6 year old girls. Indeed, little kids will love this show. However, this anime is just too dumb to be watched by anyone else other than little kids ... that is, unless you're a fanboy.