8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarity and Insanity- in a box!, December 16, 2007
This review is from: Hare + Guu Box Set (DVD)
One of the craziest, most manic anime series I've seen, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu (Hare + Guu) is a unique brand of comedy. Much of the humor revolves around Hare, our overly stressed, 40 year old persona in a child's body, who finds himself the sole witness of the craziness that surrounds Guu. While mostly episodic, the show does reach a satisfying, surprisingly emotional conclusion regarding the background of Hare's mother, Weda.
Hare + Guu's frantic pacing and off the wall humor may not be for all audiences, but for those who can tolerate a high energy torrent of psychedelic craziness, the show delivers very well. Fans should also consider buying the Hare + Guu Deluxe OVA, and Hare + Guu Final OVA (when released), which provide additional closure beyond the initial storyline.
Rating wise, Hare + Guu is roughly PG-13 due to violence and adult humor.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..., May 16, 2009
This review is from: Hare + Guu Box Set (DVD)
She looks like an angelic pink-haired orphan girl. But she's actually sarcastic, eerie and has a dimension inside.... her stomach.
Yeah, "Hare + Guu" is a pretty cracked-out little anime series, where any semblance of normal is abandoned within the first five minutes. The complete box set is basically one long crazy ride -- a seemingly endless stream of surreal problems, crazy creatures (the centicat! dancing banana palms!) and nervous breakdowns for the excitable Hare.
Ten year old Hare lives in an idyllic jungle with his lazy mom Weda... until the day she brings Guu home. At first the children get along, but soon Hare finds out just how bizarre Guu is: she always looks flat, she's very sarcastic, and she likes to swallow weird things. And after she (temporarily) swallows Hare, he learns that she has a dimension in her stomach full of things she's swallowed -- people, animals, buildings, and so on.
This is just the first episode, mind. It doesn't get any less weird.
Unfortunately, only Hare seems to notice that Guu is kind of weird, and keeps causing bizarre problems for the village. Then the lecherous Dr. Clive arrives at the school, and Hare discovers to his horror that Clive has a romantic history with Weda. Oh yeah, and he's also Hare's dad -- cue hysterical screaming, since the two loathe each other.
And then a pair of servants named Bel and Ashio arrive from Weda's former home, intent on somehow luring her back to her old luxurious life in the city. But the city has its own dangers and problems, especially when Hare learns the full story of his mother's past.
In the meantime, Guu and Hare cause and/or deal with problems involving chest hair, kissing, psychotic suicidal women, snow days, game shows with Weda as the prize, a gunhappy bodyguard, being swept out to sea, black-shiny-smelly-hard creatures that make really strange sounds, bank robberies, mecha, and a deranged old hag who mistakes Clive for her dead husband.
There are some wonderfully cracked out, whacked out anime series out there, with "FLCL" and "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi" as some of my favorite examples. It's kind of obvious even from the opening credits (dancing banana trees! Red Riding Hood! Centipede-cats! Tropicalia!) that this series is a lot like those -- imagine a "Swiss Family Robinson" episode on some really amazing acid.
Almost every episode on this series is a colorful misadventure of some kind, usually caused by Guu doing something bizarre or impossible, and Hare's manic reactions. Lots of jungle foliage, bright colours, weird wildlife (living jelly donuts?), weird dialogue ("Those who laugh at porn will one day cry for porn!" "STOP SAYING PORN!") and running gags (Weda looks like she's been through a battle every time she cooks).
Things do become a bit more melancholy in the middle of the series, when we start seeing the sad past that Weda keeps hidden. But fortunately the writers never let it become too serious -- we've always got something like Hare's first plane ride (piloted by Guu) to keep things funny. And whenever the stories seem to be getting formulaic, they toss in a new and bizarre character (or two).
Hare really is a likable, responsible, goodhearted kid, albeit one who's doomed to have hypertension by fifteen. In every other episode, he stresses himself out about keeping Guu from getting trouble or about the other problems of his life. And Guu is a hilarious source of chaos: social obliviousness, machine-gun laughter and attempts to swallow everything (including the superhumanly lazy teacher).
Weda is a likable hard-drinking flake with a surprisingly touching past, while the boy-hating lech Dr. Clive starts off despicable and gradually becomes more caring and likable. And there are lots of other wacky people -- a superhumanly lazy teacher, the flaky Marie, an elder who treasures his undulating mass of chest hair, and the deranged maidservant Bel and mild-mannered yet creepy-looking Ashio.
"Hare + Guu Box Set" is a hilariously acid-soaked, unspeakably hilarious little series. It may look cute and innocent, but like Guu it has a wicked sense of humor.
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