The Series (3/5)

Komugi Yoshida is obsessed with one thing and one thing only, being a pop star! She dreams of fame every night and tries to survive the trials of middle school. She dreams of making it like her friend Kokona and Tsukasa who is a crossdresser. One day while going home she bumps into a magical monster called Usa P, who offers her the chance to be a magical girl. Once she accepts an onslaught of monsters and demons try to battle her.

NURSE WITCH KOMUGI R (2016) is the new addition to the Nurse Witch franchise. It’s 12 episodes of fast paced action. Going into the series, viewers will be refreshed to know that the series acts as a reboot and no knowledge of the earlier series is needed. This series is an odd mix of parody of popular super Sentai series and Sailor Mom, and Japan’s love for Pop music. Even digital pop music. Sadly, the series plays it safe and doesn’t rise above being average.

As a series, it begins with a whimper as the opening dream scene is not thrilling. While the storyline does improve over each new episode, the monster of the week formula is still in play. As for animation, the series has a candy color gloss over every detail. It’s pretty to look at and it fits the format of a kid’s show. The downside is the boring character designs. Bare and basic is the name of the game, and other then the different monsters, I was confused on who was who. In one scene in episode 2, Kokona and a girl in the background look almost the same. The action scenes are fun but there is a lot of repeats from episode to episode.

One area the series does have in its favor is the odd ball comedy. From the first classroom scene, it’s apparent how goofy the writers felt the material was. The over playing of pop diva worship is quickly made clear. The other bits of commercials, and TV production is a fun wink at the crew making the series. While not a complete waste, NURSE WITCH is a basic and by the numbers kind of show.

Audio/Video (4/5)

The series comes with a 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio track. The sound mix is solid with especially nice work on the sound effects. The score and dialogue are also easy to hear with no noticeable hiss or pops. Easy to read English subtitles are included.

The 1080p HD transfer is clear and there’s a sharp focus in most shots. The colors pop and the backgrounds are highly detailed as well. The black levels are well balanced.

Extras (2/5)

We get clean opening and closing animations and a trailer gallery of other Sentai Filmworks releases.

Overall (3/5)

NURSE WITCH KOMUGI R is an average series that will tickle the funny bone of any diehard fan of Super Sentai series. For other viewers, it’s a tossup. Rental first.