Janguru wa itsumo hare nochi Guu

Hale is a normal boy living in a small jungle community with his mother, Weda, and their friends. He does chores, cooks, goes to school, and cares for his mom, who's somewhat of a lush. One night, she comes home with a cute little pink haired girl named Guu, claiming that she's adopted Guu. Hale and her get along fine initially, but the next day, Guu becomes mellow, bitingly cynical, and manipulative (in the most hilarious way possible), constantly putting Hale in situations he'd rather not be in. Did I also mention that she'll eat anything and everything in sight? Like many shows before it, Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, translated to something along the lines of "The Jungle Was Always Nice, then Came Guu," is based around a single character, Guu, and her antics. More accurately, it's about Hale's attempts to control her and keep her weird habits (remember the eating thing?) from being exposed. Guu herself is pretty much a mystery, with no explanation of who she is or where she comes from, she simply becomes a catalyst for everything strange and usually downright hilarious that happens to poor Hale.

However, the other "main" characters of the show are rather well fleshed out, making the show be less of a "Guu-vehicle" and more of a "well-rounded sitcom." Hale himself, being a kid somewhere around the age or 8 or 9, is prone to episodes of melodrama over Guu's actions, but is a goodhearted kid, it's too bad he got stuck with such a psycho. His mom, Weda, is also pretty good-natured, it's too bad she's such a lazy alcoholic. The other characters are fairly two dimensional, one of which is constantly prone to fits of hysterical laughter, or the teacher who is always sleeping, the little girl who has a huge crush on Hale and has a weird melodramatic issue with love, etc etc. However, some of them are just so out there (a nurse of Weda's who has almost a sexual love for her, which includes many, many nosebleeds, as well as severe beatings of her assistant) that one really can't turn their head away.

A lot of the humor is physical slapstick material, usually overanimated to the point of becoming psychotically violent (though in a VERY cartoonish form) and various oddball emotes. It also has a lot of more spoken comedy that ranges from plain silly to subtle to drier than this review. The storyline itself isn't bad, but entirely unnecessary. It's primarily in episodic format, so you can jump in at any time. Honestly, the only reason this review is so dull is that I haven't slept in three days and I haven't seen the show in months, but I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting comedy.

My overall impression from "Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu" (this is the correct title by the way, according to the intro of the Deluxe season) was very positive. Although it is one of the strangest things I've ever seen, and the story tends to shift focus all the time, it was very funny to watch and an experience I certainly wont forget :-) At least there are some red lines to follow and the episodes are put pretty well together. Of course it's best to view it from the beginning to the end. Skipping episodes might lead to some confusion, but mostly it is not vital and it can still be enjoyable. The atmosphere changes rapidly from one moment to another. It is often quite impulsive, weird and funny but can also be cute, dramatic, sad, uplifting or relaxing.

Haré+Guu (as it's also called) is not any extremely good piece of artwork. The animation is quite good most of the time, although you can get the impression that the artists were in a bit of a hurry sometimes. They intentionally do "bad drawings" to make some of the scenes appear more funny, but in my opinion this method might seem distracting and a bit overused sometimes. I would say, however, that the visual quality of this anime is higher or as good as many other popular anime TV show.

Most of the time there isn't any background music, but the present tracks and intros/outros are catchy and very well done. Sound effects are often used as a compensation for the background music and I think it fits the theme very well. The performance of the voice actors (Japanese) is outstanding, although it can be a little wearisome when Hale is in his yelling mood.

I've watched all three series: The original show (26 episodes), the Deluxe version (12 "illusions" in 6 episodes) and the Final OVA (14 parts in 7 episodes).

The special concept of the story and general good quality of the show leads me to give it a rating above average. It does not appeal to everyone and a few jokes/terms need a little note for non-Japanese viewers. It is mostly targeted for the younger audience but can as well be viewing by "young adults".