All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Combine a state-of-the-art combat android with the brain of a stray cat, wrap it all in the appearance of an enthusiastic teenage girl, and what do you get? Nuku-Nuku, aka Atsuko Natsume, "daughter" of engineer/roboticist/high school teacher Kyousuke Natsume and "sister" of ten-year-old Ryuunosuke Natsume. Busty, bouncy and absolutely innocent in the way a kitten is, Nuku-Nuku is also a powerful combat cyborg who is fiercely protective of her family and friends. Since her "father" is the estranged husband of the CEO of Mishima Heavy Industries, Japan's number one military contractor, and she herself is a stolen prototype he created, that means she sees a lot of action. From a pair of trigger-happy goonettes to a psychotic android that wants to steal her body to the task of trying to reunite Kyousuke and his wife so her little brother is happy, Nuku-Nuku approaches every challenge with a smile, a laugh, and a grip that can bend steel I-beams.

A light-hearted, comedic miniseries despite its darkish opening and the vast amount of firepower deployed throughout its six episodes, All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku is a fun romp with one of the more endearing anime heroines of the early 1990s. It's proven popular enough to spawn several Alternate Universe Spin Offs. The anime franchise as a whole consists of three entries:

  • All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku / Bannou Bunka Nekomusume (All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl) - Two three-episode OVA series based on the original manga. The entry most find to be the best, and the only one non-fans have likely heard of. Follows the basic premise as outlined above.
  • All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku Dash / Bannou Bunka Nekomusume Dash - A twelve-episode OVA series which serves as TV's antithesis, being a (slightly) Darker and Edgier reimagining of the basic premise wherein Nuku Nuku is an escaped Mishima Industries android with Laser-Guided Amnesia who battles MHI robots while maintaining a second life as the older sister figure/crush of Ryuunosuke, who in this series is an Ordinary High School Student as opposed to a child. Generally considered to be the weakest of the three due to its straight-playing of multiple tropes which were, at the time, considered overused, leading to it being labeled a Cliché Storm by critics.
Tropes used in All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku include:

Tropes associated with two or more versions:

  • Alternate Continuity: None of the different series take place in the same universe, allowing for them all to have a different plot with the same basic premise.
  • Amusing Injuries
  • Beach Episode: Once per series, at least.
  • Biting the Handkerchief
  • Butt Monkey: Arisa and Kyouko in most incarnations. TV adds in badly battered teacher Yamagata-sensei.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "MOTHER'S LOVE MISSILE!" "NUKU-NUKU PUNCH!" "NUKU-NUKU KICK!"
  • Cyborg Catgirl: Each version of her is a cyborg. In the OVA and fourteen ep TV series, she has a cat's brain. In Dash, it's implied she, as well as her sister Rei Rei, each have a cat's brain and its entire nervous system....
  • Cross-Popping Veins
  • Cute Bruiser: Nuku-Nuku in each and every version. The original also has fellow Robot Girl Eimi Yoshikawa. In Dash, Nuku Nuku goes from cute to outright boob-loaded, in addition to the change in hair and eye color.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Nuku-Nuku
  • Determinator: Nuku Nuku. Semi-lampshaded by Kyouko in the very first episode of the OVA.
  • Nuku Nuku emerges from a pile of wreckage*

Kyouko: What are you, The Terminator?!
Nuku Nuku: No, I'm Natsume Nuku-Nuku! The fruit of Papa-san and Ryuunosuke's love!

  • Dumb Muscle: Nuku-Nuku and Eimi again.
  • Eek! A Mouse!: Subverted. Nuku-Nuku, having a cat's brain, interprets the sight of a mouse as "YAY!" and starts chasing after it, regardless of any destruction said chasing may incur due to her gynoid body.
  • Enemy Mine: The last episode of the original OVA series has Nuku-Nuku and Eimi and Akiko's Office Lady warriors all team up to go into space and destroy the rogue satellite that will kill Akiko at midnight. The final episode of TV sees Kyuusaku and Hell Mishima team up to prevent a giant cat-shaped planet from crashing into the Earth.
  • Gainaxing: Especially in Dash.
  • Genki Girl: Nuku-Nuku in all versions except Dash.
  • Heavy Sleeper: Kyusaku and Ryuunosuke. Nuku Nuku at some points.
  • Hot-Blooded: Kyusaku drifts in and out of this.
  • Hot Mom: Akiko.
  • Humongous Mecha: It would appear that Mishima Industries produces nothing but these.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy / A-Team Firing
  • It Only Works Once
  • Megaton Punch
  • My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Akiko (All versions), Chieko (TV)
  • No Waterproofing in the Future: Subverted - Nuku-Nuku can handle water just fine, but she can't swim because her robot body is too heavy to float and she sinks in any large body of water. She is eventually upgraded to get around this.
    • Surprisingly one of the tropes played straight in TV. The very first Monster of the Week is a Humongous Mecha washing machine whose waterproofing failed and caused it to go on a rampage after it shorted out.
  • The Ojou: Akiko in all incarnations except TV. Said series instead gives this role to Rich Bitch Chieko.
  • Peek-a-Bangs: Kyusaku's. They cover both eyes in OVA, and one eye in TV and Dash.
  • Punch Clock Villain: Akiko is downgraded to one of these in TV, as she is seen to still be Happily Married to Kyusaku and acting as a doting mother to Ryuunosuke when off the clock. When on the clock, she becomes "Bloody Akiko", completely devoted to fulfilling whatever inane plot her boss has in store that week.
    • Arisa and Kyouko are this in every incarnation.
  • Punny Name: Nuku-Nuku's name is a both a pun related to her serial number (NK-1124) and her "civillain" name Atsuko. "Nukunuku" means something similar to "Warm and Cozy", while "Atsuko" is "Hot Girl". Also rather ironic considering that Nuku-Nuku, being a gynoid, doesn't even register excessive temperatures and has to have the fact that something is hot pointed out to her by Kyusaku.
  • Robot Girl: Eimi in the OVA, the other NK-series Androids in Dash aside from Nuku Nuku herself and Her Sister Rei Rei, who are cyborgs, instead.
  • Roof Hopping
  • Rule of Cool
  • Rule of Funny
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: Arisa lives for this trope, but Eimi tops her at it by dragging a minigun around in order to give Nuku-Nuku a special "Christmas Present" in the final OVA episode.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Arisa and Kyouko.
  • The Sweat Drop: Used in all series, but called attention to Lampshaded in the TV series when Nuku-Nuku asks Kyusaku why she can do this, but is unable to sweat in the "normal" way.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: Arisa and Kyouko.
  • Word Salad Title

Tropes used in Nuku-Nuku Dash:

  • Date Crepe: In episode 3.
  • Melodrama: Heaps of it.
  • Name's the Same: A really weird version cropped up here, where the character identified in the other versions as "Arisa" became known as "Kyouko" and vice versa. They even inherited some of each other's personality quirks.
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