Nerima Daikon Brothers

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The main characters of Nerima Daikon Brothers. From the left: Mako, Hideki, and Ichiro (no, not the pandas).

Nerima Daikon Brothers is about three struggling would-be musicians, Ichiro, Hideki and Mako, who dream of becoming a famous R&B act and building a huge domed stadium where they play sold-out shows night in and night out that also carries their namesake. In the meantime, they run a daikon (radish) farm in Nerima Ward (famous for its daikon harvests) while trying to fend off creditors, their neighbors, trespassers, and Mako's unmitigated greed.

The show uses a musical comedy format, with the characters often breaking out in song to show their emotions or go through a montage scene- there will often be 4 or 5 songs in the body of an episode. The melodies are sometimes recycled episode after episode with different lyrics substituted for the particular situation. The musical comedy format is rare in Japanese animation and the show's style is influenced by American musicals such as The Blues Brothers and Bollywood musicals such as Muthu. There's some Bonnie and Clyde inspiration in there as well.

Tropes used in Nerima Daikon Brothers include:

• Accent Adaptation: Mako's Kansai dialect is given the typical switch to a southern accent in the dub.
  • Hideki also having a Texan accent tends to soften the blow.
  • Interestingly, when she starts speaking kansai-ben exclusively, the subtitles use a Cajun dialect to reflect this, but the dub just has her using rather dense slang.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Madame Gokutsubushi threatens to expose various famous people's scandalous activities such as a company president's keeping a house for his mistress, an athlete's steroid usage, and a sumo wrestler who uses baby toys on his wife in bed at night.
• Author Avatar: Shinichi Watanabe, though silhouetted, appears as his character Nabeshin.
• Bare Your Midriff: Mako.
• Big Bad: The Prime Minister, who planned on privatizing Nerima (making it a gigantic condo neighborhood).
• Bishounen: Ichiro.
  • Subverted Trope: Plastic surgery was used to put Bishie faces on previously unhandsome Koreans.
• Black Comedy Rape
• Brain Bleach: Moi's musical interlude makes Hideki state he'll have to stare at the sun to burn that image out of his mind.
• But You Screw One Goat!: Both Ichiro and Yukika REALLY like Pandaikon.
• Camp Gay: Moi, cranked Up to Eleven.
• Censor Steam: Mako, with money.
• The Chick: Mako
• Chris Patton: Plays Ichiro in the English dub.
• Cool Shades: The entire band, and Pandaikon.
• Cultural Cross-Reference: Michael Jackson shows up as one of the villains.
• Cranky Neighbor
• Dawson Casting: Hideki's voice actor in the Japanese version, Shigeru Matsuzaki, stands out particularly because apparently it was his first role in twenty-four years, and the man was pushing at least sixty years old while trying to play a twenty-five year old character.
• Dull Surprise: Ichiro
• Ear Worm: Every goddamn song.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Ichiro.
  • Hell, even animals want him.
• Expository Theme Tune
• Eyes Always Shut: Three of the hosts in episode 9.

Yukika: I didn't know this club employed blind men. Hosts: Ever feel outside of an inside joke?

• Failure Is the Only Option: Despite defeating the bad guy at the end of each episode, they never get to keep the money.
  • That goes double for Hideki trying to woo Mako.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Pandaikon, after eating some kimchee.
• Gainaxing: Minor instance, when Mako was showing off her nurse's outfit to Hideki.
• Gonk: Most of the villains du jour. Subverted in one episode, where plastic surgery was used to put Bishounen faces on previously unhandsome Koreans.
• Greed: Mako wants to blow all her - and Hideki's - money on Pachinko parlors and top-shelf champagne.
• Greg Ayres: Plays Hideki in the English dub.
• Henohenomoheji: Anytime a member of the Brothers is MIA and the other two have to rent from Nine Dragons without them, their place in the song is taken by a cardboard cut-out with this face.
  • Except for a couple of times, one in which Yukika joins in and another wherein Nabeshin himself joins up
• Henpecked Husband: Number One
• Hexagonal Speech Balloon
• Host Club: Ichiro works at one.
• The Idiot From Osaka: Mako is from Okayama.
• If I Were a Rich Man: Mako frequently has these, even as part of the opening theme.
• I Have a Family: When trying to steal from one of Ichiro's rival host club hosts, "Number One" is revealed to be abused by his overbearing wife, but still loves her and their many children.
• Interspecies Romance: Ichiro and Yukika and their... panda-love.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: When the casting director calls Mako an "ugly slut", her reaction is an indignant "Ugly? UGLY?!"
• Kansai Regional Accent: Mako has one. In the dub it's translated as a southern belle accent.
• Kissing Cousins: Unrequited, anyway: Hideki wants Mako, Mako wants Ichiro.
• Lampshade Hanging
• Large and In Charge: Hideki
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The English version ending theme which is basically saying "Thanks For Buying the DVD of the show (since its very unlikely this show will be broadcasted on U.S. airwaves) now we have money for booze."
• Let's Get Dangerous: Yukika, when she finally uses her skills for good instead of... well.
• Love At First Punch: Mako doesn't develop an interest in Ichiro until he slaps her. (Hideki tries, too, but it just pisses her off when he does it.)
• Luci Christian: Plays Mako in the dub.
• Magic Skirt: Lampshaded in one episode with an upside-down Mako, Hideki watching for her skirt to fall, and Ichiro explaining that the artist doesn't feel like drawing it.
• Moral Dissonance: The band doesn't particularly know/care who they're stealing money from.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Mako and her greed. (Although, really, none of the main characters have moral high ground. She's just worse than the rest.)
• Neck Lift
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: A large number of the villains are parodies of celebs or political figures from Japan.
• No Fourth Wall
• No Koreans in Japan: Averted quite heavily in the second episode, about a Korean-owned pachinko parlor.
• "No Respect" Guy: Hideki
• Nosebleed: Hideki for Mako. Also lampshaded.
• Once an Episode: The band needs a quick loan; the band hits up the Nine Dragons Rental Shop for a Plot Coupon.
• Pandaing to the Audience
• Perpetual Poverty
• Plot Coupon: Rented from Nine Dragons.
• Puppy Dog Eyes: Mako used this against the manager of the Korean Pachinko, including saying the sound effect out loud.
• Ramen Slurp: Hideki, Mako, Ichiro, and Yukika do this as part of a song, including singing the sound of slurping.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter / Non-Human Sidekick / Team Pet: Pandaikon
• Shout-Out: Excel Saga; also, the gang's clothes and preferred style of music is reminiscent of The Blues Brothers
  • In one of the episodes, the villian is an Expy of Michael Jackson, so you can bet there's plenty of shout-out-related fun to be had.
• Shown Their Work: Nerima ward in Tokyo is famous for its daikon (radish) growing.
• Something About a Rose: Ichiro's rival from the Kabuki-cho host club.
• Spit Take: With ramen in one instance.
• Straight Man: Ichiro.
• Surreal Humor
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Officer Yukika Karakuri, aka Inspector Widgett
• That's All, Folks!: The ending theme song.
• Theme Music Power-Up: ALL. THE. TIME.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Hideki gets annoyed at Ichiro for treating Pandaikon as this in the first episode, insisting that a normal person would at least go "Waaa!" at seeing a panda in a daikon field.
• We Rent Everything: The Rental Guy has given the Brothers everything from vegetable costumes to a heat-seeking enema to a rocket.
• What Song Was This Again?: The dub version of the songs on occasion.
• Whip It Good: Yukika Dual Wields two cat-o-nine-tails.
• Widget Series: Well what did you expect?! This shows is made by the guy who made Excel Saga!
• X Meets Y: The Blues Brothers meets Anime.