What is Nurse Angel Ririka and Why Should I Care?
As to the first half of the question, Ririka SOS is a magical girl shoujo anime similar to Sailor Moon, where a young girl who can transform into a superheroine fights evil. Ririka SOS is based on a manga of the same name by Ikeno Koi, a fairly prolific shoujo manga artist, and Akimoto Yasushi, a novelist and lyricist (he was a guest judge on an episode of Iron Chef). It ran to 35 episodes on TV Tokyo from June '95 to March 96 at 6 PM on Fridays. That it is in the same genre as Sailor Moon will certainly generate a mixed response; some people refer to Nurse Angel as Sailor Moon's little cousin. But anyone who gives Nurse Angel Ririka SOS a fair chance knows that it is a different show.
Admittedly, it does take it's time in proving the above fact. But given about 10 episodes to warm up, Nurse Angel Ririka becomes fast paced and truely dramatic. It challenges some of the cliches of the magical girl genre, and can come up with some really intense and well choreographed fights, sharp wit, good characterizations, and it always has a good sense of humor. As another Ririka pageholder wrote, "The show is humorous without being silly." Plus, it's loaded with excellent music. Everyone I've talked to and everyone they've talked to has cried during the incredibly powerful final episode. This show is quite a hidden gem. It might not be ground breaking, and our hit counter proves it hasn't made many waves, but it is a solid anime full of memorable moments.
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