Getsumen To Heiki Mina

Information of Anime

Tsukishiro Mina is a high school girl who works as news announcer for a TV station.  Despite her poor habit of not making it on time, she manages to boast ratings up with her clumsiness which saves her job.  One day while trying to interview a baseball player during his return to Japan, Mina witnesses an alien attacking the baseball player.  From there, her life changes.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Minna is actually part of a Rabbit squad where their mission is to protect the Earth from alien attacks that violate the space rabbit treaty.  She didn't know that she's part of this team, but has to accept her fate even though her life as a news announcer is putting her in on a thin wire.  Her director wants to get her fired & another news announcer is waiting in the shadows to get her big break.  Along the way, more Minnas appear as new recruits or veterans.  The viewers are later shown that the power of Minna is passed down from the same bloodline each generation & this get Tsukishiro thinking that her mother was a Minna before.

Things pick up when Surien Koushuu's Minna identity is exposed to the world & her ruthless actions are hated by the citizens of Earth.  Mina Shiwasu (or Sumire Nishiha in disguise) comes to Earth as an Rabbit Force inspector plans to take Surien out & have a no more violence approach in capturing aliens that are breaking the law.  Mina doesn't want part of this even though Shiwasu is a powerful figure in Rabbit Force on planet Minna.

Later on though, people start to get sick of Shiwasu as she becomes too much for the public in terms of exposure.  With Surien gone from her TV program & the viewer ratings are in do-or-die situation, the station is forced to make a script where it views Surien as a bad person to the public.  With Mina as the new announcer for the show, she decides to go against it & reveals her Mina self to the world as she heads to fight Shiwasu to save Surien.  Other Minnas, including ones that viewers have never seen, join Mina with the public supporting them.  The finishing blow comes when a secret tape of Shiwasu's true intention of taking the number one Minna spot from Surien is exposed. 

The show ends with Shiwasu going back to planet Miina & Surien getting her job back as the show's ratings went up.  During the credit roll, Mina's powers are shown as a natural thing as people still treat her the same as before.

My Personal Review

Getsumen To Heiki Mina is actually a parody that originated from the popular live action TV drama Densha Otaku (aka Train Man).  I actually never heard of Getsumen To Heiki Mina until I saw Sega releasing UFO prize items around Christmas in 2006.  I also didn't know it came from Densha Otaku.  Getsumen To Heiki Mina is more of a fanservice from what I seen & it's popularity is most likely linked to Densha Otaku since it wasn't based on anything else like a manga.

Animation

The character designs are on the flat one dimensional side almost.  The faces are simple & don't have a lot of detail to them.  It's almost like they are ripped out from a manga design.

The 3D CGs really have that fake look to them.  It's impressively done in terms of the movement, but the colours make them fake.

The backgrounds are okay.  Not a lot of details as they seem pretty flat.

The colours are dull & give off that one dimensional appearance due to the lack of toning & shading.

In terms of the animation movement, it's a mixture.  Sometimes the movements are realistic & sometimes the movements are not normal.  But they are quite smooth with hardly choppy frames found.

Sound

The sound effects are really on the silly side.  Probably because to make the show cute & funny since it's a parody.  They fit the show well & give it some life.

The seiyuus here are pretty good.  They play their roles very well.  I actually couldn't recognize Marina Inoue's voice as Mina since it's more girly.  The roles I've hear her in are mainly boyish as they are quite deep.  It's a bit cuter here. 

The music more on the rock & pop side.  I don't remember any of it as they don't sound great & don't stick to your head.  I like the ending theme though as it has this Daft Punk feel to it with the techno sounds & rhythm.  Also, Marina's voice is different here as well since her voice isn't deep as her previous songs.

Story

Basically, it's the Rabbit squad stopping the rabbit aliens invading Earth.  Although we will see some progress & development on Mina, but I don't expect a great storyline to unfold in a short number of episodes.  Plus, it's actually a parody from another show.  It's only in the last two episodes that we actually see a plot developing & it's a short one.  It's happens pretty fast & seems more suited for a OVA instead. 

Although the plot ties up the show nicely, there seems to be more of the story.  More Minna characters appear that we may not know about.  Also, I did have some problems with it.  As I don't want to spoil it here, I think most people understand what I mean when I say people are getting sick of "her" already.

Overall Conclusion

Getsumen To Heiki Mina is quite an interesting & funny show.  However, it's not something you would actually sit down & watch it like a crazed otaku.  It's mainly there for fanservice & humour.  I would probably suggest watching this if you feel bored or have nothing else to do.

Getsumen To Heiki Mina gets a 6.5/10.  The show is merely what it is: a spinoff.  There is no actual plot & it felt dry to watch.  It's more of an otaku thing to me where it seems to be geared towards those kind of people.  Although I'm somewhat an otaku myself, the jokes weren't too funny even though I did laugh at some of them.  They felt a bit childish to me.

Last updated on June 9, 2008