Nerima Daikon Brothers: Speak Softly but Carry a Big Daikon! Vol. 1

Granted, the world may not be aching for an anime musical comedy, but that didn't stop the creators of Nerima Daikon Brothers, a noisy grab-bag of second-rate music and third-rate mirth. In this first of three volumes, eponymous siblings Hideki and Ichiro, along with their pretty cousin Mako (an honorary brother?) and a panda named Pandaikon are busy trying to raise funds to build a domed stadium, only to have their efforts inevitably interrupted with wacky misadventures involving various miscreants plotting against them. During the course of the story, the action often pauses for a musical number or two (or three), and unlike other anime releases that present the Japanese songs on the English-language versions, here they are actually translated into English. It would be easy to peg this as an anime equivalent of The Monkees, were it not for the absence of that 1960s TV classic's goofy charm and genuinely memorable music. In fact, nothing here is particularly entertaining, and one of the four episodes collected on this dual-language disc, involving a Korean gang trying to take over a pachinko parlor, traffics in negative ethnic stereotypes. Rated TV-MA, DVD extras include audio commentaries, ADVidnotes (pop-ups explaining cultural references), a music video, and a sing-along. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Nerima Daikon Brothers, Vol. 2 is slated for release on Feb. 20.] Aud: P. (P. Hall)