Urahara: The Complete Series

This anime series focuses on a trio of high school girls who plan to open a pop-up shop in Tokyo’s Harajuku area. While the girls seem more interested in trendy fashion and eating out than the fate of the world, they refocus their attention when an army of aliens arrives with the goal of stealing the world’s most beloved cultural landmarks. The girls somehow manage to create a protective bubble around Harajuku by using tools and magic gained from the alien invaders. While this unlikely shield keeps the extraterrestrials from wreaking havoc, there is an unexpected side effect: everyone inside of the bubble is trapped in the district and unable to leave. Typical of the series’ odd humor is having the dead aliens turn into donuts, albeit with staring eyes (the girls are unfazed by the ocular features of these unlikely pastries and eat them anyway). For sheer silliness, Urahara serves up a zany riff on multiple anime tropes as the unlikely heroines giggle and wiggle their way through mischief with insouciant charm amidst a happily garish visual production. The nutty concept eventually starts to lose steam about halfway through, but until that point it offers joyfully nonsensical entertainment. Presenting all 12 episodes from 2017 in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-PG, this is a strong optional purchase. (P. Hall)