The show is part of a twelve episode series that details the life of a female android with super senses and abilities that has lost her memory. She stays with a family in a small town in Japan, some 12 years in the future after a big war. While she doesn't have memories specific to her mission or purpose in life, she does have some automatic programming that takes over and puts her in auto drive when the necessity arises. The series is only slightly related to the original OVA and follow-up series that started in 1992, using some of the same concepts and characters but altering them to form a new continuity (much like the Tenchi series do). I never saw the original series so I can't honestly discuss the merits of one versus the other but this one was pretty good for it's technical limitations. Here's a list of the final episodes and I'll give a general overview of what took place with as few spoilers as possible afterwards:

Episode Nine: After The Encounter:
Episode Ten: The Sound Of A Ball, A Far Away Sound:
Episode Eleven: Presage Of Destruction:
Episode Twelve: Good-bye, Nuku Nuku:

Okay, these are the four episodes that wrap up this incarnation of the Dash! Series. Ryunosuke took Nuku Nuku on a date to a sporting event where two large battle robots, one large one from Mishima and another from a German company. The stakes are corporate prestige and lots of profit but when things go wrong, and the spectators are threatened, will Nuku Nuku be able to override a command from the professor? The new corporate leader of Mishima takes over and unleashes a plan to consolidate control of the company, as well as capture Nuku Nuku. One of the plans involves using her prototype, one without the behavioral programming our heroine has to protect all life. Nuku Nuku, once seriously damaged in the fight, must decide between her extended family and her own life. Lastly, the final episode is set in the future and shows Ryunosuke with a surprisingly interesting life, in a bittersweet finale episode.

Okay, I liked the way the series wrapped up and the final episode showed some of the character development the earlier episodes lacked. I also thought the colorful show had a cute premise with the intelligence of Nuku Nuku being initially the result of a where her brain came from (which explained a lot of her behavior). What bothered me was the formulaic nature of the show. It was almost as if the outlines for each episode were set in stone and only slight variations were allowed in order to achieve some kind of specific show each time. Don't get me wrong, I liked the series as a whole and found it to be a guilty pleasure that I enjoyed, it was just too limited to have a lot of replay value. As such, I can only feel comfortable giving it a rating of Rent It unless a boxed set is released in the future at a lower MSRP.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. While the style of anime itself seemed much older than the usual style from 1998, the year of production for the original show, it was generally well made with a somewhat dulled finish to it. All the usual color palate was used, it just lacked the brightness and clarity I'd expect from a fairly modern anime show.

Sound: The audio was presented in Dolby Digital stereo with a choice of either English or Japanese with optional subtitles. The vocals seemed a bit hollow but the sound effects and music were fairly clear.

Extras: The best extra to the DVD was a paper insert that provided detailed character information and an essay on the songs of the Nuku Nuku series. It was done in 12-page booklet form and looked good, providing more detail about the characters than previous volumes. The other extras were trailers, a clean opening and close, and a double sided DVD cover.

Final Thoughts: If you're a fan of science fiction anime, you'll like this one more if you start off with Volume 1 and watch the DVD's in order. There were a great many anime clichés in the series but it had some cute moments that slightly transcended them on a regular basis too. For all the observed limitations, it merited your time at least as a rental but not much more.