Tattoon Master

Genre: Comedy / Adventure
Parental Guidance Recommended
1996 AD Vision, AIC

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Cover Description:
Hibio's adventurous mother would do anything for the chance to study an ancient, mysterious tribe of mystics. And when Nima, one of the tribe's more beautiful members, sees a family photograph, the explorer has her bargaining chip.

So she gives the young girl her son as a husband. She just forgets to tell junior about it. So when Nima shows up on his doorstep, full of love (and magical powers), Hibio's not exactly thrilled about it.

Nima, however, is undaunted, and she'll use whatever she can to protect her man and prove her love for him. A pretty young tribal highlander has a lot to learn about 21st century teen culture. But that's okay, because a 21st century teenage boy has a lot to learn about the magic of love.

Dude, where's my car? >>> by skysenshi
What do you call this kind of anime when you don't know where seriousness stops and comedy begins? I felt like I was watching Dude, Where's My Car? the anime version because Tattoon Master takes the word "bizarre" to a different level. Now, unlike in Photon, where it's easy to make-believe that the characters exist in another dimension, TM is set in a Japanese high school where everybody seems to have snapped their gray matter. This is the only anime I've seen where the protagonists' best buddies are just an inch short of becoming maniacal sex offenders. To make things worse, Hibio's father is some sort of a smut video producer who is hopelessly in love with Hibio's mother. Everyone's basically just...obsessive. Don't you just pity the main character? So you'd probably understand why he can be such a cold hard bast at times. Don't be fooled, though, because undearneath it all is a hopeless romantic.

As loony as the characters are, I find myself getting attached to them, especially the female ones. I even can't decide which of the two women in love with Hibio (who's like the better looking version of Yu Yu Hakusho's Yuusuke) is best suited for him! To spice it all up, they all have cool battle scenes in the most unbelievable situations. All in all, I'd say TM is just the right combination of action and romance that can brighten a dreary day.

The artwork and animation are okay, nothing brilliant, but at least the characters look presentable.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 7; Story 8; Characters 7; Sounds 7