Joseph Luster
November 28, 2007 
Opening credits aren’t always particularly telling when it comes to anime. It’s not like an old corny sitcom where you see each member of the cast smiling as they turn toward the camera, winking slyly before gathering in the family room to wax sentimental. Sometimes you just end up with a bunch of symbolic mumbo jumbo, or maybe some fan service that hardly gives the audience any idea of what’s to come.
This has never been the case with Haré + Guu in any of its incarnations. It’s a weird, goofy, and curiously endearing series with an opening that’s just that. Characters dance and flail around, they belt out nigh incomprehensible lyrics, and the screen floods with the kinds of colors and shapes that frame the high-spirited nature of the show.
Deluxe volume 2 is the second half of the OAV that follows up the comedic misadventures of the TV series. Aside from a very slight animation upgrade, it’s basically more of what any fan would want from the show. It’s kind of amazing that the weirdness that defines Haré + Guu never seems to peak or hit a brick wall of creativity. There’s a lot of variety here, and while one episode may focus primarily on Haré dealing with the impending arrival of his mom’s new baby, the next will be all about Guu knocking our unfortunate hero into the Village Elder’s dream in which each inhabitant of the jungle is sporting a disturbingly huge tuft of chest hair similar in sheer robustness to the one the Elder used to cherish so famously.
Ever since I saw the first handful of TV episodes a few years back, the impressively long-titled Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu has stayed with me as one of the funniest and most quick to charm anime series out there. There’s something almost comforting about the rarely changing setting and the quaint musical cues that makes it more memorable than your average animated comedy. If you’ve already watched the original series, picking up Deluxe should be an easy decision. However, there’s a lot of history that fuels the humor here, so you’ll want to look into the past DVDs before you take a plunge into the OAV.
