Squid Girl


Squid Girl, known in Japan as Shinryaku! Ika Musume with the subtitle The invader comes from the bottom of the sea!, is a Japanese manga series by Masahiro Anbe, which was serialized in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion between July 2007 and February 2016. An anime television series adaptation by Diomedéa aired on TV Tokyo between October and December 2010, with a second season airing between September and December 2011. Three original video animation episodes were released between 2012 and 2014.

Plot

Vowing to take over the world as revenge for polluting the ocean, Squid Girl attempts to make her base of operations the Lemon Beach House, a small beachside restaurant run by the Aizawa siblings. However, when she accidentally breaks a hole in their wall trying to demonstrate her power by trying to swat a mosquito, she is forced to work as a waitress to pay off the damages. Thus, Squid Girl begins her life on the surface, learning new things and encountering many curious visitors.

Characters

Main characters

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Supporting characters

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Media

Manga

The manga by Masahiro Anbe was serialized in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion between July 2007 and February 2016. The series was compiled into 22 tankōbon volumes released between March 7, 2008 and May 15, 2016. It is published in Taiwan by Chingwin Publishing Group.

Anime

A 12-episode anime adaptation by Diomedéa aired on TV Tokyo between October 4 and December 20, 2010. The fifth and sixth DVD/Blu-ray volumes, released on April 20, 2011 and May 18, 2011, contained bonus "Mini-Ika Musume" side-stories. A second anime season, titled Shinryaku!? Ika Musume, aired in Japan between September 26 and December 26, 2011. Both series were simulcasted by Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode titled Shinryaku!! Ika Musume was bundled with the 12th manga volume released on August 8, 2012, and a second OVA was released with the 14th manga volume on June 7, 2013. Crunchyroll began streaming the OVAs in February 2014. A third OVA was released as a Blu-ray Disc bundled with the 17th manga volume on September 9, 2014.
Media Blasters licensed the anime in North America under the title Squid Girl. The first season was released on two DVD volumes on September 27 and December 6, 2011, respectively, followed by a Blu-ray Disc release on March 13, 2012. Media Blasters originally planned to release the second season, but no longer plans to do so. Both anime seasons and the OVAs were later licensed by Sentai Filmworks in 2016. The complete series, including both anime series and the OVAs, was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 28, 2017, with the second season and OVAs receiving a new English dub cast. The first season was released on DVD in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment on August 13, 2012.
For the first anime series, the opening theme is "Shinryaku no Susume" by Ultra-Prism with Hisako Kanemoto, which was released on October 27, 2010, and the ending theme is "Metame Rhythm" by Kanae Itō, which was released on November 26, 2010. A character song, "Ika Aisu Tabe na Ika?", sung by Kanemoto, was released on July 6, 2011 bundled with a DVD music video. For the second season, the opening theme is "High Powered" by Sphere, and the ending theme is "Kimi o Shiru Koto" by Kanemoto. For the OVAs, the opening theme is "Let's Shinryaku Time!" by Ultra-Prism, and the ending theme is "Puzzle" by Itō for the first two OVAs, and "Miser's Dream" by Itō for the third.

Other

A collaboration with Nintendo's Splatoon video game has been announced. Along with collaboration artwork by Anbe posted on the official Japanese Twitter account, free clothing items based on Squid Girl's outfit were released for the game on August 6, 2015.

Works cited