Nurarihyon is a very common type of show. It brings almost every aspect of the typical shounen show and builds it upon the over-used japanese scenario of youkais and other supernatural creatures. While at first glance the show can be completely ignored by the old and venerated by the early teenager, most of it has some depth that can certainly help the overall experience. The show is still ordinary, but can deliver a nice weekend for those waiting for good animes, especially with the poor quality that plagued shows aired in the last few years.
Art & Animation
Nurarihyon certainly has a good production value and the animation and art quality shows much of it. The art is solid and sharp despite the more childish design of monsters and characters in overall. The atmosphere proposed by the show is somehow darker than usual, but the bright colors and flashy designs make it look more like shows as Bleach and Soul Eater. Animation is fluid and deliver some good moments in combats and even in dialogue.
Sound
Sound quality is somehow poor. Opening and endings are fine, but there nothing besides it to make the show shine. Background music is very generic and voice-acting is unfiting for some characters and has a great potential to annoy anyone who hopes for a more serious show without noisy characters.
Story
Nurarihyon tells a story about a successor of a whole army of demons that hide himself in the form of a small boy who is unaware of its true power. This starting point can look generic, and it certainly is. The story overall is far too much based on cliches and the use of conventional formulas of the genre. Fights, hidding the existence of another world from ordinary humans, the school life, the temple life, typical servants with specific powers, etc. Everything in this department cries for an annoying plot and storytelling, and for most part Nurarihyon is indeed poor, but there are moments of glory and some cliches that are well used and make the overall experience more gratifying.
Character
Character-wise the show is very varied. The dark world of demons is usually treated lightly and most of the characters of the whole show serve as comic relief sometimes. The events involving them rarely forces them to evolve and what you see at the start is exactly the same at the end, except for the protagonist. Rikuo takes some of his experiences and grows in a good way through the middle of the show and in the end he matures enough to claim some responsabilities, but this is exactly what is expected for main characters of this kind of the show and its a bit sad not to see anything different to shake things a bit. Overall the characters are as weak as most of this genre and you can expect very typical things here.
Value
Nurarihyon brings nothing new and this is it. It uses a over-used theme, offers only basic personalities for its characters, has a common and predictable plot, has music that is exactly what you hear in any other of the shows and brings some good animation and art style. Those looking only for fun and is not affected by basic story can enjoy the show fully, but if you watch it expecting depth, development, and nice characters you better look elsewhere.
Enjoyment
Those watching Nurarihyon without much expectation can be surprised by how it can lure you even with nothing really extraordinary. The show delivers good events in its simple plot and its pace is certainly good, mixing the plot with some fillers without harming everything.
Comments
Everytime I remember my experience watching Nurarihyon I wonder how such a simple anime caught my attention and earned a few points in my conception. It's hard when this happen because when looking at each topic separetely, the scores are low and the overall is low, but the show offered a good weekend of fun and fufilled its duty to make me a bit happier with the new generation of animes, which has been pretty bad since 2008.
I can't, however, recommend Nurarihyon over many others shows of the genre. If you want more quality, depth and a slightly darker atmosphere, you're better watching Kekkaishi, but Nurarihyon is a better experience than Inuyasha and most of the new shounen shows.