I'm currently rewatching Nerima Daikon Brothers, and because I've been watching so much Phineas and Ferb lately (which is a really good show, btw, and you should all check it out), my brain keeps trying to match up the characters. I mean, in a general sense, Phineas would be Hideki, since they're both the instigators of their groups, Ferb would be Ichiro, the quieter, more laid-back one, and Candace would be Mako, mostly because they're both girls, but they are similar personality-wise. And of course Perry would be Pandaikon, which means that Major Monogram would be The Rental Guy, but since that's a Nabeshin cameo, Carl would be a better fit, just because of the hair similarity. And part of me wants Doofenshmirtz to be Ichiro because I've been spending too much time in the DxP part of the fandom (but they're the most active part!), and Ichiro has his own song about how he feels about the panda (which, in the dub, includes the lines "They say you're an animal/But I say you're a mammal just like me"). But on the other hand, he could also be Yukika, who also falls for the panda, and since she's a gadget detective, that role probably fits him better anyway, except for the fact that she's a policewoman, which is two strikes for him (that is, since he's a card-carrying villain and a man) but that's really par for the course for him, when you think about it.
But going back to Nerima Daikon Brothers, it's been a favorite of mine for a while. I rented it when it first came out, but I only recently got around to buying it (hence the rewatching). It's only twelve episodes long, so one could possibly watch the entire thing in a day, although I'm not doing that. The series follows Hideki, Ichiro, and their cousin Mako as they fight to right the wrongs occurring in Nerima, with the not-exactly-altruistic motive of claiming the evil-doers' money so they can build a dome in their daikon field and give concerts. But what sets this anime apart from the rest is the fact that it is a musical. That's right, every episode features a number of songs, most of them less than a minute (also, the character designs are done by the same guy who did the character designs for Space Pirate Mito, although under a pseudonym). The whole show also spoofs and satires aspects of Japanese life as well as various celebrities (including a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Michael Jackson), so if you do check it out, make sure to get the DVDs released by ADV, which includes liner notes and on-screen ADVidnotes explaining most of the references. On top of that, unlike for most animes, the dub includes translated versions of the songs, most of which fit the spirit of the song, even if they don't exactly match lyrically. Keep in mind, however, a lot of the humor on the show is of an ecchi (that is, slightly perverted) nature. Nothing explicit, but if that kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, then consider yourself forewarned.
As the name of the series implies, there's a certain amount of inspiration pulled from the movie The Blues Brothers. However, since I've never seen that, here's a mashup of the movie's trailer with footage from the anime:
