Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts. ~Wayne H.
Genre: Comedy/Slice-of-Life
Review Status: Complete (13 Episodes/13 Episodes)
Art/Animation: Simple but good. Reminicent of Azumanga Daioh.
Summary: There are three of the Minami sisters: Haruka, Kana and Chiaki, who have an average life. The girls only have each other to depend on and help each other get through everything from love confessions to cooking. (MAL.net)
Review: Anyone who has siblings knows that, though you may not always like your siblings, you do always love them. No matter what- including all the hijinks and annoying things that may be forced upon you! What I first noticed about this anime was that it shows some pretty realistic family dynamics, even though the characters might be exaggerated personalities.
The oldest, Haruka, is the one who holds the family together. She’s very reliable, but also very lazy. Chiaki, the youngest, really looks up to her. Chiaki could be described as a bit of a tsundere- very cold to those who she’s not close with, and even with those she is, but really wants to be like Haruka. Kana is the wild one- constantly sleeping in, making wild exaggerations out of everything, and the unfortunate cook of the family who has ruined more than one meal with her convoluted cooking logic. Kana and Chiaki rarely get along-which creates havoc of its own- but when they do, something might be about to go very wrong!
They act very much like siblings- they argue, fight, are disappointed in each other, but they also share in each other’s happiness and joys. They fight over what tv shows they want to watch, they harass each other when the other sibling is relaxing, and they help each other out when they need it.
But this is also about more than them. A surprising amount of time is spent with the sisters and their friends. Their friends don’t always get enough screen time to develop- it’s helped with the second and third seasons- but you come to see that the sisters treat and care for their friends like family. This makes a lot of sense, since they don’t have parents to help out. And their friends are as different and varied as the girls are! It’s great to see how the girls act both inside and outside the family home- you get to see different facets of their personality and interactions that you do otherwise.
I have to say, the comedy started out rough. I was really thrown by how it started out. But as I kept watching, I was drawn in by the characters and the humor quickly became something that I could appreciate. The art isn’t as nice as some other series, but more than adequate for a comedy series that relies on situational humor. The OST isn’t anything special, but the VAs did a great job with their characters.
Overall, this is a nice comedy about a family, though not exactly a family comedy.
Recommended: 13+ for some of the jokes that are in there (one of the sisters really wants to know how to kiss, and attempts to use her little sister as a practice dummy- this is a joke that thankfully only lasts a few minutes and is not a running joke) and comedic violence of the sort that you would see in a Saturday Morning Cartoon.
There is an incident where Chiaki wants to know about one of the shows that her older sisters watch (there is a teacher-student relationship in it, and the implication is that they’re getting it on). One boy who’s crushing on the youngest sister dresses in girl’s clothes so that she’ll let him near him. He does start enjoying critiquing girl’s clothing- used for comedy. There is also discussion about the color of underwear in one of the episodes- and in a few others, stuff that you could expect in an all-female household (some talk about breast size and getting dressed).
Other titles you might enjoy: Yotsuba&! (manga)
Minami-ke Okawari (second season)
Minami-ke Okaeri (third season)
Minami-ke Betsubara (OVA)
Azumanga Daioh (anime or manga)
Planetes (anime)
School Rumble (anime)
Bunny Drop (manga)
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