There's the way-too-kind-and-pretty older sister, the smart-mouthed younger sister and the overly-exuberant-and-dumb middle sister. Wackiness ensues. The slice-of-life comedy Minami-ke isn't really breaking any new ground at all but has an undeniable endearing charm to it and is just funny enough to keep from being simply an exercise in laid-back adorability. Very much in the vein of both Azumanga Daioh (but less straight-out wacky and with a tighter cast) and Strawberry Marshmallow (but with older characters and more focused on humor than "aren't little girls just the most adorable things?"), the expressive, dynamic character designs and animation are strongly reminiscent of Kamichu! (without the supernatural schoolgirl-become-a-god complication) as well.
As a slice-of-life show, there's little-to-no ongoing plot. Exaggerated characters are just thrown at each other in a variety of ridiculous situations and you laugh at the fallout. Animation is top-notch and used to great effect to bring everything to life. It's hard not to laugh along with the over-the-top antics when the younger two sisters start going at it.
It's virtually impossible not to draw comparisons with Azumanga Daioh, as it largely established the genre for American otaku. Minami-ke has a smaller cast (which may mean you might not find that one kind of girl you just love) and isn't quite as overtly cute (like Kamichu!, it's somewhat subtle its cuteness attack, letting it sneak around and jump you from behind when you aren't paying attention) but does feel somewhat less disjointed. It's less obviously a sequence of humorous skits sewn together by merit of sharing the same characters, even if only by virtue of each skit/sequence being longer.
Definitely highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of either cute girls just doin' stuff or heroin-comedy (Azumanga Daioh, as opposed to the crack-comedy of Excel Saga).
As a slice-of-life show, there's little-to-no ongoing plot. Exaggerated characters are just thrown at each other in a variety of ridiculous situations and you laugh at the fallout. Animation is top-notch and used to great effect to bring everything to life. It's hard not to laugh along with the over-the-top antics when the younger two sisters start going at it.It's virtually impossible not to draw comparisons with Azumanga Daioh, as it largely established the genre for American otaku. Minami-ke has a smaller cast (which may mean you might not find that one kind of girl you just love) and isn't quite as overtly cute (like Kamichu!, it's somewhat subtle its cuteness attack, letting it sneak around and jump you from behind when you aren't paying attention) but does feel somewhat less disjointed. It's less obviously a sequence of humorous skits sewn together by merit of sharing the same characters, even if only by virtue of each skit/sequence being longer.
Definitely highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of either cute girls just doin' stuff or heroin-comedy (Azumanga Daioh, as opposed to the crack-comedy of Excel Saga).
based on 6 episodes : ANN : Wikipedia
Quick note: Apparently I'm dumb and/or hallucinating.
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn that this was from the Kamichu! team, but that's apparently not the case.
The post has been corrected.