First Date: Minami-ke
- Title: Minami-ke
- Studio: Doumu
- Genre: Slice-of-Life Comedy
Ratings (out of 5):
- Story: ♥♥♥
- Animation: ♥♥♥
- Characters: ♥♥♥♥
- OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥
- Overall: ♥♥♥♥ (Rawr!)
Thoughts:
Minami-ke is a slice-of-life comedy about three sisters– middle schooler Chiaki, junior high schooler Kana, and senior high student Haruka –by “Coharu” (his romanization, not mine) Sakuraba, the creator of Kyou no Go no Ni (”Today In Class 5-2″). For those of you not familiar with 5-2: it’s a goofy slice-of-life comedy featuring middle schoolers in all their combined innocence and perversion (especially the perversion).
Unlike the OVA of 5-2, though, Minami-ke is a normal TV series and is, at least so far, a bit on the toned down side in terms of how much it pushes sexual themes. Even Kana chasing Chiaki around in order to kiss her is more over-the-top silly than sexual. I really enjoyed 5-2 and so far I think I’m gonna like Minami-ke.
…That said, I think it’s a little unbalanced. Like all slice-of-life series, the show is character-driven, not plot-driven, which is fine. But as an introduction to the characters, the first episode is a little heavy on Kana and a little light on her sisters. It’s obvious why: Kana is a super-energetic, super-untalanted kind of character– think Tomo-chan in Azumanga Daioh. On the other hand, Chiaki is young, smart, mature, and even a little on the dour side– she doesn’t have a lot of patience with Kana’s energy. And Haruka is barely even there in the episode– all you really get of her is that she, being the oldest sister in a parent-less house, is pretty much a stereotypical mother figure: sweet, but firm.
Now, I like Kana and her wacky antics…but the previews and OP seem to show that the series is about all three. So I’m hoping that in the next few episodes we’ll see more of Chiaki and Haruka, and hopefully Kana will actually be seen having something vaguely resembling redeeming traits. I mean, so far she’s sort of like an anime version of Lucille Ball, but dumber.
Kana is certifiable. lol
Minamike is just so awesome.