Ranked #2072

Binbou Shimai Monogatari

===Animation===
Toei did a pretty good job with the animation for this series. It isn't anything amazing, but it does have it's own beauty. Character designs are very nice and rather consistent, with some chibi scenes thrown in. Running scenes are done quite well too. The backgrounds are quite simple, but nicely drawn with pastel which adds a special "touch" to this series.

===Sound===
Sound was one of the stronger points of this series. A nice OP and ED, with quite catchy melodies. In addition, very nice background music was used. I cannot comment too much on how well seiyuu-s did they job, but I think that it was good.

===Story===
The storyline is pretty simple. Two sisters living alone in an old apartment, with their mother dead and a father that just disappeared from everyone's sight. There is no core plot, it's done in an episodic way which I think is a bit of a pity since it could have focused more on something specific. However the main theme was the relationship between all the characters. It could have used more episodes to develop the story a bit more, since we aren't given too much information on all the other characters. Myself I didn't like the occasional cheesy scenes. Not sure why, but I just didn't find them to fit well into the overall image of the series. Some light comedy was thrown in here and there just to relieve the usual drama tension. You might also want to have a tissue ready when watching this. The last episode in particular is a bit touching.

===Characters===
Since this series is only ten episodes long, there isn't much time to develop any other characters except for the two sisters. You could also say that Asu, the younger sister, can be classified as a "moe" character. She is cute (you can't deny it), full stop. Overall there isn't a big number of characters. You have the two sisters, the apartment owner, the two rich sisters and the Yamada sister's two neighbours which in overall makes seven characters. Some of them appear just once or twice through the series, but some are brought into the plot more often, but their are mainly used just to fuel the sister's story. However each of the characters are likeable, since they are all different in their own way.

===Enjoyment===
I enjoyed watching this. It's nice to watch sometimes a series that doesn't revolve around a core plot, but wanders carelessly. It's easy to enjoy watching this, because you don't have to strain your brain to start thinking over some really difficult issues that were brought up. The last episode was in my opinion the best, since it did get a bit touching and that's what I really like. However I can't see myself watching this again, maybe only the last episode. read more

Binbou Shimai Monogatari is indeed about some very poor sisters. Monetarily and metaphorically, to be exact.

The anime follows two young sisters, (practically) orphaned, who try to make the best of every day. They love one another very much, and can't manage without one another. They cook for each other, care for one another, hunt for bargains, save spare change, and do all sorts of sisterly things. With one another, of course, and a few of their neighbourhood or school friends. And... that's it. It's slice of life, what do you expect? We are given a slice of these girls lives, and you know what?

Their lives are boring.

There, I said it. I might sound like a bully picking on this 'little sweet anime about siblings', but it is not entertainment in any way. It's not even atmospheric, so one can't sit back and just enjoy it for what it's worth visually or aurally. To me, this should have been a three-episode OAV, not a ten episode series. I've compared this to many other slice of life and even drama anime, and the results have been the same: it does not compare. At best, the story is mediocre to mildly interesting at points. The whole idea that every episode is about these poor, poor kids trying to be cheerful about having to work and managing to be ecstatic about eating meat for dinner is a little upsetting, and rather tedious. In fact, it LOSES emotional impact because we are reminded so often that these girls have a hard life and have a great outlook on it. It's spoon-feeding the audience mush, is what the plot did.

Art is cute. There are soft colours used, and the characters have healthy blushes on them a lot. It isn't the best out there, and it's nothing very special.

I thought the sound was particularly weak, actually. I actually forget every sound effect, the score and most of the seiyuu work, actually. I can only vividly remember the OP theme song, and that's because it annoyed me.

Two saving graces for Binbou Shimai Monogatari: Asu and Kyou. Two reasons I didn't drop this anime into the dust. The interactions between both sisters are well done. Both are lovable characters. Kyou is hard-working and worries a lot about her sister. It's sort of admirable that she's bearing the burden of being a mother figure to her younger sister. She could have been negligent or even immature, but she is great older sister, always putting the younger one before herself. And Asu is a terribly cute, terribly sweet little girl. She's quite mature for her age as well. And she's also very considerate to her older sister. There are some interesting supporting cast members as well. The rival sisters who are great comic relief, the old landlord, their musician neighbour... all these people who enrich the girls' simple lifestyle.

This slice of life anime manages to do the one thing all anime in this genre try to avoid doing: boring the living daylights out of the viewers. While, yes, it is sweet and it is simple, I felt like my brain was munching slowly on some lightly buttered, semi-stale popcorn. It wasn't technical eye candy nor did it provide a meaty storyline or characterisations for us to sink our teeth into.

Is Binbou Shimai Monogatari good? Yeah, to some extent it is. Is it worth watching? Not really, no... There's nothing about it to draw a viewer in, but there really isn't anything about it that is "bad". It's just not entertainment. I'm not saying that they should have strapped the girls down with some giant guns or make them be able to fly and let them have an arch nemesis who is an invisible mecha or anything like that. I'm just saying that if you're going to give us a slice of people's lives, then just make sure those lives are very interesting.

If you have the time to spare and don't want to stare at an ice cube melting in the sun, then by all means, watch Binbou Shimai Monogatari. Unless that ice cube is much more fascinating. read more