Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku

This review contains minor spoilers.

If you’ve looked through Shouji Kawamori’s massive backlog before, then you’d be aware of the occasional original concept that takes a departure from his iconic mecha anime. For myself, learning about these outliers was surprising, especially with Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo, a children’s anime about anthropomorphic magical girls with themes of ecological concern and friendship. Another one of these anime was Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku, which, unlike Kiruminzoo, Kawamori plays a much bigger part in besides just creating the original concept for. Having played a huge role in the script-writing for Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku, I was surprised to learn that this was Kawamori’s ... first time writing a comedy anime — because his ability to intertwine complete and utter absurdity through a story about the interpersonal conflicts of a dysfunctional family on the brink of divorce is some of the best you can find within the sphere of comedy-drama anime. If this overly long sentence has piqued your interest, then allow me to introduce you to Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku.

Starting off amidst a family deciding which child goes with which parent once the two parents get a divorce, Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku makes itself clear that this is not a normal functional family. A disruptive boy playing with his food who doesn’t want to leave either parent; an apprehensive older girl reluctantly deciding to go with her father; who’s a stereotypical otaku stuck to his computer, avoiding the divorce papers due to a fear of rejection; and a loud-mouthed mother who jokingly threatens those around her and isn’t afraid to say how she feels, no matter how hurtful. What’s more is the incoming fax paper that causes a ruckus at the breakfast table, announcing very suddenly to the family that they must join together as heroes and “Save the Earth”. With no explanation other than the purpose of their mission and how to use their given powers, Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku also makes itself clear that it isn’t afraid to be absurd. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s weird, and all of this absurdity is about to clash headfirst with the relationships in this dysfunctional family.

Dai is the youngest child in the family. He’s a disruptive and crude child, not afraid to cause trouble to those around him to gain attention. At school, he flips the skirts of every girl he runs by, including his teacher. At home, he jumps into the chest of his own mother to piss her off. He’s rude to his sister and talks about literally eating shit with his father (yes, this actually happens). He's perverted, inconsiderate, loud, and isn’t afraid of it, so much so that as a viewer, I felt a sense of distaste towards him. However, behind this bombastic personality is a sense of humanity. Humanity that feels as if Dai has lost after living this dysfunctional life with his family. For example, in episode 4, after Dai swallows a mysterious orange ball he found in the previous episode and gets pregnant the next morning with a strange alien rodent (did I mention this anime is absurd?), the family insists that Dai throw it away. Having given birth to the strange creature, Dai understandably doesn’t want to let him go. It’s his own child, and he doesn’t want to give it up like Dai’s mother did to him. This relationship Dai has with the rodent is in direct contrast to his relationship with his mother, who does an incredibly poor job of being a mother figure for him. Dai resents his own mother for this, going so far as to say towards the end of the episode “I can’t believe you call yourself a mother; there is no way I’m abandoning him”, to which she responds, saying “I should’ve abandoned a brat like you long ago”. Both are clearly very reactionary statements, but it goes to show just how Dai’s mother treats him and the reality of his dysfunctional family. This understandably affects Dai immensely, and we’re able to see the extent of this effect in the later episodes. Understanding how Dai has lived a dysfunctional life with his family puts into perspective exactly why he acts the way he does. He seeks attention from others because he never got the right amount from his own parents. He’s crude and inconsiderate because that’s the kind of environment he’s grown up in. He flips up the skirts of girls at his school and causes trouble because he seeks attention that he doesn't get from his parents. He jumps into the chests of his mother and his teacher is because he wants to feel the motherly love that he lost. He’s constantly joking around and not taking things seriously because he’s afraid of confronting what’s truly affecting him. This dynamic within Dai’s personality is juxtaposed with the absurdity of the anime, as it's used to mask how Dai truly feels inside through a more literal representation that the viewer can feel, which goes to show how strong of an understanding the staff of Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku have of its tone. If this is something that sounds interesting to you, then I implore you to give this anime a chance.

One complaint I have with Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku’s storytelling is that Dai is the only character with a fulfilling amount of character development. This is due to the cancellation of the project, putting most of the stories for each character indefinitely on hold. While Nozomi, the oldest child, has some phenomenal episodes that detail her own personal struggles as the only one trying to keep the family together, as well as her experience with love, the parents spend most of their own stories building up their character, which unfortunately never reaches any proper development. That’s why this review is only detailing Dai’s story, as his development essentially represents Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku and its themes as a whole. Now, about this cancellation problem going on.
As of writing this, I cannot say for certain why exactly Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku never got a second season; despite clearly setting up for one at the end of this season. The Japanese wiki mentions that it was cancelled during production, but nothing more. There are suspicions that the low VHS sales and a DVD version releasing far too late after the broadcasting are what hindered the popularity of the series. There are rumours that Kawamori doesn’t like it, with the lack of any Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku material showing at one of his events that featured all of his original creations, including Kiruminzoo. However, there is an ever-looming uncertainty surrounding the whole situation, without an answer in sight. But honestly, I’m okay with it.

Much like the uncertainty of the family’s divorce and where each character is heading in Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku; we most likely won't find out what happened to the project. But despite this constant worry about the future and how things will turn out, it’s important to keep moving forward in life. If Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku ever got an ending, I believe this is the message it would tell the audience. The family is only being held back from divorce by a force they’re unable to control. No matter how hard they try to work together and put their arguments aside, it never works. They’re forever fated into a depressive family dynamic held together only by a necessity to "save the world", yet they themselves do not understand what exactly this world they’re saving is, because they’re trapped in their own. Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku’s ending didn’t tie up any loose ends, nor did it deliver any satisfying answers to our questions, but I’m okay with that. Forming our own interpretations and simply moving on with our lives is equally as important, and that's the conclusion I've found myself ending at.

Just some extra thoughts to round up the review:
- The visuals are mind-bogglingly impressive. Each episode is as consistently gorgeous as the previous, right up to the very end. The animation is impressive in particular, as its over-exaggerated movements and expressions add another layer to the absurdity of the world. Shot composition, impressive layouts, and slow pacing complement the more sombre dramatic character moments, while flashy effects, colourful lighting, and exaggerated posing overwhelm the absurd action scenes. It’s a delightful mix that consistently stays great throughout the 13-episode run.
- The soundtrack is amazing. With music by Shigeo Naka of “The Surf Coaster”, a surf rock band, his flavour of surf rock and heavily distorted electronics complement every scene of the show more than any other element. The music too has an absurd-serious dynamic going on, with tracks ranging from loud, bombastic guitar solos to harrowing low electronic distortions with vocal scream samples.
- It’s honestly impressive just how many elements of art all work together to form the identity of Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku. Art, music, writing, and character performance all ooze absurdity while still being grounded in reality. It’s an impressive mix that I consider to be some of the best you can find within the sphere of comedy-drama anime.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you decide to give Chikyuu Bouei Kazoku a try.

"The Only Way To Save This Family Is For Them To Save The World"

The Daichis is one of those series that is so obscure and easy to overlook despite the fact it even got licensed and fully dubbed into English you would be forgiven for not having heard of it. It was this obscurity and ultimately curiosity that led me to watching the show and I'm so glad I did.

So airing in 2001 and animated by Group TAC The Daichis is a series about a family teetering on the edge of oblivion. We have the obese computer obsessed Father Mamoru, the equally work obsessed Mother ... Seiko, the teenage Daughter on the verge of a total mental breakdown Nozomi and finally the feisty young kid Dai who is trying to just make the best of it all.

The show starts at the breakfast table with Seiko demanding Mamoru for a divorce and asking the kids with whom they want to stay with, Mamoru ignores the request with his face in his laptop. The impression is certainly given that this is just everyday life in the Daichis household. But with the family nearing boiling point a strange fax comes in informing them of Earth's imminent destruction by an Alien force and that they have been chosen as the ones to defeat it. Perhaps understandably they somewhat ignore it, though RPG playing Mamoru keeps an eye on it.

As the day progresses it becomes apparent that the fax was telling the truth and with planet earth on the brink of destruction this dysfunctional family must unite to take down the Alien invasion and if saving all of Human kind isn't enough of a motivation then being paid for the honor of doing so definitely is (with some caveats), at least in the case of Seiko anyway. This is where the heart of the show lies as it's this coming together that helps the Family ties mend and heal and frankly it's endearing, clever, heartwarming but perhaps most of all funny. If it's not young Dai bombing into battle headfirst and certainly headstrong then it's Seiko having a nervous breakdown of the cost of every disaster averting action taken which mounts the family into even more debt.

Along the way we get some great parodies of pop culture which both serves as good comedy, nice action set pieces but also most importantly character building and exploration. We see why this family is the way they are and how they came to be it. Most interestingly we discover that perhaps despite how much they all care for each other the family may also be too far gone to save. I think it's this exploration of family dynamics that really push this show to some high levels and make it a truly special series and one of the best hidden gems around.

The character journeys of each member of the family are really well handled and we are exposed to each of them equally and with some amount of depth which by series end helps make all of them very lovable and enjoyable to watch.

Animated in 2001 surprisingly this series is cel animated making it most likely one of the last shows of it's kind (except for the original version of episode 11, which is mostly digital for some reason). Given this is at the very end of traditional cel animation and with some talented men and women behind the scenes what we are given is a show that looks in no uncertain terms truly fantastic. The transformation scenes of each character are sublime, the action fluid and beautiful and the general animation all round detailed and full of depth. It's really a superb looking show and fans of older animation techniques will find alot to appreciate in it, probably much more than when it came out since now we are so far divorced from this traditional style. I just found it a marvel from beginning to end.

The Soundtrack is serviceable but not overly memorable. Without the official soundtrack easy to track down either it's something I will forget perhaps sooner than I would have. The opening is a fun electronic rock theme that serves at getting the viewer pumped enough for the upcoming episode. The ending is tranquil and fittingly somber as it plays over an old family photo allowing the viewer to contemplate how on earth this family will keep it together and the limits to which it's being stretched.

Overall this series is truly as I mentioned earlier a hidden gem. It's so much more than the sum of it's parts would have you believe. The atmosphere of the show will suck you in and whether this Family can keep it together just long enough to save the world and hopefully themselves as a unit ready to fight for another day is both engaging and thought provoking. I really have fallen in love with this show and I think it's a shame that it has become so overlooked. To summarize this series in one word - 'Recommended'.

This proved to be a fun title. The Daichis serves as a parody of sorts of the sentai genre with the dysfunctional chemistry of the titular family as they get forced into becoming battle suit-powered "superhumans" to combat alien threats. The family issues of the family are explored both humorously and seriously where father Mamoru is a weak-minded otaku too spineless to stand up for himself, wife Seiko is too self-centered and greedy to care for her family's well-being, daughter Nozomi is stressed from doing all the housework for her family and son Dai is quite the problem child. Their unique circumstances as Earth's guardians ... slowly bring their family unity back together as they learn that despite how much they can't stand the personality quirks and bad habits of one another, they still care for each other.

Outside of the family drama from the Daichis, the sentai element tosses in the typical "monster of the day" type plots of the genre which also add into the comedy of the series coming from the family's various abilities and the monsters they battle. For instance, the family gets charged money for each of the more over-the-top abilities they make use of against alien threats and they rack up quite a debt as a result thus the family resorts to keeping use of such powers to a minimum in later episodes of the series so their debt doesn't rack up any higher. Some of the alien threats they have to confront also prove to be quite silly to see battle such as evil toys, a heart-shaped spacecraft and even an alien shaped in the form of the old Soviet emblem in a form of politically incorrect satire.

This won't be a series for anyone who doesn't enjoy manic comedies or sentai shows. But if you are a fan of these elements and like them mixed with the problematic issues of the modern Japanese family, The Daichis: Earth Defense Family proves to be a fun little romp thanks to its parodies of the sentai genre and the dysfunctional chemistry between the Daichis.