Danchigai

Looking for series that you can feel like relaxing once in a while?

Well, Danchigai is the perfect series for that. No intense plot or melodramatic as the series goes on, Danchigai makes its own pace slowly at first but effective in the end. The series maybe doesn’t have a tear jerker plot but the cheerful moments with lovely atmosphere in Danchigai has surpassed and cover up all the series blind spot. In a sense, this series is better than the rest of the series with the same genre. While the others are clearly showing one weakness or two, Danchigai does the opposite with a good example. On the contrary, I’ve place Danchigai as one of the most relaxing series all the time yet it’s undeniably entertaining and quite worth to watch.

Story
No real plot or story for this series. Rather I would say none at all. But this doesn’t mean the author and producers take this thing lightly as the different story for each episodes. This just makes the series more valuable and fun in a way. The entire episode is rather short with only 3 minutes 30 second each episodes. Nevertheless, all the scenes is nicely done and arranged which makes each episodes become better and better. The plot for each episode has been put down perfectly within such a short period of time. I rather say it is indeed quite impressive, given the short duration of every episode. The relationships are well explained as the series goes on. Each of them plays an important role in creating this family. What’s more I can say? You definitely should see it for yourself.

Danchigai tell us about a daily life of Haruki family. Haruki is the only of the family who’s a boy and all the other siblings is a girl. Their parent currently is overseas. Yet, this sibling does the best complementarily between each others. The relationship between Haruki with each of them is more unique and special than he even realized. Still, Haruki love all of them deeply without any discrimination and even go as far to sacrifice himself for the family happiness. If my eye doesn’t lie, I think Haruki is quite of childish and funny for his age but rather special in a way. Although he was not the oldest from the sibling, you still can see the burden that he holds on his shoulders. He rise a quite bit than the rest of main lead I’ve ever seen. Simply put that I loved him.

Character

Haruki
He is quite good looking and I never get bored to sees his face each episodes. Gayness detected? Nah not really. Normally, a main lead appearance is full of bangs to makes all of them look really fabulous as it seem not realistic and define the true concept of fictional character. In other way, they clearly show that this type of person will never exist and their sole existence is only to play a role in the anime or manga series. Haruki shows us the opposite direction; he is quite a nerdy type but can be serious when it’s involving his family. They also don’t make all of his appearance full of bangs; rather they let him shine with his own way to rivet one’s attention at him. This is the fourth or five times I’ve kind of feel like this since I’m started watching anime.

Uzuki and Satsuki
I’m get this straight, both of them is incredible cute. As I can remember, a kid role always shows how naïve they can be as well their heart is the purest and resemble of white cotton. While on other hand, this pair is quite naughty and pervert. This is the one aspect that makes their more unique and a cheerful character hard to not love. The pair existence itself is making the series become more memorable. Frankly, all the characters in this series are the one that takes Danchigai to the next stage of admiration.

Yayoi
Yayoi is naturally a good girl from heart. She’s just quite shy to show her love or affection towards Haruki. This is always leading to the tsundere moments. She is rather violent with Haruki but that’s just how her way of showing her love. For the general view, she maybe is heartless and cruel but you couldn’t say that for sure until you get to know her. Surprisingly, they both get along very well.

Mutsuki
Mutsuki is the perfect type of character in anime or manga. She is natural beauty and her attitude is really matured. Good at almost everything. Mitsuki also is the one who’s always taking care of this family. Without her, the siblings are clearly unperfected.

Sound and Animation
The series doesn’t have Op. Their only have Eds. Yet, the ending is amazingly created with catchy tone and beautiful melodies. I don’t pay attention at first, but I already enticed without I even know it as the series goes on. Still, the sound effects for each scene in this series are highly marvelous. The voice actors also played their role greatly to maintain the balance between all the characters. Clearly, this is a professional works. The animation is well done indeed. For a short type of anime series, I’m pretty amused by how their working the animation. Not the prefect one I’ve ever seen but still a top notch.

Enjoyment and Overall
In short, I highly recommend this series for all ages. The ending of this series was rather interesting and balanced. This will be more marvelous if the episode duration were longer as 24 minutes. Nevertheless, this one aspect does not demerit the overall series. Despite the easygoing atmosphere around the entire episode, Danchigai is still enjoyable show. If you were looking for some entertainment, or even if you don't, try giving it a shot. The ending is more than worth it.

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It can be tempting at times to infer things about the creator of a work from the thing that they have made. The temptation, even the allure, to think that watching/reading/viewing something not only leads us to an understanding of the subject itself, but also gives us a window into the mind of the person or persons responsible for it's creation. Having watched Danchigai, I find myself thinking that creator Kazusa Yoneda must be an only child, because only someone without siblings would imagine it being like this.

Danchigai is a short family sitcom that centres on the goings on of the Nakano siblings, who we find living together while their parents are conveniently working overseas. Each episode sees our protagonist Haruki, an otaku much like you, the viewer, caught up in some sort of shinanigens with at least one of his four sisters: Mutsuki, the older & perfect in every way one; Yayoi, the energetic & quick to anger one; & the "adorable" twins Uzuki & Satsuki. They laugh. They cry. They do the things siblings surely do. & because this is anime, those things include:

IIIIINNNNNNCCCCCEEEEEESSSSSTTTTT!!!!!

Well, implied incest. The kind that every lonely otaku with an "innocent" sister fetish imagines. As happens in pretty much every anime involving teenagers, we get the usual mix of innocent misunderstandings & tender/romantic moments, only given an incestuous edge due to the familial nature of our characters. Haruki falls ontop of his sister? Check! Haruki walks in on his sisters having a bikini party? Check! Haruki gets his head caught in a sister's cleavage? Double check! Mutsuki tries to practice her first kiss with Haruki? Che....wait no that one is narrowly avoided after two uncomfortable minutes of buildup.

As someone who has siblings, I don't get this side of anime & Japanese fetish culture in general. This combination of a single child's fantasy of a large family with a pervert's fantasy of diddling their siblings is something that just doesn't do it for me. The Nakano's relationship is one of those idealised, all the ladies love their onii-chan types that I do not understand or recognize. Given the age range of the female siblings, Danchigai gets to give Haruki the full otaku fantasy package of being a nerd whose also a great brother, father & possibly lover whose sisters adore him, even if they don't always show it openly.

The only time a recognizable family occurrence happened was during one episode where Uzuki purposely doesn't sit in her usual place around the dinner table, causing Haruki to be confused & anxious about what this upsetting of normality could mean. Little things like that are what should be the heart of family sitcoms like this, not the tedious repetition of pratfalls, camera closeups on boobs & I love my big brother stuff. When the episodes focus on the twins, Danchigai almost gets the right tone. But there always has to be something sleazy, leery or just plain stupid to ruin it.

It doesn't help that despite the age range of the female siblings, there really isn't anything personality-wise to distinguish them from the usual cute girl lineup you get in any school club or classroom comedy. Uzuki & Satsuki look the part, but their personalities could pretty easily be put into the bodies of their older selves & you wouldn't really notice. They're not like Rin in Usagi Drop or the kids in Strawberry Marshmallow who seem like, you know, kids. The relationship between all the girls & Haruki could likewise apply to pretty much any setting. Too little happens to give the show that sense of being about an actual family, rather than, for instance, a group of friends who kind of act like one.

It's not that I don't get the appeal of seeing a fictionalised version of either your family or the family you didn't have. It makes the comedy that much more relatable, in theory, when its at least partly recognizable in your own life. & sure, it's a nice idea that your siblings see you playing MMOs & watching anime & don't give you a disappointed look before going back to their much more successful lives...oh God what am I doing with my life?!

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Anime shorts are a very odd kind of anime format. Usually ten minutes or less in length, anime shorts usually try to just give you a little something for the little time that they have. So, for the three minute Danchigai, what kind of a story do we have here?

Story: Danchigai is very straightforward. In a small apartment, there are five siblings. One brother and four sisters. This is their daily life.

As an anime short, Danchigai doesn't have any kind of "deep" story or anything. With each episode coming at a whopping length of 3.5 minutes, the show acts similar to a 4-koma manga, as each episode follows the same kind of format. There's the set up, where it tells you what these characters are doing, the problem, which is the situation that the episode is about, the climax, where something like a twist occurs, and the resolution where the whole story ends.

In all seriousness, this short really doesn't have much to offer. With its absurdly short 3 minute runtime, Dachingai both doesn't create any sort of interesting story, and doesn't have anything to offer because its ministories are really forgettable.

Characters: The characters just comprise of the five siblings. Haruki, the only boy in the family, and his four sisters Mutsuki, the only one older than him, Yayoi, the tsundere one who totally doesn't show brocon feelings at the start, and the twins Uzuki and Satsuki. Every one of them are one-note characters that don't really have any sort of development. They're very simple and not hard to remember while watching, but they don't really have much value to them.

Art: Danchigai is drawn in a moe artstyle with lots of bright colors and a very colorful appearance. It's really standard, and there's not really much to say about it.

Sound: The sound is basically nonexistent. There really isn't any music in this entire short, so don't expect any.

Personal Enjoyment: Danchigai is...meh. It's essentially a timewaster and the entire series can be watched in less than an hour. (Hell, this review probably took longer to write than the entire viewing of the whole series.) If you have some time to kill, and you really don't want to be fully invested in ANYTHING at all, then I guess you can watch this. If you have better things to do or better shows to watch, then considering this probably wouldn't be worth your time.

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These 3 minute-per-episode anime are very hit or miss. Some are genuinely funny and utilize their time well. Others are complete shit (coughPupacough). Danchigai is somewhere in the middle.

Story (4/10): The show is essentially about the Nakano family, with eldest daughter, only son, middle daughter, and twin little sisters living in their apartment. ...that's really it. It's basically just a snapshot of their lives and hi-jinks sometimes ensues. There are some 'plot points' (ugh) that come up, but nothing that would give you the idea that there's any kind of story.

Animation (5/10): Meh. Everyone is on model, but the designs are generically nice. I have no idea why the twins have pink and purple hair, but whatever. The backgrounds are actually the better part of the animation, somehow. I think the design of the apartment made it just look and feel like it was the characters home and that there's a whole life there that we don't see.

Sound (5/10): I will never understand why there has to be an opening/ending in these shorts. Most are terrible (I've only heard one OP that was actually good), and here is no different. It's cute, but I honestly just skipped it. (Seriously, a 30 second song in an already short episode is just dumb.)

Character (4/10): Hello stereotypes! Yeah, that's really all this is: sibling stereotypes. And while that can work, here it's just 'oh the only boy is slightly pervy like a normal teen would be and lets make fun of him', 'the middle daughter is a TSUNDERE for her brother and beats him up', and 'perfect older sister with like the smallest flaw ever'. The twins are at least mildly entertaining, but that's only if you can stand little kid characters. And there are literally no other characters, so don't hope for any kind of interaction other than family.

Enjoyment (5/10): This show is boring as all balls, but it isn't horrible, I guess. Comedy is subjective to everyone, and there are some funny moments here and there (probably the best is actually centered around the twins and the 'pool' episode), but otherwise it's pretty bland. There are better slice-of-life shows out there that you can watch. If you want to watch this anyways, it's only about a total half hour, so it's mercifully short.

Danchigai isn't going to win any kind of award or even recognition. It's an average mini-series that, while boring, has a few laughs and cute moments to it. I wouldn't say skip it, but I won't say give it a watch. If you have a half hour to spare, then just blaze through it. But just know that there are better short series out there to enjoy.

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