Shiyan Pin Jiating

Story- 9
art- 8
characters - 10
enjoyment- 8
overall- 8

What can I say? I really got exited for this anime, at first I thought "great another funny slice of life anime". I was really wrong about it. The story is about a boy named Deniss and his 4 siblings who were turned into monsters by their parents. the show shows how they suffer and try to live a normal life as a "human". the backstories are great too, they show how the characters had to cope at aa young age with their "psyhopatic" parents. The ep are quiet short and they left me empty after watching them, the ... story also doesn't have a "main point" I mean if you refer to (little spoiler) Deniss is trying to change his siblings back to normal then it has, but often times eps are about random stuff. Well it is still a slice of life


the anime is actually of chinese origin that's why many watched only to ep4, since that's the point were curently is translated in japanese. If you don't want to wait you better just watch the episodes in chinese since it ended airing.

The problem with so many normies swarming anime so much lately, is that great anime like these go unrecognized, lately more than in past years. Sucks, doesn't it? The story is touching and deep, the plot is great, which is not something I say often for non Japanese anime. However, the styling of the characters is well performed, the seiyuu work is great. (A little awkward at times, given that this isn't a Japanese anime.) Some smudges on the animation, and timing/tempo. However, putting those aside, and considering the fact that I literally had to take a break from anime because there just weren't good ... shows that season or the one before) I have to say. I wanted to cry a bit during this anime.

So if you're looking for some cartooney, anime like naruto or something boringly popular like a dragon maid, then this is probably not your anime. This one is more of a FEELS and depth kind of anime

So yeah, maybe it's not a 10/10 kind of anime, but those six elements MAL asked me to review are definitely 10/10 to me.

I went into this not sure what to expect. The premise looked interesting so I figured it was worth a watch. This turned out to be one of my favorites of the 2018 spring lineup. It's a shame this flew under the radar. It being a Chinese produced anime that was never picked up by any English licensers/streaming services most certainly contributed to it's obscurity.

This is yet another twist on the "monster girl" genre that seems to be ever growing in popularly. This time the main cast are siblings that all have some sort of experimental modification done to them. All but the ... youngest sibling, Dennis, which is simply a genius. He is the one that tries to hold the whole family together after their scientist parents are sent to prison. It takes a very human approach of looking at the characters, and what it means to be so different in a society that doesn't accept their differences. I couldn't help but relate to some of these characters, as someone that doesn't always fit into society myself.

The animation is not spectacular, but the art style gives it some charm. I'm assuming this didn't have the big budget that most mainstream anime has. If this is the case, I think they did a pretty good job with the resources they had.

I have to mention the OP. It was one of my favorites of spring 2018. What's interesting about the opening is the singer is bilingual in Japanese and in Chinese. She made a version in Chinese and in Japanese for each dub. I thought that was pretty neat.

While not a 10/10, it's unique, and charming. I'm glad I took the time to watch it.

[MINOR SPOILERS ON SOME ASPECTS WITHOUT CONTEXT]
A premise with great potential yet a rather mediocre realization - this is how you could summarize Shiyan Pin Jiating, a.k.a. Jikken-hin Kazoku, Creatures' Family Days, Frankenstein Family. And while awkward pacing, somewhat bland characters, and some inconsistencies could spoil your experience, the top-notch art and fabulous background music do kind of make up for the shortcomings. What you will eventually get is a quite enjoyable, high-budget anime based on a Taiwanese manga, dubbed in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese.


Story [6/10]
The story starts off with five siblings living on their own after their parents suddenly "disappear" one night. The ... twist is that four of the siblings have been modified in experiments conducted by their scientist parents, whereas Tanis - the only one left unmodified - tries to keep the family of five together.
Entering into this young family's daily life, you fairly quickly get to see the complications of being non-humans, still trying to live a normal human life. And this is what Shiyan Pin Jiating is about much of the time.
In the meantime, a seemingly deeper story unfolds rather awkwardly where you will get a load of background, some action, bit of romance, a few touching moments, and a rather abrupt resolution of matters.
It appears that the creators of this anime tried to fit as much story into the shorter 12 episodes (~15 mins each) as possible - which consequently led to a rather arbitrary line of events which just doesn't seem completely right. For one part, you will be left off with a handful of unfinished subplots. For the other part, you will see climaxes here and there. Yet these climaxes seem to pop up out of nowhere, and may be forgotten in the next instant.
We can conclude that the story has a great and interesting premise; but how the storytelling might be too fast-paced and could use some more elaboration and refinement.


Art [9/10]
Produced in collaboration with Chinese internet giant Tencent, you get amazing high-quality artwork which even looks incredibly detailed at 1080p resolution. The character design is somewhat simplistic, yet mostly appropriate. What really stands out is the background design - you will be able to catch a gorgeous, colourful glimpse of a suburban Asian (probably Chinese) scenery with great attention to the details.
And if you happen to love food, you will also cherish the mouth-watering food shots which seem to promote Chinese style food throughout. You'll also get to see some great sunsets with fabulous lighting effects!


Sound [10/10]
Another strong point of this production is the great background music:
Being mostly simplistic and acoustic, you will hear tunes reminiscent of calm nature. Harps, piano, flutes, and other tender-sounding instrumentation do create a relaxing ambient with some incredible crudeness. And the timing of that music is near perfect in that it seamlessly supports the visuals.


Character [5/10]
What's a bit disappointing is how many of the characters turned out:
Dull, inconsistent, and moody, although the idea behind them is quite interesting:

Main characters (siblings):
Tanis, 11 yrs (youngest son): He is the only one who got spared from the experiments of their parents. While he definitely cares about his other siblings - he cares a lot - Tanis still has random outbursts of his "inner genius" where he can turn into the most arrogant, egoistic person ever. When this does happen is not obvious.

Snow, 17 yrs (oldest son): Being gentle in nature, Snow is a were-dog and is often found in his dog form, a snow-white dog. He seems to care a lot about Tanis, but what his individual personality is like only shines through too rarely.

Suishi, 14 yrs (youngest daughter): Having the ability to read people's minds, Suishi is a tacit person. Although she might not be very likable due to her character, Suishi could be the most well-rounded character among all others. She does seem to look after other people when necessary.

Ashley, 16 yrs (yellow-haired daughter): Being part spider, Ashley is a tomboyish tsundere girl, often bickering with others. She wouldn't be the kind of person to accept criticism or compliments, but still seems to appreciate the latter. Unfortunately, her overall character seems to be unbalanced since you wouldn't always get why she behaves the way she does.

Ashisu, 16 yrs (dark-haired daughter): Ashisu is more of a calm type, maybe too calm it seems unrealistic. She is a plant-hybrid and may therefore have been given a kind of naturalistic, overly soft character. Aishisu seems to develop more character later on though.

Some non-siblings (to give you an impression of the characters):
Person A: That person appears one day, and she has a kind-hearted character. She might be important, yet the anime fails to explain a bit more on that.
Person B: A hateful person playing a minor role - quite a good contrast to the MCs
Person C: A bit dull, but overall okay
Person D: Didn't quite get her personality
Parents: Not the most loving ones - at least we don't get so much to know about them as to be able to tell


Voice Acting [6/10]
Remarks: I started out with Japanese audio, but changed to Chinese due to circumstances

The voice acting overall is quite okay, although I prefer the Chinese dub for some reasons:
There was one moment, in particular, where the Japanese audio was practically mute for about 20 seconds, whereas the Chinese dub had some narration. Another thing I found better in the Chinese dub is how the voices fit their characters - which might be because the anime itself had some more Chinese aspects than Japanese.

Another thing that slightly disrupts the flow of the anime is that there seem to be gaps in between people speaking. Whether this is to hint at the possibility that real conversations also have some thinking pauses is unclear; but it is definitely not something you might see in Japanese anime in general.


Overall Enjoyment [7/10]
If you are a passive, casual watcher, then this anime is definitely something for you:
- It is a slice of life type with some drama and comedy
- It has very beautiful artwork and relaxing music
- It has a rather strong focus on the cultural aspect (especially visually)
- It tries to deal with a rather intricate topic: being different
- There are some moments which you can get quite absorbed into (probably even shed tears)
- The story doesn't require you to focus on every detail
- Episodes do not rely too much on previous events
- Episodes are only about 15 minutes long

Here is a few things to keep in mind:
- Don't expect too much; this anime does have plot holes and some inconsistencies
- It is not the standard Japanese anime, even if you opt for the Japanese dub
- There are some peculiarities/awkwardness (either of cultural or unintentional nature) which you should be ready to accept


Notes:
- Japanese and Chinese OPs are the same song with lyrics in their respective language
- Japanese and Chinese EDs are fundamentally different

Okay so if you're like me and watched this on Crunchyroll I can understand why you may not like this show. The beginning had a recap that lasted like 15 minutes, and at the end they would have like a whole segment with real live people that I couldn't figure out what or why?
But that is a shame because I think this show is great. The premise is great, a nice mix of slice of life and sci fi. All the characters are fantastic, a wide range of personalities that have a nice dynamic with each other (Snow is my son who has my ... entire heart and the foster dad is in fact the man who stepped up which is why he is the best). It's a pretty short watch and it ends with loose ends, but I really enjoyed it. Hopefully you will too!

There are a number of reviews already here, but I thought I'd contribute anyway. Shiyan Pin Jiating (or Creature Family Days, or, even weirder, Frankenstein Family) is a slice of life anime that, thanks to limited budget and an inexperienced staff, comes out completely average. Now, most of the time, being disadvantaged like this usually results in a bad anime; however, the plot and characters of Creature Family Days is what saves the show (to an extent).

Firstly, the story. The story follows a simple plotline - monster children attempt to live life on a nearby island and learn about human culture without being found out. ... It's not a highschool anime, and I've seen some people salty about that but really? We don't need more highschool stories, and I'm glad they let the characters explore the island as a whole, because it brings a sense meandering tranquility fit for a slice of life. The challenges faced by the characters often involves forming new relationships and questioning the decision to distance themselves from their origins. It's not a spectacular plot, mainly because the pacing is a bit wonky in some places, and it ends on a very uncertain tone. Saying anymore would be spoilers, but it does leave you with some questions.

Art and Sounds are both mediocre at best. The opening is probably above average for me, but in anime sound design is not notable, and the animation quality is well below industry standards at times, likely because its an original chinese animation with an inexperienced crew and low budget.

The characters themselves have serious potential. I didn't dislike any of the characters, but some of them, Snow in particular, didn't have very strong or deep personalities. There were nice touches of character development, particularly for Aisley and Ashie and their sister Suishi. The main character, Tannis (or Deniss, depending on your subtitles) was handled...somewhat poorly. On one hand, he's what 9? And therefore, definitely for the most part, acted like he should. He makes some rash decisions, and can be tunnel visioned at times, and DEFINITELY should NOT be responsible for a group of people up to nearly double his age, and the show demonstrates why. But on the other hand, he doesn't have much beyond those traits. He's a sympathetic character, but maybe not a good MC. He demonstrates above average reasoning for someone his age (especially when contrasted against someone his actual age), but he's never given a chance of out flashbacks to demonstrate his full potential.

Overall, I liked this anime. It took me forever to dig up all the japanese audio episodes, but I did anyway because I was enjoying it so much. Overall, Creature Family Days is a average slice of life that has/had potential because of its characters and fantastic premise, but mediocre execution, and a poorly paced plot. Watch it if you need some time to kill and want a no-action non-plot heavy show. Otherwise (and it kind of hurts to say it) probably just skip it.

Ok, this review is long overdue, but screw it.

Shiyan Pin Jiating is a pretty enjoyable slice of life donghua. While I do find the art to be pretty good, the sound is good as well and the characters are very likeable, the major sticking point was the story in each of the episodes.

Art: The art style is pretty good and it does give an impression that it's an animated version of a real life place being filmed in. The animation is also alright as well and given that it might be a small production donghua, unlike bigger productions like it's fellow donghuas 'King's Avatar' and ... 'Mo Dao Zhu Shi' and the Japanese SOL counterparts like 'Wotaku' and 'Tada-kun', it's impressive.

Sound: The OP is great actually. The song is good to hear and actually describes the donghua as a whole. For sound effects, they're alright.

Character: They're the selling point. The four siblings (barring the genius kid) are all genetically modified by their parents and has to live the lives of being monsters in our world. The characters are very likeable and have fun and unique personalities, yet relate-able since their actions have consequences in a world that never accepts people in the outlier. You can tell it's a good Chinese donghua if the character's actions are given consequences extremely realistically (Sorry Japan, had to poke fun at you).

Story: Now this is the main point that kinda put the score lower. If I have to summarise, each subplots have introduction and conclusions and while they're good, the problem is that there seems to be a lack of body, if any. There's some subplots that has a good introduction only to straight up cut away to the conclusion, which is jarring and out of place. Being that each episode is only 15 minutes as opposed to the 30 minutes we expect from... most cartoons we watch around the world, this doesn't help and was one way that held this donghua back. I read the manhua a bit (they're all in Chinese so I could only guess what they're saying judging by their actions) and given the implication at the end of Episode 12, I think just cramming many subplots in those 15 minutes episodes kinda made everything rushed and honestly not that worth it overall.

Overall: This donghua is pretty enjoyable aside from rushed sub-stories that caught me off-guard. The characters are likeable, the art is excellent and the sound is good