Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta

Listless geek Mizuto Irido and introverted nerd Yume Ayai seemed like a match made in heaven, connected by their mutual love for literature. Unfortunately, their differences gradually grew, and they separated just after their middle school graduation. But, as if by divine comedy, the two find themselves reunited as step-siblings.

A rivalry begins to brew between the former couple, both unwilling to acknowledge the other as the older sibling. In an attempt to "solve" this issue, Mizuto and Yume agree upon a rule: whoever crosses the boundaries of siblinghood norms loses, and the winner will not only be called the older sibling, but also get to make a request. However, now that they live under the same roof, the lingering memories they share start to influence their actions—possibly rekindling the feelings that may not have been fully extinguished in the first place.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Irido, Yume Main

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Irido, Mizuto Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Higashira, Isana Supporting

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Minami, Akatsuki Supporting

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Kawanami, Kogure Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Tanesato, Madoka Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Irido, Yuni Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Tanesato, Chikuma Supporting

Satou, Hinata Japanese

Homeroom Teacher Supporting

Nakamura, Genta Japanese

Madoka's Father Supporting

Shinomiya, Gou Japanese

Iizuka, Aya Producer

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Ozawa, Fumihiro Producer

Koutani, Satoshi Producer

Reviews

May 9, 2024

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A messy but interesting anime about a very messy but interesting relationship.

“Looking back, I can only describe it as a youthful indiscretion, but from my second to third year of middle school, I had what you might call a girlfriend. We can’t go back to how things were. We can’t bring back the happiness we felt back then. And yet… my feeling from that time are still etched into my soul. For now I’m okay with that. We still haven’t fully moved on. But it’s fine. Because I… No, we… have a chance to weave a new tale.”

This anime is the very strange tale ... of Mizuto and Yume, who went out during middle school but broke up at the end of it, only to discover not long after that their respective single parents were getting remarried to each other. Seeing as both of them are good kids that care about their parents happiness, they decide to keep this a secret and do their best to get along as step siblings. However, that’s much easier said than done. The lingering feelings from both their relationship and breakup still remain, and living together just brings them to the forefront.

This anime is one that I found pretty interesting from beginning to end, but at the same time the vast majority of it made very little sense to me. The way both of them act did not feel like that of step siblings nor exes. And by that I mean both exes that hate each or exes that wants to get back together. I suppose this does make sense as it was trying to portray their relationship being a messy combination of all three of the above. They’re incredibly inconsistent and constantly flip flopping, but I suppose that’s the point. And I will be completely honest in saying that I can not even begin to imagine how people with such feelings in such a situation would actually act. So I can not definitively say that this isn’t a realistic depiction. But at the same time, what the hell are these two even doing? Still, even if it doesn’t make sense, how unpredictable it was was pretty engrossing and that was enough to make it entertaining.

The core of why it’s so hard to understand them is that something very important is left with very explanation, the details of their relationship and breakup. The explanation given early on is simply that they came together because they both loved books and then just kind of drifted apart so they broke up. But that really doesn’t explain much. Yume also has a character arc that persists through the first half of the anime centered around her trying to be more popular, but it’s never really elaborated on why she wants to, so she just seems kind of vain. And it really makes no sense at all why Mizuto is trying to support her in it, considering he’s a socially aloof introvert.

All of this starts making sense, or at least more sense, in the final third of the anime which goes more in depth into their past. And their relationship turned out to be a lot more interesting than I expected. It’s essentially a relationship that forms between two loners. However, Mizuto was a genuine introvert, while Yume was an extrovert lacking social skills and confidence. And getting into a relationship boosted Yume’s confidence, causing her to become more outgoing which resulted in her drifting away from Mizuto who wasn’t changing. Throw in that they’re both pretty stubborn and not particularly good communicators, and I would be more surprised if their relationship did survive.

The final arc involves fleshing out Mizuto’s character better. As a result Yume really starts thinking about Mizuto and her relationship with him, past and present. As their past relationship has properly been explained at this point, it’s much easier to understand her thought process and in a way Mizuto makes a bit more sense as well. Furthermore, I felt that the plot started moving in a very interesting direction. While the anime was pretty amusing throughout, I feel the last third is where the actual substance of the anime really came into play, and I was really satisfied with it and am very much interested in reading where the story will go from here.

There are also various side characters, though most of them have pretty minimal presence. The ones that stood out were Minami, Kawanami, and Higashira. Minami and Kawanami are basically just thrown in to give each of Yume and Mizuto a friend respectively. It kind of felt like their personality was a bit malleable in order to fit whatever the story needed them to be and the story was also fine with them having long periods with no presence when they weren’t necessary. As such they didn’t leave much of an impression. Much more important was Higashira. She serves as a foil to Yume in that she’s a lot like what Yume used to be like, though with the difference being she’s a genuine introvert and thus clicks even better with Mizuto. As such her presence in the story is to serve as a contrast to Yume, but honestly she has quite a lot of charm of her own and is generally dominates every scene she’s in. She definitely made the anime overall much more enjoyable.

The art and animation were pretty solid. The designs are also decent enough for the setting and were used decently enough. The OP had pretty solid visuals but I can’t say I was much of a fan of the song. On the other hand I absolutely adored the ED’s visuals, song, and especially how they worked so well together. The soundtrack was pretty solid in context but none of the tracks were all that memorable in and of themselves.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 1, 2024

patkarunungan

Mixed Feelings

My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex sounds suspect at first glance. It reminds you of Domestic Girlfriend. I watched the first episode somewhere two years ago, but it did not interest me at that time, so I did not bother continuing.

I saw some clips on X which made me want to resume watching. Is it worth watching? It depends, which is why I have mixed feelings for it.

We have the two main characters Ayai Yume and Irido Mizuto. They are former lovers but had to live under the same roof because their parents married each other, so Yume's surname now becomes Irido.

The first few ... episodes started so-so, which warrants a rating of 5/10. But be patient because it's gonna be a cute story. It's not an overly dramatic story like Domestic Girlfriend nor is it an ecchi, though there's a certain amount of fanservice.

Afterwards, you get to learn why they broke up among other things. They learn things about themselves that they did not realise when they were dating. This is when it starts to be good.

Unfortunately, there's not enough episodes to cover stuff I hear that's covered in the light novels, stuff that shatters the brother-sister bond, if you know what I mean, and I don't think there's going to be a second season. The anime has done a decent job advertising the light novels for anyone interested in what happened beyond the anime.

It's a decent anime to pass the time and can sometimes give you some fluffy feeling, but it's not a must-watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 17, 2024

LegionIscariot

Not Recommended

Starts off pretty good.
Irido and Yume are exes. However one day they find out that their single parents are getting married to each other.
So now Irido and Yume are stepsiblings living in the same house.

Irido is the emotionless one, he loves reading books, keeps to himself, and doesnt stress about most things. A really great character.
Yume is a former nerd aiming to reinvent herself as the class princess.
The two have a love hate relationship but must try to be on their best behavior to keep their parents happy. But at the same time trying to control the fact that the feelings they ... had for each other is resurfacing.

Like i said it starts off pretty strong. But then devolves into boring, dragged-out garbage.
Mainly because Yume is such an unlikeable character (◔_◔) And the second half of the season focuses so much on her.
She doesnt make a good tsundere. She is written so annoyingly. Always shoving her nose in her ex's/stepbrothers business. And is also a giant c*ckblock. And very possessive.

The other female characters are also a little "crazy" in their own way but atleast they are entertaining. Not like this killjoy who acts like her life sucks when it really doesnt.
She's constantly monologuing in her head about her childhood, and its so tiresome to watch over and over again.
Another thing that drags on for too long is the whole shyness thing. Its so tiresome seeing these shy girls take forever to complete a sentence.

There are other characters like Minami who asks Irido to marry her so she could get close to Yume. A good plot that gets tossed aside way too quickly. Because at this point Minami is a very fun character. But after that plot Minami becomes almost as unlikeable as Yume.

Isana is the best character. And should have been the main character. She has big breasts and is kinda tomboyish. She is very close friends with Irido, and they have a buddy relationship. The interaction between the two is the highlight of the show. Seriously every time these two are together and are just being comfortable with each other it is the best thing ever.

Meanwhile you have Yume and Minami trying to push Isana into a romantic relationship with Irido, even though Isana prefers her current friendship with Irido just as it is.
This is when Yume and Minami are at their most annoying. Trying to play matchmakers. Trying to turn Isana into something she is not.

But Yume is the one you're supposed to be rooting for... You are supposed to be rooting for Irido and Yume to get together. The problem is the other girls would make much better girlfriends for him.
Sometimes the anime isnt sure who is supposed to be the love interest.

Typically in a romance the viewer should want the two main characters to end up together ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here im rooting for them not to be together. Thats not a good sign.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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