Mitsudomoe

As a fan of comedy and slice of life anime, I am pretty surprised at how well-received this anime is. I just didn't find it very funny - for the most part it just grossed me out.

The story? Well this isn't a story-based anime. It's a slice of life comedy, so calling it out on its lack of story would be foolish. The idea is that a nervous new teacher has a class of bratty children to deal with, including three sisters who are sure to give him a hard time. "Hilarity" ensues.

The art and sound are both sub-par. Which is unsurprising from the forgettable ... studio Bridge. I dislike the character designs a lot. They are very unappealing in that they aren't at all cute. They are sort of comedic with some occasionally funny expressions, but not exceedingly. I'm no expert on OST but this left on impression on me whatsoever. The OP is... alright at capturing the tone of the show. So yeah, it's pretty grating and not very listenable. I have no issues with the voice acting - there are a few big name seiyuu's but none of the voices I heard left much of an impression.

When it comes to the characters, I am not a fan either. Some of them have okay personalities, or at least personalities that clearly fit what archetype they should be. But the character comedy was weak. The tropes were set in stone and just sort of acted accordingly. This can be done well but the characters themselves were just not likeable for me.

The teacher is forgettable and just sort of has no spine. He lacks personality. The sisters - I actually find all of them annoying. One is a real himedere, and likes seeing others suffer - but she's often downtrodden herself. Then there is the airheaded one who is also very strong. She is also mostly a nice person, but then is inconsiderate sometimes too? She had the most potential to be likeable, but between doing some physically gross things and just not being helpful I couldn't warm to her. The youngest sister is the worst. She's got a very dark aura, but not in a brilliant relate-able way like Tomoko Kuroki from Watamote for example. She's just sort of... terrible. A very unpleasant character. Other supporting characters are mostly forgettable and not likeable. The boys are pretty much just perverts which is... ugh. And there is the new school nurse who is just a ditz. In a very over-the-top and annoying way. She's absolutely useless, and it goes too far to be funny. I just wound up disliking her. She's also part of the most disgusting scene ever - let's just say it involves urine.

Now I know it seems that I have been overly-critical of these 11-year old characters. After all, they are kids. Kids are supposed to be bratty. Well... Sure. But maybe in a less vulgar way? And maybe they shouldn't all be so consistently irritating? I'm not saying they necessarily had to be cute, but they REALLY weren't cute. At all. They are about as un-cute as it gets. And yet, there are all of these swimming pool scenes, various scenes about getting a bra and boys being interested - I don't really like this aspect of it either. It felt weird to me. I know they aren't babies so it's not exactly unreasonable, but I just couldn't get enjoyment over that stuff that happens in the class at all. Again, a lot of this would be forgivable or maybe even a good thing if it was actually funny. But for me, it just wasn't.

I may have touched on this, but my personal enjoyment was the problem here. It got barely a couple of chuckles out of me. I think I cringed more while watching it. The jokes were pretty predictable and never really caught me by surprise - except for when it got more unpleasant than I expected it to.

Please by all means take this review with a pinch of salt from the fact that I've seen so little of the show. But with these kinds of anime with no real plot, that is less of an issue that clouds judgement. I think this anime has too many overly-positive reviews, so just please be warned that this anime might not be as hilarious to you as some are painting it to be.

Mitsudomoe is awful. The fact that the teacher's voice actor is the same one as Zenitsu from Demon Slayer is already a red flag. Do I really have to listen to this annoying ass voice for the rest of the season?

Ok, enough of that tangent. Barring Zenitsu's voice actor, Mitsudomoe is basically a low-brow ecchi comedy centered around 11 year olds. Sexual innuendos and themes are the at least half of the comedy, and it's just kind of cringe. Either that, or low effort slapstick. I really couldn't get past the first few episodes.

Do the characters really matter when the content of the ... show is cringe humor? It's basically dangling a key in front of a child sort of humor. Haha, penis joke. It's even more funny since an 11 year old is saying it. I mean honestly, everything could have been saved if the comedy was decent, but no, not the case.