It’s not often you’ll find an anime where a cast so big is utilised so effectively, where everyone gets a decent amount of spotlight, as well as development. It doesn’t stray with excessive filler, and stays on point to the story, which is the election. With comedic elements and a little bitta eechay, the absolute best thing about Joukamachi is its characters. Each sibling is fitted with their own unique personality, design, interaction as well as powers. Although simple, their powers add much to their development, as well as make the show highly entertaining to watch, apart from your typical slice of life story.
What makes this anime super fun to experience as a competition is that they’re family; you will probably rarely ever see interactions of this kind in other anime of similar concept. While they are competitive with each other, they still need to support and care for each other as siblings. This creates important bonds such as those found between Haruka and Misaki, Shu and Kanade etc. It’s not super obvious from the start who is going to win either; the anime manages to keep you guessing. I doubt that a viewer will know from the beginning who does win. At the same time, it also pretty quickly reveals who is serious about the election, and who is not so serious (as well as unlikely). Important to note that it’s an original ending, and the manga is ongoing where the election process is actually 3 years.
~ AOI-SAMA ~
The oldest sibling, remaining to be the most popular candidate until the end. It is also contradictory that the person who is most likely and fitting to be king (given her powers), doesn’t want to be king. The anime makes Aoi interesting in that fact that she lies about her power initially, even to the general public. Souichiro also decides to keep this a secret and takes pride in that she does not want to be king due to her actual powers. Despite this, this lone fact makes her so strong and convincing as a character; she has no reason or drive to become king, as the election has made her notice what is truly important to her. She does not seek fame, attention or power, but simply craves meaningful and genuine relationships with her friends. The realisation that she could get anyone to do anything for is, in her view, wrongful. It has made her cherish normal relationships as well as a normal life.
~ SHU ~
The anime does keep us guessing who it is that will end up being king, unless you anticipate an open ending, but anime working towards a final outcome tend not do this. However, Shu being king really does make sense; he is the oldest male in amongst his siblings; he has had a queen in Hana since episode 2 (also giving him a reason to become king); and by the end, is overall the most fitting. Joukamachi covers this eventuality up nicely making Akane very clearly the main character, but also Aoi being first place for the majority of the election and Shu taking a backseat in votes. Shu’s power also seems to be more utility based than anything, still very powerful, but not one suited for ruling like Aoi or Kanade. It’s also another irony, in the fact that his power is based around instant transportation, yet his actual mobility is limited by his injury. Ultimately it makes sense for Shu to become king. In the end segment, he got his final speech in and showed what mattered to him most – ensuring the safety and happiness of all the people he cares about, that being his country and loved ones, and proving this by taking initiative in the hot air balloon incident. Not to mention, he looks exactly like his dad when he was younger.
~ KANADE ~
Kanade had been the fiercest competitor since the start, but ultimately had selfish reasons for doing so. She’s shown to be a character who won’t stop at getting what she wants, which is befitting of her power where she literally can. Despite this, it’s ironic in that fact that in some scenes, she’s seen shopping just as any other ordinary citizen. She excuses that menial tasks also mean more chance to be in the public eye. Kanade is all about efficiency and is a very forward-looking person, at times manipulative. Kanade does not like uncertainty and wants to prove to Haruka that probabilities are not just probabilities. Even though this is the case, the reasoning behind all her actions is more fragile than you’d think, though does still make sense. Not only wanting to help Shu, she more so wants to be seen as an equal, being Shu’s twin. However, in the view of Shu, the older brother must always take care of the little sister, which is also true of Haruka and Misaki, as well as Teru and Shiori.
~ AKANE ~
Is voiced by KanaHana, but I don’t actually care this time, it fits. I think Akane is a really good main character. I often like anime that put emphasis on the side characters but follow the story primarily through one character’s perspective. Akane is the main character, but the anime doesn’t make this overly obvious, and doesn’t put the greatest emphasis on her. Her role in the story is to tie the rest of the family together and provides middle ground for all characters to interact. By the end of the election, Akane’s development is sound. In the end, she seems much more comfortable in public due to the realisation that as a public figure of royalty, she has a duty and responsibility of ensuring the safety of her people and that the payoff of doing so is heavily rewarding. Hiding behind a persona is now unnecessary for her.
~ MISAKI ~
Although maybe not taken seriously, Misaki is also a genuine competitor to the election. She may not have what it takes to become king and may not have a true reason for doing so, yet still feels a need to prove that she can become something. Unfortunately, the anime keeps it realistic in never giving her the top spots in votes, however this had gradually motivated her to become more serious about herself and the election throughout the story. Misaki decides to do speeches on her own rather than relying on her clones, as an example. She is an interesting addition in the fact that, while she is shown to be highly useful in day to day life and has a wide coverage of being able to do basically anything with her powers, she herself is not capable of much. However, Haruka sees this as a good thing; she is not highly gifted in certain things and may see the world better in the view of an ordinary person. She is best suited at doing comparatively unimportant tasks, but this is all the more important when her siblings are focused on other things or just aren’t as good as Misaki in a social sense.
~ HARUKA ~
Also, an interesting addition to the story. Haruka could probably foresee who would win the election throughout the entire process and could’ve actually used that to his advantage to potentially win. However, Haruka remained to be level-headed and realistic about what he himself is capable of, and that he lacks the confidence and drive to put himself in the spotlight and campaign. Instead of this, alongside his powers of prediction, it grants him perspective of whom it would actually be reasonable to become king. He is serious in helping others campaign, knowing that he himself would not be competing, and proves to be reliable on this front. He aids Misaki in assisting her with her confidence issues, proposes to write Misaki’s speeches as well as helps Hikari become an idol. Haruka’s role is especially important, considering how it has helped to develop the other characters so massively, especially Misaki.
~ HIKARI ~
Hikari’s development stands out from the rest. You would expect Hikari to be a character that provides comedic relief and moe, but instead brought a meaningful perspective into the story. She was the only one who found what she wanted to do in the future other than becoming king. What started off as a basic idea to gain votes became her actual goal, heavily influenced by Sacchy. It’s interesting in the fact that she had such talent and intuition at such a young age, mixed with her power to mature whenever she wants, it’s almost as if she was born to do this from the start. By the end, Hikari no longer cares for the election, and deems her pride as an idol much more important to not only herself, but her fans. She realises this after her interaction with Aoi, who explained that a lie will remain a lie if you believe it is, which was a struggle that she herself had to face. Being an idol also contrasts the position of king. As she mentioned in the series, idols are not supposed to be perfect and may make mistakes, which ideal and preferable kings have a duty in avoiding. This differed from the clumsy Hikari, who would not take anything seriously when she didn’t feel the need to.
~ TERU ~
By far the most righteous and respectful character in the story; Teru always refers to his family in a formal manner. His personality is consistent and convincing, Teru feels as if he’s limited by his age and insists on helping out in whichever way he can. His power is potentially the most powerful and reckless, however this is restricted as well as contradicted by his young age (therefore a ‘weak’ social standing in contrast) as well as the promise made to his mother, to which he remains honourable. This makes sense, as kids should listen to their parents(!). Teru can’t be taken seriously in the election but even so provides a refreshing perspective of a cool shounen type main character faced with ‘trials’ throughout the process. (did you see that last episode? Wow.) Also has a strong sense of duty to protect those important to him, especially Shiori.
~ SHIORI ~
Shiori does not take part in the election, but dandelion is aware of this. Most of her role entails taking care of her siblings, to make sure they don’t go overboard in the election, and to take proper care of each other and themselves. It could be said that she cares more about others given the fact that she can communicate with anything, hence meaning she’s more considerate of the ‘feelings’ of everything around her. This also adds a comedic aspect; for example, her powers legitimately give a voice to their family cat, Borscht. In the end, it proves to be an extremely useful power which reinforces her ‘support’ role in the series. RIP Suika-san.
~ SOUICHIRO ~
It’s worth mentioning that Souichiro is also a key aspect in this series. He decided to hold the election at the end stage of Aoi’s high school career, as this was deemed by him the best time where the majority of his kids had a decent chance in becoming king. However, more importantly, it was a time where they could decide what they wanted to do with their lives, and to decide where their true ambition lied. With Hikari, this was an especially effective method. There are other cases as well, such as Aoi simply not wanting to become king even given the opportunity in trade for a normal life, as well as Kanade who changed her reasoning towards the end of the anime. He always grants permission and is a fairly doting parent, though this is simply because he believes strongly that they should not live life restricted by royalty, and that they are granted a choice in whatever it is they want to do. This idea came from the fact that he was an only child, with no real choice of becoming king or not. He did not want his kids to face the same issue, so if they truly wanted to become king, they would campaign.
Overall, Joukamachi Dandelion doesn’t present overly deep themes, but is definitely very good at showing coming of age, values and perspective of its characters, especially within limited time. The art style is mega appealing, and it is generally good at being a unique, comedic, fun, and rewarding slice of life experience. I still don’t know why they chose dandelions, but one thing to note is that it grew in a different place than where it was seen before, perhaps representing change and progress. It may also symbolise Akane, who before was enclosed in her own shell, but now open to the world. Now only one thing bothers me… Does Karen like Akane?
Story- 7 Art-9 Sound-7 Character-7 Enjoyment-7
Overall- 7/10
