Reviews

This proved to be a fun title. The Daichis serves as a parody of sorts of the sentai genre with the dysfunctional chemistry of the titular family as they get forced into becoming battle suit-powered "superhumans" to combat alien threats. The family issues of the family are explored both humorously and seriously where father Mamoru is a weak-minded otaku too spineless to stand up for himself, wife Seiko is too self-centered and greedy to care for her family's well-being, daughter Nozomi is stressed from doing all the housework for her family and son Dai is quite the problem child. Their unique circumstances as Earth's guardians slowly bring their family unity back together as they learn that despite how much they can't stand the personality quirks and bad habits of one another, they still care for each other.

Outside of the family drama from the Daichis, the sentai element tosses in the typical "monster of the day" type plots of the genre which also add into the comedy of the series coming from the family's various abilities and the monsters they battle. For instance, the family gets charged money for each of the more over-the-top abilities they make use of against alien threats and they rack up quite a debt as a result thus the family resorts to keeping use of such powers to a minimum in later episodes of the series so their debt doesn't rack up any higher. Some of the alien threats they have to confront also prove to be quite silly to see battle such as evil toys, a heart-shaped spacecraft and even an alien shaped in the form of the old Soviet emblem in a form of politically incorrect satire.

This won't be a series for anyone who doesn't enjoy manic comedies or sentai shows. But if you are a fan of these elements and like them mixed with the problematic issues of the modern Japanese family, The Daichis: Earth Defense Family proves to be a fun little romp thanks to its parodies of the sentai genre and the dysfunctional chemistry between the Daichis.