Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 13 (Completed)

So, the third season of Minami-ke comes to a close, and quite really uses this opportunity to focus on the Minami sisters themselves.

Also in keeping with this choice of focus, much of the content of this episode is saccharine sweet rather than downright funny, although it did prove to be mildly amusing in places. The episode starts out with Haruka seemingly worried about something, which in turn makes Chiaki and Kana worry about her. This then makes Haruka worry about Chiaki and Kana, and... well, you get the idea. In true Minami-ke style, this cycle is broken by everyone pulling faces at one another. No, really.


Following on from this is perhaps the most adorable segment of Minami-ke to date - Chiaki has a nightmare where Kana leaves and never returns, which leaves her being enormously clingy towards her sister from that point onwards. This cycle also completes itself with Kana later dreaming of a world where Haruka disappears, leaving her clinging to her big sister while Chiaki still holds on to her. Daft though it may be, it still got a big, fat "Awwwwww" from me, and upset Kana is unbearably cute somehow.

Finally, Chiaki's dream looks, for a brief time, as though it may be about to come true, with Kana seemingly leaving a suicide note after claiming that's she's going out to buy some bread and milk. Naturally, this turns out to be perhaps the most enormous Japanese wordplay joke I've ever seen, as it turns out that her scrawling is missing a couple of kanji (which slipped onto another piece of paper), which turns this supposed suicide note into a wish to give up chocolate for Tanabata. I'm always one for a bit of good wordplay, so I got a kick out of this particular one.

After that the reall rather good first series, followed by the largely disatrously dull second, Minami-ke Okaeri ended up straddling these two levels of quality. It never quite regained the joys and humour of the original series, but it did provide far more in the way of laugh out loud moments than the second to make for a far more entertaining prospect, which overall marks it as worthy of the Minami-ke name in my book. While Okawari failed in almost every respect, Okaeri gets a lot right, from rebalancing the relationship between Kana and Chiaki to feel more natural (while retaining its humour) to relying on more than Touma and Mako's gender confusion antics. After this, who would bet against a fourth series - Minami-ke Tadaima perhaps?

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 12

I'm beginning to suspect that Minami-ke Okaeri is a bit like that old legend about versions of Microsoft Windows, where odd numbers are good revisions and even numbers bad. Thus, oddly numbered episodes of Minami-ke Okaeri have been pretty average at best, while even numbered instalments have been far better.

This theory certainly seems to work for episode twelve of the series, which manages to entertain and amuse in equal measure. The episode starts out with some kind of tag-team arguing contest with Kana, Maki and Yuka all trying to persuade Chiaki to leave her place in the sun and sleep elsewhere so that they don't have to be so quiet. This being Minami-ke, all bets are off once food becomes involved...


From here, we get a couple of top notch Minami-ke moments - First, Maki visits and expresses concern about the potentially debilitating affliction that is having a stupid sleeping face. Thus, Maki implores Kana to watch her sleep - Probably not the most sensible of ideas, as of course the ubiquitous drawing on the face of a sleeping person takes place, with highly amusing consequences. After that, we're witness to a clothing alteration accident which inadvertently sees Haruka's school skirt caught up in Kana's desire for a "new look" - An accident which goes unreported to the eldest Minami sister, building to a punchline that wasn't any less amusing for its predictability.

Finally, Kana worries that Chiaki has gone through some kind of life of being maltreated, and so tries entirely too hard to be nice to her, causing Chiaki more than a small amount of paranoia as to her real goals, especially coming as it does after Chiaki being a little overly rude and violent to her sister.

So, this probably wasn't the best episode of the series (and the animation quality was all over the place from the best I've seen this series in places through to the worst) in terms of humour, but it was well up with the better ones - Its best gags were blindingly obvious and old school ones but hey, sometimes the old ones are the best.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 11

Episode eleven of Minami-ke Okaeri gives plenty of attention to Riko in her never-endingly fruitless pursuit of Fujioka, and to be frank it seems to be having a bad effect on her.


The episode begins with the appearance of "Observer Hiroko", although the word "observer" should probably be replaced by "interferer", as she passes forth her knowledge and thoughts on the helpless Kanna-Fujioka-Riko love triangle, before trying to help Riko practice confessing to Fujioka with little to show for her efforts when all is said and done.

Riko soon gets another opportunity to impress however, as she's invited to a study evening (along with Fujioka) by Kanna. Of course, everyone's favourite member of the Minami household steals the show, dreaming a predictably surreal way of being a good host to her guests, but falling victim to her own "wonderful" hospitality on account of the paranoia and habits of the others, with mildly amusing consequences.

Riko's next plan is to impress Fujioka with her intellect in the hope that he'll come to her for tuition, a plan which brings about some rather Hosaka-esque daydreams in the process. However, Riko is pipped to the post somehow by Kanna, who manages to outscore her on test results and thus ruins said dream.

After all that, Riko finally gets a break as Chiaki and Mako make some Valentine's Day chocolate, primarily at the whim of Kanna. Eating chocolate and playing Othello appears to be Kanna's idea of paradise... Fujioka take note.

After giving me a few good laughs last time around, episode eleven of this series was a bit of a damp squib really, raising little more than a smile or two for its efforts. Not a bad episode, but only Kanna's bathtime hospitality efforts really stick in the memory, continuing the extremely hit and miss nature of this series.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 10

Minami-ke Okaeri is proving to be as varied as ever in terms of episode quality, but on this particular occasion this falls in its favour, as episode ten proves to be towards the more amusing end of the scale.

The episode begins with a torrential downpour that catches Touma out, leaving her drenched. Of course, Haruka makes sure that she gets a warm bath and hot chocolate, but Chiaki is far from keen to lend her a new set of clothes. By the time Fujioka pays a visit, Touma is desperate, but for poor old Fujioka it looks like he's just walked into a mad house. Mind you, that sounds like pretty much every visit to the Minami household...

Touma and Fujioka continue to be the focus of the episode in another vignette, as we rewind to the days where the two of them had first met (and where Touma's whole gender confusion begins, although I thought we'd already covered that in an entirely different way in the last series, but never mind), a wonderful time of discussing football and confusing the Hell out of any non-football fans present... not that I've ever done that before... *cough*.


Sandwiched between the two is perhaps the funniest part of this episode of the bunch, with Chiaki's line in trivia causing much stress to Uchida at a sensitive moment - It's best not to mention about natural colouring being made from insects when someone is eating a coloured sweet. Uchida's subsequent attempts to hide from Chiaki's trivia in turn upsets Chiaki, who hates being ignored - An impasse saved by the appearance of Fujioki, who gets regaled with a rather beautiful bit of trivia for his own efforts.

The episode ends with Natsuki's surprisingly successful attempts to persuade Haruka to get Touma to come home from their place earlier - Surprising because of Natsuki's over the top and, to be honest, downright creepy use of the advice given to him by his brothers on how to behave. Again, some pretty amusing stuff on show here.

As I've already mentioned, and as per so many slice of life shows, Minami-ke Okaeri is well and truly a hit and miss affair - At least it's hitting the mark more often than its predecessor Okawari though, which is a huge relief, and has made for plenty more laughs than the last series offered.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 9

There's always something indescribably odd about watching Christmas-centric episodes at the beginning of March. Still, at least the weather is suitably seasonal for such an episode here in the UK right now, which is a start.

Anyhow, this episode kicks off with conflict aplenty - The cause of it all? Oranges. Well, to be more precise, Kana's refusal to give anyone else an orange she's picked out from the household box herself. A fair stance to take I suppose, but there's only so far you can go with controlling your oranges...


From here, we really enter into the Christmas spirit - Perhaps too much so in Chiaki's case, as she won't tell anyone else what she wants for Christmas despite creating a massive stocking for herself. In the end it seems that she really is happy with anything, leaving up to Santa's own discretion what to get her, and ending up with mittens as a result. Chiaki isn't the only one having Christmas present expectation issues, although Touma's problem goes to the other extreme, expecting a present that she doesn't want but getting nothing (on the day itself at least) thanks to Natsuki's forgetfulness.

While all of this is played rather straight and humour free relatively speaking, it's up to Hosaka to save the day courtesy of another of his ridiculous Haruka-related fantasies, which ends up with him... well, "raping a Christmas cake" is the only way I can think of to describe it. Don't worry though, it isn't quite as disturbing as it sounds, as serves as probably the funniest thing I've seen this week.

That laugh out loud moment aside, this was really a rather quiet episode of Minami-ke Okaeri, that served better as a demonstration of the little things that are likeable about this series (Kana's bizarre logic and Haruka's matronly attitude towards Natsuki spring to mind here) than any kind of evidence of top-notch comedy. Still, little things to make you smile (and big laughs about cake rape) can add up to something that is at least pleasant to watch.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 8

After delivering arguably its funniest episode so far last week, Minami-ke Okaeri continues its reasonably bountiful run with an eighth episode which manages to be amusing without ever quite reaching the dizzy heights of outright hilarity.

The episode begins with Kana's attempts to teach "the laws of popularity", which for girls appears to consist largely of being unable to open soda cans in a sufficiently cute manner. While this doesn't work out so well in Yuka's case, it has to be said that Yoshino has it down to a fine art - Hell, even wanted to open the soda can for her. As this popularity challenge continues, so we find Maki unable to even attempt to not open a soda can lest it bring forth demons from her past, whereas Atsuko has clearly perfected this discipline. In fact, she's almost too good at it...


Indeed, the first half of the episode seems to be an all-round excuse to pick on Atsuko, as she then gets lumbered with trying to explain how to behave towards men at night (watch anime with them of course!), an awkward situation only made worse by an incident involving Touma and her uncertainty as to her gender.

From here, the second half of this instalment goes off the boil a little, between Kana's demands for an interesting answer to a question which causes all sorts of strife for Keiko, despite Kana being able to dish out sufficiently interesting answers herself (although this scene is priceless if only for possibly the only moment when you'll ever see Kana lost for words) and what almost amounts to admiration for Hosaka before he drifts off into some volleyball related fantasy regarding Haruka.

So, this episode certainly wasn't as sharp in terms of either gags or dialogue as episode seven of Minami-ke Okaeri proved to be, but it wasn't a bad showing either thanks to it bringing a certain amount of charm to the party with it, with the whole soda opening scenario in particular both amusing and fascinating me enough to convince me to go easy on this instalment. Well, it almost convinced me to go easy on it - A discussion of Minami-ke post its first season wouldn't be complete with a "spot the major animation error" moment. Answers on a postcard - What's wrong with this animation?

Click to view the 1.7MB GIF

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 7

Episode seven of Minami-ke Okaeri turns out to be a bit of a Makoto special by and large, as we're regaled by the latest perils of his secret life of gender swapping.

For starters, Makoto is supposed to be practising for a three-legged race with an apathetic Chiaki for the sports festival, but thankfully for him she finds the idea of practising with Mako far more conducive to getting things done. That aside, Makoto finds itself in the midst of other "dangers" which threaten to expose him, from his flat chest through to Chiaki spilling soda on his crotch (with the latter somehow progressing into a tale about tanuki which ends up with both Kana and Chiaki talking in parables). We finally move away from Makoto's feminine attributes (or lack thereof) for the final chunk of the episode, which instead takes in what can only be described as some mug madness.


Overall, this was by far one of the better episode of Minami-ke Okaeri so far - The pacing was just about right, the dialogue was much better (with some genuinely funny one-liners creeping into the script), and even the tired old running jokes regarding Makoto's cross-dressing actually proved to be relatively funny this time around. This was then topped by the hilariously overblown excitement shown by Touma when he's gifted a mug by Kana, with an equally huge (but rather more predictable) reaction coming from Fujioka when he is offered the same. It's little moments and set pieces like this that can make a slice of life series like Minami-ke, so thank goodness that this episode managed to find some to bring some life to a series that has drifted into mediocrity over the past few weeks. I needed a good reason to continue watching Okaeri, and this instalment gave it.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 6

It's Summer for the Minami household, and inevitably that means some time at the beach as well as watermelons aplenty.

Thankfully, we don't end up with too much of a clichéd beach episode, as thoughts soon turn to the loss of Fujioka (the bear), who is soon thankfully returned by Fujioka (the human). This particular section of the episode also allows us an amusing comparison of Kana to a sea turtle, and the clever use of camera angles to make it look as though... well, you just have to watch that part.

Fujioka (the human, again) also gets the spotlight for the second segment of the episode, where the visiting Maki somehow manages to instill in him a spoon phobia (a phobia which disappointingly doesn't seem to have a scientific name - Don't say I don't do my research for this 'Blog), inciting the dreaded "indirect kiss" in Kana's name. Using a spoon is easy enough to avoid when it comes to eating watermelon, but curry is rather a different matter.


We were then treated to the sight of Uchida and Mako's last minute rush to finish their summer homework, and more specifically an attempt to borrow Chiaki's homework so they can copy of her. With that dilemma resolved, we're left with Chiaki and Kana's attempts to remember and relive their summer as the autumn hits, which seems to involve wearing a swimsuit in the bath, and dredging up a lot of bad memories from the last few months for poor old Chiaki - nobody wants soy sauce on their shaved ice, after all.

All things considered, this was another pretty run of the mill episode of Minami-ke Okaeri - A couple of moments tickled me, but that aside things just progressed along their own path without ever really threatening to descend into hilarity or stupidity at either end of the scale. In other words, exactly what I've come to expect from the majority of this series, meaning that I can't even bring it upon myself to be too disappointed with such offerings from the Minami-ke franchise any more.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 5

"The pool" is a staple part of pretty any anime series diet, especially when it comes to slice of life shows, so I can't pretend that I was exactly shocked to see an episode of Minami-ke Okaeri focusing entirely on swimming pool related shenanigans.

If I'm honest, the whole thing started in a rather mundane fashion - It's a hot day, but Chiaki's class have to clean out the pool ready for use at the start of the Summer. The trouble is, Chiaki still can't swim, so she initially tries her best to complete this cleaning from being completed. When that fails, she instead decides to "become one" with the water by raising her body's own water level from 70 up to 80% (which, by the way, is never a good idea). Of course, this attempt fails, but she still feels bloated (and thus buoyant) enough to float - A plan which is dashed by her using bandages on her finger to distract people from her swollen stomach, as she's then told to take it easy on account of her "cut" finger.


Chiaka isn't the only one with the swimming pool on her mind, as Kana is also pondering it in her own inimitable way. Despite just enjoying some time in the school swimming pool, Kana wants more, and so invites a couple of her friends to go to the pool with her outside of school time. Cue a certain amount of amusement as both Fujioka and others try to suggest that she should invite other people along, while Kana of course gets entirely the wrong end of the stick.

The episode finishes with a failed game of "tag" at the pool, which then takes a similar turn back at the Minami sister's apartment, with things getting awkward for Touma as Fujioka's boisterous tagging gets a little too much for her. Again, there was a certain amount of amusement to be derived from this, even though gags based around Touma's gender-swapping have been done to death by now between this series and Minami-ke Okawari.

All in all then, a pretty typical episode of Minami-ke - Neither laugh out loud funny nor able to break out of its own well-worn jokes, but still somehow just about entertaining enough not to feel like a complete waste of time. It does again serve as a reminder of how much better the first series was though, proving that this franchise has never quite gotten over its "difficult second album".

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 4

It's time for another episode of Minami-ke Okaeri, and this time around it's Touma who gets quite a lot of the episode's attention.

In short, there's concern all round that Touma is becoming rather too boyish, a worry ably demonstrated by her willingness to headbutt Kanna in the name of a delicious snack. But what should they do? Somehow, the original suggestion to help her become more girly gets twisted around to Kanna's idea to turn her into a gentleman (how I would have loved to see this episode become a twisted My Fair Lady parody at this point, but it didn't happen), which in turn meanders down the path of Haruka as the leader of a pack of dogs, with Kanna or Chiaki beneath her in the pecking order. But which is better, Kanna or Chiaki? There's only one way to find out....


It isn't just the Minami household that's concerned about Touma though, her brothers are also a little worried, which leads to the hatching of a plan which ends in buying a decidedly bizarre choice of birthday present. Meanwhile, Natsuki becomes a little more besotted with Haruka (no doubt largely on account of a picture Touma furnishes him with), although his meaningful long stares get misinterpreted by Hitomi as being shot in her direction. Cue even more confusion all round.

As Minami-ke Okaeri episodes go, this sits in the decidedly average category, with gags that seemed to go off at decidedly odd tangents with varying degrees of comic success to make for a reasonably enjoyable, albeit hardly laugh out loud, episode. I guess there's only so much comedy you can wring from umbrellas....

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 3

After the first episode of Minami-ke Okaeri disappointed, and the second made me laugh until I cried (at one point, anyway), what on Earth is the third instalment of the series going to hold in store for me?

Well, to be honest it lies somewhere inbetween those two poles, although thankfully it's closer to the latter than the former in the amusement stakes. The episode begins, and virtually ends, with a pudding crisis, as Touma visits the Minami household on two occasions to request to stay the night after falling out with her brother on account of him eating her pudding (with the second occasion all but turning to domestic violence inside her immediate family). However, this only causes her to become embroiled in an entirely seperate pudding-related incident there, which is resolved with relative ease. The second chunk of this episode was a rather more surreal affair involving a surfeit of apples, and some kind of baked apple drama that I really couldn't quite wrap my head around.


However, my personal favourite segment of this instalment saw Kana, Chiaki and Touma trying to finish off cooking a curry started by Haruka, while she in turn tried to talk Touma's brother Natsuki through a recipe for sweets. As the two parties yell out indredients as part of their respective conversations, so confusion ensues with inevitable (yet still amusing) consequences.

If I had to label any criticism at this particular episode of Minami-ke Okaeri, it would be on account of its predictability - The ending to each of the set-ups (aside from that aforementioned surreal baked apple scenario) was telegraphed well in advance, taking a little of the lustre from those gags. Still, at least they were jokes, and in the best of Minami-ke traditions to boot - They got a smile out of me, so I'll let their obvious nature slide for now. In other words, while this wasn't quite as good as the last episode of this series, it was still a big improvement over its opener, and I'm now finding myself in the groove of quite enjoying the series as I did the original Minami-ke.

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 2

I think it's fair to say that I gave the first episode of Minami-ke Okaeri a rough ride, and rightly so in my humble opinion, between its general lack of any tangible humour and animation that was poor to the point of being distracting - Certainly not an effort worthy of the Minami-ke name.

Thank goodness then that episode two of this series is leaps and bounds better in almost every sense I can care to explain it. For starters, while the animation is hardly stellar once again, it is at least solid and without the glaring errors that made watching the last episode so frustrating.

More importantly however, this second instalment has proved without doubt that Minami-ke Okaeri can be funny, with almost every segment offering some level of fun and humour. The first surrounds a tin of sweets brought to the household by Touma, and after some soul-searching and arguments about how they should be shared and who should open them and when, Fujiyoka's confusion over Touma's relationship with Kana and Chiaki (being a girl in boy's clothes as she is) leads him to make a complete fool out of himself. Then we have Kana's attempt to get some cream puffs added to a shopping list... Or is it?


So, the episode goes on, broken down into various small segments as this show invariably is (with the end credits once again bizarrely pretty much in the middle of the episode), until we reach the tour de force that is Hosaka (or should I say, the Curry Fairy) performing a piano recital in his head featuring a song that's all about curry. I don't think Minami-ke has made me laugh so hard since "Ninomiya-kun! Sensei!", and for achieving that feat I can only salute it. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, and the improvement in quality with this episode of Minami-ke Okaeri is most welcome. Now the question is whether they can keep this up for the rest of the series?

Minami-ke Okaeri - Episode 1

After a generally highly regarded first season of Minami-ke, the second season of this slice of life show, Okawari, somehow managed to ruin much of what the franchise brought to the table with lower quality animation coupled with looser, less humorous scripts and plots. Overall, it was a disappointment of a series, that started out at a mediocre pace before getting stuck in a rut and really spoiling the whole thing. However, Minami-ke is back for 2009 with Okaeri, so can can it right those wrongs and return this series to its rightful place in our hearts?


Well, let's start out by talking about the animation and artwork quality. It's terrible. Really terrible. While Okawari certainly wasn't the greatest looking anime series in history, I felt that some of the criticisms towards its visuals were a little overly harsh. This time around though I'm pulling no punches, as it somehow manages to have become even worse still, and cringeworthingly so. There are so many glaring errors in movements and basic anatomy that it isn't just disappointing, it's downright distracting, and by the close of the episode I was spotting visual incongruities far more easily than I was any jokes.

Putting the animation quality to one side, there is something soothing about Minami-ke as a whole, which is so often the case with slice of life shows, and once again in this opening episode even away from the pure humour there's something likeable about the everyday concerns of Haruka, Kana and Chiaka, alongside the myriad people who know and interact with them. It's a shame then that once again this episode just seemed to be going through the motions much of the time, from the inevitable New Year shrine visit which began the episode onwards. In fact, only parts of the "Cup Yakisoba phenomenon!" section managed to get a giggle out of me, while the rest of the instalment barely held my interest by a thread, unlike the sparkling dialogue and characterisation we've come to expect from the likes of Hidamari Sketch and Lucky Star.

So, if you hoped that Minami-ke Okaeri was going to save this franchise, then it looks like you're going to end up disappointed, as certainly from this first episode there was basically nothing to redeem it. The series can, of course, pull itself out of this rut with some good humour and script writing, despite its appaling art quality, but sadly I just don't see that happening. I'll keep on watching though, just in case.

Oh, and just in case you think I'm exaggerating about the art quality, check this out (click for the full-sized image):