Minami-Ke Okawari

Information of Anime

This show focuses on the everyday life of three ordinary sisters of the Minami family.  Somewhat ordinary....

This is a direct sequel to Minami-Ke as season two.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I have seen so far.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Again there is no story line in this show like the first season.  It mainly follows the everyday life of one of the three Minami sisters: Kana, Chiaki, & Haruka.  The show continues off from the first season & starts at the new year.  A new character Fuyuki is introduced as a new neighbour for the Minami sisters.

As the show gets closer to the end, a lot of drama occurs with Fuyuki moving out as he's transferring to another school.  This surprises & shocks Chiaki as she didn't know about it until he transferred out halfway during the school's sport festival.  Another shocker is Haruka being selected by her school to go study overseas.  Not only are her friends surprised, but the other Minami sisters are shocked about this news as well as they never heard of it.

In order to support Haruka, Kana & Chiaki decides to do the housework alone together to show Haruka that they will be fine without her.  At the same time, they don't show Haruka their sadness as they plan to see her with a smile.  When they finally breakdown, they discover that Haruka isn't really studying aboard.  Thus keeping the Minami sisters together & bringing the show to an end.

My Personal Review

Minami-Ke Okawari was a must get for me after finishing the first season.  I was hungry for more Minami-ke!

Animation

The character designs are a bit different from the first season.  The reason for it is that this season is made from a different studio for some reason.  They seem to be a bit bolder & more on the realistic side.  However, the characters still give me the impression of having a cat appearance.  The mouths are pointy at the top & the eyes are large & round.  The nearly perfectly round faces gave me that impression as well.  There are moments where the faces turn to realistic mode with sharp eyes & thick detailed lips.  It's kind of freaky at times.  For the body proportions, they are kind of off at times.  The legs & arms can be strangely thin & the arms too.  They are out of shape too.

The colours are brighter in this season.  It's not very bold, but it stands out quite a bit.

The backgrounds are very simple.  They are some details in them to create a mood.  But a lot of them are plain as the walls have nothing on them.  However, the schools & apartment of the Minami sisters is different now.  The apartment is more Japanese styled & the rooms of Kana & Chiaki is now one with no wall between them.  It's a totally different atmosphere.  Plus, Haruka's classroom is like an university lecture hall.  It doesn't look like a high school classroom like the first season.

The animation movements are descent as they are more on the realistic side.  It's quite smooth.  But, I felt this season has more choppy frames as you can see some hard movements from the walks & runs.

Sound

There are a lot of strange sound effects here mixed with some normal ones.  They do add some impact to the show.

Although the character designs have changed, the seiyuus remain the same.  So no need to adjust to the show's new stuff.  Again, the seiyuus perform their roles well; making their characters likable once again.

The music here are cute & silly ones.  Mainly on the pop side.  They lighten the moods well for that humourous effect.  Almost all the songs are new here.  The only one that's reused from what I noticed is the song for the CM breaks.

Story

No plot again, even though it continues off where the first season ended & welcomed the new year.  Although a new character is introduced, the Minami brothers seem to be removed.  They were heavily used in the first season from when they were introduced to the end of the season.  There is no mentioning of them this season.  Strangely enough, Touma Minami is still in.

Aside from characters being removed & added, the show seems to have some serious drama parts now.  Mainly from the real life situation side such as Fuyuki being too nice not to say no.  The drama goes up to the last episodes where Kana & Chiaki thought that Haruka would be leaving them.  The drama element does change some of the character personalities a bit.  There is one scene where Kana gives Chiaki a cup of noodles after eating her's.  They sit down together as well like a happy family.  Although it looks a bit weird at times to see some chanages in the characters, the drama is a welcome addition to the anime series.

Again like the first season, the ending is left open again for continuation.  This time though, there is no indication of another season like how the previous did to introduce this one.

Overall Conclusion

Minami-Ke Okawari is a great show to watch.  The comedy is funny even though it's a bit heavier than the first season.  I recommend watching this if you like comedy.  However, you will need to watch the first season to understand the characters first.

Minami-Ke Okawari gets an 8.5/10.  The show is weird, but funny at the same time.  It has simple humour that kind of stretches it beyond normal.  Plus, the characters are likable & their personalities will get to you where you would probably have more than one favourite character in the show.  However, the new setting designs & slight character changes may not appeal to past viewers as there is that noticeable difference.  Plus, there is now a slight drama element in the show.

Last updated on April 10, 2008