It can be tempting at times to infer things about the creator of a work from the thing that they have made. The temptation, even the allure, to think that watching/reading/viewing something not only leads us to an understanding of the subject itself, but also gives us a window into the mind of the person or persons responsible for it's creation. Having watched Danchigai, I find myself thinking that creator Kazusa Yoneda must be an only child, because only someone without siblings would imagine it being like this. Danchigai is a short family sitcom that centres on the goings on of the Nakano siblings, whowe find living together while their parents are conveniently working overseas. Each episode sees our protagonist Haruki, an otaku much like you, the viewer, caught up in some sort of shinanigens with at least one of his four sisters: Mutsuki, the older & perfect in every way one; Yayoi, the energetic & quick to anger one; & the "adorable" twins Uzuki & Satsuki. They laugh. They cry. They do the things siblings surely do. & because this is anime, those things include:
IIIIINNNNNNCCCCCEEEEEESSSSSTTTTT!!!!!
Well, implied incest. The kind that every lonely otaku with an "innocent" sister fetish imagines. As happens in pretty much every anime involving teenagers, we get the usual mix of innocent misunderstandings & tender/romantic moments, only given an incestuous edge due to the familial nature of our characters. Haruki falls ontop of his sister? Check! Haruki walks in on his sisters having a bikini party? Check! Haruki gets his head caught in a sister's cleavage? Double check! Mutsuki tries to practice her first kiss with Haruki? Che....wait no that one is narrowly avoided after two uncomfortable minutes of buildup.
As someone who has siblings, I don't get this side of anime & Japanese fetish culture in general. This combination of a single child's fantasy of a large family with a pervert's fantasy of diddling their siblings is something that just doesn't do it for me. The Nakano's relationship is one of those idealised, all the ladies love their onii-chan types that I do not understand or recognize. Given the age range of the female siblings, Danchigai gets to give Haruki the full otaku fantasy package of being a nerd whose also a great brother, father & possibly lover whose sisters adore him, even if they don't always show it openly.
The only time a recognizable family occurrence happened was during one episode where Uzuki purposely doesn't sit in her usual place around the dinner table, causing Haruki to be confused & anxious about what this upsetting of normality could mean. Little things like that are what should be the heart of family sitcoms like this, not the tedious repetition of pratfalls, camera closeups on boobs & I love my big brother stuff. When the episodes focus on the twins, Danchigai almost gets the right tone. But there always has to be something sleazy, leery or just plain stupid to ruin it.
It doesn't help that despite the age range of the female siblings, there really isn't anything personality-wise to distinguish them from the usual cute girl lineup you get in any school club or classroom comedy. Uzuki & Satsuki look the part, but their personalities could pretty easily be put into the bodies of their older selves & you wouldn't really notice. They're not like Rin in Usagi Drop or the kids in Strawberry Marshmallow who seem like, you know, kids. The relationship between all the girls & Haruki could likewise apply to pretty much any setting. Too little happens to give the show that sense of being about an actual family, rather than, for instance, a group of friends who kind of act like one.
It's not that I don't get the appeal of seeing a fictionalised version of either your family or the family you didn't have. It makes the comedy that much more relatable, in theory, when its at least partly recognizable in your own life. & sure, it's a nice idea that your siblings see you playing MMOs & watching anime & don't give you a disappointed look before going back to their much more successful lives...oh God what am I doing with my life?!
PyPyraXadon
September 24, 2015
Not Recommended
Anime shorts are a very odd kind of anime format. Usually ten minutes or less in length, anime shorts usually try to just give you a little something for the little time that they have. So, for the three minute Danchigai, what kind of a story do we have here? Story: Danchigai is very straightforward. In a small apartment, there are five siblings. One brother and four sisters. This is their daily life. As an anime short, Danchigai doesn't have any kind of "deep" story or anything. With each episode coming at a whopping length of 3.5 minutes, theshow acts similar to a 4-koma manga, as each episode follows the same kind of format. There's the set up, where it tells you what these characters are doing, the problem, which is the situation that the episode is about, the climax, where something like a twist occurs, and the resolution where the whole story ends.
In all seriousness, this short really doesn't have much to offer. With its absurdly short 3 minute runtime, Dachingai both doesn't create any sort of interesting story, and doesn't have anything to offer because its ministories are really forgettable.
Characters: The characters just comprise of the five siblings. Haruki, the only boy in the family, and his four sisters Mutsuki, the only one older than him, Yayoi, the tsundere one who totally doesn't show brocon feelings at the start, and the twins Uzuki and Satsuki. Every one of them are one-note characters that don't really have any sort of development. They're very simple and not hard to remember while watching, but they don't really have much value to them.
Art: Danchigai is drawn in a moe artstyle with lots of bright colors and a very colorful appearance. It's really standard, and there's not really much to say about it.
Sound: The sound is basically nonexistent. There really isn't any music in this entire short, so don't expect any.
Personal Enjoyment: Danchigai is...meh. It's essentially a timewaster and the entire series can be watched in less than an hour. (Hell, this review probably took longer to write than the entire viewing of the whole series.) If you have some time to kill, and you really don't want to be fully invested in ANYTHING at all, then I guess you can watch this. If you have better things to do or better shows to watch, then considering this probably wouldn't be worth your time.
Mixed Feelings
(This is my first review on MAL. I chose a short anime and easy to review to practise it.) Danchigai is a short-type anime released in 2015 by studio "Creators in Pack". Nothing incredible, but the 3-minute duration of the series is more than pleasant and not too boring. The anime presents the classic stereotypes of this genre, however it is not irritating and too repetitive. Let's see what this series offers us Story: 6 Nothing incredible, the story is based on 4 sisters, two older and two younger, and a brother, where all live in the same house. Each episode has some gags, some interesting, others less so. However, as mentionedabove, the duration of each episode allows the series not to be not too repetitive and boring.
Art: 7-
Not too bad to be honest. Sometimes i see some short-anime with a questionable art apparatus, but this is not the case. Animations are not bad at all, even if they are not at all articulated. Notable also the choice of colors, very apt and pleasant.
Sound: 6
Well, there is not too much to evaluate. There are 4 different ending versions, quite nice, but nothing more, and the background songs are pleasant during the episode.
Character: 6+
The key part of this series. Obviously every protagonist has a totally different character from the others, mirroring himself in different other characters seen in other series. From the older sister, who pretends to be a good person in front of her sisters and instead shows her true lazy and unkempt nature only when she is with her brother; to the second sister, the classic tsundere, to conclude with the last two, with a totally opposite character: one more frantic, the other calmer.
The brother, obviously, must try to contain all 4, with a calm and kind character.
Enjoyment: 6
3 minutes are more than enough for this type of anime. Not boring, not incredible, just relaxing.
Overall: 6+
Danchigai is a series that does not claim too much. If you are looking for a short, relaxing series, with some comic moments and a classic comedy / slice of life, this anime is a good solution.
