Series Review: Minami-ke Tadaima (9/10)

Instant Summary: Three sisters live without their parents and their friends (from middle, junior high and high school) visits probably way too often.

OKAERI Minami-ke! Finally, we have a competent studio in charge of the anime. I recall that Asread did such a horrible job that even their promotional material looks awful. I had honestly thought that they ruined all hopes of any sequel, because their last botched job was in 2009. Thank god for studio Feel! And I guess it's lucky that people loved the franchise enough to warrant 4 seasons.

And I must say, studio Feel probably took it further than studio Daume had in the first season. Minami-ke's slice-of-life comedy is pure and mellow, but at some point it almost became stale. Feel had overcomed that weakness, and everything feels livelier and funnier than ever. They even had a really good ending! Who the hell actually saw that coming?

The anime has a huge and entertaining cast with, like, three whole sets of characters from three different schools, and the special thing about them is they're still unique and distinguishable. I won't even doubt that there's still plenty of profit to bleed from the franchise, and hopefully it'll still be studio Feel to do that.

Plot/Concept: It's the same, familiar and likable cast, as always.
Story style: They kept it simple, and they kept it funny.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 9

First Impressions: Minami-ke Tadaima

I'm in the camp that only acknowledge this as the second season of Minami-ke. While I'm not completely wowed by the first season create by Daume, Asread's Minami-ke Okawari and Okaeri had a pretty shitty sense of humor, coupled with some of the worst animation I've seen. I've always missed Minami-ke's unique sense of comedy, and it's about time they brought it back.

I didn't have high hopes for Tadaima, because I'm mainly just hoping that they don't fuck this up too badly. And while I didn't have a very good impression of studio Feel... man, this season is simply awesome! Gone were are horrible acting and animation, and even the first season's awkward pauses. Within three episodes, Tadaima has already became one of the funniest, and cutest slice-of-life comedy I've seen.

I love the sisters of the Minami household. Touma, Uchida and Hosaka are some of my favourite characters too. Minami-ke has one of the most likable sets of characters out there, and it's just awesome to see them in the proper, beautiful form they deserves. This is going to be the best season of the title yet.

Outlook: Awesome!