Minami-ke Okaeri

Title:Minami-ke Okaeri
みなみけ おかえり
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: CHIHARA Minori
INOUE Marina
Original Concept - SAKURABA Koharu
SATOU Rina
A year has passed since "Okawari" and the three sisters have grown up. Their likings and moods are almost the same, Haruka the older sister is a love-giving mother to the younger sisters, but she's also a discipline follower, Kana the middle one leaves everything to the last possible moment and always gives trouble to this trio, and Chiaki, the youngest, is the calculating and manipulating one, she likes to be admired and loved by Haruka and always gives trouble to the less blessed Kana. An healthy unbalanced family, but they still love each other with their whole heart. This family's daily life is as funny as ever; full of trouble and hints at love, now its time to see if they'll survive this age change since Haruka is now a young adult and she has even more responsibilities while having to watch over her younger sisters while adjusting to adult life. (source:ANIDB)

This version features the cast from the first series but is drawn by the artists of the 2nd series.

13 TV episodes (~24min each)
[edit] The ↗Minami-ke franchise:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 8 8 6 7 7 Dreamer [series:2010#2279]
Having really enjoyed the first series, I picked this one up in hopes of more of the same.... even though there was less than favorable reviews.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
The artwork looked and was different from the previous series. Not to compare, and which I hate to do, I'll just say that I didn't really care for it. Although it wasn't bad, I just didn't feel like I was watching the same 3 lovable sisters I enjoyed previously.

Music
The OP was nothing special. It was a fast-paced upbeat pop piece with female vocals. As for the rest of the soundtrack, nothing special and not even noticeable.

Series and Episode Story
Somehow, I didn't find this as good as the first series. There was some cute moments and at times, or rather many times, it tried to be funny but it seriously failed. I don't think I caught myself not once smirking from laughter. In fact, I don't think I laughed even once. Still, all wasn't lost. There was a few amusing moments and silly antics.

Overall, it was just good enough for a one time watch. If you really liked the first series, you "might" and barely might, like this series.

Last updated Sunday, June 21 2009. Created Sunday, June 21 2009.
Rent 8 7 7 7 7 7 Ggultra2764 [series:2010#1552]
This third season of Minami-ke is a definite improvement over the second season. But it still doesn't match up to the comedic quality of the first season. Okaeri returns to the episode segment approach that the first season had and there's no more "black" characters. Unfortunately, the comedy of this season tends to be hit-or-miss which is this season's biggest weakness. Some episodes gave me a chuckle or would have me going giddy. Others, I was left staring contently without any reaction at all. The Minami brothers are back this season adding some humor with their chats about Touma and even some surprisingly funny activity from Natsuki. Hosaka's antics are still gut-bustingly funny as usual, especially his dreams of Haruka. Good thing about this season also was that Chiaki was back to pummeling bakayarous like the first season. However, I did get the sense that a couple characters such as Takeru and new gal Hitomi were underused. One episode they are there and they never appear the rest of the season. The final episode gave me Okawari vibes with its forced use of drama much like what was pulled on the last season.

While this season is more visually pleasing and funny than Okawari, it still doesn't compare to the fun I got out of season 1. Even after a second season working on it, it still looks like asread is having trouble figuring out how to pull the right strings with Minami-ke.

Last updated Wednesday, April 01 2009. Created Wednesday, April 01 2009.
Unevaluated Forbin [series:2010#1573]
I like it.

I don't like the Haruka look YET, I was in love with the first series Haruka. 2nd isn't all the noticeable.

The pencil thing (from the Manga) was very hilarious in the manga but the Anime felt a bit toned down.

Still better than 2nd season!
2nd Episode was funnier than the first. Oooo Older Chiaki looks like she will enjoy beating Makoto with her whip.

5th episode was a bit of a letdown, even with Mako-chan in it.

With the presentation of #8 we are back to ALMOST as good as season one. Even the artwork is up.

Last updated Thursday, February 26 2009. Created Wednesday, January 07 2009.
Watch Stretch [series:2010#628]
(Watch+ or Rent-)

(All episodes watched):

After the splendid Fall '08 season, another Minami-ke seemed symbolic of "back to normal" anime, i.e, shows which are often just barely worth watching. My first impression was that this was not terribly funny; it seemed to be slice-of-life, but a slice of the life of an ordinary family, not one that contains a number of talented commedians. However, it has grown on me since then. Episode two was better than I expected--I liked the angels and demons trying to persuade the girls. I agree, Okaeri (Oh-Ki-Ree, I think) is better than Okawari but not as good as the original. Nevertheless, having watched the bulk of it I now think of Okaeri as a fun show with some clever and original wit to it. It is not roll-on-the-floor hilarious by any means, but episodes seem to go relatively quickly, perhaps because for the most part these are not the recycled jokes which we've seen countless times already, they are something fairly fresh. Stuff like Kana's red pepper bath--that's a concept which I've never heard of before. The series ends not with a bang but a wimper--but a good wimper, as, in spite of all their arguing, the three sisters realize just how important they are to each other. A fun show, which I'm sorry to see go.

Last updated Tuesday, April 14 2009. Created Wednesday, January 07 2009.
Rent 8 7 6 8 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:2010#436]
Minami-ke is such a great series that when Minami-ke Okawari came out, I was very excited. However, Minami-ke Okawari ended up being a great disappointment both in terms of humor, in changes to story presentation, and the inclusion of the "Black-san" characters. With the announcement of Minami-ke Okaeri, I had hopes of improvements but quietly kept low expectations. So how did this third series do? Better than Okawari but not reaching Minami-ke.

The series started off well enough, though not with the bang that Minami-ke grabbed me with. The return to the short-story presentation works so much better for this series rather than the single episode approach. Also, the removal of the "Black-san" characters improved the enjoyment. That method of having generic characters really annoyed me.

With the second episode, I really had high hopes for the series because that episode was really good, on par with the good stuff I'd enjoyed in Minami-ke. Unfortunately, this was the best episode of Minami-ke Okaeri (Curry Fairy!) and the third episode didn't do a lot for me. The fourth episode was good again. The fifth one, no so great, and so forth. That ends up being one of the problems with the series -- it is a lot hit-or-miss when it comes to the humor. Hosaka ends up providing some of the funniest material with Natsuki coming in second. Some episodes had stories that ended oddly, which was somewhat of a negative for me because it wasn't funny.

This third series makes an effort to bring in many forgotten characters from Minami-ke and that's a welcome thing. Unfortunately, some of them still didn't add to much such as two of Touma's brothers. As I mentioned before, Natsuki was a win, but the other two brothers were rather tiresome and tedious. In addition, the character designs are changed so much that some characters are just about unrecognizable. The anime adds a new character -- Hitomi. I liked her character and her interest in Natsuki, but she only appeared in one episode. I don't know what was up with that but it was disappointing.

Bottom line: Minami-ke Okaeri ends up being better than Minami-ke Okawari, but not living up to the standards set by Minami-ke. While the series does have moments that are as good as the original when it comes to humor, most of the time it does not. Since this series doesn't have the replay value in my mind that Minami-ke has, I can only give it a Rent.

Last updated Sunday, April 12 2009. Created Tuesday, January 06 2009.

Other Sites
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Japanese Series Web Site http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/minami-ke/3/

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