Brothers Conflict

Genre: Romance
Age Appropriate: Teens
Emotional Response: weirded out vs. cute guys!
Notable Features: reverse harems, odd family conflicts, spacey girl
Language: Japanese
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Okay


"We're too close to exchange whispers of love." - Ema

One day, Ema's dad tells her that he's planning to remarry. As a result, she's off to live with her new step-brothers. All 13 of them! They live in a house/apartment complex, where everyone get their own room, and different floors, with some common areas. From the beginning, Ema is a little bit shy, and oblivious. Her brothers, however, are all fairly forward. While they all seem to have similar feelings of genuine concern, except maybe one, they are all also in love with her. The five closest to her in age are the main "contenders" in the storyline, but each brother shows romantic interest in her in some way, with one exception. Louis has only brotherly feelings for her, and becomes a great source of strength.

Let's not forget her most important ally, though. Ema has a "pet" squirrel who is dedicated to protecting her from her brothers. Juli can talk, and often expresses his displeasure at the different situations Ema finds herself in, but no one else can hear him - except for Louis. There is no real mention of why Louis is special, but the squirrel and brother form their own "Protect Ema" committee. This series has little story lines about each brother, and often develops their relationships with each other, both as brothers and rivals. The intense, forward brothers often throw Ema off guard, and you have to wait until the end of the series to learn her important decision.

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Brothers Conflict was a mix of fun and discomfort. I really felt for Ema during the whole "I love you, sis" situation. That has got to be confusing, and I would never want to be in her position. I also have a love/hate relationship with the brothers. I adore Louis - despite, or because of his strange speech patterns - and I like Natsume, one of the triplets, probably because he's a video game developer. How cool is that? I am really happy that Ema is a step-sister, though. WEIRD. I frequently wanted to punch Futo, often in the nuts, for his personality/attitude/creepiness. He had one or two redeeming moments, but not enough for me to like him. I can't say too much, without giving too much away, but I will say that it was weird, creepy, and funny. I would most definitely recommend this to any girl who loves the whole reverse harem thing (which does include me!), but I wouldn't recommend it for any other reason. I'm probably not going to watch it again. It certainly wasn't as good as Uto no Prince Sama.

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Um. Huh.: Servant x Servicw

Listen to me girls, I'm your father.

Genre: Comedy
Age Appropriate: Any age
Emotional Response: Sad followed by happy
Notable Features: family committment, adorable kids
Language: Japanese
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Great

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star...." - Hina & Co.

Yuuta is a first year college student who is interested in joining the SS club at school. Well, he's kidnapped by said club, but there is a beautiful girl involved, so he dicides to stick around. Then he gets a call from his sister. She scolds him for not visiting. It turns out that his older sister raised him when their parents died, so she became closer to a mother. Now she has three little girls, two from her husband's previous marriages, and one of their own. His sister bullies him into a visit, and has a secret plot - a test run for having him stay with the girls for a time when she and her husband have to go out of town for his work. He does have fun with the girls, and despite being reluctant about it, agrees when the little girls guilt him into it.

Their first night home alone, tragedy falls for the family. The airplane with the parents crashes and now the girls are orphans. At the funeral, the families agree to split the girls up, so that each family only has to take one. Yuuta flashes back to his parents funeral and his sister's response. He jumps up and declares that he will take the girls - despite being poor, having a small apartment, and not much at home. The girls jump at the chance to be with him. They don't really understant what they're in for, but they'd be together. So begins the story of Yuuta being the father of a preteen, a 10 year old, and a toddler.

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I loved this series. It was bittersweet, but engaging. After the past few confusing, multiple personality based series, I was really looking for something straight-up normal. No magic, sci-fi, psychological factors, but just something "normal." This series really nailed it.

I love all of the characters. Yuuta is so sweet in his struggles to meet the needs of the girls, while being completely oblivious about the actual day-to-day necessities. He really wants to make them happy (but forgets to think about their emotional states and the stress of being mini-homemakers). Sora is sweet, and takes on something closer to the "mom" role. Maybe it's just being a really good older sister, but she has to deal with her major crush on Yuuta. He's pretty oblivious to that, too. The only negative about it is that Sora is kind of annoying with it sometimes. Miu loves to torture her sister about her crush. She's pretty nice and a little mischevious, but in a good-hearted kind of way. She's stuck between being the older sister to Hina, helping Sora and wanting to just be a kid, and not wanting to cause anyone any trouble. Hina is just cute. Seriously. CUTE. I squealed a few times when she was on screen because she's so freakin' cute. C.U.T.E. I don't know if I would need to rewatch the series, but Hina might make it nice to do so.

It's really those characters that make the series. The story is nice, and uplifting despite the sadness of what they face, but it's really pretty great. I'd recommened it to someone looking for it, hands down, and there really wasn't anything inappropriate. I liked it.

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Roll over!: Heaven's Lost Property

Kaze No Stigma

Genre: Action
Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: exciting and hilarious - maybe a little confused
Notable Features: magic, demons, elemental spirits, family issues, cops
Language: English
Length: 2 seasons, 24 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Heck Yeah


"Ka! Zu! Ma!" - Angry Ayano

Kazuma Yagami, formerly Kazuma Kannagi, is a wind magic user. He's a 20-something upstart with a cocky attitude but hidden depths. He was kicked out of his family for his inability to use fire magic. The series opens with his return to his home, and the events that follow his arrival. At first the family believes that he is killing members as revenge, but in the end it's discovered that there is someone else behind things. He has a terrible relationship with his father, but a reasonable relationship with his uncle, the head of the Kannagi family. On top of that, his younger brother, Ren, is excited about Kazuma's return! Most of the family looks upon him with disdain, but Ren is just happy he's around. Kazuma's driving force to help the family is money, as a mercenary he works for anyone who makes enough, but his uncle makes the observation that by charging money, Kazuma can help without losing face.

 His cousin, Ayano, follows his around with a mix of irritation at his being a traitor and a potential crush that she's in denial about. Ayano adds an element of coming of age story. Kazuma and Ayano often end up in battles together where her impetuousness gets her in trouble, but Kazuma uses some of those battles to teach her lessons about her magic. As the heir of the Kannagi family, she has the family fire sword and a wealth of power for her age. She just needs a little growing up until she's really ready for responsibility. Whenever there isn't a serious situation/episode, there is a decent about of shenanigans from Ayano and her friends. Somehow, Kazuma also picks up a pixie friend. On top of it all is a hilarious plot to get Ayano and Kazuma together by Juga - the head of the family.

Most of the evil villains are different versions of yoma demons or elemental beasts. Kazuma uses his magic, given to him by a contract with the Spirits of the Wind, to defeat the enemies. There is some hidden reason behind Kazuma's return and many of his actions throughout the series. There are flashbacks and foreshadowing around his reasons and the progression of events. In the end, it's this part of the story that provides the climax and reasons behind everything that happens.

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Kaze No Stigma is so ridiculously emotional, but in a good way. There is a decent amount of comedy mixed in between the serious episodes and storyline. Kazuma is kind of arrogant, but since he's got so much power he seems to deserve some of it. Ayano is a sassy brat girl constantly getting into trouble. They're pretty much a match made in heaven. That seems to be a driving force of the series, too. With Juga's persistent plotting to get them together, in order to Kazuma back in the family, there are a good number of episodes pretty much dedicated to how things can get messed up pretty easily when the both of them involved. The weirdest part is how the beginning of the series starts seriously, with magic and set ups and family tragedy, but then there is a huge chunk that is just stupid-funny, and embarrassing.

The ending is kind of disjointed, and maybe a little extreme. Almost like the writers thought to themselves "Oh, yeah. We're supposed to have a point."It's probably the reason it didn't get some better rating. It was sudden. The end story isn't bad, though. In general, I liked this one. The occasional, complicated technology integrated with magic is kind of cool. Kazuma, in theory, is crush worthy, although not my type personally. There are certainly some good action magical fight scenes for your viewing pleasure. At the very least, it was a nice follow up to Dance in the Vampire Bund. Demon King Daimao and this are making it all better. So, yeah, go ahead and watch it.

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What's up?: Miracle  Train

La storia della Arcana Famiglia

Genre: Action/Drama
Age Appropriate: Pre-teens+
Emotional Response: a little fun, a little sad, a little GIRL POWER
Notable Features: Family, Mafia, magic powers
Language: Japanese - Eng Sub
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Not bad

La storia della Arcana Famiglia follows a young woman names Felicita, the daughter of Papa Mondo (the family head/"father") in a coming of age story loosely based on stereotypical mafia depictions. The "arcana" comes in with each major character having a specific magic power that comes with a contract agreed upon with an arcana card (from tarot). For example, Felicita's power is discovered to be The Lovers, which grants her the ability to see into other people's hearts.

The story begins with Papa speaking to the famiglia on his birthday, annoucing a family-wide battle for the right to be the next Papa, any wish granted, and Felicita's hand in marriage. This causes a great disturbance as the other men in the family now have to battle it out in a Duella Arcana, but also have various reactions to the idea of marrying Fel. The twist in this basic plot? Felicita, as an arcana holder herself, also gets to battle it out with everyone - securing her own future. With the agreement of her young friends, Nova and Liberta, they will fight to win and either of the boys will agree to make their wish freeing Felicita from marriage.

As Fel and her mother, Sumire, are the only females in the cast, the extensive cast features males of all types - each with their own abilities. The storyline focuses some part on the early lives of each character to some degree - all of which lead to their reasons for wanting to win.
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La storia della Arcana Famiglia is actually a pretty good coming of age story for a teen girl  - thus making it actually a relatively appropriate story for a pre-teen. The guys hit on each typical type a girl might be interested in, too! There really isn't any "eye candy" per se, as there are no inappropriate shots, but the attitudes say it all. For the most part though, I found that I was rooting for Fel to kick butt with girl power, and what was left was rooting for Liberta and Nova, knowing that they were planning to help a girl out. Still, even my own emotions were conflicted between the two boys. At no point did I find myself wanting her to end up with any of the other characters, but as it was supposed to be that way, I guess it's ok.

It's a pretty fun anime in general, but I really had no strong feelings about the story or the characters. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn't compelling enough for me to shout out to the internet "WATCH THIS NAO!" For that it got a "Not bad" review. Because it really is "not bad," but I don't think I'll feel the need to watch it a second time. If I went with my typical movie reviews, I would say it was worth a matinee. For anime, I'm happy to watch it for free, but I won't be buying it.

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Next Time: High School of the Dead