Sister Princess

Distributor: A.D.V.
Original Story: Naoto Tenhiro, Sakurako Kimino
Volumes: 6
Rating: TVPG
Anime Code: C

Wataru Minakami had just graduated Junior High School and was now looking forward to high school. The only problem was he failed his entrance exams. Without any warning, he's suddenly shipped off to a high school on Promised Island. Once there, he discovers to his shock that he's boarding with 12 girls, all who are claiming to be his little sister. Why was he sent here? What's his connection to the island? And most importantly, how does one live with 12 girls who are all making weird passes at him?

Review: I originally picked up Sister Princess on a whim in 2006 and I didn't get around to watching it until 2008. I heard that there were a lot of harem anime and quickly deduced that Sister Princess was one of them. As harems go, this one wasn't half bad. It contained some of my favorite female voice actresses. The animation was nice to look at and the island setting was intriguing. As for the characters, the personalities were as different as their looks though some of the voices were a little weird in the dub (I mean what exactly is Haruka's accent supposed to be? German? Sweedish?). I would've loved to know more like who was the ghost girl whom Wataru made his pinky promise to? What was in the book? I wish they could've gone there but they didn't. But it was overall heartwarming and funny.

Action Level: 1/5
You could tell this was based on one of those visual novel dating sims the Japanese like so much. There was no action what-so-ever, at least, not the type of action you would find in a shonen series.

Romance Level: 4/5
You know, one thing I never was able to figure out was whether or not any of the girls were actually related to Wataru. I mean they were obviously really fond of him but it wasn't clear whether they were calling him by various "Brother" nicknames because they were actually related or simply as a term of endearment. The reason I ask this is because it makees the times they're coming on to him much less creepy.

Comedy Level: 5/5
Though the series was meant to be a romantic comedy (or somewhere along the like), the character of Yamada was overkill as comic relief.

Adult Level: 2/5
The various near-sexual situations Wataru ends up in almost makes me want to roll my eyes. Especially that bath scene with Haruka.

Drama Level: 3/5
Did Wataru ever stop to think about how all these girls are related to him or even IF they're related to him? Nope, he seemed perfectly fine with it. Did they go into any back stories? Nope. But they devoted entire episodes to looking for teddy bears, ribbons, and light bulbs.

Overall Level: 4/5
Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying this series. I enjoyed the various characters and seeing them interact with one another. You can easily view it in one day. If you're in the move for something lighthearted, I can't recommend this enough.