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「丸井さんの家庭の日常」 (Marui-san no Katei no Nichijou)
“Everyday Life at the Marui House”
There’s a second season coming in the near future, but Mitsudomoe concludes its first run with an incredibly strong showing that had me laughing helplessly on one particular skit. It was possibly one of the best comedic pauses I’ve ever seen in anime, which had me laughing more the longer I watched at it. Oh how I love Hitoha. She takes profound shock and disappointment to new levels with the way she kept filling the cat’s food tray over and over again. I just loved how Mitsuba and Futaba were looking on and at a complete loss on how to help her, before coming up with the idea to make Futaba a replacement cat. I had to actually watch the scene where she inadvertently took out Mitsuba’s knee a couple of times too, just because it happened so quickly and I didn’t get a chance to laugh to my heart’s content in one go. Seriously, there’s comedic gold, and then there’s Mitsudomoe comedic gold. This show just rains it down like there’s no tomorrow.
Leading up to the kitten adoption skit, it wouldn’t feel right without another Chikubi one for the road. To that end, we had a sickly Futaba who looked like Hitoha and gave off a similar aura — the sight of whom makes me laugh even now. Chiba’s confusion over it being Hitoha and only being able to detect the real one from her evil aura was too damn funny, as was Chikubi’s similar confusion over whom he believed was Hitoha. It was hilarious when they were imagining an all new type of evil when Hitoha caught Futaba’s cold, only to find out that she turns a sexy babe because of it. I was hoping she’d say a few words and have a sultry voice to go with it, but Chiba’s reaction made that entire first skit pretty priceless nonetheless. Incidentally, it appear that Futaba has a newly acquired aura ability because of the ordeal.
In terms of sheer slapstick laughs, Yabecchi’s visit to the Marui household for a routine parent/teacher meeting took the cake. On top of featuring a quirky insert song by him and Futaba, “Sensei wa Kodomo? Kodomo wa Sensei?”, the misunderstanding over the Marui’s new pet cat was so well scripted that the predictability of the outcome didn’t take away from the enjoyment the least bit. Seeing Soujirou opening an absolute can of whoop ass on Satoshi under the assumption that he’s some pedophile was too funny, as was his terminator-like search for him. As for the final skit with Mitsuba being the better person and giving up the amusement park tickets that she won in the shopping district lottery, it helped showcase the nicer side to some of these girls that’s often lost amidst all the gags. Of course, in only led to more gags in the process when she found out that each ticket is valid for two people, but did allow the series to close off on a very sweet note when her father bought one more.
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Final Impressions:
For a new studio, Bridge sure delivered one heck of a first production. While the production team behind Mitsudomoe was comprised of all the key members from Daume‘s Minami-ke team, there was still a need to establish themselves as a capable studio. In terms of material, the promising impression I got from the manga while writing the Summer 2010 Preview showed no signs of letting up over the course of the anime adaptation. Over a mere thirteen episodes, I’ve grown so accustomed to all of the characters’ antics and various nuances, which extended well beyond the Marui triplets and their teacher like I originally thought. Back then, I compared this series to Kodomo no Jikan due to the slapstick comedy where they drive their teacher up the wall, and while I still feel that comparison is valid, it only ended up being the tip of the iceberg.
The classmates in this series took the comedy to hilarious levels beyond the confines of what they could pull from Yabecchi alone, and made for some of the best moments when the guys — Shinya and Yuudai — got pulled into the mix. Let’s not forget the helplessly in love trio — Airi, Shiori, and Mayumi — who started breathing new life on the series when they were brought into the picture. Then there’s Mitsuba’s rival Miku and her crew of Yuki and Miyashita, who quickly became some of the core characters right alongside the triplets themselves. When they all get together, stuff starts gets pretty idiotic and there never seems to be a dull moment. From everything to Gachi Ranger misunderstandings to just pure slapstick humor with urine samples, the remarkable amount of sensibility depicted in these sixth graders makes elementary school look like fun again. Unlike Seitokai Yakuindomo, the material in Mitsudomoe wasn’t simply strung together in the order they appear in the manga (for the most part), so some decisions were made by the screenplay writers to make it work as an anime. On top of making the previous skits have some bearing on future ones, the screenplay itself was one aspect that I found particularly well done.
Also noteworthy are the portrayal of the characters by the cast, with Takagaki Ayahi, Akesaka Satomi, and Tomatsu Haruka all showing me a side of their voice acting that I’ve never heard before. I originally thought that Ayahi and Haruka should have swapped roles considering they both had experience playing the other type of character, but they went on to completely surprise me with their performances. It’s so ingrained into my mind now that this is how Mitsuba and Hitoha should sound that I can’t even recall what I had in mind before. Shimono Hiro on the other hand is a complete shoo-in for hysterical roles, and one to watch for in this upcoming season’s Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai and Yosuga no Sora, because he can change personalities in a flip of a switch if needed. You don’t often see him in more serious roles, but he’s more than capable to play any type of role, much like all professionally trained seiyuu. Of course, rounding out the cast are a bunch of big names such as Saitou Chiwa, Toyosaki Aki, Sanpei Yuuko, Chihara Minori, and Iguchi Yuka, who take an already good cast and makes it even better.
Quite frankly, with a hilarious gag manga as the source material, writers capable of transferring that well on screen, and a cast that is beaming with talent, the only thing that could have possibly gone wrong is poor animation to bring it all to life. Well Bridge made no mistake on adding a quality comedy to their resume with Mitsudomoe, because not once did I ever find any scene poorly animated or noticeably skimped on. I praised their work in the early episodes and started feeling like a broken record repeating myself every week, so at some point I figured it was time to stop stating the obvious. I stressed in the season preview that one shouldn’t be turned off by the quirky character designs if they’re looking for potentially the funniest show of the season, and I can now safely say the same as a wholehearted recommendation. The announcement of a second season coming winter 2011 is a statement to that fact, so if you’re into comedies and have been doing yourself a huge disservice by ignoring Mitsudomoe, be sure to check it out before you’re left wondering what everyone is looking forward to in three months. You’ll laugh until it hurts at least once, if not several times over. 🙂
Ah….one of the best comedy genre’d anime I’ve seen,I’m sure no one would object to a second season ^^
The whole season rapped up really well
enjoyed every episode with plenty of laughs XD
I LOVE how at the beginning, people wrote this show off for some many idiotic reasons. “They look like chimpmunks!”, “This is a Kodomo no Jikan ripoff!”, “URINE? NO THANKS”.
In the end, it was funny, smartly done comedy with very high production values and even some touching, emotional moments. Great show. There. I said it. Mitsudomoe is GREAT. Suck it, haters.
^this, they dont know what they lost. Loved the show and witing for the second season now
This is a lot lot lot better then that “KnJ”.
1 episode made me quit watching it.
At first I disregarded this show as a loli-con anime. Good thing it never really was, and turn out to be one hell of a legendary show. Probably best show this summer season! (yes, surpassed HOTD)
BEST.COMEDY.ANIME.EVER!
or atleast from I’ve watched. 😉
Come on January!!! xD
I’m so glad there’s a 2nd season coming early next year, really can’t wait! I’ve enjoyed Mitsudomoe heaps, especially the last couple of episodes. This one had me in tears and almost dying from all the laughter it brought from the LOL OMG TWO HITOHAS, to LOOOOL OMG WHAT A CUTE NORMAL GIRL HITOHA, and LOLOLOL FUTABA AND HITOHA COMBO VS. MITSUBA, with OMGGGGGG Best comedic pause aw Hitoha!! the visit of Yabecchi, HOLY SHI— THREE baseball bats lmfao he’s so dead, to Mitsuba winning the tickets and then trying to be the onee-chan that backfired, but was rewarded in the end. Loved the ending as well. Bring on season two!!
For now I’ll be missing the entire cast and Hitoha for the next 3 months 🙁
Hey Divine, honestly, the sketch with the Marui dad beating Yabe was ruined with Hitoha just not even telling her dad pretty much ruined it
In fact, they could’ve done something like this:
Hitoha: No, dad, that’s our teacher!
Soujirou: (Doesn’t listen; is still bat**** insane)
Hitoha: Well, I tried.
Just like that.
i think hitoha did it on purpose. She hated Yabe going to her house anyway
This was such an awesome show..!! It is a shame that it is so under-rated, it was probably one of the best shows this season. Everything was just comedy gold.. Loved the ending, everything wraps up so nicely for the sisters.
I’m so glad that there will be a second season…
Mitsudomoe FTW..!!
=)
Favorite anime this past season =>
good, mitsuba, you look kind of cool!
i went into mitsudomoe with a lot of skepticism, and the art style still throws me off a bit as most of the time they look more like 1st graders than 6th graders, but it did manage to amuse me more than i expected. i don’t think i was ever rolling on the floor like you, divine, but i laughed. 🙂
Acoustic Guitar ending? (Hikigatarai ver!)
Papa Marui going crazy, being bad-ass, and again showing his ability to be a FREAKING amazing father? I swear, the ending really got to me. I don’t know if it’s just me, but seeing this at the end just made me go AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
I think mitsudomoe is gonna end up being my favorite from the season. The laughs were funny, the characters were awesome, the quirks here and there always made each and every episode different from the last. The running gachi ranger jokes were always funny.
Been trying to convince some people to watch Mitsudomoe, but no luck 🙁
The first 2 or 3 episodes turned people off to watching the anime 🙁
Mitsudomoe was amazing and wins best Summer series for me 🙂
When this show started I was weary by the Kodomo comparison and after episode 1 with the beaver faces (the ears scared me the most). The show was in the drop list. However I always force myself to watch at least 2 episodes… At some point the triplets won my heart and I’m happy to say that I have no regrets. This show was my personal hidden gem of the season. The laughs never stopped and all the supporting characters created the right conditions to make this a great run. Finally the eldest showing her love for the other 2 sisters was such a heartfelt ending couldn’t ask for more !!
Funniest show this year! And a season 2!<3
This was without the shadow of a doubt the only series I’ve been really looking forward on a weekly basis. From the first episode on, I’ve felt in love with the Marui and class 6-3 as a whole. With its amazing cuteness and LMAO WTF moments in every episode, how can anyone who loves comedy push this series off? I’m not too sure. At the very least, Mitsudomoe is truly a show that deserves more attention if not only for its great talented cast.
I’d say bring it on, Season 2,3,4…..I will certainly be watching that show’ season over and over. After all, I know I will need my weekly Marui’s dose.
HAIL MITSUDOMOE!!!
@Divine
In your Mitsudomoe and Seitokai Yakuindomo write ups, I love it how you started slipping some of your dirty ecchi thoughts in some lines.
Hitoha is just so much win.
1.) This show had me at “Nipples”.
2.) I love the fact that the dad gets arrested like three times a day (and at the very end of the show at the theme park XDD) and still manages to be a decent person (punishment shed and violent assaults on school teachers aside.
3.) NEW BERSERK ANIME!!!!11one
THANK GOODNESS FOR SEASON 2!!!!!! that was great! def in my top 3 this season. Now here’s the crazy thing, this is a “MOE” sorta style show right? kinda slice of life “exaggerated a bit” type of stuff right? so why is it that i so easily tolerated and eventually grew to love these characters, while at the same time DESPISING shows like “LUCKY STAR, K-ON”???? hmmmmm, my guess is those other shows “to me” feel fake and forced in their cuteness aspect “their supposed to be 16-17 y.o’s…Gimme a break!” but this felt sweet and funny, and they didn’t even have to give back-story!! AWESOME! thanks fo blogging D
I had a lot of fun watching this show. Thank you for blogging Divine or I probably wouldn’t have checked this show out.
Every episode was beauitiful. I liked all the characters. It was a real japanese cartoon for me. It had funny faces, physical humor and great animation. Cant wait for season 2.
It was amazing that futaba gets sick(saying that futaba never gets sick).i also see now that they are twins if they have the same personality and hair style . Hitoha was already cute to begin with only that no one notices. and the parent visiting was also as one of the best. i hope next season will be the same or even more better. ^ _ ^
I hope the next season is Yabecchi is out of the picture because he’s been killed by Soujiro Marui
This is an amazing anime. I at first didn’t want to download it because it was tedious to download, but I’m glad I didn’t. This anime had me laughing with Seitokai Yakuindomo. It had the right combination of perversion, misunderstandings, nice moments, and defined characters. Even if I knew there was going to be a misunderstanding, when it actually came I was laughing so hard I had to hold my stomach. I also liked the life and death scenes, for example when Hitoha went to Yabe-chi’s apartment to check on Nipples. I loved all of the characters (except Mitsuba, haha).
I am glad there’s going to be a season 2, and I’m pretty confident they won’t make it as disappointing as K-ON Season 2. K-ON S2 was boring, to be honest.
MIT-SU-DO-MO-E!!!
Nice start for the new studio. I like the later parts of the Mitsudomoe more though The scripts with misunderstandings were gold.
Hopefully they can keep it up in season 2.
This is probably not going to get noticed buuut… the second season starts Winter 2010 and not 2011. ._. I had to keep thinking if it was right or not but thankfully it really is just a one season break! I want more Mitsudomoe.~