Anime: Chocotto Sister

One getting started to watch this show better know what he’s in for. To its core, Chocotto Sister is about the simple daily lives of the residents of an apartment building, mostly focusing on that of the relationship between two siblings. The thing is, the show throws in lots of ecchi and in many parts oversexualizes the naked body of little girls. I mean, seriously, the story begins with the lead boy being given a little sister as a gift, half naked and in a sack. The innocent mind will see that as a nice Christmas present but the dirty as a girl kidnapped and sold to prostitution. And that is the main catch that can make you like or hate this show. Depending on how you get to bite the premise will either find it as a comical slice-of-life with lots of nude or a sleazy lolicon, dressed as comedy.

Apart from that very distinctive feature, the actual story of the anime is very simple and doesn’t really progress towards anything specific. It is just random events in the lives of the two siblings and their interactions with the other residents and some other passingbyers. It also ends in a way that is supposed to excuse not to expect anything other than that.

I wrote simple and not generic because all those erotic vibes make it hard to see it as such. Although almost all events are commonplace in most ecchi comedies (or even hentais) the weird mix of comedy with erotism and coming-of life moments create a weird blend that make it somewhat hard to be clear up in your mind on what it is really about. One viewer can focus on this aspect, some other can focus on that aspect. I for once got initially interested on the erotic part, which was really bold and bordering hentai or lolicons at many points (I like that shit). But after 10 episodes the focus shifts to the sibling relation and how the older brother is teaching his sister of various important things in life, while he is constantly surrounded by possible romantic or sexual interests. It was a somewhat enjoyable erotic comedy at this point with some staple life messages here. Ten episodes after that, the feeling went away as well and now I was just curious to see how it will all end. And well, it ended calmly and even tried to excuse this mess in a way to not expect anything else. So for me the Enjoyment is gradually dropping as the episodes go by since the lack of development story-wise was getting more and more tiresome. I still give it a good mark, for making a rather uniform blend of erotism and slice of life, without ever sticking too much on one and neglecting the other.

The characters are not special in any way. They are all quite stereotypical figures you can find in most ecchi comedies or even hentais. It’s just that the story made sure to focus a lot on their mentality, as simple as that was, as means to bring out the best of what they could offer. So although their personalities are nothing much, their interactions and mood swings seem logical and even excused. Especially Chocotto; she begins as a pedophile’s wet dream, pure, ignorant to the world, and willing to do anything to please her big brother. Steadily she becomes a cute little thing to cherish and support for all her efforts. All the rest are rather meh to care about.

Visually the show is poor; simple character figures and large outlines and not much attention to detailed coloring, shading, or smooth animation. Hands in many parts feel bulky as well. Voice acting and soundtrack are ok for this sort of series. The opening and ending videos are practically the only well made parts in the entire show and liking them or not is all up to preference. The nekonyan dance for example is hard to tell if it’s cute, sexy, plain stupid or all that at the same time. All these are trademarks of animation studio Nomad, which never has high budgets to produce visually and acoustically pleasing shows. In fact, most of them are bellow average.

In all, it is a good series to spend your free time if:
1) you are not offended by the fact it oversexualizes little girls (if you are con to the idea)
2) you are not expecting a lolicon (if you are pro to the idea)
3) you expect a good story with a great ending (there isn’t much here)

Beyond all that, it is not very memorable as a series and chances of rewatching it are slim. Being stuck as a combo of average genres does not make it better that pure and far better made erotic comedies, hentais, lolicons or slices of life.

(I was skimming through the list of series I've stalled on, and recently finished this. Reviewed it for the heck of it. Meh.)

Chokotto Sister is one of those titles which should have any reasonable person pause, and then wonder what the hell is wrong with the world today. It’s not that there’s a whole lot about the show that is unique, in fact it’s blasé to the extreme. Screams of Onii-chan abound, and sister complex is all but put on a pedestal for worship. Despite that, it can occasionally be endearing, if only when it isn’t pandering to fetishes like a vending machine full of panties.

Plot(2/10), Characters(6/10):
The premise revolves around Haruma Kawagoe’s desire for a little sister following the miscarriage his mother went through. Naturally, he doesn’t bugger his mother to get another bun in the oven; he prays for his mother to get better like the sweet milquetoast harem lead that he is. Years pass by and one night, he gets a little sister straight from the source: Santa. That’s right, Santa, who happens to be a moody babe on a flying motorcycle. Only god knows what reason Go Zappa (the storywriter for the manga) felt compelled to do this, but it begs the question: Is he really trying to tell all the sis-coms out there that if they pray really hard one day, they might too get a little sister dropped on their front porch? It just hangs over the series like a mobile dedicated to the elephant in the corner. Especially since Choco arrives in her birthday suit with some panties and a ribbon.

If you can gather up the courage and forget about the entirely disturbing relation Haruma has with Choco, the series can be slightly enjoyable, if conventional. Too bad Haruma is essentially paired with his new landlady as soon as she’s introduced. Did I mention she has large breasts, can cook well, and can make a staircase look like a minefield with her lack of dexterity? She also dotes on Choco to make passes at Haruma, who is about as perceptive to this as a pile of cinderblocks. We’ve also got the drunk lady, the nice old guy, and a tsundere rich girl. If this were a movie it would probably have the nice black guy who dies first.

Incredibly, this is all almost besides the point. However generic the cast of characters is, Choco drives the story with her cheerful enthusiasm (for her brother). Be it dragging all her neighbors into doing the ‘Nyaan Nyaan Dance’ or giving fellatio to a chocolate Bannana (yes, that really happens), Choco is clearly the focus of the show, and tends to overshadow Haruma frequently. Furthermore, most of the plot tends to revolve around Choco running out on an errand by herself (remember, Japan has the best police force in the world) and running into a friend or making a random acquaintance. While somewhat repetitive, there is one redeeming feature to Choco’s escapades: she frequently exhibits excessively naïve behavior, and as a result relies on a notebook from Santa for all her worldly knowledge. Regardless, the plot and characters really only exist to drive one point into your brain: Little sisters make everyone happy! Everyone! Got that? Good. You can shudder now.

Animation (7/10):
The animation for the series was handled by Nomad (Rozen Maiden, Sola, Kyoran Kazouku Nikki, Yozakura Quartet), and they did a pretty decent job of translating the manga into anime. The distinctive polygonal look in Sakura Takeuchi’s character designs is there, and done with a suitably bright palette. That’s not to say they don’t take shortcuts, this isn’t a terribly high budget production. Although, considering the genre, it’s to be expected.

Sound(6/10):
The opening theme , "Doki! Doki! My Sister Soul" by Harenchi Punch, is a generic piece of Japanese pop with upbeat singing, and some of the most disturbing lyrics I have ever seen. The chorus literally goes something like ,”Nervous for my first surprise, my sister soul!” All this is accompanied by a collage of shots of Choco and some animation showcasing the rest of the cast. It also happens to include a scene with Choco in nothing but an apron (at which point the song goes “It’s boring to be on your own…”).
All in all it’s an amazingly appropriate opening for the series albeit an incredibly disturbing one.

The ending is quite a bit more impressive though, it looks like Nomad really put some effort into animating it. The character designs are more detailed, and closer to their manga counterparts, and they didn’t rely on panning shots of Choco in random poses. "Neko-nyan Dance" also by Harenchi Punch is played alongside this, and throughout the rest of the series as the theme song to the most obnoxious dance ever. Neither of the songs are particularly enjoyable, but they’re serviceable, and suit the theme of the show.

For most of any given episode there is very little background music and sound effects are used to punctuate anything going on. When there is background music, it sets the mood well enough, with some upbeat violin during happy scenes or a cacophony when Choco gets lost and so on.

The voice acting is more or less solid. Momoko Saito plays Choco well enough to make all the sis coms in the audience weak in the knees, Daisuke Hirakawa plays a good nice guy-loser type in his role as Haruma, and Rika Morinaga does a pretty good drunk. You could nitpick with Momoko Saito’s performance as sounding helium induced, but she’s trying to sound like an innocent ten year old on Ritalin, so it’s excusable.

Value/ Enjoyment(6/10), Sis-Com rating (42/10):

While the show panders to the lowest common denominator and hardly diginifies itself, it can occasionally produce a warm fuzzy feeling. When Choco runs to Haruma to solve all her problems it actualizes experiences that many of the viewers will have likely dealt with. Then it jumps to a scene with panty shots and naked apron get-ups. The jarring clash of the warm slice of life scenes and the fan service detracts pretty heavily from the viewing experience, in a way that really makes it hard to recommend this series. Relatively low production values and disturbing music make this more of a niche within a niche show. If you’ve got that burning sis-com spirit though, this is your show. Really, we could all do with a little boost of happiness, and if Go Zappa is right, a magical little sister might just do it for some people.

That being said, God help us if he is right.

I went into this anime with no expectations and almost dropped it because I don't particularly care for ecchi anime with little to no plot. I was quite happy to see this anime pull a plot movement similar to many anime, where it starts off at one level and ends in one completely different. Well, maybe not completely different, but pretty close. I hope to give a summary without revealing anything to those who are debating about watching the anime.[br][br]First off, this anime has a lot, and a do mean a lot, of fan service. I don't think there's an episode which doesn't feature a panty shot at one place or another, and from characters ranging from the age of ten to twenty-five, so don't go into the anime unprepared for such. There's also a gratuitous amount of chest shots, both covered and uncovered.[br][br]As previously mentioned, the first episodes don't contain all that much as far as plot goes. It's more of a per episode anime at that point. I imagine that's why at least a couple of groups dropped the series after the first half.[br][br]The second half takes on a much different aspect. Character development is no longer non-existent, conflict rears its sordid head, and traumatic experiences are dealt with. It almost reminded me of AIR at moments, although it wasn't quite as complex.[br][br]I won't say that I'm all that hard to get to cry during a touching scene, but it definitely takes something more touching than normal to get me to cry. This anime got me to cry. A couple of times.[br][br]So, yeah, this anime is worth watching. If you trudge through the dredge that the majority of the first half, you'll, hopefully find yourself a diamond. And although small, a diamond is still a diamond.[br]