Kurogane’s Anime Blog

Gotta say, the art quality is really QUALITY, but at the least the humor’s still in top notch. This episode seriously had me laughing out loud.

In this episode of Okaeri; Angel and Devil Chiaki….

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“Okaerinasai, Minami-ke!”

Finally, Okaeri’s back with the usual Minami-ke (I) humor. I’m so glad it’s not like Okawari. That said, I’m lol’ing at Artefact’s misleading article about it, but I’m happy to report it’s just the usual blown-out-of-proportion post.

Pretty much all the old humor’s back, and Takeru-ojiisan even makes a customary appearance. Poor guy just never seems to be taken seriously. I’ve gotta say though, his “dowsing” pen is quite accurate, ho ho. Lol’ed at the part when Kana asks him to find her future husband, and it points towards Fujioka. Will they ever get together?

Of course, kimochiwarui Hosaka-senpai is still around….

A heartwarming ending

Yup, nearly a month late, but I finally completed the last 2 episode of the series.

Fuyuki’s character and plot were really rather bland, and I still think it’s the weakest part of the series. Glad they finished it off at episode 12. I really shared Chiaki’s annoyance at the fella, although in my case, I wish he would GTFO the series, really.

Ending off the series with Haruka’s offer to go overseas was quite okay, and it resolved a hanging plot thread nicely. Of course good ol’ Haruka won’t just leave her siblings off like that. I was really touched when the two actually started doing housework, in anticipation of Haruka leaving. Poor Makoto and Touma for having to become their taste testers. But ahh~ in the end, still ended with crying scenes.

The sports episode in episode 12 provided with some good laughs too, when Fujioka got “borrowed” by Chiaki in the Borrowing Items race. I laughed so hard when it was revealed that Chiaki had to borrow “Father”, dealing poor (14 years old) Fujioka quite the mental shock, ahahahahah. Even more LULZ ensued when he cornered Fuyuki when Kana was being overtly friendly to him.

Hosaka, despite his really limited show time, which is a big shame really, truly provided the much needed dose of the familiar Minami-ke comedy in both episodes. Most especially in the finale, after hearing about Haruka getting transferred, he immediately went to procure a passport. Best part was definitely at the end of the episode, when he’s in a plane to France. Oh god, he’s so GAR.

Spinoff series, “Hosaka in France”, needs to be made for great justice.

In conclusion, while it hasn’t been as good as the first season was, being weaker in terms of eliciting the laughs and also in the production quality at times, Okawari still manages to be entertaining enough to live up to it’s series name. It has been an interesting experiment by the copyright holders to split production between two studios, and while the results are mixed, it has given us a nice, feel-good, comedy series in the end.

Thanks to Chiaki’s embarassing slip-up (for her at least), the Minami’s plan an o-hanami, while still in winter. Needless to say, their plans don’t really come to fruitation, thanks to a certain fox-eyed senpai who brings juice along. Oh god, that juice. *cups face to hand*

This was definitely a fun episode to watch, and Hayami-senpai strikes again. Dear god, those “juice” she drinks are legendary.

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Mako-chan finally made the ultimate decision and went under the knife.

Mako-chan episode, somewhat. Poor Mako-chan… I can feel his suffering and agony. Yet… it seems that if you make someone do something that they don’t like, with the right circumstances, they might actually like it at the end!

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POORU DAAA!!!!!

Pool episode! Wai!

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Oh yes, it’s meido Mako-chan!!!

More Mako-chan and Touma screentime! Valentine’s Day celebration in the Minami-verse!

Yes, it’s Valentine’s day and Haruka suggests the whole family to make chocolates to give out. Chiaki gladly joins in but Kana decides to be the receiver instead of the giver. Hijinks starts with Yoshida, Chiaki’s other friend, Mako-chan and Touma are invited to make together as well. Haruka-neesama asks Mako-chan who’ll the chocolate she’s making will be given too, but “her” idea of giving it to Haruka is shot down by Chiaki, so he’s forced to give it to himself. Kana, who has been stealing chocolate all day long, gets her just desserts when Chiaki makes a special version for her.

The next day, Fujioka eagerly expects a chocolate for him, thanks to Touma creating false hope for him the day before. Of course, Kana didn’t really made one for him, but he gets his wish granted at the end of the day anyways… even if it was chocolate meant for another guy and subsequently stolen by Kana. Chiaki gives her chocolate to Haruka, in her oh-so-cute “Haruka-neesama is the only one for me” way. Haruka shares her chocolates amongst the girls at school, with a special teddy chocolate for Chiaki as well. Hosaka…. actually baked a chocolate cake with a sculpture to give Haruka… citing that it’s his White Day gift…. which is a month away ^^;;;….

A more humorous episode this week, it marks a return to the more familiar Minami-ke we all fell in love with. Finally Mako-chan gets some deserved airtime, and “his” parts were easily the funniest of the episode. Too bad we didn’t really see much of Touma. Kana is back to the super-annoying self she was, and Haruka isn’t the Lord of Destruction Haruka anymore. Sure hope they go back to this comedy line of narrative :).

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Winter is in full swing and the snow is coming down hard. Kana drags Haruka and Chiaki along to enjoy it, with snowball fights and snowman building. Settling down after taking a bath, a prolonged blackout occurs. Worried and also lacking in supplies, the sisters check up on Fuyuki next door, inviting him over, but he declines at first. Chiaki is irritated at that, and finally drags him out of his house. A second round of snowball fights occur and afterwards the sisters + Fuyuki snuggle up with each other to sleep. The next day, Fuyuki is already missing when they wake up, and he’s to be found shovelling snow off the sidewalks outside.

Okawari is definitely more slice-of-life than comedy nowadays, with a somewhat serious plot of Chiaki and Fuyuki actually thrown in to the show. Not that I’m saying it’s bad, just that I miss the more comedic moments of the show, plus Touma and Mako-chan. They’ve barely gotten much screentime ;_;.

Also, I approve of Chiaki’s usage of Wikipedia. tj_han would also sure be pleased as well to see that Chiaki is another headphones user. Didn’t expect of Kana to be a shoujo manga reader though :P.

Minami Haruka: The Lord of Terror

Oh god, Okawari’s Haruka is serious business. She truly is the Lord of Terror herself.

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SERIOUS BUSINESS Haruka-neesama is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

The cast joins a neighbourhood garbage collection campaign, after Haruka decides to instill some discipline in to her siblings, especially Chiaki, after seeing next-door neighbour Fuyuki helping out with housework. Kana plays around as usual, so Haruka gets a bit angry and tells her she won’t be having dinner if she doesn’t do her work properly. Poor Chiaki is caught in the crossfire as well :(.

Of course, Kana being Kana, she inevitably gets her and Chiaki punished. Meanwhile, Chiaki notices that Fuyuki-kun isn’t really a hard worker as they thought, just that he can’t refuse other people’s requests. She tells him that if he really doesn’t want to do it, he should say so clearly, before going off. The next day… Kana and Chiaki are surprisingly up earlier than Haruka herself… it turns out they’re totally starving, XD.

Serious Haruka-neesama is serious. While Kana does deserve a bit of discipline, poor Chiaki got caught in it as well.

Seems like the series is going back to a more slower, slice-of-life approach, rather than a true comedy fest that was the 1st and 2nd episodes. It also seems there will be some development between Fuyuki and Chiaki.

Mako-chan also appeared back this week, and it was truly LOL seeing him find that bag of cosplay clothes, blushing as he looks through it. Him and Touma seem to be quite close as well nowadays. Guess they both complement each other well. Hosaka-senpai got a bit of airtime as well… and he wasn’t disgusting at all, surprisingly. Hell, he was crushing cans with his bare hands. I’m actually a bit disappointed we didn’t get a kimochiwarui moment from him.