Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi 4zp1d

Ah yes, another anime adaptation from Reiji Miyajima—The Man Who Sold his wet dream in the form of literature. So you should know exactly what you're getting into.

Now, you might notice the original source is a seinen. And while I know seinen is just a demographic and doesn’t necessarily affect the genre or story, I believe there are people out there expecting a more mature or bleaker story, especially since the manga was published in Young Animal—you know, the same magazine that Berserk came from. But here’s a heads-up: there is nothing remotely close to mature or bleak in this anime. In fact, my love ... story back in junior high had more conflict and depth than whatever this series is trying to present.

That aside, this was made by the same guy who gave us Rent-A-Girlfriend, so you already know not to get your expectations too high. Reiji took anime’s most common tropes and thingamajigs and proceeded to do... absolutely nothing new. It’s basically just your average “your siblings are actually not your siblings” story—but instead of one, there’s five of them.

Now, the story could have leaned into the concept of differentiating familial and romantic love, and maybe even posed some interesting questions about how perspective can affect romantic feelings. But Reiji said, “fuck it, I’m not doing that—let’s just make them talk about family every fucking minute.” They talk about family so much, I could feel Dominic Toretto manifesting beside me out of thin air.

Also, the way these characters address each other sounds like they’re part of imperial inquisitor: “AH YES, MY SECOND SISTER,” “MY OLDEST SISTER,” “YOU ARE THE HEIR TO THE FAMILY,” “YOU ARE THE OLDER BROTHER.” It’s not the most realistic depiction of siblings by any means, but we can easily sweep that under the rug because first, it’s fiction. Second, Reiji probably never experienced having siblings in real life.

Almost every character is "by the book." If she’s a tsundere, then she’s GONNA be a tsundere. If she’s an onee-chan, she’s GONNA be an onee-chan and make damn sure everyone knows it. If she’s the smart type, then brace yourself for walls of intellectual dialogue delivered "smartly."

But then again, this is a romcom harem. Don’t expect too much. You’re not watching it for the plot, realism, or originality. You’re here for fun, to swoon over cute girls, and to root for your favorite to end up with the MC.

So yes, the anime does offer five attractive heroines, each distinct in design and personality, tailored to fit your favorite trope. Not the most unique, but let’s be real—you probably don’t care about originality, and honestly, neither do I. So Reiji at least did that part right.

Another good thing: the MC is actually bearable. Reiji CAN actually write a decent main character. While he’s far from perfect, at least this guy doesn’t make me want to choke him to death every time he opens his mouth.

The animation is great. Doga Kobo keeps their streak going, delivering cute and lovable character designs that really do justice to the original source.

Overall,if you come into this expecting depth, originality, or emotional nuance, you’re barking up the wrong tree. This anime is exactly what you'd expect from Reiji Miyajima—trope-filled, surface-level, and dripping in fantasy wish fulfillment. But hey, if you're just here for some cute girls, solid animation, and a main character who isn’t completely insufferable, then yeah, you’ll probably have a good time. Just don’t try to find meaning where there is none, and you might actually enjoy it.

Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi is another masterpiece created by the one and only Reiji Miyajima, the mastermind behind Rent-A-Girlfriend. Everything this man touches is gold and clearly the anime industry knows that too, letting studio Doga Kobo animate his latest show, the studio to turn to if you want to adapt any material with incest in it.

Let me ruin the fun by saying...yes, this plot is weird as fuck. A family with 7 children who all grew up thinking they were actual siblings, only for their dad to drop a bombshell on the youngest sister's birthday that they are, in fact, not related. Well except ... for two of them who'll probably get the least amount of screentime compared to the others. This man really asked himself "how can I make a manga about incest without it technically being incest" and it somehow turned into an anime.

So, what makes this weirder than other stepsister anime/manga out there like Domestic Girlfriend or Days With My Stepsister? In those shows, they knew of each other before their parents remarry and are thrown into a step sibling dynamic out of the blue. In this anime, they thought they were actually siblings for over a decade. Even if you can ignore that part, Kotono (the youngest sister) literally had feelings for her brother before the whole twist happened.

I'm also not a huge fan with how quick the sisters change how they view him, at least give it a month before you develop feelings for him god damn. At least he still thinks of his sisters as sisters, blood related or not. you know, like a normal person would. But I'm sure that'll change too. As far as what to except character wise, this is just the incest version of Quintessential Quintuplets.

Doga Kobo is the highlight of this show, everything pops out and looks beautiful, and the animation while weaker then in their other works imo, is still higher quality then this show probably deserves. That's not to say the show is dogshit or anything, I think if you can look past the premise and not take it seriously, it can be fun at times. Although, there isn't many actual jokes and a lot of character drama...I think this is actually supposed to be taken seriously guys...oh well, at least we can goon to the sisters- oh wait only one of them is of age..DAMN YOU REIJI MIYAJIMA!!!


UPDATE- I don't usually write updates, but this show is boring as hell. I didn't mind the tropey stuff up until the 4th episode. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it should've just went full incest. I know, wild statement but at least then it would have an excuse to be bad, but at least appeals to the Alabama crowd. As it is though, it's an incredibly boring harem that goes nowhere with characters who are just one note. You got the tsundere, the shy one, the onee-san, the smart one, and the tomboy. That's all these characters are, just characters for the audience to pick and choose and that's it. If I had to give this show credit other than the art, it'd be that the main guy is at least more unique than most harem MCs and especially Kazuya, he's still a bit oblivious, but to be fair, I think he has a pretty fair reason since they're...you know, his sisters.

Theoretically, this should be an alright anime.
Realistically though, it’s kinda mediocre—edging on being unenjoyable drama slop.

(NOTE: I haven’t read the manga, so this is purely based on what I’ve watched.)
First off, I don’t outright hate this anime. I just think it’s a big waste of time. The only thing that really grabs the viewer is the over-sexualized drama between the sisters and one of the brothers.

For whatever reason, the sisters are only into the older brother—our main character, Arata. The slightly younger brother? Pretty much ignored. Why? Plot reasons, I guess. But the weird thing is, while the sisters are all over Arata, they also ... seem to get a kick out of embarrassing or hurting him just for the fun of it. So I’m sitting here wondering: Why am I supposed to like these girls when they’re constantly picking on and bullying the guy they supposedly like?
The only thing really keeping me watching is the dumb melodrama and the cliché moments that usually exist just to embarrass the male MC and throw in a bit of light fan service. That’s it.

This isn’t even a unique premise, either. Stuff like this has been done before—usually with a twist, or at least without (simulated) family ties between the characters. Take Quintessential Quintuplets for example. Same general idea: lots of sisters, vaguely similar drama. They're not exactly the same, but it makes the point—this kind of story isn’t rare, and there are probably tons of other anime with similar setups.

Overall, it’s watchable, sure. But honestly, it’s pretty mid. There are way better anime out there—either already on your Plan to Watch list or airing this season. That’s why I generally wouldn't recommend it unless you are bored and have nothing to watch.
6/10

The story is slow. Three episodes in and nothing has happened. I dont know where this anime is going with this.

There are too many characters overall. The cast is larger than it needs to be. Two sons and five daughters.
One son and two or three daughters would have sufficed.
And instead of making the MC the oldest they decided to make him the second oldest. He is the oldest male.
The dynamic would have worked better if he was just the eldest.
And less characters would have made it easier to develop each character instead of having to follow 7.

The female characters are ... basically bullying their brother for no real reason.

This anime really likes to present these girls as "oh they're so beautiful, everyone cant help but stop and gaze with their mouths open". Its really eye-rolling stuff.

So the plot is on the 15th birthday of the youngest sibling the father decides to tell them they are all adopted. And then I dont know a bunch of boring stuff happens with this guy and his very very very (did i mention very?) obnoxious condescending sisters.

This is supposed to be a comedy but I dont know at what point I was supposed to be laughing. Guess I am meant to be laughing at the main character's misery. But I cant laugh at the misery of someone who did nothing wrong.

I dont like these characters. I can already tell by the writing this anime is just going to annoy me.

Dropped.

I went into this thinking that the anime will depict romantic relationships of the family with their classmates and how it affects the siblings and family so we will also get some comedy... well, the anime has none of that (I guess that’s on me for not reading the synopsis before starting it).

This anime is just so bizzare. It literally has NOTHING going for it other than okay animation. It is boring, it isn’t funny, the characters are bland or have to fit certain stereotype to the T. The MC is a typical boring guy with no personality so that anyone can see himself in ... him which makes the show even worse because what do the girls see in him? Speaking of the girls, they would be okayish characters (except the youngest one which I’ll get into) if they were just sisters but because they are supposed to be love interests it makes them look like mean weirdos. Also there is no chemistry at all (not like there should be any since they thought for 15 years that they are blood related). Where is the comedy? There are no funny situations, the characters aren’t funny, nothing is funny. Frankly the only okay things about this anime are opening, ending and the youngest son (because he is the only one who 1. doesn’t have romantic feelings for his family member 2. isn’t a weird caricature of some trope. He is just chilling.)

There is no way this was written by someone who has siblings. If you grow up with someone thinking you are blood related siblings you don’t fall in love the second you find out they aren’t and if you do... get help? But what’s really creepy is that the youngest daughter had feelings for her brother BEFORE they knew they were not related. ew ew ew ew. And everyone in the family is just like "oh it’s normal to confuse feelings of familiar love for romantic love she well grow out of it " HUH? They don’t have a serious talk about it with her or they don’t want her to have meeting with a psychologist? Why? Sorry, but nobody mentally well adjusted thinks they have romantic feelings for their brother - especially if they think they are blood related.

Who would I recommend this anime to? Only to someone who wants to sleep with their siblings because this anime has NOTHING else going for it. If you want to watch it because you think one of the girls design is cute - don’t. There are thousands of animes with exactly these characters - pink haired tsundere, blue haired kuundere, walking older sister trope, shy black haired girl with bangs and sporty cheery short haired girl. If you want to watch it because the animation looks good - don’t. Go watch literally any other anime from the studio. If you want to hate watch it - don’t. It is too boring for that.

Contains minor spoiler (shown mid first episode).

Stunningly beautiful drawing. And the girls are really an eye feast for all the weirdos like me.

Your average harem, with one gimmick and no major plot; Except it is a sister harem with the usual non-blood-related disclaimer (that's the gimmick). They cover all the major girl personality stereotypes so there's something for every one to enjoy: the onneesan, the shy and frail, the gal, the stoic brainiac, and the athletic tomboyish.

Typical MAL score 7 anime. The interaction between the siblings are slightly weird. A third of the time they give off this vibe this is the first time they ... are interacting and getting to know each other. Though technically they really have spent 16 years together as siblings, the anime tells you that explicitly a bunch of times in the first two episodes like you need to be told that to get the picture because the scene alone doesn't elicit that mental imagery.

Other than that, not unbearable. Slightly cringe as usual for this type of anime. Definitely gonna finish.

Ah. And there is a brother. A brother there is. And he's there...

put aside thinking "they are siblings so no fcking cause its gross" or even thought "they are not but still gross" like bruh its anime why are you taking it seriously? its like your imagining it will happen in real life sht your the one being gross (this is my word for those people).

honestly wasn't expecting this is good entertaining and serious show, every episodes feelings grew, every episodes they become aware and every episodes they drop a serious bombshell moment that makes me surprised, the story and plot is uniquely rare for the harem genre so it was intriguing to watch like "what will ... happen next?" these question arise after done watching episodes its my take though so i don't know for others, now when i said "harem genre" it is in fact like that cause other brother was side character to begin with and hes already taken so that only left the mc, mc is good too he knows his line he knows what hes supposed to do and hes always thinking whats best for the others now the problem is his sisters lol, its like his sisters are slowly defiling his genuine straight thoughts so its not the mc fault to begin lol,

NOW my concern is how this anime will get an ending, maybe going for the classic "its not enough episode so they will add new season but then season 2 will never happen lol, or maybe going for the chessy route "i will choose none as they love them all non romantically", or maybe going for "choose 1 only where people get mad when their favorite girl didnt get picked" OR MAYBE going for the harem route that rarely happens in harem genre ironically (honestly this is likely will happen based by watching the ED song), but we dont know yet as the anime still not done.

Anyways its a good anime, didnt expect it was serious, kinda a bit lewd fanservice sometimes and most of all DAD HAS A FACE! DAD HAS SCREENTIME AND LINES TOO!, this is gold show in my opinion already, now for recommendation its mixed feelings of course since some people will be gross by this but honestly i dont care since its anime,

Having great expectations as a fan of his previous work rent a gf which had brilliant writing, story direction, character design this new work despite being by the same author and having a premise that is almost impossible to mess up, this work has none of the good qualities as the previous which has lead me to great disappointment.

Unlike rent a gf, the characters are all uninspired card board cut-outs of any character from any show just go to the list of seasonal shows randomly click on one, randomly click on one of the girls and you'll find one of the characters from this show, ... maybe multiple. This description goes for both visual design and personality.

Not sure if this was the studios fault who adapted this poorly or the work itself, but it genuinely just was much lower quality. The characters are archetypes, the first 3 episodes are the main character going through every sister monologuing "aw yeah this is sister number X and these are her qualities and this is why I like her... What if I actually liked her like that...? No no no!!" as if he were giving a middle school presentation. I wish I were exaggerating at all but somehow with a premise like this you make the first 3 episodes just dumping exposition with very low tier dialogue at that.

The dialogue like mentioned is very one dimensional, its weak, and both predictable and unbelievable at the same time as in you wouldn't think people talk to eachother the way they do in this show, when you're watching you FEEL like you're watching something completely manufactured and you feel it too much. Its the kindof dialogue you'd expect from a throwaway romcom from 2014, not from the author of rent a gf.

To put to rest just how dumb this show is: take the oldest sister for example; the main character and the sisters are about 15-17, the oldest is 18. Despite a 1 year age gap the oldest looks and talks like a cougar in her late 30's and talks to the main character as if there were a 5-10 year age gap between them despite there being about a 1 year age gap between them, AND its not even a part of a bit or her being funny or her teasing or ANYTHING, that's just genuinely how the author thought this character would speak. The character is drawn and depicted as if they were a cougar in her mid 30's while only being 18, the younger sisters who are almost the same age all look like toddlers and act like it. It just makes 0 sense the characterization is so weak its almost laughable.

This show feels like someone ghost writed it for him to make a quick buck. How you fuck up a premise as unique as this and make it a complete snooze-fest is beyond my understanding, at this point he should've just slapped the ecchi tag on it and made some asses and tits jiggle around and it would've been more enjoyable than what we got because the writing is just so weak I fall asleep at the wheel. Theres just no chance this came from the same guy that wrote the best rom com in years.

As far as I don't really like the kind of stuff this guy writes, it's weirdly entertaining. Like, I hate Rent-a-Girlfriend mainly because Kazuya is probably one of if not the worst mc's of all time, but I'm already too far in to back out. At least in this show, the mc has a brain; he's able to reason and is definitely more mature than Kazuya. I'm probably not gonna read the manga for this and I'll stick to the anime, but I will say that Miyajima has a good taste in fashion, just not in story. I think the story as of writing this ... (episode 5) is alright. The plot is weird, and it's also strange how fast some of the girls seem to be switching up already, but this is one of those shows where you completely shut out the whole plot and watch it for the girls and root for one.

Please note that this is a preliminary review.

After reading the MAL synopsis and finding out who the author of the manga was, I was already sure I'd be in for one hell of a ride with this new anime.

That said, the first three episodes were pleasantly surprising. The MC, Arata, isn’t an absolute dumbass and actually has some depth—unlike Kazuya, the MC of Rent-a-Girlfriend. He rejects any form of inappropriate bonding with his sisters, which is good, although I’m not sure how long that will last. While the story hasn’t progressed all that much, getting to know the characters — who have quite the stereotypical ... traits — is fun and exciting. It does feel like the sisters kind of bully their brother in some pretty questionable ways to tease him, almost as if they’re trying to make him forget they've been siblings their entire lives.

Speaking of characters, the other brother has been rather irrelevant up to this point in the story—which, again, hasn’t really progressed much. Hopefully, he’ll get some more attention and development in the future.

Also, the animation and overall quality of the anime are good. There’s enough movement, and dialogue scenes sometimes get animated in a unique way. Studio Doga Kobo, known for animating Oshi no Ko, has done a great job once again.

In conclusion, Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi is an enjoyable comedy/slice-of-life/romance anime, as long as it doesn’t go down the 'Domestic Girlfriend route'.

It's good for me, though I personally like the characters, the voice acting, and the animation. The animation is smooth, and the art style fits the mood of the story well. The story is quite unique—it's rare and a bit weird since the main characters are technically not siblings by blood, but they act like it. That might feel strange at first, but it adds to the drama and emotional tension. You might think the main characters are overreacting, but honestly, it's kind of a normal reaction considering their situations. I’ve currently watched 6 episodes and plan to finish it soon. I’d rate it an ... 8 out of 10 for now!