[Slice of Life Spring 2016] Liked Minami-ke? Watch This!

2:00 PM August 10, 2016

Anime Recommendations [Article Category]

Spring 2016 left many a viewer with a lot of feels and for good reason! There were just so many good shows! What about though.... if you are not sure about diving into a new show due to whether or not you are sure you will like it? Well that’s where we come in! Welcome to Honey’s Anime Like This Watch This! Article! Here in these articles, we take well known shows that are loved by many fans and bring you new shows, with solid concrete reasoning, that you can fall in love with and marathon into the night!

About Minami-ke

Minami-ke-dvd-20160804011304-300x425 [Slice of Life Spring 2016] Liked Minami-ke? Watch This!

Episodes: 13
Aired: October 2007 – December 2007

Minami-ke is a very successful series that has multiple OVA’s and a total of four seasons (Minami-ke, Okawari, Okaeri, and Tadaima). Minami-ke follows the life of the three Minami sisters, Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki who all live together. They just happen to lead hilarious lives. With a rainbow of characters that range from a guy who should be labeled a stalker and a pervert, Hosaka-senpai, to Touma and her three overbearing and slow characters, and not forgetting Makoto aka Mako-chan, there is someone for everyone to love and laugh at! Join the three Minami sisters as they live their everyday lives, rely on their older sister to cook, and Chiaki and Kana fight over the kotatsu.

Liked Minami-ke? Watch Flying Witch!

Episodes: 12
Aired: April 2016 - June 2016

Flying Witch is set in beautifully breathtaking Aomori Prefecture in Japan. Horrible with directions Makoto Kowata is 15 years old and is studying to be a professional witch. Together with her black cat Chito, she moves in with her relatives in Aomori. As she learns about and practices how to be a witch, Makoto makes bonds with the people around her. Makoto and Akane even impress Chinatsu so much that now she wants to be a witch! Kei, Makoto, Chinatsu, and Akane for the most part all live together in Kei and Chinatsu’s home passing each day peacefully while encountering different aspects of being a witch and the territory that comes with learning how to be one.

3 Major Similarities Shared by Minami-ke & Flying Witch

1. A Focus on Family Bonds

Minami-ke is literally about family. Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki all live together without their parents while attending school and living together. To say that these three sisters need each other is nothing short of the truth. Doting, yet slightly out of it, Haruka helps make sure that dense Kana and gullible Chiaki get along. While Makoto is the second cousin of Kei and Chinatsu, she also forms a great relationship with them. Not to mention too, that Akane, Makoto’s fully fledged witch of an older sister, who can be quite the slacker or prankster, is also along for the ride for the most part and enjoys hanging out with them at the house!

2. Similar Personalities Between Big Characters

Houkouonchi (bad with directions aka no sense of direction) is a word used to describe Makoto. She does not let this get her down as she is still sweet to the core. This can easily be seen in Haruka. Sweet and caring for her sisters, Haruka misses when boys, mostly Hosaka-senpai, hit on her and even when Chiaki cries out for Haruka, she usually just doles out a nice warning to Kana. Kana’s dense yet derpy yet open personality is easily reflected in Chinatsu and Akane dually. Chinatsu, much like Kana, speaks her mind rapidly without thinking while Akane is the slacker and prankster, something that Kana loves to do. Kei, the most responsible of the three, is ironically, much like Chiaki, the youngest of the Minami sisters.

3. Wide Variety of Characters for Everyone to Like Someone!

Minami-ke may have a variety of characters that have a rainbow of personalities (no mako-chan jokes intended), but so does Flying Witch. Although it may be more subdued than Minami-ke, they are still there. Thankfully, though, as is often with slice of life shows, there is plenty to watch and enjoy. Sure, they all may ring slightly similar, but that then is reason enough to see that you will enjoy a show similar to Minami-ke!

Liked Minami-ke? Watch Anne Happy♪!

Episodes: 12
Aired: April 2016 – June 2016

Anne Happy follows the girls of Tennomifune Academy as they join the happiness class or the seventh class of the first grade. The students in this class 1-7 are relegated here for one reason, the amount of misfortune they have accumulated is so much, that they need help finding their happiness and luck in life. One her first day, Hanako, the girl with horrible bad luck meets Hibari-chan, who suffers from a case of horribly one sided love, and then they both run into the perpetually broken Botan who is always injuring herself. Throw in directionally challenged Hibiki, and Ren who is constantly swarmed by all animals, and you have a recipe for a hilarious comedy that follows these five girls as they struggle to find happiness in the happiness class.

3 Major Themes between Minami-ke and Anne Happy♪.

1. Comedy at Every Turn

To say that both Minami-ke and Anne Happy are not just Slice of Life anime but also Comedies is 100% true. Sometimes leaving you in tears with the way that Kana and Chiaki fight as well as how Makoto becomes Mako-chan and with a magical hairclip, deceives Chiaki, Minami-ke is guaranteed to make you laugh and at the least bit, snicker. To top it all off is Hosaka-senpai who needs to be arrested. Anne Happy brings the viewer comedy in all of the misfortune that the girls go through. Hanako has the worst luck and nothing goes right for her while Hibari-chan is in love with a construction sign that has a man on it. Botan in the meantime, almost dies when she takes more than three steps. How can she fix this? By becoming her own personal ambulance.

2. School Life and Relationships

In both Minami-ke and Anne Happy, the friendships and social relationships of not only the main characters, but also their social peers overflow into their home lives. Kana and Chiaki are constantly having Touma, Makoto under the guise of Mako-chan, and others in their own home. Various activities like dinner, tv, studies, and more occur right in the Minami household. Hanako, Hibari-chan, and Botan start to become friends outside of class and even begin to start walking home together. This springs from the fact that they are supposed to be working together in class to complete assignments that unfortunately and hilariously always end in failure. Through their trials, their friendship deepens a bit more each time pulling them together. It’s adorable to see that what starts as forced social relationships can become true friendships.

3. Wild Personality Flaws

To say that Kana is stupid, is no joke. The poor girl misses so many things but she also is constantly trying to pull fast ones of Chiaki, who, while slightly gullible herself, is arguably one of the smartest sisters. The irony here is that she is in the fifth grade. Haruka is the slowest to react and tends to miss a lot. Hanako is so dense that the poor thing cannot understand that her bad luck curse is what keeps her from finding happiness, or being able to hug cute animals. Hibari-chan cannot realize that her love for a construction sign is nothing more than that and is constantly doting on it whenever sees it. Botan on the other hand, while intelligent, is so frail that she seems as if she is teetering on the border of death constantly.

Conclusion

By now, you should have a great feel for why both Flying Witch and Anne Happy are must watches for those who love Minami-ke, comedy and anything related to slice of life. Don’t take our word for it though, check them out and be sure to tell us what you think!

Editor/Translator

Author: Nagareboshi

American by birth; international by choice. I am trying to bring attention to one of my favorite causes; me. I translate by day and write by night. Aspiring polyglot. My dream would be to be the personal translator for Amuro Namie. Other than that, my hobbies include languages, weightlifting, sleeping, karaoke, GOOD coffee and music. When I’m not doing any of the above, I am most likely laughing hysterically at Willam Belli videos or EV farming. I ain’t gunna Rupologize for it neither. Waifu are Shirai Kuroko & Euaerin.

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