Reviews

Jul 18, 2024
Preliminary (3/12 eps)
Don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, don't judge an anime by its title.

The title of this anime can be very misleading to modern anime watchers because, let's be honest, when was the last time you saw an anime with "sister" or "stepsister" in its title that wasn't about a brother trying to fuck his sister, or vice versa? The same goes for me, and boy oh boy, was I surprised.

Right off the bat, one of the first things I noticed was how calm and serene the atmosphere in this anime is. No yelling, no pumpy music, just two characters monologuing with a melancholic background song. It really threw me off guard, especially when I went in expecting an Eromanga Sensei-type of story.

They also portray the whole stepsibling situation in a grounded and quite realistic way. None of them suddenly fall in love with each other and gushing genital juices all over but at the same time, they don't actively try to kill each other either. Their interaction is rather awkward, short, and very minimalistic, to say the least cause let's be honest, if you hypothetically got a stepsister in a very sudden way, and she happened to be your age and in the same class as you, you wouldn't be happy or sad but either confused or just "Oh... cool, I guess?",cause when you live your life used to being alone and suddenly you're not alone anymore, you can't just instantly adapt to it. It takes time, sometimes even more than you think.

Another refreshing part is the fact that their parents are actually... THERE. They're not going overseas to work for the whole anime or suddenly dying in a freak accident like in some anime. They’re pretty much normal people. None of them actively try to hook up their children with each other, and none of them act like manbabies. They actually feel like adults. Even better, they contribute to the story instead of just being plot devices or simple fanservice for hag lovers.

As for the animation, I can't say much. It's decent, or better put, average. Nothing special, but it could be better.

The music, on the other hand, is amazing. The scoring and background music are used effectively to emphasize the calming tone of the anime, and the OP song is amazing. Fhána never fails to make an amazing anime song; they just can't fail. Even in this anime, they ate and licked the plate clean.

Overall, if you are into a slow-burn romance with subtle conflict and narrative and dialogue-driven anime, this is a must-watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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