This show really came to me as a surprise. This is a surprise very similar to how I felt after watching Saekano: how to raise a boring girlfriend. It was partly because of my shit taste and partly because it was recommended to me by someone on Youtube that I saved "A sister is all you need" to my watch list. Now I have finished watching the show and I can tell you all about what I love about it. You can see the title is intentionally misleading in the sense that you'd probably think this is a generic harem/incest/ecchi trash, which it isn't. It does have a lot of fan service elements but it has a lot more going than that. I won't be commenting about all the dimensions about the anime such as its animation, its character design, its pacing, its harem setting. I will focus on the things that I care about the most and things I am able to comment about the most - its story and its characters.
Let my mental masturbation begin.
Story Overview
The story has a very slice of life tone to it despite its larger than life elements. It is about a bunch of light novel writers and their daily lives. Coming into the show, I knew about the lives of famous proper literary giants. Their stories have been so romanticized to the point of being larger than life. I knew very little about light novels letting alone their writers. Their lives as portrayed are very down to earth. They eat together with their friends. They joke around. They care about social networks. They have ambitions. They play games together. They work really hard to create things that they are proud of. This is a story of normal people living normal lives.
Here's what I loved the most about the story - the way stories unfold about each character. In regular story telling, the characters are introduced and they are given a background flashback of some sort. The background flashback is often overused and uninteresting. The viewers are presented with a large amount of information without even developing any emotional connection to the characters. In "A sister is all you need", the background information is only given when needed. A very little is told about each of the characters from the outset. This self-control is very refreshing. It is very similar to getting to know someone in real life.
For example, when you first meet someone, you only observe what they do and they tell you a bit about themselves. As you guys hang out with each more, you find out more about them. In the first couple of episodes, you see the characters and how they act but their intentions/ambitions/motivations/background weren't really revealed. With so little to go by, you can only see these characters through the lens of social norms and accepted conventions. In fact, Itsuki's obsession with little sisters and how he go about being obsessed with little sisters were bit much. No matter what cultural lens you put on, this little sister obsession is always frowned upon. Of course the show's title would allow self-selection of the viewers. So at this point, people may unconsciously develop a distaste but wouldn't be so turned off to lose interest. Coz people who were drawn to the show have higher degree of tolerance for trashy elements than what the society generally allows.....
Generally at this point, the tone of the show would be pretty important in helping the viewers understand how to look at the show. If the tone is light-hearted and screams "don't take me seriously", then the viewers won't even bother go down the direction of reflection. The typical ecchi shows are of this type but when you see the animation, the crisp lines, the facial expression, the OP songs of "A sister is all you need", you wouldn't get that "I am a joke" vibe. The end of the opening song we see Itsuki scuffled to his friends with a tattered look on his face. We get a feeling, just maybe, that there's something more to this. Subconsciously, I had a question when I first saw that. "Why would a ecchi harem protagonist look so tired and trying?" This question became clear toward the end of the show after the characters become fully developed with their emotions, motivations and drive.
In short, the story telling shows a very good self-restraint in giving the information. It shows the story instead of telling the viewers. It is surprisingly realistic in mirroring the mechanism of "getting to know someone". Perhaps, that's what the editors/author want from us, the viewers. It wants us to treat these characters as real people at least a little bit.
Characters
Unlike most other shows, all characters were given full attention and development. It isn't like a regular harem show where the main focus in on the uninteresting, bland main protogonist. We all know that all girls if presented in a harem show would be nothing but object of affection or love interest in a harem. If there's any other male character, they'd be either comic relief or minimally interesting and only has the "best friend" tag with them.
In "A sister is all you need", all characters are interesting in their own rights. They are treated by the authors as human, full of emotions, fears, ambitions and not to mention Itsuki himself is very relatable and interesting. All these characters are normal people and they have a bunch of normal problems. Let me slowly explain what I love about each of the characters and how relatable they all were.
To talk about these characters carefully, I'd need to explain some key events and that obviously would wade into the spoiler territory. I'd really recommend you stop reading and go back to the show and experience the story as it was meant to be told.
Itsuki Hashima (Spoiler)
He is a little sister loving fiend. Everything he does revolves around his desire for "little sisters". He is now a semi-establihsed commercial light novel writer. He started writing light novel in high school. He had always been a loner because his mother passed away when he was in middle school. It was hard for him and he could escape into the world of light novels where all the things he couldn't be came to life. Beautiful girls, fantastical settings, sense of adventure all were within grasps. He isn't good looking and short. He knows that and he wants to have the beautiful girls in his life. He acknowledges that his plain, simple outlook but he wants more than that. He wants to be the protogonist. In short Itsuki's story is the story of an underdog. His ambition is so relatable. How many times have we all felt that sense of insignificance in our own lives? How many times have we all yearned for adventure? How many times have we all stayed late at night thinking "what a big loser that I am?" Itsuki knows all of these and he wasn't satisfied either.
During Itsuki's most difficult time, he came to know Ayane, the beautiful older sister type. She helped him deal with his difficult times just by being around with him. They talked about light novels. She was a real friend to him. He fell in love with her but she didn't. She only saw him as a little brother. She liked someone else who was exactly like Itsuki except that he wasn't Itsuki. (How many times have we all been there? We liked someone who don't like us back only to find out later that the person he/she likes share a lot of similarities with us?) This was it. Itsuki was pushed to a corner and he suddenly gained drive to actually do something about himself and what he wanted. He poured everything into his work, everything he felt, everything he felt lacking were pushed into his work. From there he started gaining success. It wasn't over night. He gradually found his footing. That was the coming of age story for Itsuki.
His love for little sisters
I was particularly interested in knowing why would someone be so incestuous in their desire. I don't have little sisters but just the thought of having something romantic happening between siblings is a bit weird to me. I don't know what's driving these taboo desires except what Freud had explained in his "An interpretation in dreams" - all of us are incestuous mother loving fucks. If you have ever been on Pornhub (don't lie) or any porn site, you'd see that incest type of porn is quite popular (step sis, sis, step mom etc.). That's what it is but why was Itsuki so interested in little sisters? He never had a little sister (not that he'd know of). If it were any other harem ecchi, the show would never put any effort in this direction. But the whole bit between him and Ayane may have offered some idea about his love for little sisters. At that point, it occurred to me that maybe Itsuki didn't love little sisters but he loved the abstract idea of "little sisters" and the qualities of little sisters rather than the little sister themselves.
You may think that I am reading a bit too much into this but hear me out. Ayane played the role of older sister to Itsuki at his lowest of lows. She helped him and gave him companion. She communicated with him and she accepted him as he was - all the ecchi light novel loving little brother. She was pretty and she was the world to him. She cared for him and she understood him. She was the window through which he could realize some of his dreams. He fell in love with her for this. She was always there. All these were the bases for love. However, she didn't see it that way. She used the sibling card to turn him down as in, I see you too much like my sibling and sibling love is forbidden and cannot happen. Therefore, I don't love you. However, for someone who has never had siblings, the logic may be true in abstract. It is plausible for Itsuki to believe that Sibling love can happen.
On the other hand, in one of Itsuki's light novel works, the main protagonist, when pushed to the corner by the enemies, rose to the occasion and found his core sources of power and support from his thought of his little sister.
Looking through these lenses, I was beginning to understand somewhat where his love really came from. I don't think this is a fully developed theory but I think there's some truth in thinking this way.
His love for Nayuta Kani
It is very clear that she understood him and she was just as perverted as he was. She accepted him wholeheartedly and saw him as the hero for her. He knew that but he also knew how talented/how much of a genius she was. He didn't want to start going out with her because he was afraid to become the sideline character, overshadowed by the genius of her. He wants to be the protogonist. When he was asked why he didn't go out with Nayu when clearly the pair is a match made in heaven, he explained. His reasons were incredibly grounded and level-headed. He wants to and aspires to be her equal in his own eyes. She was his muse and gave him inspiration to go on. What more there's to say about Itsuki? I really really respect that. I respect his ambition for he was ambitious. He was lost once but he found his way. He didn't let other things to get in his way and he was respectful of his own desires. He rejected Nayu before out of this reason and he didn't string her along for the hell of it. All of these were traits of something that I can relate and at the same time look up to. He isn't just some harem main character. He is a fleshed out respectable person and I love this show for that.
Itsuki Hashima's development
He is a normal light novel writer that obtained certain acclaim. The development of the character mainly focused on:
How he became who he was (coming of age)
His current ambition and where he wants to be
In the above section, I loved Itsuki's coming of age story. I also liked how he developed his current ambition. Ever since Itsuki came of age, Itsuki mostly focused on writing good stories that he cared about instead of pleasing his fans. His rival/best friend Haruto took a different approach. He was all about pleasing the fans and take up anime/manga project that may or may not be in Haruto's personal interest. Itsuki doesn't believe in that initially but later he discovered that to become Nayu's equal, he has to start from somewhere. He accepted the anime deal and came into terms with going out of his comfort zone to fully embrace his ambition. The anime deal only came because it was a throwaway deal and he was a replacement for a canned anime project.
Nayuta Kani
Her development is a bit on the weaker side in these 12 episodes. It was shown how she became so obsessed with Itsuki. She was a shut-in and Itsuki's works and passions reached her. She understood him and she was inspired to take action as well. Then it was shown that she was the genius she was. The thing about geniuses is that they are so far and above normal/regular people that any conflict/changes in geniuses don't seem much to us regular people because we don't really know/understand them. So the focus of the story isn't about Nayuta Kani became more of a genius but rather how she came to be and the type of person she is although it is left to be desired in terms of her ambition other than just being married to Itsuki. Nayu as Season 1 stands doesn't have too much challenge or difficulty.
Haruto Fuwa
He is Itsuki's best friend/rival. He knows from the outset that he isn't as talented as Itsuki and Nayuta. He has a different approach to writing the light novels. He is all about pleasing the fans and he is all about writing things that will make him famous. He does a lot of research on what's popular and he is very careful about crafting his online persona to appeal to different fans. He is so realistic that you'd think that you he is that guy. I have been living in New York since college and I have often run into this type of person. He/she is super focused on becoming successful rather than doing something he/she enjoys or super passionate about.
Since Haruto's initial introduction, I have had that mild distaste because of this trait. However, my impression changed. Haruto is this way because he isn't as talented but at the same time he acknowledges that he isn't as talented. He has to make up for it by doing these type of things. He knows that and he is frustrated by it but there's little he could do to change this other than working hard and doing the only thing he knows how - carefully design his way. You'd think that such passionless pursuit is futile but Haruto isn't without passion. He later admitted that it is true his methods aren't as authentic. He admitted that he was more commercially oriented. But that's not just it. There's heart to his stories as well or how could he have written 13 volumes of it? His whole story is about swords, magic and fantasy. His whole story is about guys who worked their darn'est are rewarded. His stories are about nice guys that ended up becoming happy.
His stories are reflection of him - or extension of what he wanted to be → very much like Itsuki's struggle. The stories are written for the authors themselves. His dedication to the medium and his passion & commitment to the medium is authentic. That was his redemption. He was creative and passionate after all.
During that bit about his anime debuting, Miyako cried for him and said the following " But even I could understand how sad it'd be if something I worked so hard about didn't work out" That's the bit that would make everyone compassionate.
Knowing all of this how can you not at least feel his pain? This is so poignant and so relatable. Who doesn't want to see a guy who tried their best and got rewarded for the effort?
Miyako Shirakawa
She is the normal/regular university student that became friends with Itsuki. She leads a even more regular life than the rest of the cast. She was a plain character to start and she was attracted by Itsuki's peculiarities, though never explicitly mentioned. She was very likable and gave off the "neighborhood" girl type of vibe. What I liked the most about her is how compassionate and empathetic she was. When seeing other people's pain, she could immediately relate and understand. She cares deeply for other people. That's really how nice she was. I hate nice as a word to describe other people but she was really really nice.
In addition to being such a nice person, she was very relatable. Her biggest struggle was that she didn't what she wants to be. She was lost. She was not able to dedicate herself and fully commit herself to anything with the same passion and drive that all these other characters could. This reminds me of myself when I was in college. I was always envious of the artists, the creators, the builders, the passionate people who truly, whole-heartedly love something. It is this subconscious envy that drew her to Itsuki and his friends. Passion is very contagious.
Her biggest development was that she was able to come to terms with trying out, with stepping out and started doing something. She was touched and moved by Itsuki and his friends' passion. She wanted to try becoming an editor. It was a very nice development → a true coming of age story for the lost.
The games & the humor
When the gang hung out together, they often played a lot of games, table top games. All of them seem so fun. Some of the funniest jokes came out of the gang's interaction with playing these games. All of them were so creative and so interesting. One of the funniest moments was when the gang played their last game of the season together about changing story teller. The humor was so outrageously creative. It kind of reminds me of the improv classes that I took when I was in high school. The most hilarious situation would be born out of playing those games. Some may not like it as much. I really enjoy these segments.
Conclusion:
All these development happened so naturally. The characters are strong, are likable and are full of depth. The story is subtle and very relatable. I would highly recommend this to anyone who isn't turned off by the ecchi elements and the of course ecchi elements are nice.
"What you want, someone else always has. And usually it means nothing to the person who actually has it. It's pretty much a miracle when you have what you want, and most comedies and tragedies happen due to the absence of that miracle. That's pretty much how the whole world works." - Haruto, Episode 2
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