Having released in Summer 2016, Amaama to Inazuma is something I admittedly missed. At first glance it just seemed like an anime about a Dad and his daughter doing things, and that really didn’t interest me at the time. Having seen the scene with Tsumugi (the grade school aged daughter) singing the shark song, I decided to give it a watch.

The anime starts by introducing the Tsumugi and Kouhei (the father) waking up, getting prepared for the day ahead and leaving to go about their day. This scene sets up 2 important things that are central points to the anime. Kouhei’s wife (Tsumugi's mom) passed on not too long before the series starts, and Kouhei really doesn’t cook. Later in the first episode, they meet a crying Kotori by herself. She invites them to her mom’s restaurant, giving them a business card. That night, they decide to go, only to find Kotori by herself (what’s worse is that Kotori’s mom is out, and Kotori can’t cook). She barely makes rice, but after the 3 eat together, Kouhei starts to understand how much eating together means to him and his daughter. He then decides to promise to make food. Kotori also requests to have Kouhei make food at the restaurant with her from that point, for Kotori isn’t very good at cooking either.

STORY
From episode 2 and onward, Amaama to Inazuma has a formulaic episode structure. The first half usually has more slice of life elements, setting up what is going to be cooked in the second half. It isn’t a complicated narrative, and it focuses more on the characters and their interactions with each other, which is very important in this sort of anime. The anime focuses on mostly Koukei and Tsumugi, with Kotori sprinkled in (Kouhei is a teacher in a school, with Kotori in his class. They usually discuss whatever will be cooked in the episode, and Kotori later asking for the recipe from her mother, most of time).

CHARACTERS
Kouhei tries his best to be a great father, and it really shows. Unfortunately, Kouhei’s pretty boring, and it doesn’t feel like his character is fleshed out. Sure what he’s doing is for the good of his daughter, but it just feels like he doesn’t get enough attention in other regards. I would argue that the anime is more about Tsumugi, and she’s fleshed out well. There were a handful of times where I questioned if she did or said something someone her age would actually do. Making child characters is hard sometimes, but other than a few times, her character was done pretty well. I thought Kotori was fleshed out more than Kouhei but less than Tsumugi. It might seem like I didn’t like the characters, but it’s actually just the opposite. I loved it when the anime nailed when and how a kid would act, and I think it does it quite often. Kotori shows a deep care for Kouhei and Tsumugi, which is very clearly hinted at to be love. I am glad that that only made an appearance once though. Amaama to Inazuma’s narrative is a simple one, and by having the anime try to do too many things and having really complex characters would kill its charm.

ART & SOUND
Aesthetically, the anime looks nice for 2016. It isn’t anything mold-breaking in terms of animation quality or music and sound. They are both good, but the OST feels a little on the generic side. The music does take advantage of tone color to emphasize cute and childish, and that’s something I really like about this anime. There were maybe a couple songs out of the whole OST that really resonated with me. The music was far from bad though. Art-wise, it’s pretty Moe, but not overly so. Fortunately, it seemed like a lot of love went into drawing it, even though there were a few times something didn’t look right. Those times were few or I just didn’t notice them. The anime is simple, so having simpler animation and music actually works to its advantage.

ENJOYMENT
Now, I can say that despite my nitpicks, I really liked Amaama to Inazuma. It’s fun to see what Kouhei decides to make and the trial of making it with the others, and that’s the key theme of the anime. It’s wholesome, and this is the thing that it does really well (when it isn't reminding us of Kouhei's late wife). It is truly better than the sum of its parts. Sometimes, it’s a little too dramatic, and that can kill the enjoyment, but it’s good most of the time. If you like cuter anime that you can shut your brain off to, even if only a little, then I would give it a shot.

Characters: 7/10
Animation/Art: 7/10
Music/Sound: 7/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Story: 6/10

Overall: 7/10