AKA: SisPri

Genre: Weird harem show

Length: Television series, 26 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Licensed by ADV Films

Content Rating: 10+ (some adult themes)

Related Series: Sister Princess Re Pure

Also Recommended: Tokimeki Memorial, To Heart (hey, if you can stay awake for that, this is right up your alley)

Notes: Based on the video game of the same name.

Rating:

Sister Princess

Synopsis

Wataru, a 15 year-old guy who just got out of junior high school, has failed to get into the one (and only) high school he put out an application for. Luckily for him (but not so much for us), his parents' servants have arranged for him to go to a high school on an island known as Promised Island. There, Wataru finds out that he has twelve sisters ... twelve cute, little sisters. And they all live with him in one giant house. The rest of the plot is too hard to make out on the doinky, Engrish-subtitled digital source tape I saw this on, where the characters didn't even have their Japanese names ...

Review

Despite how much my little siblings and I make fun of this anime at home, I can't seem to out-and-out hate Sister Princess like they do. Yes, it has no plot. Yes, I've listed it as one of my least favorite anime ever (though far from one of my least five favorites). Yes, it doesn't have noteworthy music, animation, characters, writing, etc. And yet, I (fairly) enjoyed it. In the plotless, unintelligent, slice-of-life kind of way.

Slight incestual curve aside, the girls are cute, not having to expose their panties or breasts to us to prove so, which is very refreshing after watching Love Hina, or much crappier anime such as Limeiro Senkitan and Popotan. And Wataru, despite being a complete and utter cardboard cutout of every other dating-sim-turned-anime male protagonist, is somewhat likable enough. However, the anime is apparently not satisfied enough with giving us girls with looks and personalities: all the girls just had to be stereotypes with brains the size of pebbles. Weird girl with a knack for science? Check. Anemic girl with glasses? Check. Annoying, ugly rival for the main guy to be compared to? Check. Creepy stalker lurking around? Check, check, check.

Even with a lot of lackluster stereotyped characters, I could forgive Sister Princess if only one thing was added to the series: a plot. After episode two, where all the girls are introduced, there is virtually no plot. Every episode after that just focuses on one girl, and Wataru spending time with her. One "exciting" episode, for example, involves Wataru and his littlest sister, Hinako, spending the whole episode LOOKING FOR A STUFFED BEAR. There are loads of other "exciting" episodes along the way, such as an episode about e-mailing Wataru recieving a quadrillion e-mails, all from his sisters who worry that he never spends time with them, but I doubt most anime fans will manage to put up with more than one episode of this series ... or even stay awake for one. When me, my little sister, and my little brother started to watch this, only I was awake at the end of episode six. This was later followed with remarks such as "That was the worst anime ever" and "Tim, if you get any more of this series, I'll kill you!"

Nevertheless, Sister Princess has recieved a huge following in Japan, but though I sometimes enjoyed it, I still wonder how it got that following in the first place.

Sometimes fun...sometimes. Those looking for fan service, a plot, or original characters can drop this down to one star. — Tim Jones

Recommended Audience: While the whole potential-incest angle is going to mess with a lot of people's heads, there is no sex or violence in this show. Nothing much of interest, either.