This story is a simple illustration of the three sisters of the Minami household. Please do not expect too much out of it.
Take an Onee-sama, a hopelessly Genki Girl, and a Little Miss Snarker, make them sisters, and put them all under one roof. That's Minami-ke. The show is a Slice of Life comedy which blends the High School, Middle School, and Elementary School subgenres by having each of the three sisters attend one of these. The fourth storyline is about interactions of the three and their friends at home.The Minami sisters:
Haruka. An Ordinary High School Student, with highly developed cooking and housekeeping skills. Very good at school and adored by both Kana and Chiaki (and not only them). A Yamato Nadeshiko in development.
Also a legendary delinquent, but that's somewhat in the past.
Based on a manga series by Koharu Sakuraba, the show follows the footsteps of Azumanga Daioh, Lucky Star, and other Slice of Life works and emphasizes the absurdity of what's happening on-screen. Don't expect much realism or drama. Do expect a lot of eccentric characters that play off each other and just a plain lot of fun. The second season sequel, Minami-ke Okawari started airing in January 2008 and is produced by a different company. It mostly consists of original material not covered in the manga and contains much more Fanservice, which might be the reason that the viewing public generally regards it as far inferior to the first season.A third season called Minami-ke Okaeri aired in early 2009, returning closer in style to the first season, and being met with good reception in turn. A short bonus episode, Minami-ke Betsubara, was also released in 2009.The limited edition of the 9th Manga Volume revealed another anime project for 2012, not being clear if it's a new season or just a special, more information will be revealed later.
The series provides examples of:
All Love Is Unrequited - Hosaka gets a "bad luck" fortune 108 times on New Year's and still doesn't take it as a sign to give up on his quest for Haruka. Also Fujioka, who probably should listen to his evil angel and give up his quest for Kana.
Aloof Big Brother - Touma has three of them, though the degree of their aloofness varies.
Art Shift - frequent closeups in which characters' faces gain considerable detail. "Bible Black faces", as the image boards call them.
Bifauxnen - Touma Minami; comes with a large share of "swooning confused females" (and possibly, some "outright Schoolgirl Lesbians", too), as evident from episode 7 of Okawari. Given that she wears the female school uniform, there is really not much room for doubt.
Judging by the dialogue in that scene, it's apparently less that they don't know her gender and more that she is just that manly, making this a weird mish-mash of Even the Guys Want Him and Even the Girls Want Her.
Bishōnen - Hosaka when he is not doing anything weird. He even has Bishie Sparkle when he is not imagining.
Breakout Character: Hosaka, initially Sakuraba didn't seem very fond of him or that he would use Hosaka for much time, but then the animated adaptation happened and gave Hosaka expanded events and humor, with this the seemly unimportant character took off, ever since Sakuraba made Hosaka's moments in the manga as proiminent as in the anime, to the point newer seasons don't need to expand anything, just adapt panel by panel and you have enough of Hosaka for all. Also Hosaka is usually seem in newer back-covers from the manga, even if he doesn't appear much in the volume at all.
Brown Note/Nosebleed - Natsuki tends to collapse headfirst on the nearest surface with blood spewing out of his schnozz whenever he accidentally lets his mind wander to Haruka's cleavage. This is partly due to an incident that started with an overenthusiastic shove from Maki and ended with him getting punched in the face by Haruka for the sake of appearances.
Canon Immigrant: Hosaka's imagine spots and general funny awkwardness, they were very subtle at first in the manga, the anime made it longer and funnier, cue to manga Hosaka following it up.
Chaos Architecture - Between season 1 and Okawari. The most noticeable bit about this is the addition of a dining table, and their kitchen is now a counter across said dining table (when in the previous season, the kitchen was outside the living room and oh I've gone cross-eyed). Also, Chihaki and Kana no longer have separate rooms.
Chiaki: "I tried to make chocolate from chocolate."
Mako-chan: "This is chocolate from chocolate, right?"
Chiaki: "Pretty good chocolate, no?"
'''This is mostly a mistake in the translator's part. Chiaki actually said, "I tried making Chocolat de chocolat (a multi-layered chocolate cake)".Mako-chan then butchers the name as "sokora de kokora".
Companion Cube - Yamada, a small rock Chiaki was kicking around. The fans appear to have latched onto him. The trope also applies to Fujioka, Chiaki's teddy bear, to an extent.
Demotedto Extra - The Minami brothers, whom the audience had grown attached to by the end of the first season, vanished entirely in the second. Thankfully, they return in Okaeri.
Determinator - Hosaka will not give up on his affection for Haruka, going so far as to master cooking to make her happy.
In the final episode of season one he takes to making buckwheat noodles, and at the end he takes a case of his cooking and climbs to the top of a snowy mountain.
Diabolus ex Machina - Sensei and Ninomiya-kun. Lampshaded both within the confines of their show and by Kana while watching it.
Evil Laugh - Hosaka in the last episode. The whole scene on the cliff reminded this editor of the good ol' shows where the villain is shown madly laughing until the credits roll in a Cliff Hanger-esque ending... Perhaps, an intended mockery.
And he goes at it again in the end of the second season.
And it returns with the last scene of the first episode of the third season - but then again, his plans for Haruka are kinda creepy...
Fake Ultimate Hero - Haruka, maybe. It's implied that her Legendary Banchou reputation is mostly the result of exaggerated rumors.
Of course, it's also been implied that at least half of those rumors are true.
Fan Nickname - At several points in the show, Kana sports a T-shirt with "I AM BOSS" on the front. Considering this and her energetic nature, her nickname naturally became Boss, or Bossu, for SHE IS BOSS.
Fanservice - Quite a bit, with skimpy sport outfits in the opening credits, a beach episode and Kana appearing shirtless (though retaining her bra) in the opening of episode six. The service reaches really silly levels in the second season, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for the lack of funny source material.
And the manga has plenty of Chiaki and Kana pantyshots as well.
The OVA has a completely random Chiaki pantyshot for seemingly no real reason, though it's so zoomed out and undetailed it's almost incidental. Then the camera goes back to it. Three times.
Fan Service Pack - Kana becomes better endowed between the first and second season.
Of course, she is still growing.
Flanderization - Maki and Uchida's silliness. Also Natsuki, who started at the first season as a rather harsh and insensitive character, evolved by the third season to somewhat of a moronic, violent troglodyte.
Or it could just be Hayami messing with the Minami sisters, as we do get sequences where they question if it really is juice, considering smell and taste. And they were brought in juice containers, so it's probably just Hayami being one hell of a gadfly.
Imagine Spot - Hosaka. Often, and with everyone watching. They just think he's creepy.
Not helped at all by the fact that he tends to spontaneously strip as he fantasizes.
Riko does this too, but nowhere near as much or as weird as Hosaka.
I'm Standing Right Here - Touma gets this a lot from her brothers, but she's fairly apathetic about it.
Is That Cute Kid Yours? - Chiaki and Kana once gets mistaken as Haruka's kids, by someone who hasn't even met them! Hosaka seems to keep this erroneous belief throughout the whole series.
I Want To Be A Real Man - Natsuki. And a real man does not yield to the attacks of his littler sister.
Love Triangle - Riko is in love with Fujioka, but Fujioka is in love with Kana. Sadly, Kana is completely oblivious to Fujioka's affection for her.
Love You and Everybody - Kana does this to Fujioka in episode 6 of Okaeri, although not for the usual reasons. She's just covering up an earlier remark of hers, amending "ah" to "I love you" before realizing that's just as bad in a different way.
Only One Name: Almost the entire cast, it's easier to point the characters who do have family names: The Minami sisters, the other Minami family (Touma's family), and Chiaki's friend Yuka Uchida.
Parental Abandonment - There is no sign of parents. A conversation implies that the sisters' father is dead or long absent, and their mother is not mentioned at all.
This seems to go for Touma and her brothers too, but they get less screentime.
Pettanko - Maki is surprised that Mako-chan is still flat-chested (even invoking the trope by name), since she's not aware of his true identity. That's also Haruka's assumption in the first season, although she's a lot more polite about it.
Promotion to Parent - Haruka, taken to a ridiculous degree, where she's also like a parent to the other Minami family.
Rated M for Manly - while Hosaka is an apparent bishie, it's safe to say that his male fans are more outspoken to glorify his usual quirks and fantasies, which to his male fandom are the distilled display of fabulous manliness.
Taken to extremes with Chiaki not seeming to notice anything that would give away Mako-chan's disguise... although perhaps she's only feigning obliviousness.
Ship Tease: Sakuraba likes to portray Hosaka, Fujioka and Makoto as Spear Counterparts and Opposites Attract of Haruka, Kana and Chiaki respectively in promotional art he makes, although in the manga proper those three are quite far from being romantically involved, Hosaka and Haruka in particular barely know each other; surprisingly enough, Touma's brothers, who are generally accepted to be the real Spear Counterpart for the Minami sisters, gets no such service from Sakuraba, they are in none promotional material.
Shirtless Scene - Hosaka. He needs no reason to actually do it. He's gone shirtless in school, as a chef, with a fish...
Thanks for the Mammary - Subverted when Natsuki is pushed into Haruka. She knows it was accidental and doesn't hold it against him, but still has to sock him one for the sake of appearances.
Temporal Theme Naming, doubled up - the Minami sisters have Haruka (spring), Kana (summer), and Chiaki (autumn), while the other Minami family has Natsuki (summer), Akira (autumn), Touma (winter)... and the oldest brother, whose name is never mentioned.
The anime has a very subtle (and likely accidental) Actor Allusion in the last case; voice actor Shinji Kawada played the role of Haruki (spring, again) in School Rumble.
The seventh volume established that his name is Haruo (spring).
Okawari runs with this again in the case of Fuyuki (winter).
Those Two Guys - Each of the sisters has a pair of Those Two Girls in their respective schools.
Tsundere - Harsh and abusive Chiaki sometimes is shown as a surprisingly loving sister to Kana, the main (and usually not innocent) subject of said abuse. She also acts in a tsundere-ish way towards Makoto, though definitely most of the "deredere" treatment gets received by his alter ego, Mako-chan.
Unwilling Suspension - Kana dresses Chiaki up as a rain charm and hangs her from the clothes-line, threatening to leave her like that until the weather clears up. She does.
Touma also fits the mold, perhaps most obviously when the other girls dress her up in Makoto's male kimono.
She tries to act "manly" by posing with it off-shoulder. The others are visibly disturbed, for obvious reasons. Kana even comments on Touma's lack of shame in exposing her chest.
In the second season, however, there have been hints that he's enjoying this situation.
That twisted grin when he found the bondage outfit didn't help matters. Nor does the fact that he carried a purse to a sleepover, or wore a French Maid outfit (complete with knee-high socks and makeup) to his school's cultural festival. Heaven only knows what awaits him in the third season...
...dressing up in Haruka's old outfit to help increase his bust size (it was Chiaki`s idea, though).
Zettai Ryouiki - The girls in Chiaki's grade school seem to have this as part of the uniform.
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