My Family

When most people think of anime the first thing that comes to mind are giant robots and never ending magical martial arts battles. But what I like about “My Family” (ATASHIn’CHI あたしンち in Japanese) is that it doesn’t feature a slick look (instead it feels like a traditional cartoon) and focuses on a humorous look at the everyday daily life of a “normal” family living in Japan.

As with most anime “My Family” got started in June of 1994 as a humble four frame comic that ran in the Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun. In 2002 the manga was turned into an anime tv series, and now over five years later there are well over 100 episodes of the show. The tv show was so popular that in 2003 they also created a full length feature film. “My Family” is also very popular in China where it’s know an “Our Family” (我們這一家 in Chinese).

The first thing I liked about the show are that character designs remind me a bit of “Peanuts” with a dash of “Beavis and Butt-head” thrown in. The plot of the show follows the Tachibanis family, consisting of a housewife mom, a salary-man dad, and two teenager daughters Yuzuhiko and Mikan. The mom has a very stubborn personality and is concerned about every little trivial matter. She also follows a nurotic “can do” mantra where she applies a “haste makes waste” mindset to every situation. Even if you dont understand Japanese the humor is easy to follow and entertaining to watch.

Here’s a segment from the first episode (in Chinese):

This is part two of the first episode:

And part three: