If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my review of Arrietty HERE!
Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!, also referred to Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father! and for the sake of my sanity over the rest of this review… PapaKiki is this seasons romantic comedy x potentially fanservicey series and comes boasting some big names in terms of voice cast and a few creeps in terms of plot. The plot revolves around Yuuta Segawa who surprisingly is not that big of a loser as most of these series make males out to be, is a college freshman and is generally perceived to be a good guy. The plot also revolves around (Although not so much this episode) his three younger “nieces” which he is left to look after due to events that will take place a little later on in the series and a group of people Yuuta knows from University, each with their own eccentricities. How these two sets of people will contribute to the same story is yet to be revealed but I am intrigued.
But before I begin elaborating further, I would just like to make clear a point that the two elder girls are not actually blood related, but the light novel release has never had any form of incest related or unrelated between characters in the series – further confirmed by the fact that Raika is being set up to be the “girlfriend” character.
[Confirming Source: Random Curiosity]
The purpose of this episode was to slowly introduce you to the characters in the series slowly, to the point where the three girls don’t actually appear until right at the end. Instead we are shown a bit into the life of Yuuta Segawa which involves a rather odd initiation ceremony into the campus’s Street Observation Research Society which he never signed up for, having a friend who mooches off him at his place and only goes to his home when he has a girl with him and the awkward feelings between Yuuta and the mysterious all-around-genius Raika. We also get a look into the family situation of Yuuta, who after living with his sister for many a year decides to spread his wings and go to college – trying to avoid his sister whose personality borderlines the stereotypical teasing big sister type. The rest of the episode just features him meeting the girls with the cliff-hanger…. ACCIDENTLY OPENING THE CHANGING ROOM DOORS! (DUN DUN DUUUUN!). Of course, we still have the issue of why Yuuta ends up living with his three sisters and if you didn’t wikipedia it already I am sure you will find out in the next episode or two.
While the plot may or may not be promising depending on what route they take the story (I have not ruled it out being a heartwarming and emotional plot just yet), there are still other elements to take into consideration. The design for one is actually pretty good although when it came to the character designs there were some moments when the animations and facial expressions of them could have been a bit better. On the other hand, the environment backdrops for this anime were pretty good – giving this series potential in the design department to me. In terms of the music department, we have only seen the opening animation which featured the song Happy Girl by Eri Kitamura and was an upbeat and actively animated sequence which was overall enjoyable.
The voice cast of this series features some big names and talent including Yui Horie as Raika, Eri Kitamura as Miu and Ono Daisuke as Kouichi alongside other talent such as Hiromi Igarashi as Hina, Sumire Uesaka as Sora and Wataru Hatano as Yuuta. It is far too early to judge if I like the voice cast or not given I usually listen to English dubs in anime and this more familiar with the English voice casts, but with plenty of the cast holding many series under their belt I have my hopes up.
Anyway, as it is getting really late, I shall wrap up my review here. Overall, this series could go down a number of different paths in terms of plot and could very well succeed in many of them. The design isn’t excellent but still strong, the series has a great voice cast and much potential in terms of plot so I look forward to watching future episodes down the line. While I don’t recall any company having picked up the physical distribution license for this series as of yet, you can get your weekly dose of PapaKiki every week from Crunchyroll.
