Anime: Joukamachi no Dandelion

This circus of a show is about a kingdom in which the King decided that his family should live as "normal" of a life as possible; living in a "normal" house and eating "normal" food. However, that normalcy is abruptly broken as soon as any of the kids (all nine of them) leave the house as their royalty status is instantly recognized by everyone. To make it worse, there are security cameras everywhere and even an uber-scary paparazzi channel dedicated to reporting every aspect of the family's lives. To add to the chaos, the ruling King decides that he's going to decide the next king, forcing his children (even the pre-teens) to give speeches to win public support for an election.

In this bizarre setting, we find Akane, the fourth oldest child, who happens to have a fear of being seen in public. The show follows her through the year as she and the other children interact and support each other in seeking the throne. Overall, this is an easy show to watch with little plot complexity and a rather throw away conclusion. I'd give this a shot if you have some spare time.

Animation:
The production values are average overall for a current show. The colorization is good and animation is overall fair, though the backgrounds are a tad generic and lacking in detail. Given the 4-koma roots, it's not surprising to see the lighter mood and focus on comedic elements in the show. All members of royalty mysteriously have an innate special ability, such as teleportation or manipulation of gravity, which comes with special effects in the animation. The characters are definitely distinctive, though a bit too distinctive considering that they share the same parents. There are two pairs of twins though (both non-identical and of opposite gender) and they at least look relatively related. As for emotions, it's mostly Akane looking embarrassed; expect red lines across her cheeks almost every episode- accompanying her red eyes and hair.

I wouldn't count this as an action oriented show but there is occasional action- the city also seems to have an unusually high rate of high-rise crane malfunctions. The show does have a fair dosage of ecchi (mostly implied rather than visual), especially with Akane.

Sound:
The show starts with a playful, energy-packed piece that feels like it gives the show too immature of a tone. Yui Ogura voices the likewise upbeat and fast-paced ED that likewise also sounds excessively immature. The BGM is light and supportive but pretty forgettable.

The VA cast is expectedly quite large and stars Kana Hanazawa as our cute but shy protagonist. She is accompanied by other veterans including Ai Kayano and Kaori Ishihara as well as other more junior members (makes sense given the age of the other children). Though Kanahana steals the show for the most part, Yui Ogura does a pretty good job as the idol child as well.

Story:
Given how little plot recent 4-komas have shown, I wasn't expecting all that much from this show. In that sense, it kind of surprised me and yet didn't really surprise me. The show goes beyond what other recent 4-komas try and weaves random events around the central plot of the election. However, the focus jumps meanderingly between the various children, as well as some other supporting characters. In all honesty, though I appreciate the attempt to add a bit of plot to this work, this is still mostly a character based work with some plot thrown in, rather than the other way around. I say this because there is clearly no attempt to explain a lot of the setting (why there are special powers, how such a lazy dude became the king, how the citizens can stand their royalty spending so much on security and surveillance, etc).

The progression is a bit random, but culminates expectedly in the election, which takes place like a year after the beginning of the show. Though I call it a climax, it's more of a tiny bump than what I think befits the title of climax. This is followed by a pretty cough out conclusion.

In summary, if you're watching this show for its unique story, don't expect too much from it.

Character:
The characters in this work fare a bit better than the overall story. Though the sheer number of children that the story follows is a bit overwhelming at first, they all have unique personalities along with special abilities. At this point, it really makes sense why they decided to make all the twins non-identical and of opposite gender.

All of the primary and supporting characters are well developed with interesting motivations and back stories, though this is clearly focused on certain family members more so than others. If I had to take off points, it would have to be how all those developments ended up having absolutely nothing to do with the actual climax and election- prior to the vote you basically still have no idea who everyone prefers.

Value:
This is a fun, low effort show to watch assuming you're watching knowing that the source material is a 4-koma. The characters are fun and start to grow on you after a few episodes- the story less so. An interesting setting but not really much follow through; hey, at least you get some cute Kanahana lines. Nonetheless, this is a fair show for the season.