Spy x Family has become one of the fan-favorites in the Spring 2022 season. The series is constantly included in both Anime Corner and Anime Trending weekly anime ranking polls. The (fake) familial relationship between Anya, Lloid, and Yor certainly captures a lot of fans’ hearts.
However, Spy x Family isn’t the first family-themed anime out there, and certainly won’t be the last. Because of that, we asked the staff of KAORI Nusantara about their favorite family-themed anime and manga and listed them in this article. Hopefully, this article could provide you with some good anime and manga that discusses family and any interesting conflict that comes with it. Here is our list:
The Quintessential Quintuplets
Media: Manga by Negi Haruba; Anime by Tezuka Production (Season 1) and Bibury Animation Production (Season 2)
Futaro Uesugi is a smart but rude high schooler who has no friends because he always looks down on others. On the other hand, his family also shoulders a huge debt, so he has to work outside school and rarely socializes. One day, he gets a lucrative job offer to tutor a wealthy family. When he takes the job, it turns out that he is not only tutoring one daughter, but a set of quintuplets. To make things even worse, all of them also have bad personalities, bad grades, and refuse to be tutored by him.
Maybe it’s weird to see a harem romance to be listed in this kind of list, but this is what makes The Quintessential Quintuplets so unique. As a genre, the harem is often criticized for stripping its romantic partners’ agency and treating them as an “object to be won over”. However, The Quintessential Quintuplets goes deep to explore each of the girls’ headspaces. Not many readers will agree with what Ichika or Nino did to win Fuutaro’s heart. But the feeling of “Why should I give up just because I’m the older one here?” or “I just want to be honest to myself without worrying about the family affair” is something that people can relate to. The Nakano quintuplets are not just a list of potential romantic partners, they are also fleshed-out characters that have their own insecurities and different points of view on how a family should be perceived. (Dany Muhammad, The Indonesian Anime Times).
Clannad
Media: Visual Novel by Key; Anime by Kyoto Animation
Tomoya Okazaki is a delinquent who often skips school because he thinks school life is very dull. However, his life changes after he meets Nagisa Furukawa, a girl who wants to revive the school’s drama club. Claiming he has nothing better to do, he decides to help her achieve this goal.
Clannad is not just a school romance anime; it also has a strong subplot about family. In every Clannad‘s arc, the romance aspect of the story is always influenced by how each character defines their familial relationship. The romantic relationships here are not all cute and fluffy. To live happily with the one whom we love, sometimes we have to make necessary sacrifices. (Adi W.W., KAORI Newsline).
Crayon Shin-chan: Fierceness That Invites Storm! The Adult Empire Strikes Back
Media: Anime by Shin-Ei Animation; Based on Manga by Yoshito Usui
The Nohara family visits the recently built “museum of the 20th century” in their town, filled with nostalgia for adults such as father Hiroshi and mother Misae. Shin-chan and his baby sister though, are not impressed and lament about how it seems that only the adults have all the fun. Meanwhile, museum owners Ken & Chaco plot to eliminate the “scent” of the 21st century from the town. Shin-chan and his friends wake up to find that all the adults in town have begun to act like kids, trapped in the “scent” of their own nostalgia. Can Shin-chan save the town before it’s too late?
When you talk about the quintessential Japanese “anime family”, the Nohara family certainly fits that bill, alongside others such as the Nobi family (Doraemon), the Sakura family (Chibi Maruko-chan), and the Fuguta family (Sazae-san). I’m sure that when people say “family anime”, Crayon Shin-chan is one of the titles that come to mind. The annual Crayon Shin-chan movies always put the Noharas in interesting fantastical situations, and if I must recommend just one thing from the entire Crayon Shin-chan movie canon, then this 2001 release of the theatrical Shin-chan movies would definitely be it. It somehow made its way into #4 on Kinema Junpo’s list of the top Japanese anime movies of all time just under My Neighbor Totoro, but those who’ve seen it might say that it’s no surprise. With unexpectedly complicated themes and some plot points that would have you shake your head in disbelief as to whether you’re still watching Shin-chan (a children’s show) or not, it’s no wonder then that Japan’s oldest cinema magazine would recommend this one so highly.
Available to watch on Bstation, this film might have flown under a lot of people’s radar being a children’s anime movie from 2001, but you might be familiar with one climactic sequence from the movie which has made its way onto social media. In it, the Nohara family rides a bicycle together. But it’s a scene that’s so, so much more emotional and touching in context, and I just have to recommend a movie that can utilize Hiroshi’s foot odor (often the butt of the family’s jokes in a regular episode) as an important plot point in dramatic and resonant fashion. This is a movie about many things but is at its core about how strong families are and how wonderful it is to build one, with the Noharas as a prime example. Nostalgia and childhood are beautiful things, but to take the step to grow up and face the future as a family is something that’s just as beautiful. Also, trivia: Indonesian animator Agung Oka Sudarsana (Timeline Studio) is credited and was involved in the making of the movie (Caesar E.S., The Indonesian Anime Times).
The Genius Bakabon
Media: Manga by Fujio Akatsuka; Anime by Tokyo Movie, Pierrot, and Pierrot+
Tensai Bakabon tells the daily life of Bakabon family. The family consists of eccentric and unique individuals, including the baby Hajime who can talk normally like other people.
It’s hard to describe this series. Somehow, the mangaka Fujiko Akatsuka creates a family that consists of a normal boy called Bakabon, a genius baby, a multi-talented mom, and a goofy father. But how they interact could incite a genuine laugh. This is a show that you could watch if you’re bored.
When it comes to the family aspect, there’s a certain message contained in the series. While Bakabon’s Papa is a very dumb and ridiculous person, he is loyal to his family, especially to Bakabon’s Mama. He may be an idiot, but his family gets along nicely whatever the situation. (Aldin Firgiawan, KAORI Newsline).
Sweetness and Lightning
Media: Manga by Gido Amagakure; Anime by TMS Entertainment
Sweetness and Lightning is a story about Kouhei Inuzuka, a high school math teacher who is also a single parent of his daughter Tsumugi Inuzuka. As he is busy with teaching work and lacks culinary skills, he’s forced to give his kids fast food from the convenience store. Eventually, he feels frustrated by the fact that he can’t serve a healthy and nutritious meal for Tsumugi. Therefore, he accepts an offer from his student, Kotori Iida, to dine at his family restaurant with Tsumugi, while learning to cook and share delicious homemade meals with Kotori & Tsumugi.
Sweetness and Lightning shows us the dedication of a father, especially when he is a single parent, to keep his children happy by serving a delicious and nutritious dish. While Kohei can’t cook, his love for this daughter makes him think that it’s never too late for him to learn how to cook. (Ferdian Tiraska, KAORI Newsline).
The Eccentric Family
Media: Novel by Tomihiko Morimi; Anime by P.A. Works
Set in Kyoto inhabited by shapeshifting tanuki (racoon dog) and tengu communities in addition to humans, the story tells of four tanuki brothers, the Shimogamo siblings, as they make their own living in the city with its eccentric inhabitants after their father unfortunately died being cooked for hotpot by a group of humans.
In terms of the family story, the Shimogamo brothers bear quite some burden of expectation as the children of a respectable leader in the tanuki society. Individually, each brother inherited mainly just one trait of their father, which may make them lacking in comparison to the father and their approaches to life can differ enough to make them bicker with each other. But when they do work together and support each other, they can balance each other’s weaknesses and make the most of their strengths. (Halimun Muhammad, The Indonesian Anime Times).
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki
Media: Novel by Akira (Story) and x6suke (Illustration); manga by Eshika/Shogo; Anime by Nomad
A thousand years ago, the incarnation of destruction, Enka, was slain. But with its dying breath, Enka said that a thousand years from then, its child will bring despair to the world. In the present day, seven individuals have been identified to be the possible “Child of Enka”. The Bureau of Paranormal Phenomena Countermeasures then launched a plan called “Operation Cozy Family” to gather the “Child of Enka” candidates together in a family and monitor them to find out who is the true Child, with one of the Bureau’s agents, Ouka Midarezaki, being assigned to be the husband and father in this family. The story follows the Midarezaki family as they encounter various strange troubles and adventures together.
One of the light novels that got anime adaptation during the latter part of the 2000s, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki features a family made up of a haphazard group of characters that include not only humans, but also an telepathic catgirl with god complex, a talking lion, a flying electric jellyfish, and a biological weapon. The anime carries a hyper-energetic comedic tone as it follows the quirky family through numerous wacky shenanigans. But there is more to the show than just ludicrous humor, as it also invests in the growth of the familial bond among the cast as they overcome troubles together. They may not be a perfect family, but they don’t have to be one to love each other. (Halimun Muhammad, The Indonesian Anime Times).
This list is continued to the next page.
