Rom-com meets erotic. That’s pretty much what the plot of A Sister’s All You Need is all about. I have to admit there were a lot of scenes in it that shocked me. That little Nayu girl is probably the lewd-est character I have seen in a while.

Synopsis

Itsuki Hashima is a novelist who has a little-sister complex and is trying to make a living by writing novels that are all about, guess what, little sisters. He is surrounded by his younger ‘brother’ Chihiro, who takes care of him, and his friends: Nayu, a pervy young girl who is deeply in love with him; Miyako, his friend from college; and Haruto, another novelist. Oh yes, I shouldn’t forget his editor and his sadistic tax accountant. They are all trying to achieve their goals in their own ways and all the stories are made up using common light novel themes.

Plot & Story

Most of the episodes consist of small stories. The majority of them involve daily adventures such as going to the amusement park or the aquarium in order for the novelists to get some inspiration, running away from editors because of missed deadlines, and the rest is just Itsuki and his friends chilling in his house eating and playing board games. The story has nothing original to offer but it is fun and exciting in its own way. Some events that occurred had me speechless because I didn’t expect this anime to have such erotic and lewd elements to it. Nayu with her comments and her whole character gave a refreshing twist to the plot and made the anime, overall, very amusing to watch.

Art & Music

The animation was very well made. You could see the attention to detail, especially when the opening would change in some episodes in order for it to go along with the theme. Characters emotions and feelings were portrayed so damn well in the artwork that gave the anime a very high-budget feel to it. The characters designs were very colorful, vibrant, and cute with nice detailing.

Themes & Trivia

There were a lot of real-life board games titles and alcohol brands in the show. Even the official website of Imouto Sae Ireba Ii has guides that analyze all the booze that was shown and all the board games they played or they mentioned. There are also a lot of references on other anime that you can read about here.

Comments

I am all about romantic comedies and I do enjoy lewd and erotic elements to a show, but only if they are tasteful or funny. When I started watching the anime, I was not prepared for the things that it had to offer so it took me by surprise and I was like: ‘Hell no, this is not for me.’ but after a few episodes it started to grow on me. What I really liked about this anime was the fact that it made you realize how hard the life of a novelist is and how tough it is to work or even be a part of that industry. The struggles of the characters during their daily routines and work were so relatable that had you thinking how hard it is to make it big in this world. One more thing that I thoroughly enjoyed, but was also a bit let down by, was the romantic relationships between the characters. We knew the feelings were there and out in the open but nothing was really happening. I believe that probably in the actual light novels there are or will be more juicy details and developments, as always.

A lack of problems is all you need

Plus:

• Funny dialogues
• Interesting characters
• Clever references
• Nice slice-of-life elements
• Insightful details for the publishing industry

Minus:

• No character development
• So many things happened for no reason or no explanation was given
• The ending left us hanging

Overall I would say that A Sister’s All You Need was great. I am not a fan of the sister-complex genre and rom-coms that are more ecchi than romantic are not my cup of tea but I really enjoyed this one. It was entertaining and pleasant to watch with the occasional cringe of the lewd and absurd things that were happening. I really liked Nayu as a character and I actually thought that all characters had their own charm that made you feel for them and for the things they did, so I won’t pick any favorites. I am sure that people who enjoy this kind of concept would definitely love the series. Cheers!