Review of Days with My Stepsister

'Days with My Stepsister' seems to be one of those fake incest shows that's leaning more towards being lewd and tropey. It's understandable why people would stay clear of this anime given the title, but they are missing out. It's brilliant in its storytelling and would leave you with good feelings that you are watching something so great. § Overview Our main character Asamura Yuuta was one day greeted by his father that he would remarry and that Yuuta would have a new stepsister, Ayase Saki. At first, Yuuta and Saki are civil to each other. But through mere exposure, they develop feelings for each other. § FromLight Novels to Anime

Before the broadcast, I read light novel volume 1, and it's a brilliant piece of writing. It is chill and has the introspective vibe that I love.

Can this same vibe be translated into anime? The director did his best to achieve similar effects.

This is the directorial debut of Director Ueno Souta (上野壮大).

His challenge is the following:

1. He has to cover 4 light novel volumes within 12 episodes.

2. He has to reproduce the vibe of the light novels even though several materials from them have to be omitted, or in some cases added to them.

3. He has to work within the constraint of a limited animation budget.

Director Ueno has given the anime its own unique identity with his avant-garde direction of the anime. Even if, hypothetically speaking, he was to not give this anime the proper care that it deserves, I am confident that I would have liked it regardless and rate it so high just with the strength and virtue of mikawaghost先生's writing. Fortunately, Director Ueno has given the anime a decent animation with superb direction.

( See also my Notes for 義妹生活 Thread no 0: Preliminaries 🧵 https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1833917006804058598 )

§ The Significance of the Title 義妹生活 (gimai seikatsu)

It comes from two words:

1. 義妹 (gimai), which means either stepsister or younger sister-in-law

2. 義妹 (seikatsu), which means day-to-day living or livelihood

mikawaghost先生 says that it has a double meaning. From the perspective of Yuuta, it means roughly the same thing as the English title "Days with My Stepsister," but from the perspective of Saki, it means 'living as a stepsister,' which was the sense when she dropped the title in Episode 9.

Thus, if you think about it, it's a boring title and not something trashy that so many people have this instinctive reaction to. It's a slow-burn romance and moves at a natural pace.

The chapters in the light novels correspond to days of the week, which is why it is always indicated in the show the day and date, plus Saki's diary entry as an epilogue. Therefore, the entire story is one giant diary.

§§ Defending Its Slow Pace

So many people are complaining about the slow pacing, while here I am complaining that the anime is rushing the events of the novels.

O blinded hearts! This kind of writing is just a glimpse of the type of writing that can be found in great literature. The light novels are not up to that standard (but so is everything else) but the writing reminds me of that slow, introspective style in great literature. In response to the people judging this piece of art negatively, I will have to judge such people as having poor taste in anime and movies and books.

The bottom line is that the slow pace is by design. If everything in the light novels were to be animated and not rely on multiple uses of montage, this anime would have been at least 24 episodes. The point of this slow pace is that this will be an account of their boring, day-to-day living (the seikatsu in the title), and any romance that emerges will be organic compared to how romance is usually presented.

The great thing about this anime is that the visuals and the musical score work together to create an overall vibe, and this vibe makes it feel that you're watching something extraordinary despite it being actually ordinary. For some people, nothing seems happening but the minutes pass by quickly thanks to the musick and visuals.

The light novels' point of view is Yuuta's, but it shifts in the anime, which relies more on show-don't tell. This is a romance drama. Unlike other dramas where there's an over display of crying and angst, this one relies more on subtext. So the occasional voiceovers of Yuuta and Saki, especially Saki in her diary sequences, open the window to their feelings.

Sometimes, either in close-ups or in medium shots, there are subtle facial expressions, especially in the eyes that clue you in on what Saki or Yuuta is feeling.

Given what we know, we have to carefully examine their action and infer their feelings at the moment. We must overcome our tendency to become passive consumers of media because this anime demands careful attention and even analysis. If you don't give it proper attention, I am judging you as having the attention span of a toddler. It's not the fault of the anime, it's your fault.

§§ Not the Usual Stepsister Romance

If it's not clear yet, this anime is not the usual stepsister romance. It's not trashy. It's not a romcom.

Sure, those stepsister romances are enjoyable despite being trashy. But Days with My Stepsister is a story that goes beyond those usual stories. Having said that, I recommend that before watching Days with My Stepsister, one should watch either Domestic Girlfriend or My Stepmother's Daughter is My Ex or some other stepsister romance.

Days with My Stepsister is a counterpoint to Domekano because the reality of stepsibling romance is addressed within the first minute of this anime. By being familiar with the usual tropes, you will appreciate the way Days with My Stepsister is going against the grain and what it is trying to do differently.

( See also my Notes for 義妹生活 Thread no 1: What's in the name? 🧵 https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1834633825391128932 )

§ Themes

The anime opens in black and white, but as they pass each other, the world becomes coloured as though meeting each other is the start of the world moving from lifeless to colourful. Even though this is an aspect of cinematography, it mirrors how the theme is developed in this anime.

Both are depressed individuals and therefore view others with a cynical lens. They have this notion of becoming independent and not relying on other people. Whilst this is admirable in America, this is negative because 1) Japan is not individualistic but collectivistic, and 2) their underlying motivation is mentally unhealthy even in individualistic societies; they stem from trauma and their inherent mistrust of other people.

There's a wonderful progression in this anime from independence to interdependence, and this growth is wonderful to see whether they date or not.

It also touches on societal expectations and briefly drops some social commentary. But since this is romance, this anime did not continue with the social commentary and they don't need to. They were there to characterise these two as teenagers in the transition to adulthood. I may not agree with the content of what they said. (There are only two sexes!) But if you have not thought about these issues, you are essentially brain-dead.

Let me note that conservatism in the Burkean sense is about holding traditions and norms as a source of knowledge on what's an optimal course of action. But as far as I'm concerned, there are traditions that are best kept and some traditions that ought to be rejected.

How do we know? By doing what Saki and Yuuta are doing, which is to question the whys and wherefores of these traditions. It's much better to understand the rationale of why certain traditions are followed. You will appreciate the wisdom of your ancestors, but you will equally detest how wrong or inapplicable the received wisdom is in the context of today's world.

Though minor, it also touches on mental health, and our one-true pair has mental health issues. It's not the main focus, but these issues affect how they deal with their feelings.

§§ A Reply to Some of the Most Inane Comments

1. Some people are under the mistaken notion that all art is political. They are most likely to like the social commentary made in Episode 2 but get disappointed that it did not continue with it.

Newsflash: Some art can be political, but not all are political. It doesn't have to be political or offer social commentary all the time. It is the author's creation, and only he decides to make it political or not. You may disagree with it or not, but not appreciating what the author is trying to do and making a caricature of it based on what you would like the anime to be is the height of solipsism.

2. Some don't like the sombre tone of the anime and prefer the more light-hearted tone of the manga.

Okay, we can allow for individual differences. After all, before the light novels, Days with My Stepsister is a series of short videos that are silly and conform more to the romcom genre: https://www.youtube.com/@gimai_seikatsu/videos.

But I prefer the sombre mood of the anime because it provides us a glimpse of teenagers who are somehow functional but feel the weight of the world on them. Their default state of mind is already messed up, and whatever conflicts they feel regarding their growing feelings for each other aggravate the weight these emotions have on them, and the satisfying conclusion would be for them to help each other carry the weight of their emotions.

3. This is also why I'm appalled at people who use the term 'nothing burger' or complain that nothing is happening or that some episodes are filler. Much of the drama is in the subtext. It seems that nothing is happening, but there's so much happening internally, and this is supported by the soundtrack and the visual elements.

4. The silliest criticism I've seen is Yuuta's generic design and complaining that the girls are not generic. They claim that Yuuta is made for self-insert purposes just like in many light novels.

I agree that his design is generic but it is deliberately designed to be so. Yuuta described himself as average, and he seemed to be someone unlikely to attract a beauty like Saki. There's no requirement that Yuuta had to have a good character design; this doesn't prevent this anime from being great, despite your protestations. And by the way, the last time I checked, one anime with great character designs sucked big time.

Again, this criticism is really beside the point and is pretty much irrelevant.

Now, let's get to the good part of this review on the musick and the visuals.

§ The Perfect Combination of Soundtrack and the Visual Elements

As mentioned earlier, the musick together with the visuals creates the overall vibe.

( see this part of my earlier thread: https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1834633868152078551 )

§§ Background Musick

All credit for this anime's incredible sound design goes to CITOCA.

This is the predominant background musick, and there are different variations of it used in the anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQG-wH0nUKg.

It is untitled. In the link above, it's titled New Family, but in this other cover, it is titled 新しい生活 (atarashii seikatsu) or new life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tQuVLU5dVM

Assuming that it is supposed to mean 'new family,' it seems to be a nice, lovely song. It celebrates the new life of their parent's remarriage so that even the mundane things that they do, accompanied by this track, seem a compelling watch.

It later acquires a painful meaning for a brief period, until it comes full circle in the final episode as the final variant is so much positive. I say this is brilliant.

There's also this Lo-Fi study musick accompanied by a montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zPudjnTojo.

This montage allows us to 1) see the wider world, 2) know what Saki is listening to, and 3) provide a natural break.

§§ The Visual Motifs

There are visual motifs that add to the subtext. Some of them function as pillow shots but acquire quite some meaning. They include the balloon, the hippopotamus, the hedgehog, mirror reflections, Saki's diary, and the fish tank. But there are others.

1. The balloon represents Saki's childhood innocence that's there once but fleeting, and once gone, it's gone forever. It appeared as something out of place in Episode 1, but it is really prominent in the first diary sequence in Episode 3. It also appears in the prologue of Episode 8.

2. The hippopotamus represents Saki's selfishness as a child. However, due to the financial difficulties that her mom had experienced, she repressed her selfish feelings. It appears for some reason in the last episode as she considers her conflicted feelings towards Yuuta. But the groundwork for this has been established in Episode 7, Episode 8, and Episode 9.

3. Prof Kudou had a hedgehog puppet that she used to annoy Saki. mikawaghost先生 noted that Director Uena added this. It's an anime original, but he did not note that it alludes to the Hedgehog Dilemma, which is one of the themes of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

4. Mirror reflections appeared in Episode 1, but they don't mean much until they mean so much in later episodes. The recurrence of such imagery seems to indicate that what the person is presenting to the world is different to what he or she is actually feeling inside. Again, this imagery adds so much subtext.

5. This is a big one, Saki's diary. This represents Saki's feelings and her private inner world, but this image is a stand-in for the entire anime. As mentioned above, the anime is one giant diary and each chapter is a diary entry.

I have to mention that there's a sound motif associated with the diary. It is titled 'Forbidden Love:' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1osZRMo3Q

6. The fish tank is the most recurring. It initially served as a pillow shot, but it acquired a painful meaning at the end of Episode 9. Every appearance of this motif from Episode 10 is a reminder of something painful.

( See also my Notes for 義妹生活 Thread no 2: 🧵
Mise-en-scène https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1836399949879411180

Part 2 of Thread no 2: https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1836405286296551626

as well as the beginning parts of Thread no 3: https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1842937534122463519 )

§§ In Defence of the Pillow Shots

I've been mentioning the term pillow shots quite liberally. It originates from the directorial style of Ozu Yasujirō, and it's quite common in anime. See this article: https://psychocinematography.com/2018/07/17/moments-of-cine-beauty-yasujiro-ozu-and-the-vase/

A number of people have complained that, instead of animating the reactions of Yuuta and Saki in a close-up using a shot-reverse shot, this anime chose to use a lingering pillow shot, one of which is the fish tank, and they count it as bad. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's true that this anime did it to save some of the animation budget, but it is also done for artistic purposes, namely using the same techniques as Ozu. Again, I am appalled at their ignorance of such cinematic techniques.

§§ Cinematography

Thompson & Bordwell in their book 'Film Art' define three cinematographic properties: 1) the photographic qualities of the shot, 2) the framing of the shot, and 3) the duration of the shot.

( See also my Notes for 義妹生活 Thread no 3: 🧵 Cinematography https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1842937511724900410

Part 2 of Thread no 3: https://x.com/patkarunungan/status/1842942450249433547 )

§§§ The Framing of the Shot

For no 2, the framing and the choices of close-up, medium, and long shots as well as variants, this aspect of cinematography in this anime isn't really special. It doesn't call attention to itself. There's basic mobile framing in that whenever a character moves horizontally, the camera for lack of a better word does a lateral tracking shot. Very basic. The camera barely moves.

There are no fancy camera movements or fancy framing such as Dutch angles. It's just there to show their boring, day-to-day living.

§§§§ In Defence of the Faceless Drawings

When the characters appear in a long shot, more often than not, they have faceless drawings. Although this phenomenon appears in other anime such as Too Many Losing Heroines and The Elusive Samurai, this did not stop people from criticising this as 'lazy animation.'

Indeed, they are doing this to save the animation budget, but there are artistic reasons. It gives the director the option of hiding the facial expressions of a character whenever needed. Also, to be fair, even in a long shot, they include the face when seeing the facial expression is absolutely necessary.

Finally, to show deep space, the background has to have fewer details than the foreground. If this is the purpose, then it makes sense in such situations to use faceless drawings.

§§§ The Duration of the Shot

As for no 3, duration refers to long takes where a shot is held as much as possible before cutting to the next shot. In the usual long takes, the shot is usually 45 seconds or more, and usually, the camera tracks a certain character.

Compare this anime's use of long takes with this example from Citizen Kane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gbgep7wF9w

This anime's long takes take place at a dinner table where the camera is static. It just captures a dinner conversation and feels really natural.

It's not as long as the long takes in classic films. It's just around 25 seconds, but for many anime watchers, it's an eternity. This is an indictment against the average anime viewer, if this is their criticism, because it only shows that their poor attention span makes them unable to handle something artistic.

§§§§ A Word on Phrenetic Editing

Some people don't like the use of long takes and prefer multiple short shots with quick editing. This gives it a frenetic and rushed feel, but it is not appropriate here. Moreover, this is what makes modern movies fall short of being cinematic. Such editing is one reason why Martin Scorsese criticises many modern movies and Marvel movies as 'not cinema.'

Isn't this offensive? These twats would rather make this anime not cinematic to make it conform to their philistine taste. No, thank you.

§§§ The Photographic Qualities of the Shot

This aspect of cinematography is where this anime shines.

§§§§ Aspect Ratio

I first noticed this technique of using different aspect ratios from kdramas starting in the year 2016. Yes, there are two examples where this anime used a higher aspect ratio.

But this anime has chosen to use a lower aspect ratio, Standard Definition, in Saki's diary sequences to give this a retro feel. This also points to the fact that memories decay over time. Director Ueno took this aspect of directing from Jonas Mekas.

§§§§ Coloured Filter

This is useful for marking if something is a flashback or if something is a constructed image. Some flashbacks appear to be in watercolour-like quality or blue. Saki's imagination of seeing her mom and herself as part of the Asamura family in her childhood is marked by a white colour filter.

§ Conclusion

I had low expectations coming into this anime because it is made by Studio DEEN. Prior to Days with My Stepsister, Studio DEEN had a less-than-stellar reputation and their works are hit-or-miss. Fortunately, this is a hit, and this is all thanks to Director Ueno Souta. Perhaps this is the start of Studio DEEN's renaissance.

This anime may have faults here and there, but overall, it's a masterpiece and I stand by it. It's not just cinematic because the anime is beautiful, but there are cinematically inspired shots that make it stand out. So much care, thought, and planning was given to create this anime. The overall impact negates any fault that some criticisms are beside the point.

Since there are several aspects of it to appreciate, this anime is worth analysing. There will be some aspects of my analysis that I might have missed, but this is what makes this anime so rewatchable. (Some details only become apparent upon a rewatch.)