Mitsudomoe Anime Review
Mitsudomoe is what happens when you take three elementary school girls and swap their minds with sadists. It's also a reminder to always use condoms.
PRODUCTION INFO
Mitsudomoe (literally Three Way Struggle) began as a manga series written by Norio Sakurai which was released in 2006 and is currently ongoing. An anime adaption was created by studio Bridge and directed by Masahiko Outa. It aired during the summer 2010 anime season. In winter 2011 a second season titled Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu! aired, also by studio Bridge and directed by Masahiko Outa again. Season one contains 13 episodes plus one DVD special. Season two contains 8 episodes.
SUMMARY
Mitsudomoe is a slice-of-life which takes place in a school setting where three problem children are being a major burden on their elementary school teacher, Satoshi Yabe. A budding employee, poor Satoshi has never dealt with these kinds of shenanigans before, not that even an old employee should have. Hitoha, Futaba, and Mitsuba Marui are triplet sisters who get into all sorts of trouble that no normal kids their age get into trouble for. Whether it's reading porn in class or drawing porn in class, the Marui sisters are the biggest troublemakers that Kamohashi Elementary School has ever seen. If you have a heart, watch and hope for the teachers and classmates, but if you like to have fun, throw away your humanity and side with the girls.
WHAT TO EXPECT
If you decide to watch Mitsudomoe, prepare your mind for the entry of sadistic, perverted elementary school girls who make a mess out of everything they do, and enjoy it. There's not really any plot besides Satoshi struggling to corral the three devilish children to doing an activity that doesn't bother anyone else, and their father getting arrested for looking like a pedophile. Still, Mitsudomoe can be quite humorous, and not just at shock value, although I admit that a good portion of the hilarity comes from the fact that you'd never normally see little kids acting this way. There is a bit of crude humour in the show, especially in an episode that appears early on. If that's not your thing, I would suggest skipping that episode and continuing on, because the show is still very enjoyable... However, if you can't take perverted lolis, don't even try watching Mitsudomoe.
CHARACTERS
To start off with the Marui triplets, we have Mitsuba, the oldest of the trio. She is a sadist and likes to make the most trouble of the three sisters. She appears to enjoy causing pain to other people, but not the people she is closest with. She actually feels that she should be stronger than the other girls due to the fact that she is the eldest, which could be the reason for her sadistic appearance. Futaba, the middle child, is very energetic, scatterbrained, and usually happy. She is also very strong, and likes to emphasise this by wearing a taekwondo outfit. Futaba has a strange obsession with breasts, to the point of being able to draw very detailed images of nude women. Her favourite kinds of breasts are ones that are large. Finally, Hitoha, the youngest, is a bookworm who takes reading to a very serious level, refusing to put down her books in class. She is uncooperative in participating in class activities, prioritising her reading. She is also very shy and has trouble making new friends. She, like her teacher, is a fan of Gachi Rangers, which is a parody of Power Rangers/Super Sentai. Satoshi Yabe is a somewhat normal guy, aside from obsession with Gachi Rangers, which is the Mitsudomoe equivalent to Power Rangers, AKA Super Sentai. He has a crush on the school nurse, but she doesn't seem to hold the same feelings for her. He bought a pet hamster for the class, named Nipples (Chikubi) by Futaba. There are many more characters that appear in the show, such as classmates and other employees at the school, but I can't list them all here. All I can say is that if it sounds interesting from this, you should try it out and see for yourself.
OPINIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Mitsudomoe is definitely not for everyone, but I personally enjoyed it. It does a great job of appealing to its intended audience. It's got both good and bad points, but I feel that the good outweighs the bad. The good points are the high quality animation, the unique characters, and the hilarious comedy. The bad points are the lack of any real plot, and the (sometimes) crude humour (in my opinion). Overall, if you can take this type of show, I would absolutely recommend it! You will laugh at its absurdity! Despite the reused cliche of a teacher getting bullied by his students, there is so much more than that in Mitsudomoe. Many more characters are introduced and fit into the humour as well as the plot very well. If you are a fan of Mitsudomoe, I recommend Kodomo no Jikan as a must-see as it shares the concept of chaotic and perverse elementary school children, as well as Nichijou for the disarray in general.
RATING
7/10
