This Week in Anime

Does Dear Brother Still Hold Up?

Nicky
picks up phone
Hello?
--Oh. Hey, Steve! How nice of you to call.

Ah yes, known in Japanese as Oniisama e, the 1991 adaption of Riyoko Ikeda 1970's manga Dear Brother is, like it's manga, a beloved and influential classic that has been totally evading the western landscape for quite some time. I got to see a bit of it from the short-lived Anime Sols release, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. For me, as an English speaker much is shrouded in mystery about this famous drama. Just hearing about it makes me feels like I'm a child eavesdropping on my parents again.

Almost thirty years is never too late to jump on this classic! Though, since the whole thing is 39 episodes and that would be quite long for a column, we're only going to be covering the first six.

And it definitely carries a lot of both artist's particular hallmarks. Even Lady Oscar cares to show up to the party, despite the fact that this show actually takes place in Modern Day Japan and NOT Historical France.

These petty squabbles between HIGHSCHOOL GIRLS are being portrayed with the CORRECT amount of weight for what being a teen girl is like, even if it's a total fantasy there's a lot of truth to the heightened drama of adolescence. Our heroine, Nanako is a young lady who enrolls in a what seems like a prestigious all-girl school, and ends up totally wrapped up in a whirlwind of class-politics. as she gets pulled into the school's revered Sorority, despite being ordinary. All the while, she details these teen trials to a mysterious pen-pal who she refers to as her "Brother".

Also a pretty latent, figure if you ask me. Real name, Rei Asaka is the first bit of school royalty we're introduced to. A quiet and stoic figure nicknamed " The flowers of Saint-Just" by the other girls after the romantic, artistic, and tragic Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, who many also dubbed the Angel of Death. (Nope! Not foreboding at all!) Nanako has a fated encounter with her on the train to school and literally and figuratively falls for her. (Yes, her. Some people are just tall and very gentlemanly.)

This series is full of these little poignancies, it's gonna be really difficult to truly capture them despite most of them being Dezaki Postcards Shots. This isn't even the first 5 minutes.

It feels like peeking at a teen girls diary because there's a privacy to it but it's also a plea for guidance to navigate what is essentially the cruel world of adulthood with no way of actually being able to help. The first present-day shot we get of Nanako, she happens to prick her finger on a red corsage pendant. Symbolizing, the pains of becoming an adult. Even the opening is about how life is balanced with love and happiness as well as many emotional pains contained in bowls. The color red becomes a very important symbol of female maturity throughout the series.

I think out of the three royal figures, Kaoru might be my favorite simply because she has the gall to actually speak out against all the crap that goes on even if it means willing to THROW DOWN, also possibly Kunihiko Ikuhara's Favorite. Definitely, the most traditionally noble.

That is the face of someone who has DEFINITELY killed a man in cold blood without even batting an eye.

Out of 150 students in the whole school, only 15 are chosen for the Sorority and the exclusivity makes these girls dying for even a chance of getting in. They're rabid animals. One such determined girl is Mariko Shinobu, who befriends Nanako in a way that is extremely pushy and overly familiar, even pushing Nanako away from her long time best friend, Tomoko, and also the only average person around. The other is Aya Misaki, who thinks herself a shoe-in but her hot headed demeanor causes her to lose her nomination. She instantly becoming jealous of Nanako and uses her social power to make her life hell.

Mariko is basically our introduction to someone so desperate for approval that she's twisted by it, even casually. She's not always necessarily a bad friend and sticks up for Nanako but she also encourages the toxic attitudes presented in the show, is possessive, and portrays a lack of boundaries. It's also deeply implied that she's a lesbian, though, pretty much everyone is a lesbian in this show.

Even if she does all of that, I can't really think of her as the villain. Because this is a drama, everyone seems to have some sort of deep-secret fucked up reasoning for doing things and the school is merely a stage in where they act them out on each other.

She's basically what Nanami would actually be like if Nanami was actually smart. Minus the brother complex.

I think part of it is we see how supportive and normal her friendship with Tamako is even if it's tragic when we also see them get torn apart, caught in the storm.

There's definitely something going on between the Big Three that we're not exactly privy to but we see a lot of glimpses of. Saint-Just seems unable to stand up to Miya, harboring some sort of past-heartbreak and becoming a drug addict. Kaoru tries hard to snap her out of her depressive state it but it's always to no-avail.

Take a look at THOSE, red roses. Oof.

Everyone else just turns the other way about this cruelty, except for Kaoru and surprisingly Nanako, which draws her even more ire. Also note the deep red flowers, on Fukiko's skirt, emphasizing her maturity but also her brutality.

I think it's also understandable given how badly she's treated, and how it's very clear that all the adults have their secrets too, many of the girls are from wealthy backgrounds and therefore have high-expectations, the Sorority is a mirror of that, so when an average person like Nanako gets invited, sabotaged, and still makes it despite all the other worthy candidates, it feels like there's something much bigger is in play. We also haven't touched on the mystery of Mr. Brother.

I do like how they make it clear that she feels a connection and that it isn't romantic or inappropriate in any way, as many shoujo stories tend to play out, though, I'm sure there's room for that still with other characters. He also does seem like a genuinely good dude who cares and wants Nanako to become a proper adult. But it also doesn't make the fact that literally EVERY ADULT in this series is just cheating and secret keeping liars okay. To be an adult is to accept that kind of cruelty.

Though if things get so bad for Nanako why can't she just leave the Sorority? Uhh, well she can't.

We end these episodes, like many important moments in Nanako's life, drenched in rain. Every bit of happiness has to be tinged by a little sadness. But will Nanako be able to weather the storm? It's been pretty wild being able to view these episodes but it's immediately super-engrossing.

Someone get that away from her, preferably Kaoru.

Anyways, thanks for talkin' about this Steve, I wish we could cover more but I guess that's better than not being able to cover anything at all! If you love classic anime, make sure to catch this one before it's gone again folks!

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