Minami-ke Omatase OVA

The みなみけ manga by Sakuraba Koharu has already spawned three anime series, “Minami-ke” in 2007, “Minami-ke Okawari” in 2008 and “Minami-ke Okaeri” in 2009. Although the original manga is still ongoing, “Minami-ke” returns in anime form after a three year hiatus.

Bundled with the 10th volume of the manga came the “Minami-ke Omatase” OVA, a precursor to the upcoming fourth season “Minami-ke Tadaima” that is slated to start airing in January 2013.

Keen on checking out this new OVA, I was overjoyed to discover it is really excellent with solid animation and a terrific collection of comedy driven plot segments in typical “Minami-ke” style.

Specifically mention the animation quality because that was my main concern about a new “Minami-ke” anime, no doubt other fans of this franchise shared the same apprehension. Luckily this OVA features splendid animation by studio Feel.

Studio Daume animated the original “Minami-ke” series with character designs by Ochi Shinji, while studio Asread with character designer Tanaka Seiki created “Minami-ke Okawari” and “Minami-ke Okaeri”.

Unfortunately this caused a near startling discrepancy in the animation and character design style between the various series, regrettably compounded by the fact several episodes suffered from poor animation and sometimes obvious flaws.

For this OVA and the upcoming fourth series, studio Feel is taking over the helm and they are apparently sticking to the same character design style used in “Minami-ke Okaeri”, making for a welcome consistency. If the OVA is a trendsetter, the animation quality will be flawless this time.

Seems like all voice talents are reprising their roles. Satou Rina voices oldest sister Haruka, she voiced Kaoru in “Amagami SS”, Mikoto in “To aru Kagaku no Railgun” and Jenny in “Mouretsu Pirates”.
Lively Kana is voiced by Inoue Marina who previously voiced Yozora in “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, Laura in “IS: Infinite Stratos”, Natsuru in “Kämpfer” and Alicia in “Valkyria Chronicles”.

Chihara Minori voices cheeky Chiaki, she voiced Yuki in “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu”, Horizon in “Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon” and voices Anastasia in this season’s “Oniichan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne!“.
Next to these three main characters, Toyosaki Aki voices Yoshino, Mizuki Nana voices tomboyish Touma, Morinaga Rika voices trap Mako-chan and Kitamura Eri voices Uchida.

After this terrific OVA, am really anxious to get an all new season of “Minami-ke” next year!