With a fearful eye toward her brother, Moyako does her best to live her life.
What They Say:
When Moyako and Akira were little, he promised that someday he would marry her. Which sounds sweet, but since he’s her younger brother, it’s never going to happen. Except now they’re both in their teens and Moyako still can’t get that memory out of her head. Was he serious? Does he still feel that way? And with that idea stuck in her brain, she keeps thinking that she hears hints of it in everything that he says and does. Or is she imagining it?
Of course, it’s her duty to proactively discourage that sort of thinking on his part, right? Unfortunately, the results always seem to end up making HER look like the pervert, not him! And that’s not fair since he’s the one with the problem… or are the issues really just in HER mind alone?
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo encoded using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. No English language dub was produced for this release. The series is one that’s largely dialogue-based with some nice incidental elements here and there with minor “action” and wackiness occupying a lot of that. The score for the series helps to give the show a little more oomph when it comes to the audio side of it but it’s mostly a dialogue-driven series with everyone talking to each other, so it’s mostly center channel based. The bigger moments with some of the bouncy moments, reveals, and other comical aspects is where it tries to stand out but you’re more likely distracted by said visuals. The dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 2014 and 2015, the transfer for this three-episode OVA series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Animated by Brain’s Base, the show has a really great look and feel about it with some very fluid motion sequences to be had. The color tone in particular works well throughout, such as with lots of different outfits and situations to have fun with, but also just in flesh tones and a lot of what’s done with the costumes and the like. The character animation is solid throughout with no problems and it really knows how to use the fluid motion moments well so that it delivers all the right feelings. The project is one that definitely looks several steps above average and it pays off with a clean and pristine kind of encoding here that brings it to life wonderfully. I imagine it looked great in its theatrical run.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard-sized Blu-ray case that holds just the single Blu-ray disc. The front cover uses a solid piece with the three leads that get the most attention here together with a background made up of soft white hearts floating down. I love the color design for it and just the overall aesthetic as it sets the mood perfectly as the purple framing that shifts to blue feels right with the characters and that of Moyako in particular. The back cover works in these same soft colors with a focus on blues and purples where shots from the OVA spread around it connected to each other to show off more of the characters. The middle has a good summary of the premise in a clean approach that’s relatively easy to read. The bottom works the traditional production credits followed by an accurate and easy-to-read technical grid. No show-related inserts are included nor is there artwork on the reverse side of the cover.
Extras:
Sadly, there are no extras here.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga of the same name by Keji Taguchi, the Ane Log OVAs were bundled with three volumes of the manga in 2014 and 2015. The manga itself began in 2012 and wrapped up in 2016 with twelve volumes and while the OVAs likely did well enough overall they didn’t appear to do enough to encourage exploring a fuller series in order to bolster sales for the manga. After taking in the show, I’m not surprised overall. That’s not to say the show is bad but it’s definitely a bit more of a niche taste and something that I think would work better as a series of shorts rather than full-length episodes like we get here. A lot of it is broken up into the smaller stories anyway and they’re a lot of fun when taken in small doses. The show is one that did make out well on the production side with Brain’s Base animating it and Tetsuo Ichimura directing it. They’ve got a slew of solid credits over the years as an episode director and that’s really what this was.
The premise is simple as we’re introduced to the brother and sister pairing of Akira and Moyako. Moyako’s the older sister by a little bit but she’s living her life constantly on edge while they’re in high school. It all comes down to a promise Akira made when they were like ten years old or so where he said that he would marry her someday. It’s a simple and not unfamiliar childhood thing that happens with a number of siblings, usually when they’re a bit younger than that, but nothing that raises any true red flags. For Moyako, however, she viewed that as a threat and as she got older she reclassified her younger brother as a huge pervert who is only in pursuit of her in a hugely sexual way. She sees him as a pervert like most men are and everything he does reflects this.
Which is comical because Akira is, by all appearances that we get here in the OVAs, one of the most respectful and helpful younger brothers out there. Akira is often just being basically friendly with her and either doing nothing or offering help to her but she sees it all as his part in a master plan to make her his. It does have a lot of amusement because we have the moments where we see that they are close, but her perception of reality is just so skewed. Even when he just asks about dinner she goes off into this fantasy vision of what he’s really plotting. Of course, there’s time where she is done up as a maid in reality later on and when he’s there it sends her into a different kind of panic and a good chunk of the third episode focuses on them at a beach day trip event, which means she’s down to a string bikini and spends part of it blindfolded. Suffice to say, she’s opened herself to a lot of situations where things could go bad but they never do.
Just in her mind, which is what’s keeping her all energized and hustling. It’s definitely nicely done because we see her on edge a lot of the time with a wary look at everything around her, but she also helps out other students during some of the school-based time that we get. There are a couple of other girls that she connects with a bit, which has a larger focus later rather than earlier, and that was welcome to have as well. These characters give Moyako a little something different to play off even if we do regularly get her mind going to all sorts of dark and dangerous directions of how her life could go wrong. It’s generally pretty well-animated too so there are some really enjoyable sequences to watch play out since her visions involve a lot of fanservice for obvious reasons, but just the designs in general are good. The only real downside here is that since it’s cherry-picking various chapters across the three OVAs to present, we miss out on structured storytelling or getting to really know the characters, at least outside of Moyako’s fears.
In Summary:
I enjoyed Ane Log overall and my mind kept thinking that this is the kind of stuff that needed to be streamed weekly in smaller batches in adapting the original work. It’s something that binging three episodes in full is just an overload of situations that basically make it clear that Moyako is beyond anxious about the world around her and has focused it all through the lens of her brother – one of the sweetest guys out there. I’ve been wanting to see this show since the OVAs were first announced years ago and am really glad that Sentai has dabbled in a couple of different properties like this recently. A lot of manga-bundled OVAs never find their way overseas and it sucks to miss out on weirdly pervy comedies like this. It’s a good show, in small doses, and this one really has me envisioning a lot more just in a different form. Sentai’s release is spot on and hopefully it’ll be dub-worthy someday, though one can understand why it didn’t make the first cut even with just three episodes.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles,
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: January 11th, 2022
MSRP: $29.98
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
