8.0

My Neighbors the Yamadas

Dealt with like a sitcom, My Neighbours the Yamadas is a light hearted romp through the lives of the Yamada family that will have your funny bone tickled and heart warmed as you watch their everyday adventures. 

The graphical style of the show is very different to a lot of features that we’ve seen before from an anime. The artistry is quite sketchy and free flowing with water color type appearance. It is an effect perfectly suited to the type of show that the Yamadas provide. 

Watching will give the viewer the whole range of emotions as we see how things pan out in the lives of our “stars”. The Yamada family comprise of the parents Takashi and Matsuko Yamada and their son and daughter, Noboru and Nonoko. Grandmother is there also and she is called Shige. 

If you are expecting high anime drama it’s not going to happen here. There are fights over the television and everyday things that we would all most likely have experienced in our own homes. Little things that we blow up out of proportion. 

The Yamadas are slack, and amble through life just like us, which makes for some fun viewing, though you will find yourself identifying with different characters in the feature. 

Audio is well taken care of with a polished vocal track. Whilst I listened to the Japanese audio, for those of you who do not like subtitles you might be interested to know that some big name voice talent such as Jim Belushi and Molly Shannon are featured. The DVD is a bit light on extras though with trailers and more interestingly storyboards that really show the progression of how the show was put together. 

A good fun piece of storytelling, My Neighbours the Yamadas is an enjoyable experience from the masters at Studio Ghibli.