Sometimes I think my family would make the basis for an interesting anime series, along the lines of Darling wa Gaikokujin, a comic about a Japanese woman who thinks she’s found the “perfect” American husband but is surprised when things don’t always go as she expects. In the tradition of Sailor Moon and Magical DoReMi, my daughter would be the main character since she’s quite occhokochoi (oh-cho-ko-choi), translatable as “clumsy in a cute way,” always needing help from everyone else. Her brother would be a glasses-wearing egghead, constantly pointing out her faults, which is what he does already; you could make a lot of good tsukkomi and boke jokes based on his over-analytical nature when it comes to English, compared with her tendency to use English words freely without actually knowing what they mean. I think I’d make a pretty cool “Pops” type father character, a good-hearted but sometimes bumbling American who is an otaku for Japanese hot springs and who sometimes knows things that Japanese have no idea about. Having my wife as the president of their company (since my wife is president of J-List) would create some humorous situations, too — the wife could try to pull rank on her husband at home — while providing an updated vision of women for Japanese children to see. So if you have any contacts at a major animation studio in Japan, please send them my way!
