A concept such as a brother's romantic entanglement with his two, admittedly non-blood related, sisters does not seem like one suited to crippling mediocrity - but Kiss×Sis, by some monumental feat, manages exactly that. The odd family arrangement mirrors that of the series which spans multiple media including an OVA released with the ongoing manga. This saturation of different versions is utter overkill for a bland story and weak characters but compounded here in the TV offering by minimal naughtiness and a wholly uninspiring production of stilted animation and insipid music. The positives are rare but include how peculiarly inventive the narrative is in placing the sisters in situations ripe for corrupting their brother, as well as portraying the two perverse, red-haired seductresses' intentions as naive and almost pure. Those pluses however are eclipsed by the multitude of negatives which only reinforce the fact that this was a stillborn idea before it was ever committed to paper or animation.

Keita is his father's son, unfortunately for him his sisters are his stepmother's daughters and while a blended family isn't abnormal, his sisters' vocal affection for him is. They are intent on helping him get into their high school which involves some rather unique methods of tutoring, however both Ako and Riko vie for Keita's affections which spills out into a continual struggle for supremacy. This usually ends up with Keita in the middle attempting to unsuccessfully mediate or otherwise remove himself from the squabble. Although at first disparaging of their romantic feelings, he begins to feel something for them as well, and being all under the same roof it may not be long before something extra curricular happens.

It's not a good sign that within minutes of the start there was the tangible hope for a School Days-esque bloodbath to ensue. In the first three episodes this unfortunately never happens and the majority of time is instead spent on a montage of scenes that imply raciness more than they deliver. The series' cardinal problem is in the disjoint between its concept and delivery. Whereas the idea behind it is taboo - sexual relations within a family undercut many emotional barriers and preconceptions that many take for granted - the production is anything but, even recent series such as Queen's Blade or the vile Seikon no Qwaser are more lascivious then what is on display here. This places the series in an odd position where it isn't concentrating on the possible emotional consequences done so excellently in series such as Marmalade Boy, but neither is it entertaining the forbidden acts that so many porn offerings do. The result: a neglected middle child, overshadowed by achievement on one side and guilelessness on the other.

To compensate there is protractedness and inventiveness. The latter demonstrated by the different ways the two sisters attempt to woo or sexually terrorise the borderline retarded Keita; be that writing examination notes on their body - impressive for maintaining perfect handwriting in various hard-to-reach places - or the use of chocolate lipstick to circumvent Keita's spontaneously enacted "no kissing" rule. The protagonist's lack of sense is matched by his dearth of physical strength: unable to prevent the two sisters from assaulting him on a morning-to-night schedule he also tires after only a few seconds of running and shows an inner ear deficiency resulting in constant trips and falls. This is of course saying nothing of one of the sisters who permanently wears a plaster on her face, perhaps to keep the remainder of her dignity from leaking out.

The age and disposition of the sisters combined with the benign willingness of the parents makes the opening episodes of Kiss×Sis feel fundamentally wrong. The series makes light of situation which is socially and morally bankrupt in order to legitimise a deviant fetish and to engage in a wish fulfilment exercise that, objectively, should never be fulfilled. This is all churning beneath a terrible production that intersperses each episode with cheesy porn jazz and assaults the definition of music with the opening and ending tracks; the animation meanwhile, by persistent in-betweeners Feel, only just exceeds the definition of a slide-show but at least keeps the sisters emotive in spite of their pudgy proportions. Too tedious to be engaging and too restrained to be titillating, how is it that a series with such a deplorable concept is able to be released in three different media concurrently? A repulsive and abhorrent series that perverts the values of family and should have never been inflicted upon the world.