When Princess Rita of Wellber stabs her fiancé, there is no time to hang around and explain why she was forced to take action- instead, her only hope of survival is to flee in the company of female thief Tina. Now, Rita and Tina have only a matter of days to elude their would-be captors and reach the country of Greedom- because if they fail, Rita’s life and the peace of an entire nation will be at stake.
In the great realm of anime, there’s a series for every extreme; from the heady heights of Dennou Coil to the murky depths of Shining Tears X Wind, every possibility is covered. And whilst it is easy to rave and fangirl or rant and tear apart, one thing is much harder- stringing together a few sentences about a series as completely and utterly average as Sisters of Wellber.
Some series from the lower tiers get recommended here at Azure Flame because they actually have some merit as light entertainment- shallow and guilty pleasures though they may be, they at least have some merit as the kind of diversions that help you relax and unwind after a long day. Unfortunately, Sisters of Wellber is so rooted in mediocrity that it cannot even provide that function; every single episode covers some mundane and generic aspect of Rita and Tina’s journey from Wellber to Greedom, complete with villages of the week, villains who must inevitably be thwarted no matter what they try, and all sorts of clichéd storylines from “our two heroines fall out over a lack of trust but make up again” to “an evil mayor oppresses a village for no real reason”. It’s the kind of thing that people tell you will improve later on, but the sad fact is that each episode is as dull, forgettable and throwaway as the last.
Unsurprisingly, the characters are just as uninspiring- leads Rita and Tina aretoo bland and generic to care about, whilst their companions Sherry the green fairy and Cyrano the talking tank are simply irritants to be brushed aside. On the side of the villains, we have the laughably unbalanced Prince Gernia (a man who slaughters blue-eyed women because they remind him of his adulterous mother) and his two deputies Galahad and Jamille, each of whom spend every week failing to do much to stop our heroines. Each character seems like little more than a reject from other, better series- they go through the motions and act out the story given to them, but there is no reason to empathise with them or care about their situation.
In keeping with its content, visually, Sisters of Wellber is solid but not outstanding- character designs are reasonably attractive but nothing special, whilst simplistic CG effects abound. Background music is likewise fitting for the series without being particularly inspiring- only the faster paced parts of the ED theme are even vaguely memorable.
Final Thoughts
Unlike lesser series which can at least be watched for light entertainment, there is no real reason to devote time to Sisters of Wellber- it is just too generic and mediocre to justify spending 325 minutes of your life on it. No, it isn’t among the worst that anime has to offer, but that doesn’t mean there’s any particular merit in watching it.
Tier: White-
‘m actually watching through this at the moment, going to start the last episode at some point.
It has these brief glimpses of what could’ve been a pretty good series here and there, but it’s pretty much just… eh.