What if you woke up tomorrow and found out you have a dozen sisters? And they're all hot?

That's the question posed by Sister Princess, an anime with lots of color, lots of flirting, and lots of screaming denials by our lead male character, Wataru.

There's little appeal for the guys in Sister Princess, other than trying to put yourself in Wataru's shoes. You too would be screaming "It can't be true!" several times each episode. Especially if you were served curry dishes every night.

We begin with Wataru, the smartest kid in his class, discovering that a computer error has kept him out of the school he applied to. It was the only entrance exam he took, and when the computer tally shows he got every question wrong, he's shipped off to Star Gazers Hill West University on the strange Promised Island.

Upon arrival, he begins running into beautiful girls at every turn (and every elderly man there strangely looks like his home butler, Jeeves...hehe). He flirts with the girls, shops with them, and drools over them. That is, until that first night, when they tell him he's their big brother.

Four of the sisters are introduced in the first episode, with the rest coming in the second. The 13th sister - a girl who has been ordered to watch Wataru by someone we haven't met yet - likely isn't related to him, but we could be surprised.

Each of the sisters has their own quirk, though other than their hair, eyes and voices, they mostly look the same (and most have skirts so short, they would make a Catholic school nun scream).

One's a cook with no taste buds, one's a cheerleader, one speaks in a French accent, one tells him the "shadow of death" is always following him, one's so career-minded her alarm clock wakes her by promising her a research grant. The sisters are very cool characters, and even through one DVD volume, you can see they'll be developed nicely as the story goes along.

Some are creepy, some are whiny, some come on to him in a most definitely non-sisterly way. More than once, Wataru accidentally falls directly on top of one of his sisters. Relative or not, he gets excited.

The interaction between Wataru and his sisters starts off funny and soon delves into madness. One of the sisters organizes a time sheet for their big brother, so every sister can spend time with him. Not one, but two sisters beg him to walk them home from school. When he gets back to the house, EVERY sister is there to greet him.

Lying awake one night, listening to the constant female chatter in the rooms around him, Wataru decides to escape the island.

This is a funny series, one that will induce a few out-loud chuckles, even from you doubting boys out there. Sister Princess is an anime that aims to show us the importance of childhood and how even your younger sisters have a lesson or two to teach you.

What's more, there's a mysterious element at play that is only briefly broached during the first four episodes. Someone's watching Wataru, marking his every move. And just how did this kid get this far without knowing he had so many sisters?

Everything looks sharp and detailed, with no noticeable grain, aliasing or other flaws. The animation is dull to begin with, but livens up nicely once we reach the island and the sisters. It looks like the animators had some trouble getting twilight right, but other than that, no complaints. We especially appreciated the background detail and colors in some scenes, especially in this Disneyland-like island town. Even the segue animation is pretty.

Dolby 5.1 for English, 2.0 for Japanese. The difference is noticeable when you listen to both tracks. Bad? Not really. Just noticeable. These first four episodes are mostly comprised of dialogue with a few songs and some sound effects that would fit in The Three Stooges. The music and sounds match the animation well: fun and flashy.

There's a very cool English voice cast interview (yeah, that's Hilary Haag, who did Ryo in Princess Nine). The character profiles on the cover are neat, and for each DVD in the series, more will be included. Clean opening and closing animation are included. ADV also does very nifty self-promotions for its Anime Network cable station and Newtype magazine. There's also production sketches, DVD credits and ADV previews. Something we noticed lately is that ADV is gearing its previews to the audience watching the DVD. For Sister Princess, Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat and Wedding Peach previews are available. You wouldn't find those previews on an action anime DVD. Smart.

It's funny, it's cute, it's bright, and it plays well to female anime fans. While it doesn't have a hook that will get many male fans interested, it tells a good story without being cheesy. And there's more going on than meets the eye. Recommended.