The Shiunji Family Children Is One of the Most Unbelievable Harem Manga

Despite the title and the introduction suggesting The Shiunji Family Children is about a family that so happens to include five incredible young women, it quickly goes right into being a harem manga. However, the thing about this one is due to the backstory, I felt it came across as incredibly improbably while reading it.

The Shiunji Family Children follows seven siblings. As the oldest male at 16, Arata is considered the “heir” of the family. He’s joined by his 18-year-old sister Banri, 17-year-old Seiha, his twin Ouka, his younger twin siblings Minami and Sion at 15, and 14-year-old Kotono. Much of the introduction hypes up the family, which is known in the area for having these five amazing young women in it. 

Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for the general premise for the story of The Shiunji Family Children below.

Reiji Miyajima sort of foreshadows things to come in the introduction. Arata has never had a girlfriend and is consulting his younger brother with a long-term girlfriend for tips. He has a crush, but there’s some past trauma keeping him from making a move. However, the two are also discussing an incident in which their youngest sister Kotono expressed her feelings for Arata and said she is in love with him. 

It’s not long after that the reveal comes. Their mother is deceased and their father announces at a family dinner celebrating Kotono’s fifteenth birthday that they are all adopted. The only blood siblings are the twins Minami and Sion. (Of course, given the ages of everyone and their hair colors all being different on the cover, I saw the red flags flying before the dinner actually happened.) After all of the siblings taking a moment together to discuss what happened, with Banri kicking off the “I can’t not see you guys as my siblings charge,” The Shiunji Family Children immediately jumps into harem manga territory with many of them suddenly seeming to question their feelings for Arata.

(As a warning, there’s actually a scenario in the first volume between Arata and Kotono that left me very uncomfortable due to the nature of the situation and her age. There’s some comfort in Arata handling it as well as possible, but I felt it was really unnecessary.)

I’ve gone through so many harem series in my time, and there’s always a suspension of reality. We aren’t going to see situations like The Quintessential Quintuplets, Love Hina, Ouran High School Host Club, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom, Fushigi Yugi, The Wallflower, and Tenchi Muyo in real life, after all. But in this case, I think it was the execution that kept me from immediately being on board with it. Within not even 24 hours of the revelation, everyone’s suddenly coming to potentially romantic realizations? Like yes, I played Fire Emblem Fates, but that seems a little too fast.

Still, for people who do like harem manga, the premise does provide multiple “will they or won’t they” moments, as well as “which one will win” thoughts. Since all of the sisters begin behaving questionably toward Arata after the revelation, a reader may wonder if one could win. Especially given the actions of two of them. It is not unlike the situation in The Quintessential Quintuplets. 

However, what I appreciated even more is the thought of “will anything even happen at all” in the story. There are certain assertions that things will remain the same. And honestly, given the nature of their relationships before now, I’d consider continuing reading in the hopes that maybe they would still keep up that happy familial bond. 

Given how early The Shiunji Family Children is even in its run in Japan, as it only just started in February 2022, there’s a chance Reiji Miyajima could adjust the pacing, add more plausibility, and maybe make things a little more sound while still going with the madcap concept. Honestly, I’d even love to see The Shiunji Family Children surprise me and become a subversive series where everyone does end up just… bonding as siblings and showing how suddenly everyone being adopted doesn’t mean you suddenly have potential girlfriends in your own family. Given how the first volume ends, I doubt that’s an option, but it’s probably the only thing that’d make me keep reading.

Volume 1 of The Shiunji Family Children is out now, and Yen Press hasn’t shared a release date for volume 1 of the manga yet.