Dysfunctional

I've seen a couple of episodes of the Animax show, The Family Defensive Alliance. The show started late December and was billed as 'The Incredibles of Anime'. Well, it's about a family in Japan that has more or less been drafted into being the defenders of the planet by a race of secretive aliens. Now, using special cards in their possession, the family members transform into supersuit-wearing 'superheroes' employing galactic-class weaponry against various invading alien monsters.

The schtick here is that the family, The Daichis, are about as dysfunctional as a family can be. The Dad, Mamoru, is an overweight, meek, indecisive wimp. Mom (and one hot momma at that) Seiko is about as sensitive and sweet as a chili pepper and is overbearing to the hilt, especially to shy daughter Nozomi. Finally, the youngest son Dai is a gross little brat. The financial situation is dismal. Mom wants a divorce. The kids are at each other's throats. And they're supposed to save the world?
It's this very manic family situation paired with giant monster invasions that will either drive you away from this series or keep you watching episode per episode. This is a lot more gritty than Pixar's film ever was, which is actually cool in a way as it should make any sentimental pay-offs that much more meaningful. However, it probably will get a lot darker before it gets better since several aliens in, the family is heavily in debt (they earn money for victories but have to pay for every weapon they use!) and they're still not the picture-perfect album material. Well, deep inside they probably really do love each other. Maybe. Oh well.
What this series does have is really slick and cool animation, pretty lovely character designs and a moody ending song that makes you wonder if there's a happy ending in there somewhere. Hmm. We'll just have to see. The Family Defensive Alliance is shown every 8AM on weekdays on Animax.

NOTE: This series is actually an anime originally titled The Daichis: Earth's Defense Family. Good luck in finding this obscure title in anime shop's, since I haven't been able to track it down.