“Oreno Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai”, or OreImo for short, has been well received by otaku and anime enthusiasts alike, and is by far, “the best series of this season”, with many claiming “best of the year”. (at least an ongoing poll says 10% of DannyChoo’s readers believe it to be better than K-on! and Index) If you’ve already read Leon’s blog about his thoughts on the series, then you’ll know that he highly enjoyed it, and he might even agree with the previous two statements. I am no different. (Stole a few images from you Leon, hope you don’t mind?)
As the series finishes it’s “good end”, and we wait for the alternate ending, OreImo has been an incredibly well put together anime, and I have loved almost every minute of it.
:: Story and Characters || Story – 9 | Characters – 9 ||
I’m not going to give a full synopsis of the series, I mean, the general idea is simple enough. Kyousuke, a typical mature young adult, discovers that his annoying self-centred little sister, is secretly hiding from everyone her secret passion of Anime and Eroge. This completely changes his perspective of her, and is eventually forced into giving “life counselling” for her.
What I thought would have been a pretty mediocre story-line, the original creator, Tsukasa Fushimi, and the anime producers Aniplex have turned it into an interesting, fun to watch and exceedingly humourous anime, that definitely compares to a vaguely similar and just as great “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”.
OreImo’s ‘couple’ of Kirino-Kyouseke reminds me very much of the Hauhi-Kyon relationship. Both based on teens in their school years, Kyousuke (being the Kyon) has to put up with Kirino (being Haruhi), forced to do everything she demands because the normal world depends on it. (Though, I don’t have nearly as much hate for Kirino as much as I do for Haruhi… Perhaps it’s because I see a little bit of Kirino inside me…?) I’m finding that this sort of relationship works really well in creating a fun to watch story. Watching someone being forced into doing something they would normally never even consider, often creates some… interesting… situations.
I really feel for Kyousuke, I really do… Almost as much as I feel for Kyon…
Though the mains would be nothing without the supporting characters, who have issues in their own right… After Kirino’s parents found out about Kirino’s obession themselves… 5hit gets real.
Then you have those anti-anime/otaku Ayase and Kanako… (idiots!)
Kuroneko <3 *nyan*
Saori for some reason scares me a little...
Manami's cute (but her parents are freaking messed!)
and Kirino's nothing without Meruru~!
:: Art and Sound || Art – 7 | Sound – 9 ||
Though, great characters and execution of story is very little when art and sound are neglected. (The first season of Higurashi is an example of that, which is why I’m glad they increased production values for Kai and Rei)
I don’t really pay that much attention to art, but OreImo keeps a good art standard and I found no noticable mutilations of characters and no serious issues in artwork and animation. Aniplex kept good control of the series, and captured the characters well throughout the series. The OPs and EDs were nicely animated, as they should be, even if it’s just an image as was with some episodes.
Music wise, the OP “irony” by ClariS suits the series very well, and the changing EDs are fun and cute too. Can’t say I payed attention to the general background music that much, which would mean that it wasn’t as good as Higurashi or Key’s musical scores.
Though what I find most notable, are the seiyuus, who did absolutely stellar performances! (makes me wonder if the creators were really picky with who they chose?)
Taketatsu Ayana (known mostly for her role as Asuza) mildly surprised me because from what I remember of K-On!, was that she was a fairly reserved character… And Kirino is… far from reserved…
Nakamura Yuuichi has had good experience as a voice-actor, and playing the role of Kyousuke was great. Having played Tomoya, (Clannad) I guess it was almost a no-brainer to get him to play the mildly sarcastic character, who does a lot of thinking to himself and deals with an annoying little sister.
Hanazawa Kana (Tenshi/Kanade, Nadeko, BRS) plays Kuroneko splendidly. (as was expected)
And I think many were surprised (including me) to discover Satou Satomi, playing the role of Manami. I never new she was this cute!
I also loved Meruru’s theme song! (and Kanako’s performance in ep 10) Which might extend to her being played by Yukarin. (Tamura Yukari) I’m not too sure, but I’d like to think it’s a Nanoha reference. (Also, Fate-san? in ep 9?)
Oh, and the beginning of episode 5? I know that was meant to be serious, but I laughed so hard during that! It was so Higurashi!!!!!
Meru-merumerumerumerumerume~!
:: Small Ramble
Though OreImo is not just about some stupid girl’s obsession with Anime and Eroge. Well… actually it somewhat is…
As some of you are aware, anime and manga (particularly eroge) is becoming a “growing issue” in Japan, so much so, that Tokyo recently passed legislation to ban manga depicting under-age characters, and one of the supporters of the legislation went as far as saying that otaku have “corrupt DNA“. It is an onging issue in Japan, and is somewhat addressed in OreImo too.
:: Overall
Despite not having watched nearly as much anime as I’d have liked to this yeah, Oreno Imouto has been an epically fun ride, and it’s safe to say that I loved the series. Though I can’t say I got attached to the series that much, I believe it sets an incredibly high benchmark in anime production. I thoroughly applaud it’s creators and staff in making into such a success and just a brilliant series overall.
Overall – 9 out of 10
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