I’ll just say up front, any DVD extra where Manami says “Kuroneko-san, I guess the real dirty whore here is you instead of me!” is OK in my book. Not to mention we found out that Yuuichi Nakamura doesn’t want a guy to lick him.

Oreimo always manages to mine some genuine interest out of these animated commentaries, among the best and most innovative extras I can remember. This volume the ouroboros got even more mind-bending as they were commenting on previous commentaries, and even on imaginary commentaries. The first – episode 11 – featured Kyousuke and Ayase. It’s always reassuring to see that Ayase is every bit the nut job she appeared to be, and her commentary form is no exception. There are strong mentions of manga/VN spoilers involving she and Kyou, though they don’t come right out and deliver them explicitly. Personally I can’t see that pairing at all, but I’ve given up trying to figure out Kyou’s head. Ayase’s imagined commentary featuring “Belphegor” Manami and Kuroneko was the highlight of this edition.

Then, we got the commentary (theoretically the final one) for the last TV ep – “Good End”. This featured, fittingly, Kyousuke and Kirino, with the aforementioned Nakamura-san, seiyuu for Kyousuke. Poor Kyou was nervous and tongue-tied interviewing himself, and didn’t seem to appreciate Kirino’s licking suggestion. I love the meta-reality in these things, where the writers really have a good time playing with the normal creator/viewer relationship. There are questions asked here that could have been in the eps but weren’t, but were surely in some viewers’ minds – “Why didn’t you stop me from leaving?” “Why did you give up on the exchange program?” And Kyouske says what I’ve been saying since episode 15 – the “True End” aired – he and Kirino haven’t really changed a bit!

There are strong hints in this last commentary that more anime is to come. Not just the persistent referring to the “end of this season”, but also an outright statement that more anime is on the way. Frankly, it would be a shock if it weren’t – the BD/DVD sales and the ongoing VN/manga tracks are compelling reasons to continue. I sure hope it happens because the bastards have done a damn good job teasing the rest of the story in these commentaries…