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I guess we should take pleasure in small favors, especially when that’s all we’re likely to get.
I’m pretty much hanging on like grim death at this point. I’ve been blogging Oreimo for 27 episodes and we’re only 2 away from the TV end so I just don’t have the heart to bag it now, even though I know for my own sanity’s sake I probably should. My overwhelming sense in watching this show now is that it’s either gone completely crazy, or I was completely crazy all along for watching it and only recently noticed.
What really beggars the imagination is that it seems as if Oreimo has abandoned all the better instincts it ever showed and is pursuing all the lunatic elements in its repertoire with abandon. Anytime Ayase is involved “lunatic elements” is never far from the conversation, but it’s inexplicable to me that in the end Oreimo should choose to focus on the incest route and Ayase out of all the possibilities it’s created in two seasons. And not only has Ayase been prominently featured in the last two weeks, it appears as if she’s going to be the focus of next week’s penultimate TV episode. Seriously?
I don’t think there’s even much point in talking about plot with this series anymore (Kyousuke moving into a study apartment seems to be set up as a clumsy plot-driver analog to Kirino’s move to America last year), but as to the small favors, well… Kirino is behaving in a somewhat more human manner towards her brother, though as that seems to be packaged with a growing acknowledgment that they’re seriously considering being a couple it’s a mixed blessing at best. And Kuroneko at least made an appearance here, and there were some laughs as she and Ayase butted heads over Kyosuke (why anyone would care enough about him to do so is another thing that defies logic, though that wouldn’t have been the case in S1). Sadly though, Kuroneko seems to have borded the crazy train along with everyone else and she’s riding in the Green Car, seeming to be trying to push Kyousuke and Kirino into bed together as some sort of master plan where she gets whatever’s left over when Kirinio’s done with him.
Was this ep better than last week’s? Yes, undeniably for pure entertainment value it was. Lacking that grisly wedding-dress bicycle clusterfuck with Kirino and her dog alone would make it so, but there was a snappier pace and sharper tone to the dialogue this week too. But it’s a hollow consolation for me, because it’s hard to ignore the fact that this is a runaway train, with seemingly no hope of stopping before it reaches the cliff. Oreimo has taken leave of its senses, or it never had any and I only recently came to my own. Either way, anything but a harrowing disaster to wrap up events would be a pleasant surprise to me now, so perhaps with expectations so lowered I might just end up less horrified than I expect to be. Small favors, indeed.
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Ken TC
June 16, 2013 at 1:05 pmarthur wrote in epilogue to last volume of LN that there would be a total of 16 eps in season 2 – 3 eps would be aired online… for however much the remaining eps are worth…
fantasticmemes
June 16, 2013 at 1:25 pmI sincerely hope this second season doesn't taint your good memories of the first. The first was genuinely an interesting anime, though if you watched it today, your feelings for it would probably be similar to what you currently have for OreGairu – a mixed bag in terms of quality and execution of cliches, but honestly insightful here and there. Frustrating, but ultimately has its heart in the right place.
I actually genuinely like this second season in the sense that I'm entertained by it and don't find myself bored for a second. And I think that's because I long ago prepared myself for the inevitabilities of what a second season of OreImo would entail – the incest route HAD to be pursued and almost every light novel series ever written seems to run out of steam the longer they go on. In my mind, I've dismissed everything that's happened this season as "fanfic". This series really ended with the Good End in season one, and this is just an alternate universe, complete with OOC characters and bullshit shipping. On that level, it's quite entertaining.
But please don't fall into the trap of thinking the series was always like this. It did, genuinely, have a heart.
admin
June 16, 2013 at 1:54 pmIt gets harder and harder to convince myself of that every week, but I still suspect you're right.
John Tich
June 16, 2013 at 2:07 pmit had to take the incest route the godamn title suggests it so…It's unlikely that they'd end the series with Kyousuke with another girl aside from Kirino
ishruns
June 16, 2013 at 5:39 pmDidn't Kyousuke become more of a groveller after he admitted to liking Kirino (end of true end). Before that he wasn't as much (though even then he was too much to be taken seriously). I think this is very common in LNs. Kraft Lawrence becomes a semi-Kyousuke for Horo's excessive bitchiness in the LNs in the volumes that are unadapted. Somehow in Japan Otaku can only date if they act like doormats. 50 shades of grey must sell well with the men there.
jim
June 16, 2013 at 8:34 pmI'm definitely watching this now just to finish what I started. The things that happen in this show follows some weird logic I can't come to terms with. Like…nothing makes sense: what the characters do, what they say, it's ridiculous. A lot of crappy anime happens to have the same problem.
This is also probably one of the last harem-like animes I'll consider watching.
I always wondered how some of the crazier otaku get to become who they are, and I can sorta see how now. They watch stuff like this too much and their view on reality becomes distorted. But of course, this is my personal bias, people can live how they want, but to me, anime like this is unhealthy to the mind lol
Juan Migelle Angelo Schroth
June 17, 2013 at 1:59 amThere was a small light at the end of the tunnel for me this week. Kuroneko said she'll make it so that whatever ending occurs is one that is best for her. However, with the shows tendency to make it so that what's best for Kirono=what's best for everybody, the light I see is still pretty dim.
btw, the whole "sex with my sister" finally came out of somebody's mouth this week. Though I really wasn't expecting it to come out of Ruri.
admin
June 17, 2013 at 2:49 amThat light is the runaway train barreling straight towards us.
Archon Wing
June 19, 2013 at 1:10 amNah, Enzo, I don't think it will end so comfortably. That light is the last spark of a dying universe. What remains is oblivion itself, and it shall be a slow one.