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Crumbs – is this really the show I liked so much in the first season?
No, I haven’t spoiled myself on the ending (apart from snarky hints from trolls who think they’re being clever with non-spoiler spoiler comments) – though it appears most of the anime audience has by now. At this point I’m honestly wavering on whether to stick with the rest of the season because it really does have trainwreck written all over it, but another part of me says that having come this far, I may as well see this baby all the way through to grim death (which by the time we get to the end, might come as sweet relief).
I don’t really have much to say about this episode, apart from the fact that it was pretty awful. An episode focused half on Ayase and Kuroko, the two characters whose only useful function is that they’re so annoying they make Kirino look good by comparison. Followed by a second-half of romantic foreshadowing for the grisly incest pair. And all through it, Kyosuke acting more like a pussywillow than ever. Did I forget anything?
I don’t know whether the show has changed this much over the last two years or I have, but watching a nightmare of an episode like this one it’s hard to imagine this show was every anything except a collection of the annoying LN trends that it’s partly responsible for popularizing. Fetishizing little sisters? Check. Male leads who long to be treated like welcome mats? Check. Overlong titles? Check. Except the thing is, I really do believe this series was more than that once. I think it was clever, and self-effacing, and quite insightful (some of the time, anyway). Maybe there’s an ourobouros effect here where all those LN cliches have grown so out of control that Fushimi Tsukasa felt he had no choice but to top all the imitators, to show them how it’s done. Whatever the case may be, with the way Oreimo is now it’s hard to believe it was ever as good as I remember it, and almost impossible to have any hope for the future.
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admin
June 9, 2013 at 3:16 pmI'm not sure why people think spoilers which are supposedly only hints aren't spoilers. I really don't want to know.
ishruns
June 9, 2013 at 3:25 pmSorry, the hate reflex was too much for me.
Son Gohan
June 9, 2013 at 3:36 pmThe problem for me is not the incest (for instance I support Mikan from To-LoveRu), it's just that Kirino is a truly disgusting person. After everything that her brother did for her, she can't even say a proper "arigatou".
Ayase was even more awful than Kirino in this episode. Kanako I don't mind too much because at least she is one of the few people in this show (the other one being Kuroneko) who has the guts to badmouth Kirino.
It seems to me that Fushimi-sensei has a distorted image of the tsundere archetype. There is being tsundere and then there is being an ungrateful spoiled bi**h. I never hated the main girl of a harem series this much. Not even the abusive Louise from Zero no Tsukaima.
admin
June 9, 2013 at 3:46 pmI can proudly say I would oppose a Kirino ending on either grounds – incest or the fact that she's not a nice person – even if that was all there was. Put them both together and you have a complete horror show.
ishruns
June 9, 2013 at 4:00 pmWhat if it was done in a Shakespearan way and Kirino was less of a bitch?
Gary Cochran
June 9, 2013 at 4:52 pmGE I could not have said it better. What happened to the show I liked in Season 1? The brother and sister have their worst traits amplified this season (this is supposed to make us enjoy their character more?).
I'm more or less just sitting thru to the end because I have watched every episode and I'm too stubborn to give up. However when I sit down to catch up on this weeks shows this is one of the last I watch (along with Yahari Ore No Seishun).
ishruns
June 9, 2013 at 5:03 pmYou guys do understand that this is entertainment right? If you don't like it you wouldn't watch it would you? I even dropped Shingeki cuz I just didn't like Eren or Mikasa or anyone really.
Kurama Hitsugaya
June 9, 2013 at 5:38 pm@ Ishrun: I don't like it and I'm watching it. I enjoyed the first season, but this one is awful, I'm watching this one because I'm a completionist. You can't only watch good anime, read good novels, watch good films, etc, you have to balance it out with the bad or else you'll lose appreciation for the sublime. If I didn't watch terrible shows like this, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, Senran Kagura, then I wouldn't have as much appreciation for wonderful shows like Chihayafuru and Aoi Bungaku.
a42
June 9, 2013 at 8:04 pmI think the reason this season keeps making you question why you remember season 1 so fondly is because they are pretty much 2 different shows. After skimming the season 1 episodes again the difference for me became clear: season 1 mostly focused on dealing with otaku lifestyle and finding acceptance. There were always hints of the weird sibling relationship, but that relationship being romantic wasn't THE focus for most of the season. It wasn't until the last couple episodes and then the "true route" where the focused shifted instead to the crazy love comedy disaster this season has become.
So I think season 1 felt fresh because it was a different approach to dealing with the otaku lifestyle from an otaku perspective. But once things shifted over to the underlying romance issue all that otaku commentary got lost in the fray. And I think this season has made it clear that the author just can't handle a romance story well at all. Even this episode I guess was meant to humanize Ayase, but I just got confused because I'd always assumed she was an intentional troll character meant to generate laughs at her clear insanity. But if even Ayase is supposed to now be a pairing candidate this show is way off the deep end of love comedy nonsense.
The only thing keeping me going with this show is that I never thought we were supposed to take the characters too seriously so I'm not actually invested in any pairing. But it's really a shame that the author decided to go down this romantic route. I wonder now if all that otaku commentary was ever really a focus or just a huge distraction or something that I read too much into.
Archon Wing
June 9, 2013 at 10:43 pmHaha.
And people were trying to convince me to continue this piece of turd.
Why are you continuing to watch? Sunk cost?
Maxulous
June 9, 2013 at 11:09 pmClearly the title wasn't enough of a caveat.
ishruns
June 10, 2013 at 5:55 amI think everyone should forget Oreimo 2 exists and starting getting excited because in a month Genshiken, the real Otaku lifestyle anime is coming back! Yeah!
Archon Wing
June 11, 2013 at 6:37 pmThe title definitely wasn't, since it was obviously a lie.
Nadavu
June 11, 2013 at 12:04 amI think the biggest difference this season is Kyousuke. S1 Kyousuke wasn't a siscon. Not really. In the center of all his actions was a burning, though often misguided passion to be a good big brother. There was something of a Mutta deep inside him. S2 Kyousuke is a full blown, fully fledged siscon, and proud of it, it seems. And what's that about sexually harassing Ayase? S1 Kyousuke certainly never did that. he never called her his angel and asked her to marry him. In short, in S1 Kyousuke was a good guy who everyone thought was a creep, and that was funny. in S2 he turned out to be that creep, and that's just sad.
Archon Wing
June 11, 2013 at 6:38 pmI agree. Kyousuke was a bit weak willed, but a truly caring brother. The one in season 2 isn't him, but a brainless zombie that happens to look and talk like him.
admin
June 12, 2013 at 12:12 amThis all ties into the notion for me that the author saw all these other copycat LNs and decided he needed to out-trope them, or else just gave into his own perversity.