Uchi no Otouto-domo ga Sumimasen – 06

I’m pretty much at a loss about what to do with these two series. It would be a lot easier if they didn’t air on the weekend, when the vast majority of my blogging schedule does. Objectively I think this show is probably good enough to cover but it’s not a slam-dunk. A digest post is probably not the right long-term answer but it buys me another week to decide what is, if nothing else.

I’m likewise of two minds about what went down in this episode. I respect Uchi no Otouto-domo for taking on the hikikomori issue more or less head-on. And in a relatively non-jingoistic or sensationalistic way. And some of what it had to say was quite on-point I thought, especially as regards how easy it is to just ignore the situation and follow the path of least resistance where the affected party is concerned.

On the other hand, I thought this was all resolved way too easily. And there should probably have been more consequences for Ito forcing her way into Syu’s life (and room), which was pretty reckless even if well-intentioned. The MMORPG was kind of a get out of jail free card for the writing, a way to “fix” the problem without really fixing it. But I get it – this is a situation with no easy answers in real life, so there are none in writing about it either. It’s really a dual issue because you can’t separate the bullying from the reclusion – as is indeed very commonly the case.

So all in all, a mixed bag. Ito gently telling off Gen for acting like he knew Syu backwards and forwards was spot-on. It would be easy to rail at the family for letting the status quo continue for as long as it did, but these are kids, and it is much easier to do that than the alternative. It’s the parents who really ought to be ashamed, obviously the father much more so than a brand-new stepmother (but her too). I just hope things aren’t all neat and tidy from here on out – the process of Syu trying to reintegrate to society would almost certainly be a supremely turbulent one, with a lot of “one step forward, two steps back”. Let’s see if the writing portrays that somewhat realistically.

Kore Kaite Shine – 06

Of these two shows, Kore Kaite Shine offers less grist for the mill from my perspective. Akagi-sensei and Shin-Ei are doing all they’re able to make it work as an anime, and I’m sure it will work for a lot of people. But I can’t shake my impression that Toyoda is pandering hard here, doing everything possible to grab at the commercial success that’s often eluded him. And it’s worked for the most part. But the result is a series that’s a strange combination of sincerity (the mangaka stuff) and calculated performance art.

If last week’s ep was kind of a montage of everything I like about this series, this one was everything that whiffs. This production committee utopia he’s created where males don’t exist and nothing can’t be fixed with CGDCT never worked for me. It plays like a series written by an A.I. (not Ai) instructed on what sells in 2026, except Toyoda is talented enough that it often clicks anyway. I just always feel like he’s fighting against himself and losing – I can see what he’d write if he was prioritizing the series as a work of fiction, and then he veers away into another round of marketing.

But hey, if you’re invested in that side of Japanese culture the Comitia stuff is certainly interesting. And sure, you can totally get behind how amazing it must feel to have someone buy a copy of your work for the first time. I thought the editor refusing to buy Ai’s manga and telling her why was the one really honest moment of the episode, but Toyada couldn’t resist playing to the crowd and thus couldn’t just leave it there. And therein lies the problem, really.