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I just have to ask: I can’t be the only one who has no idea WTF is going on here, can I?
In one very obvious way, this was a pleasant episode of Oreimo. I mean, Kirino acted like a human being. That’s progress, right? Not only that, but she acted like a human being towards Kyousuke. I’m not a fan of deathbed conversions and I certainly knew this one was coming – acting nice now doesn’t excuse 25 episodes of being incredibly self-involved and cruel. And Kyousuke is still devolved into a blubbering amoeba whenever Kirino is involved. But there’s no denying the simple fact that Kirino is a lot less annoying to watch when she tones down her act as she did this week.
Here’s the problem, though – none of this makes any damn sense. It doesn’t make sense that Kyousuke and Kuroneko act like the world revolves around Kirino. That’s the fundamental illogic at the core of this entire mythology, really – everyone acts as if Kirino is the center of the universe and all things can only exist if she so wills it. Kyousuke being a spineless siscon I can just about accept – some guys surely are and the heart wants what it wants (though that doesn’t make him any more admirable). But it isn’t just him – Kirino treats pretty much everyone the way an allergy sufferer treats a tissue and they come back begging for more. They act only with her approval, and with her interests foremost in mind. For all that’s holy, why? Is it some sort of personification of the Divine Cult of Imouto Worship that seems to have fueled the LN boom in recent years?
That’s why for all the seeming positives in this episode – which was perfectly well-executed – almost none of it worked for me in the least. I have no idea why Kuroneko thinks she can only be happy if Kirino is happy, too. Not wanting to put Kyousuke on the spot because she knows she’d lose to Kirino if she did? That I can understand – it’s strategic thinking. But Kuroneko’s whole plan sails far beyond that horizon into the realms of pure illogic and perverse nonsense. And she’s one of the few people in the cast who ever makes any sense – what chance do the rest of them have?
The other thing I don’t understand is what the series is trying to tell us is really happening – and going to happen – between Kyousuke and Kirino. Neither of them wants the other to date. Neither one of them will flat-out admit that they want an incestuous relationship (though Kyousuke has come pretty close a couple of times). So… what? Where does that leave us? Do either of them believe siblings having sex is wrong? Does the show believe it’s wrong, or want us to? At this point I have absolutely no idea. There’s a certain fascination in just how obscure its real purposes are here, but ultimately it’s just another log on the fire of nonsense at the heart of the series. The only thing I can say for sure is if they play the “I’m adopted” card for either of them, I’m out – not just as a blogger, but as a viewer.
So where does that leave us, with 4 + 3 episodes to go? You got me. Kuroneko is moving to the “Mad City of Chiba” Matsudo (I’ve no idea why it’s called that, but it seemingly really is), which means a different school but a fairly easy commute by train. So theoretically she’s still in the game, though her happy picture with the three misfits together makes no more sense to me than any of the rest of this. In theory she still wants Kyousuke, though who knows what the hell she really wants. Kyousuke has actually gotten a “you’re welcome” from Kirino and had her call him by name at last – and it’s pretty pathetic how happy that makes him. So maybe, on the upside, we won’t have to endure watching him be her personal footstool for the next 7 episodes. No one else at this point really seems to matter, and it would be impossible to have an ending revolving around any but the three main characters now without it being a complete asspull. So ultimately I guess, Oreimo comes down to the same set of questions it always has – are Kyousuke and Kirino really, truly in love with each other and will they actually give in to those feelings if they are? If it feels like nothing much has changed over the last 25 episodes, that’s probably why.
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ishruns
June 2, 2013 at 1:35 pmYou're not the only one to go WTF, but probably the only one left who cares at all. Most other Oreimo fans, and i have met some of the most unpleasant ones recently, are fanboys and nothing more. You might just be the last man standing, the rearguard, for common sense and a coherent plot to pave through Oreimo. Everyone else seems to have left.
One notices that galge adaptations are less than what they were three or four years ago. I was happy for that as most galge are boring, cliched, low budget and overall crap (excluding the Key-Kyoani ones). I have only just realized that galge's haven't been driven to extinction by those problems but rather because they are being replaced and the culprit is none other than LNs. LNs, well only the harem romcoms which dominate the medium, have become the mainstay of harem, moe and fetishes.
Why is that? No idea, but my best guess is that firstly LNs DO NOT HAVE multiple routes (Oreimo's are just due to airing conflicts and are effectively longer remakes). The fanboys that watch this in Japan know what happens before it does like a manga. But secondly because LNs are text based books it allows for a more first person and self-gratifying clever approach in style that wins fans over a manga based moe pandering shit. Lastly manga's are pictures and thus fans can see what happens but LNs do not offer this and thus the disgusting desire to see a fetish animated is more, much like how sane people want great books in the civilized world to be made into movies.
I sound like I have a vendetta and I do. I liked Oregairu and Hentai Ouji but those recent imouto characters are like girls with moustaches. No matter how much you want to like them you will dump them and delete their number. Its too gross and I for one can't stand it.
GE, you're not covering either of those shows but you still are with Oreimo and after 24 episodes I do want to know what happens to this hideous girl out of curiosity but I don't want to actually see her. So I'm just going to read your reviews. That way all the doormat Kyousuk, bitchy Kirino, nonsenical Kuroneko (I thought this before last week)and other possible clumps of bushy hair are avoided. Hope you stick with it for my sake.
Highway
June 2, 2013 at 2:33 pmI honestly think you're far too hung up on the idea of incest in this show. One, that's a huge step that neither of them have shown any indication to me of taking, especially Kirino. Two, Kyousuke is obviously interested in other girls, much more than Kirino. The way I see it, the show just teases enough of the sibling relationship to keep it on the field, but it's the kid you stick out in right field because the ball never gets hit that way.
I thought Kuroneko's grand scheme was pretty obvious as well. She loves Kyousuke, and she loves being friends with Kirino. But the person Kirino became when she dated Kyousuke wasn't the one she was friends with, nor one who got along with Kyousuke. Kuroneko doesn't want Kirino and Kyousuke together. She wants her friend Kirino to be happy for her and Kyousuke to be together and friends with both. And at this point, she'd rather work on it from the direction that Kirino's more comfortable with.
Kuroneko is not trying to get Kirino and Kyousuke together as a couple. At all.
admin
June 2, 2013 at 2:50 pmIn a world where people did things that made sense and acted with any degree of logic, that theory would be quite persuasive. For Oreimo as presented, it sounds like wishful thinking.
At the very least, I have no idea why Kuroneko gives a rat's ass what Kirino thinks, because the series has never given us any reason to have an idea. It certainly can't be in the way Kirino treats Kuroneko, which is hardly friend behavior. If there had least been an effort made to pursue some other train of reasoning – as a loner she desperately wants to connect with the popular girl, whatever, take your pick – but it didn't. It just throws this nonsense out of Kuroneko's mouth now and asks us to accept it.
My worry, frankly, is that there are two options – incest, or the void. I'm not sure there's anything at the heart of this series if the incest isn't there. What's better, an incest end or an end which basically says the series had no point all along?
Highway
June 2, 2013 at 5:49 pmI've always seen Kirino and Kuroneko's behavior towards each other as pretty much an equally balanced battle of friends. Neither one is particularly nice to the other in ways that people would tend to think traditional friends do. They have a deep friendship that works for them, be it picking on each other or commonality with their interests, I'd say they're far closer friends than either one is with Saori, and probably closer friends than Ayase and Kirino, no matter that Kirino has sometimes referred to Ayase as her 'best friend'. And they spend far more time conversing and interacting than we see. Perhaps the disconnect you have is that you don't see the depth of that friendship.
So if Kuroneko's dating Kyousuke is going to throw a wrench in a strong friendship they both value, that's why it matters to Kuroneko what Kirino thinks. Especially when she believes that she can bring about a third way, one where she gets everything she wants.
Nero
June 2, 2013 at 3:06 pmEverything would have been solved if Kirino was a better actor…
JOANNA!
June 2, 2013 at 3:21 pmPretty mixed feelings about this episode. On one hand, I like this new Kirino a lot. On the other, I didn't understand Kuroneko's 'grand scheme' at all. Theoretically, what she planned will work out but there's no way any rational person will do what she did.
Juan Migelle Angelo Schroth
June 2, 2013 at 3:44 pmGE what do you think Kyouseke would have answered? Is he so much of a siscon that he would have chosen Kirino?
admin
June 3, 2013 at 12:09 amYes.
latinalover
June 3, 2013 at 6:41 pmhe is so much of an siscon that he almost sexual assaulted kirino.
Gary Cochran
June 2, 2013 at 5:22 pmI too hated this episode and when it was over I was left scratching my head and going WTF??? at the mess I just watched. From Kirino saying over and over how much she hated her brother to the fact Kuroneko told him how much she loved him and then moves away in the middle of the night with no warning just made me cringe.
latinalover
June 3, 2013 at 2:55 amhey GE what do you think about next week episode title? (my little sister can't be in a wedding dress)
TheOriginalArcader
June 3, 2013 at 4:37 amIf I had to guess, she is modelling a wedding dress as part of her job and numbnuts goes all siscon on her *or* they some how dress him up as her groom and he gets all happy about it or something… yuck.
latinalover
June 3, 2013 at 6:36 pmwhat if kyousuke drools?
dasdingus
June 3, 2013 at 3:05 am"everyone acts as if Kirino is the center of the universe and all things can only exist if she so wills it."
I find this statement interesting because the frustration I felt from this episode of Oreimo was very similar to the frustration I feel with Haruhi Suzumiya where Haruhi acts like a huge self-centered jerk towards everybody but never gets called on it. The only difference is that she actually is the center of her universe whereas Kirino is only metaphorically the center of the Oreimo universe which, as you said, makes the deference displayed towards her inexplicable.
pross1989
June 3, 2013 at 5:08 amQuite frankly, I've never understood the appeal of this show. Forgive me if I sound completely ignorant or am unfairly reductionistic, but Oreimo looks not that different from just about any other harem-themed anime story. All the basic elements are there:
Character-wise, they are all your basic anime archetypes:
1. the cowardly pushover of a main character (your typical self-insert for Japanese teen/young adult males).
2. the childhood friend (an obligatory character in these types of stories)
3. the little sister (the "tsundere")
4. the psycho girl (the "yandere")
5. The quiet friend (the "dandere")
Plot-wise:
1. All the girls somehow end up falling in love with the spineless main guy
2. Incest-based romance
3. Various episodes that explore otaku fantasies
I understand that this show is somewhat of a pioneer in popularizing incest-themed stories, but aside from that, I don't really get why it's special. I watched a couple of episodes in the first and second seasons and found nothing to write home about.
Every week, I read you complaining about the direction the plot and the characters are taking. And while I sympathize with your sense of frustration and disappointment, I feel that these sentiments are falling on deaf ears, because I don't think that these stories are meant to be filled with sense, depth or meaning. Rather, they're meant to be fulfill otaku expectations and fantasies. As you have said to another poster in the comments above, expecting the characters of Oreimo to behave rationally is "wishful thinking."
Archon Wing
June 3, 2013 at 6:55 amOreimo has good episodes in a vacuum. Individually, the parts don't seem too bad. You have Kirino progression, and you have Kuroneko's character development and growth with Kyousuke. But it's ruined by the fact that Kyousuke is a wet sack. It's not really the worst part though– the series wants it all and you can see the result. Virtually everything about this series is half assed. Even in season 1, we had some possible Kirino developments… and backtrack. Kuroneko OVAs… and backtrack. Kirino's the center of the world and causes everyone to fail due to the pull of the gravity. It ruins her as well.
There is absolutely zero sincerity in the narrative. It's illustrated most strongly by that shitty episode in season 1 where they make an anime out of Kirino's script. But while season 1 had some pretense of hiding this shit, this season just comes with this kind of plastic pandering that I admit I find endearing when it comes with Kuroneko, but it's extremely hollow and empty. It's not exactly To love ru-tier or Shana-tier when it comes to worthless romantic threads, but it's also not fun to watch.
The problem is not what the ending will be. The problem is that the way the story is set up, every ending will be inherently, shit. It doesn't matter who Kyousuke ends up with. Everyone loses.
admin
June 3, 2013 at 8:57 amI can't deny the possibility that you're right. I don't whether S1 was actually that much better, or it's simply a matter of my getting that much more burned out on LN cliches since it aired.
Kurama Hitsugaya
June 3, 2013 at 8:10 amThat "Kirino is so cool, I could fall for her" line really sunk my hopes.
Elevator
June 3, 2013 at 6:23 pmI thoroughly enjoyed this episode – mostly likely because I don't care about this show at all.
latinalover
June 3, 2013 at 6:39 pmthey cut some of the best parts in the light novel from the anime in this episode like:
“Kuroneko didn’t pick up the phone either, and desperate Kyousuke went to her house, which she found completely empty. Feeling empty and tired, he returned home and fell asleep. Once he woke up, he thought about calling his reliable Manami, but he had second thoughts. No, there’s someone better to ask for advice to, and fortunately her door is not locked.
He looks at Kirino, who’s sleeping. Like the Sleeping Beauty, thinks siscon Kyousuke. He tries to wake her up, but she keeps sleeping. ‘She might not even notice it if I touched her boobs’ thinks Kyousuke who has become a boob fetishist lately. I wish he had done so. Meanwhile, Kirino is having a wet dream about Miyabi-chan, from the Sissis game, and ends up hugging Kyousuke in her sleep. He finally wakes her up… but of course she panics. He covers her mouth with his hand.
“Calm down, calm down!!”
As Kyousuke himself admits, it looks as if he was raeping her.
“Kirino, this is not it! It’s a mistake! I’m gonna release you, but don’t cry please!”
“You were thinking of assaulting your imouto in her sleep?!?!”
Mwhaha, maybe she was looking forward to it, poor Kirino.
“And you did the same to me once!” says Kyousuke, and Kirino has no option but to accept it. But she doesn’t want him to turn on the lights because… she’s not wearing any make up! Haha, I love it how Kirino doesn’t her Oniichan to look at her if she’s not pretty~”
and
“Later, Kirino and Kyousuke visit Kuroneko’s new house, which is much better than the old one. Kirino suggests “keeping” Kuroneko in their house. While Kuroneko makes breakfast (the spent the night there), the siblings talk about both not wanting the other to get a lover.
“Siscon!”
“And you are a brocon!”
“It’s OK in my case, since I’m an imouto. And you are disgusting, because you are the brother”
“What kind of logic is that?!”
Meanwhile, Kuroneko serves breakfast… wearing a maid dress and nekomimi! Kirino gets all jealous because she (thinks?) Kuroneko is trying to seduce Kyousuke even if she dumped him!”
Beckett
June 5, 2013 at 4:46 amIf those are the good parts of the LN I have to wonder just why in the fuck I am watching this show anymore.
latinalover
June 5, 2013 at 10:16 pmthe manga is worst because kyousuke and kirino 10 times more siscon and brocon than in the anime
admin
June 6, 2013 at 11:59 pmAnd into the spam folder you go.