It wouldn’t be a new season in Japan without another incest comedy, and the preposterously titled Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne carries the banner forward for Winter 2011.
It’s impossible not to compare this series to the likes of Kiss x Sis and especially Oreimo, coming right on that series’ heels as this one does. And unfortunately everything Oreimo is, this show isn’t – but then, at least it isn’t trying to be. There’s no subtlety here whatsoever – little sister is a brocon desperate to deflower her brother. Onii-chan is openly turned on by his sister, and has a hentai collection encompassing not just siscon but S & M as well. The fanservice is gratuitous and plentiful, where in Oreimo is was judicious and somewhat organic to the story.
But again, this is a different show – a straight-up sex comedy that harbors no deceptions about its intent. At least we did get one thing out of the way in the first episode – Nao isn’t really Shusuke’s little sister. She was adopted after her parents died in an accident when she was four, which also cost her her memories. This info is revealed to the audience at the same time it is to Nao, and I suppose it’s meant to make us feel less freaked out by the sexual situations in the series – which seems pretty hypocritical to me, as this is a show clearly trying to trade on the taboo aspects of the main relationship. Nao’s reaction to the news was pretty funny – first horrified that all of her incest fantasies were no longer possible, then elated that she can actually have a legit relationship with her brother.
The show itself isn’t terrible – I laughed a few times. It clearly benefits from the strong performances of Kitamura Eri and Toyonaga Toshiyuki in the lead roles. The production values from ZEXCS are nowhere near the quality you saw in Oreimo but the show has an interesting look, very much like a manga page coming to life. I assume from the revelation that all bets are off now, and we’re going to see lots and lots of ecchi from here on out. But I really can’t help but wonder why this incest fad has such traction at the moment – it’s clearly one of the hottest trends in anime right now. Why? Is this really a hot topic in Japan, or are mangaka and studios simply looking for new ways to shock people and this is the flavor of the week?
