The season itself ended a few weeks ago, but in
the last few days we once again had a handful of OVAs to offer a ‘true end’, so
I’ve been waiting to write this. This time, we didn’t get a superior alternative
the series badly needed. This time they took the show to its logical
conclusion, and I’m sure there can only be a small section of fandom, Eastern
or Western, that liked it.
I was quite happy to have more
OreImo after rather enjoying the first series, despite knowing
consciously it was uninspired stuff and having big problems with the premise.
Season two switches animation studios to Kuroshitsuji and Sword Art Online fan-pleasers A-1 Pictures, and despite some much-needed development
of minor characters, it ends up being rather painful to watch, as it seems
determined to make all of Kyousuke’s potential lovers and make them all deeply
unappealing. As if his harem isn’t absurd enough, we then have to go through
the process of elimination, and unlike nonsense like Da Capo or a Key VN, we can’t have the characters turn into foxes or turn out to be ghosts in an
ostensibly more realistic story, so they all just get made to act really
stupidly.
There are still things that
are done very right here – Kuroneko’s silly pretenses, the little gags
revolving around Akihabara and the outspoken fujoshi in the club. But, as the
series goes so far as to make reference to, the same things are being done by
other shows, and done better – the adolescent delusion thing in Chuunibyou,
the otaku world with yaoi humour in Genshiken, and the harem angle…well,
everywhere.
What really puts nails into
coffins, though, is the way that almost the entirety of Kyousuke’s ridiculous
harem gets dismantled personality-wise. Where before they were flawed but
ultimately likeable characters with enjoyable quirks and foibles, here they
become severely difficult to like. Apart from Saori, who finally gets the
inevitable funny-looking-girl-is-actually-sublime-beauty-when-she-takes-off-her-glasses
treatment and a remarkable trivial backstory, most of the character development
goes entirely the wrong way. Cute Kuroneko made her fanboys cheer by finally
taking the initiative and dating Kyousuke, but immediately began a programme of
manipulation and callousness that destroyed what was enjoyable about her
behaviour, especially as her ultimate goal seemed to be to establish some weird
relationship between herself and the two siblings that put her in a bizarre
servant-like position. Borderline Yandere Ayase, who was clearly introduced
primarily to put forward the reminder that a lot of people consider otaku
habits disgusting, ended up being one of the several million girls who fall for
Kyousuke for no better reason than that he is a wish-fulfilment avatar, and
having a very awkward attitude that showed her obvious attraction while also
constantly calling Kyousuke disgusting. Then there was loli idol Kanako, who
was also introduced to make a statement – cutesy idols are not necessarily cute
on the inside – but then got shoehorned into being Kyousuke-Lover #7297327,
finally getting a ridiculous confession scene that would kill her career and was
so awkwardly shoved into the script that it was obvious she just needed to be
dealt with and ignored – fading into the background much as Ayase did
post-confession.
Then of course comes Kirino,
who continued to drop from likeably divided character to selfish, whiny,
irritating brat. Her finest moments after tearfully coming home with Big
Brother from the States to share her life with him include getting a fake
boyfriend to make him jealous, mood-swinging like a broody mother gorilla whose
baby has been replaced by a bunch of bananas and seeming to think the most
important part of a relationship is being able to dump your stuff in your
lovers’ room. The only one who has her head screwed on right is ‘plain’ Manami,
who ends up having a fist-fight with Kirino, humiliated by stupid and
patronising speeches that amounted to ‘we don’t care what others think, nyeh
nyeh’, and if she has any self-esteem at all, completely cutting ties with
those cruel siblings.
As for any male characters who
might have been introduced…well, one or two seconds of screentime at the end really
fails to convince anyone they had a meaningful place here.
It’s even more of a slap in
the face when you are told that the decision that was made to seem so
life-changing, that they potentially threw away all their other friendships
for, was something they agreed to do for only a few weeks. Really? They
treated Manami like that for a stupid temporary trial run? Horrible, horrible
people.
And so ends Ore
no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. The full series, not just this
second part, which is differentiated by the full stop after ‘Nai’. I can’t say
I’m sad to see the back of it, even though I most assuredly had fun with it at
the beginning and don’t regret the ride it took me on.
Kyosuke rejecting the girls is somewhat a disappointment near the end...
ReplyDeleteIt happens in a lot of harem anime, but I think this is as awkward and annoying as it gets!
ReplyDeleteI would make a proper comment here but...I plan to write my review of the OVA episodes sometime soon, so I don't want to go into everything here and feel like I'm repeating myself later XD So you can check out my full thoughts about it when I get it posted~ Glad to hear you thought the overall show was worth your while despite having issues with the second season+OVA.
ReplyDelete