Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai

Over the past 10 years of watching anime, there have been hundreds of stinkers, truly dreadful shows that have tested my tolerance to its utmost limits, but, gee, I think we've found the stinker of all stinkers with this one. That is to say, "Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai" (or however the hell you are supposed to abbreviate this dumb, dumb, cretinous title) is the worst TV anime I've ever seen. Yes, number one, and without any hyperbole intended. It doesn't get any uglier than this, and I do mean so literally as well as figuratively... Let me showcase the amazingdialogue with one of the show's finer moments: "Yes, I'm the up-and-coming author, Enryuu Homura!" *gasps so hard he is practically dying* "I'm a huge fan! Please give me your autograph!" "You're a fan... a fan of my... ? This is humiliating. I'm the one who wants an autograph!" "Hey, what do you mean, you want my autograph?" "Are you even listening to me? I want your autograph!" "Y-you want my autograph? B-but why?" "Isn't that obvious? I'm a huge fan of yours, Towano." "Hawuuuhhhh??" Oh, there is plenty more, deeply intelligent, riveting content, such as a five minute discussion on what it means to flash one's panties, the protagonist dressed in bondage clothing and whipped by his little sister until the crack of dawn, him sniffing and fondling his sister's hair during a live radio interview, or some random girl the protagonist has only known for about two days cosplaying in his bedroom to test what does and what doesn't make him pop a boner, because apparently that is relevant to writing fiction. Where she even got her cosplay outfit is a mystery only the heavens can unfold, because, really, who in the hell carries around a succubus outfit for no reason? "Ah, at long last, an occasion has presented itself for me to wear this succubus outfit I've carried around all these years." Perhaps she cast some incantation to summon it from the abyss? Who knows. Whatever. Every asinine, ludicrous trope a light novel adaptation could possibly have (yes, even in 2018, apparently) is present here: the obligatory beach scene (complete with lewd lotion-lathering), girls screaming at Yuu (the protagonist) for walking in on them changing clothes, an unnecessary harem, and like its mouth-breathing brother, Infinite Stratos, all members of said harem are for some reason attracted to the protagonist despite him having the same level of appeal as a cockroach. I don't even want to refer to the protagonist by his name since he doesn't deserve the honor of having one. So, actually, in the unfortunate event that I must discuss this show again, he will remain 'the protagonist'. That sounds a lot better, sort of like I've rinsed my mouth of bacteria. I present a challenge: try watching an entire episode of this show without shuddering or saying 'ugh' in response to the hideous faces the characters make. It's a bit of a difficult one, alright. Whereas many poorly-animated TV series are infamous for a few particular screenshots, eye-cancer here and there (say, Naruto Shippuden), here it is that but all the time. It is so bad that sometimes the characters' eyes are not even aligned and instead are facing opposite directions, as if they are truly and completely mentally void, or are just... uh, ant-people? Even a climactic confession scene is brimming with ant-people for your viewing pleasures. The 'music'... music? Can you call it that? A, B, A, B - random, senseless notes played repetitively on a piano, like a kindergartner who has discovered a piano for the first time and thinks any noise it makes is special. "Wow, you're so good!", says mommy. Clap-clap. Why they even bothered to include these tracks is a wonder, considering how much less ear-piercing some good ol' silence would have been instead. No, having music for the sake of having music is not always a good idea, but when has this anime ever shown itself capable of good ideas, anyway? All that is even remotely tolerable about this giant turd of an anime is its opening and ending themes. Mostly for the music, and definitely not for the putrid animation, but rather for the lack of it since these sequences are essentially slideshows. Any time things start moving is when things get real ugly, and so I can only be thankful for the few seconds when the damn show doesn't move. It is pretty well remarkable how much of a disaster the production process of this anime has been. Even the animators recognise the abysmal state of their anime, what with their subtle cry for help in the ending credits of the sixth episode, where they changed one of the names to 正直困太, which can be translated as "Honestly, we're in a bit of a mess." This is perhaps unprecedented for a TV anime. Though I do not know the actual situation at the anime studio, it is pretty clear the animators were both understaffed and forced into impossible deadlines (and thus had to cut corners... all of them, to meet said deadlines), because, really, there is no sane person on this planet who would look at the animation and think "Yep, this is totally good to go for broadcast." Even the most terrible of terrible anime at least put some semblance of effort into covering up their blemishes: here, it is in full, putrid glory. And so, "Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai" will be remembered by those unfortunate enough to watch it. It is an anime that truly goes for it, being as dreadful as possible in every and all aspects. I can't even find the energy to lambaste it to the extent I did with my previously most-hated anime, Infinite Stratos 2, for in this case it is so pathetic it actually transcends words. The worst TV anime I've ever endured, and congratulations for that, as it was not an easy feat. Like a train that has tipped over and burst into flames and debris, this is something you would be best not to approach. Put a hazard warning on this one.

There are a lot of negative reviews for this series, so I wanted to provide my own input. This show is absolutely HILARIOUS. I feel a lot of people are watching this show for the wrong reasons. Yes the story is bad. Yes the characters are 2 dimensional. But again, the comedy is top notch. The art is just incredible. The main heroine (the imouto) will go from looking like 10 different people within the same episode. Her face will melt between a cute as heck little sister to a cross-eyed goblin, and it is amazing. She will be on her bed with a normal pillow, thenthe next second the pillow has become a gigantic shark pillow. She will be in the most awkward, physically unnatural poses, and I just can't stop laughing. As if that isn't enough, the over the top voice acting, for the mostly absolute nonsense dialogue drives it all home. There is a ton of entertainment value to be had here. Watch this as an over the top surreal comedy, and you will have a good time.

About 18 months ago when Eromanga-sensei finished, I was one of the few people that actually bothered to speak up in its defense. While the show was far from perfect, I found that a great deal of the criticisms it received stemmed more from public peer pressure, people simply disliking the genre to begin with and/or disagreement with the more morally questionable elements of the show, neither of which are particularly good arguments in my opinion as the issue primarily lies on the viewer's own end in that case. I remember someone asking me back then what I thought a genuinely bad incest anime wouldlook like then if not even Eromanga-sensei fit the bill. I don't recall what I answered at the time, but I can at least say that if someone were to ask me the same thing today, then they need not look any further than this. What you have right here is a prime example of almost everything you can possibly do wrong with an imouto-centric anime. Ore ga Suki nano wa Imouto dakedo Imouto ja Nai—or "The One I Love Is a Little Sister, but She's Not My Little Sister" in English—is a stupidly long title which as far as I know doesn't have a proper acronym so me and my friends have simply referred to it as "the imouto show" throughout the season, but for the purpose of this review I'll just refer to it by its official English title to make things easier, namely My Sister, My Writer. In short the anime is about yet another high schooler (Yuu) who is a wannabe light novel author, except this time it's his little sister (Suzuka) who ends up going pro first—by writing a novel about her love to her Onii-chan and publishing it online. Of course she's too shy to actually tell him the book is based on her own genuine feelings, and since her school doesn't allow students to have part-time jobs combined with her father probably not approving of it, Suzuka decides to tell the world that Yuu is the real author of her novel. And thus begins the story of a brocon imouto continuously putting her incestuous fantasies on paper and letting her brother deal with the public reception. Now this all sounds quite cliché and not particularly original, but nevertheless a show like this doesn't really need to be any more complicated than this to be successful. It's been proven in the past after all; as long as the girls are cute and the show focuses on enhancing that element, that can be all it takes to be enjoyable. In theory that is. But in practice that is not the case here as My Sister, My Writer is unfortunately a never-ending train wreck in multiple aspects, and this is but the tip of the iceberg. First and foremost, the girls in this show could have been cute, but the simple truth is they're not. Mostly because they don't make any damn sense. Girls throwing themselves at the protagonist without much motivation is nothing new for harems, but this anime really pushes the limits. At the very least I have never seen a completely random girl show up one day and ask if she could be the MC's little sister and if she could call him Onii-chan before. That's not just something you can swallow because it's not just weird but it doesn't even make any logical sense! Or how about the ero-doujin writer girl obsessed with drawing hardcore rape porn and going under the pen name Ahegao Double Peace-sensei. I mean really now. Like the girls in this show really don't have much reason to associate with Yuu in the first place, let alone act like his family from day one. It's just so unnatural to watch. And as far as Suzuka goes, well she definitely had the potential to be cute and likable, but it seems like her personality just flip-flops at complete random in order to suit whatever context the current scene in play seems to demand. I still have no idea how I'm supposed to describe her. Sometimes she's a tsundere, sometimes a deredere, sometimes an airhead, sometimes a total pervert and sometimes just a normal, kindhearted and wholesome girl. Being two-faced is one thing but this is just too much. It only makes any attempts at comedy fall flat instead since everything feels so incredibly forced and unnatural. But okay then, this is just a simple ecchi comedy in the end, so surely we don't need to think so much about all of this stuff as long as the girls are hot and put it appropriately sexual situations, right? Well that is usually the last resort for an anime like this, the one thing they can always fall back on as a proper reason to watch and hopefully enjoy the show. However, that to me is the real nail in the coffin as to why My Sister, My Writer simply doesn't work as an anime. Quite simply, it looks absolutely miserable. About halfway through the show there was a subtle SOS sent out from one of the show's animators in the ending credits, basically saying that they were in trouble and needed help. And it's clear as day that this anime has suffered from major production issues. We've had some delays but above all the episodes themselves just don't even look finished. There are numerous shots throughout the series with blatant animation errors, like a torso being cut off in mid-air and similar; the kind of stuff that would never go past a proper quality control, but evidentially they haven't had the time for that here. As a result, the whole anime looks ridiculous. Character designs are all over the place, wearing derp faces more often than not and perhaps most importantly different ones all the time. Suzuka's face might look disfigured in one frame, and then in the next one equally so but in a totally different way, as if you were looking at a different character altogether. It is incredibly distracting, disorienting and not pleasing to the eyes whatsoever. And keeping in mind that the main selling point of an ecchi anime is pretty much always the attractiveness of its female characters, having them look this hideous on top of their already non-sensical behavior means that there really isn't much left to cheer for. And no, it's not like the art in KonoSuba which is intentionally crude in order to enhance comedic effect. This is just plain sloppy and distracting like handing in a painting that's only half-finished. I try to stay open-minded when it comes to anime and normally it's mostly a matter of personal preference regarding what I might recommend an anime for and to who, but in this case I'm really reaching at straws. An anime like Eromanga-sensei is easy to recommend people that just want to see a bunch of cute girls in light-hearted sexual situations, but the same certainly can't be said for My Sister, My Writer. It fails at trying to have an interesting plot, it fails at trying to be funny, and above all it fails at even having cute, sexy or likable characters. So really, what is the point of this show? Why would anyone want to watch it? If it wasn't for the production issues there might have been at least some merit to it, but in its current state there really isn't. The only somewhat positive thing I could say is that at least it isn't boring per se, but it's so awkward and annoying that it doesn't help much. As a result this is easily one of the worst incest anime I have ever seen in my life. They're going to have to do some miracle work with the BDs to turn this sinking ship around, but I wouldn't get my hopes up too high.

Japan and their flow of ideas makes me wonder how many more "imouto" theme anime we’ll get in this generation. To begin with, I think light novel adaptations in today’s world about imoutos can hardly be an eye-catcher except for some specific audiences. What draws people to this type of show…that’s none of my business. But to be honest, why did this abysmal show get made in the first place? In perhaps one of the most catastrophic launch of the year, the show already started with intolerable quality issues. The first few episodes won’t be hard to judge as you can see easily see the inconsistentcharacter models. You don’t really need to be a genius to also realize the amount of inconsistency with the character expressions either. Every character behaves in one dimensional and lifeless ways that can’t really be compared to real humans. They look like plastic dolls that came to life. It’s fake. And by that, characters in this show are seemingly created with the purpose of wish-fulfillment. They are essentially characters that exist to satisfy the desires of a main protagonist, and in this case, that would be Yuu Nagami. Now I don’t want to jump the gun too far ahead but anyone who has seen a show in 2017 known as “Eromanga sensei” may make some comparisons to this anime. Both shows involves light novel writing and has pseudo-incest tendencies. From the beginning, it’s pretty obvious that Suzuka is infatuated with Yuu. It becomes a running gag with her showing the most emotions whenever other girls are around him. The most obvious feeling she shows is jealousy and it appears in almost every episode. Sometimes, it gets in the way of the main story as this running gag becomes a major distraction. Even when female characters interacts with Yuu in a non-romantic nature, she still shows jealousy. It’s pretty pathetic. But hey, that’s not the only distraction right? Well, look again. For the majority of the series, it seems almost every female character with a name is interested in Yuu in some way. For instance, there’s Mai who literally stalks Yuu to find out about his personal life. Sakura enters the show as an ideal woman but it doesn’t take long for her to get into a love angle with him. Let’s not forget Ahegao W Peace-sensei who adheres to adult jokes with her personality. The bottom line is that these characters are made with little creativity in mind. They exist to fulfill wish-fulfillment roles and Yuu often finds himself in awkward/lustful situations with them. However, the main selling context of the character relationship is still Yuu and Suzuka. The two makes the heart of the show and that’s not a good thing when you get pseudo-incest context. Hey, what about the main story? Actually, you can probably watch this show without a direct goal in mind. This series is like a playful toy that enjoys fooling around with its characters than telling a story. Even before finishing the show, I had little expectations of how it would end. Every episode jumps back and forth with no real direction in mind. It's like a bloody loop with the same things happening every episode. At times, I wonder if this anime was made as a satire to make fun of itself. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case because a satire would have to be clever enough to sell its humor. It would have to mock fun of itself but this show was hardly creative enough to do that. What I did laugh at though is the shockingly production qualities. At one point, there was even one episode with a hidden message by an animator in the credits who pleads for help. From what I’ve read on the web, the show itself involved animators that weren’t even paid for their work. It’s a sad reality to realize that the anime was a project with little planning in mind and in fact, made just this year. From one of the tweets from an animator, they questioned why they are making this show. And honestly, I wondered why too. So I return to my original question, why did this abysmal show get made? In a sane world, a show like this would have been scrapped from the start with such poor planning and execution. It has such a forgettable story and uncharismatic character cast that I can’t help but recommend people to avoid this like the plague. This show could have probably even worked better as an OVA rather than 10 episodes. What came out instead is hot garbage that gave a distasteful smell. And sadly, there's no cure.

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