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'Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai! (My Little Sister Can't Possibly be this Adorable!)' is about an ordinary high school student (Kyousuke), who one day discovered his usually rude and rebellious little sister (Kirino) is a closet otaku. One thing leads to another, Kyousuke ends up helping his little sister with many otaku things. After a quick glance at the title and plot synopsis, I thought this was some kind of incest harem comedy, and had an extremely low expectation. However, as the story progressed, a nagging thought began to dwell in my mind: "This Show Can't Possibly be this Enjoyable!" The story isdriven by Kirino's selfish "Life Consultations" about her otaku hobby, getting her brother into all sorts of trouble. I know a lot of people are going to compare this with 'Genshiken' series, but it's quite different. 'Genshiken' focuses on different kinds of otaku, and how the protagonist fit in with fellow otaku around him. On the other hand, 'OreImo' is very much about the otaku culture seen from an average person's view, and depicts how the heroine's hobby is exposed to ordinary friends and adults around her. Most characters around Kirino represent a social group that she must seek acceptance from.
Her brother Kyousuke is open-minded and willing to learn new things for his little sister. Members in this group are quite rare, but accept others quickly.
The father is an old-fashioned conservative. Fortunately for Kirino, the dad is a reasonable man, and allows her to continue under certain conditions. It can also be said that when society is exposed to something new for a certain time, it eventually becomes a norm and become accepted.
Then comes Ayase, the misinformed. She's the type who believes everything she sees in TV, and forms prejudice in her mind. This type, as demonstrated in the series, can be converted with sufficient counter-evidence.
Finally, we have Kanako, who just despises and disgusted by otaku's creepiness... this type is probably inconvertible, but fortunately she likes to be worshipped, and otaku provide her that.
Then we have the fellow otaku friends, Saori, who tries everything but doesn't become particularly attached to anything, and then Kuroneko, who like Kirino is very passionate about a certain genre, and unwilling to budge. These characters broaden Kirino's otaku life by introducing her to new things and opinions.
Like 'Genshiken', the story here does involves a wide range of otaku activities such as anime, eroge, live commentary, comic fest, cosplay, otagei and additionally production of fan novel and anime. I found it interesting that this show has a lot of self-reference with the anime production episode where a lot of ideas such as use of different ED and real stores as anime location, as well as the difficulty in maintaining original plots for anime adaptations. In the eroge episode, it shows the irony of Kirino's attitude toward her brother through an eroge, in which Kirino found a character very similar to her to be very annoying, and subtly realizes her own emotion. In the novel episode, it also touched on how the recent trend of moe and ecchi was degrading anime, but stated that in the end, all art works are subject of personal preferences, and there's no real "correct" answer.
One nagging question throughout the series was "why would Kyousuke go such lengths to help his sister when she`s acting like such a bitch all the time", but Kirino eventually became quite adorable because she`s such an earnest girl who gives 100% at everything she does.
Kyousuke was a really likable guy who went out and got things done for his little sister, with couple of great quick thinking in critical times. The whole theme of brotherly love was beautifully summarized in the final episode. I have to admit it was sort of corny, but a fitting ending nonetheless. The irony that the one time he wasn't able to make a composed decision was in an argument with his own sister, and the reverse effect actually led to the desired result.
Another one may be "why is Kirino so bitchy to her brother when he's doing so much good for her?" Kirino is what they call 「ギャル」 (Gyaru) in Japan, fashion/trend-conscious girls. One of their major characteristics is that they call their parents and brothers 「きもっ」 (Gross) or 「うざっ」 (Annoying) and avoid them because these girls don't want to be seen as a baby who still clings on to the family, or don't want to be associated with the uncool. Kirino's character is basically stereotypical gyaru who also happens to be a tsundere, therefore the constant abuse of her brother. It was apparent that her behavior was also her clumsy way of expressing her affection and need for attention from her big brother. There's also a Japanese saying 「喧嘩するほど仲がいい」 "They get along so well that they fight all the time", as in two people are so close that they don't need to hold anything back, and you wouldn't get mad at someone you don't care about. One can say the argument and even physical violence in the end was a milestone in the improvement of their relationship, especially compared to beginning of the series when Kirino outright ignored her brother.
Just from Kirino's character setting alone, you can tell this show was never meant to be a realistic portrayal of otaku culture, as gyaru and otaku have long been depicted in media as arch-enemies of incompatible personalities.
As a fantasy series, it was a really well-structured story designed to be heartwarming, building up for drama and inspiration almost every episode.
Art work was the weakest element of the show. Neither characters nor backgrounds were usually detailed. In fact, it was noticeably cheap, but the lazy `ordinary life` atmosphere and hectic otaku madness was presented well.
Character designs are a bit heavy on moe, but quite distinguishable. I did not like how their faces were too wide in some scenes.
Animation, like every other element of this show, had its moments. There are few scenes, mostly action or background had so much detail or great camera work that it takes you by surprise.
Voice acting of the siblings are done extremely well. Kirino usually sound annoying and bitchy like she should, and turn cute in dere scenes. You can just feel the emotion of her voice in touching scenes, and the squirmy perv laughs were adorable. Kyousuke's voice was smooth and easy to listen to. All other seiyuu cast were solid in my opinion, except Satou Satomi (Manami), whose high-pitch voice was overly moe and unnaturally childish for a 17-year old character.
The heavy use of brass instruments in BGM was rather refreshing, but overall the music score did not leave a lasting impression. It did occasionally help set the pace for comedy or drama.
The OP (song quality, suitability, visual presentation) is excellent. `Irony` by Claris itself is like a random technopop from Japanese idol group Perfume minus the auto-tune, but surprisingly catchy and appropriate in setting the mood for each episode. OP animation is always different, introducing the side characters that will appear for each episode and having same theme as the episode.
ED songs are different for every episode, ED1-11 are selected from the public contest held in Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video sharing website, and sang by seiyuu cast in this series. ED songs were pretty weak in general with excessive beats, but at least offer refreshment value. ED12 was written by Kousaki Satoru (who also handled BGM), and really shows the difference between pros and amateurs. ED vocals were insanely good though, especially for episode 4, 7, 8, and 11.
Despite being a late night UHF (independent station) anime about otaku, `OreImo` is very much a mainstream show designed for the general audience. I would think the more immersed in otaku culture you are, the more likely you will prefer `Genshiken` over this series because it goes far more in-depth on otaku culture.
However, this show is more of a feel-good sweet fairytale story about platonic brotherly and sisterly love. I wouldn`t go as far as saying this series is life/perspective-altering in any way, but it also sheds light on issues an otaku would face in real life, and attainment of acceptance by the general public, though a bit too much of an otaku glorification.
It's obvious a lot of effort was put into production, such as the revision of story structure which gave subtle character development despite the episodic format, the different "Eye Catch" (Cover/CD between commercials) as reference to other anime series, "End Card" (illustration that shows in end of the show, sometimes displayed in ED as well) drawn by various prominent manga/novel illustrators, different OP animation every episode (and sometimes use of OP in different places), and different EDs.
This series is not perfect as the drama feel a bit too forced at times, but it`s not about the logic... there`s something about it that really touches you. Watching this show naturally puts a smile on my face.
I really like 'OreImo', I would even say that I LOVE it!
