Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai S2 – 04
Kirino gains a mischievous imouto this week.
Welcome back for another epsiode of OreImo. We had a great episode last week with the history of Saori, so can can we keep the momentum going for another week? Read on to find out!
A Past Rival Visits.
In the finale of the “True End” from the first season, Kirino revealed that she’d never beaten her roommate, so because of a personal condition she set, she never called or emailed anyone. She did beat her that day, when Kyousuke visited and eventually convinced her to come back to Japan. Now her roommate, 12-year old Ria Hagry, is coming to visit Japan and staying with Kirino.
Having a girl 3 years younger than she is to treat like an imouto is Kirino’s dream come true, and she is making the most of it, but Ria’s more interested in Kyousuke (of course). We get another trip to Akihabara, which is Kirino showing off a part of her life that she didn’t have in LA. And we get the real reason for Ria’s visit: a rematch race to find out why Kirino beat her that one time before leaving. While watching the longest 100-meter dash between two supposedly fast people ever, Kyousuke realizes that he loves his sister (again) and cheers for her, spurring her on to lose by an inch, rather than a few steps.
Tired of One-off Episodes?
Just what Kyousuke doesn’t need, another imouto
This is another completely out of continuity episode, and I have to be honest that it’s really not helping keep the interest in the show. We basically had Kyousuke, Kirino, and Ria for the whole episode, and no other characters. And despite Kirino talking about how her life consists of hobbies, friends, school, modeling, and family, we don’t see any of that other stuff, just Kyousuke. As a consequence, we get another episode without Kuroneko, Saori, Manami, school, clubs, or really anything. And while last week we got to feel a lot of what the ‘heart’ of this show is, what people like about it so much, this episode really didn’t do anything similar, instead putting distance between Kirino and Kyousuke and the rest of everyone. While some episodes of anime feel like a lot of stuff gets done and a lot happens, this episode really felt like almost nothing happened. The episode feels like it should have taken about 12 minutes, based on the amount of things happening. And it wasn’t like it took a lot of time setting moods or anything like that. It really just seemed like wasted time.
I didn’t mind the Ayase episode (too much), and I really liked the Saori episode, but when you add this episode in, the cumulative effect has really been to put a huge roadblock in the middle of any overall narrative OreImo could have carried from the previous series. This ep didn’t feel like building Kirino’s character, it felt like a Kirino fanservice ep, less useful than the average beach episode. Not bad in itself, but really pointless. I didn’t really get any character building for either Kyousuke or Kirino out of this: We already knew that Kirino has a slightly more than brotherly love for Kyousuke, and that he has a slightly more than imouto love for Kirino. I don’t know if we really needed Ria showing up to tell us the same thing again.
Ria Tries to Move OreImo into MetaFap! (Maybe NSFW)
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I actually kinda liked this episode. It reframed the series around Kirino showing us that she has the potential to realize things about herself. Rather she sees that or not, is the crust of the pie I guess.
The most remarkable thing was Ria. Goodness. Ibuki Kido can certainly sell the rambunctious little sister can’t she? OniAi’s Akiko, and GJ-Bu’s Kasumi (with her own brocon for Kyolo).
But I kinda have to agree as these past four shows have been pretty much OVA stuff.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Hmm, I guess to me that was never in question, as I thought most of the first season was about Kirino learning things about herself and her relationship with her brother. I guess that’s why I’m not really feeling that this episode went over any new ground.
I guess it’s also disappointing that there’s a lot I was looking forward to in this series, and we haven’t been getting to any of that (mostly spoilery stuff, so I won’t elaborate).
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Wow, I can be incomplete and rather self-embarrassing first thing in the morning. Coffee first, then respond to forums!
My first statement should reflect that this episode was a reminder of Kirino’s self-awareness and the field around her. Indeed, this was one of many elements of S1. But, since the beginning of S2 it’s four in and we are getting that back.
As mentioned below, that it’s becoming everything it is supposed to be making fun of. I guess they want to have the pie and eat it too? Never really like that statement…
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
This episode just kind of jumps off the deep end. Giving Kirino an American imouto was a mess on so many levels. And then that Siscon bait at the end of the episode… It’s like Oreimo stopped being a parody for an episode and became everything it’s been making fun of instead.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I do think that OreImo comes close to the line between sincere homage to otaku culture and parody, but I think it’s usually firmly on the side of homage rather than parody, even for this episode, so I’d disagree with you on that point. But this was definitely an indulgent episode, and I haven’t found that it’s a story from the LN’s, even (hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong on that).
So a one-off non-continuity episode that received divided reactions (there are plenty of people who absolutely loved it).
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
Your right, it probably is more accurate to call Oreimo a homage than a parody, though I personally think it has plenty of both. I just felt like this particular episode upped the ante in nearly every regard.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Four episodes in and we’ve really only had one episode that had much of Saori or Kuroneko in it. And we’ve had very little Manami. That sucks. Nor has there been an overarching narative so far.
I did like this episode, but like the Ayase one it seems like it’d have been better later in the season. In four episodes we’ve had hardly any interaction between Kyousuke and Manami and only little between Kyousuke and Kuroneko and a little between Saori, Kyousuke, Kirino and Kuroneko.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Yeah! Sucks not to have a highlight on Kuroneko and Manami yet.
And I still can’t quite understand the reasons behind Kirino’s actions. It’s like they are suddenly back to the start of S1.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It was an average episode but it was good seeing Kirino getting a taste of what it’s like to be annoyed by a younger sibling. Too bad Kirino’s image of Kyousuke didn’t improve in the process. And what was that ending? Are we going for the incest route now?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Well, at first I was thinking that she was asking him to something similar to a trial boyfriend, only without any benefits to speak, and with even more drawback. But that was S1 wasn’t’ it?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
It may just be that she needs a boyfriend for some reason and wants him to pretend to be it. At least, I hope that’s all it is.