My collection of short anime reviews

From left to right: the main male protagonist, the main title female protagonist, and finally the best character of this anime.

This review of yet another anime title with a long name (Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai) was supposed to come last week, but I only actually finished watching it yesterday. As a 2010 title, it will then try (and failed) to challenge Katanagatari for the ‘Anime of the Year 2010’ title. Just like its sister title Bakemonogatari, I waited until all the episodes on Blu-ray were released before watching this anime so that I can see the whole series plus the alternate ending too. Unlike Bakemonogatari, there is a tangible benefit for me after doing so, and if you want to know what it is, just continue reading the whole review below.

And the main title female protagonist wasted no time at all doing what her counterpart in another anime series with a long title Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! is doing.

Story:-
Somewhere in a typical Japanese household, the main male protagonist accidentally found an adult-only dating simulation game hidden somewhere near the stairways of the house. Intrigued by the existence of something that wasn’t supposed to exist in the household, he conducted a fishing expedition during dinner and net the culprit in the form of her younger sister, a model citizen that he has always hated. Armed with the greatest blackmail material of all time, he then makes her sister his sex slave he then acts out of character and helped her covering her hideous hobby from their very conservative parents and her friends too,which is the running theme of this anime.

The story in this anime is good, and at least better than the one you can see in a similarly set-up title Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! (abbreviated Onii-chan from now on). There are no plots about a sister wanting to get into her perverted brother’s pants though like the latter, with both of the main protagonists here are mostly decent people.  Well, this mostly applies for the main male protagonist only because, as episode 11 has illustrated when she plays an adult game, the main title female protagonist can become very creepy indeed. As mentioned above, this anime revolves around how the main male protagonist helped covers his sister’s secret disgusting hobbies and in the process helped her nurture it instead, introducing her to more people that dabbles in the same hobbies. Therefore this anime is more similar in substance with the likes of Doujin Work or even Comic Party instead of Onii-chan.

The main weakness that I can see in this anime definitely lies in character developments. For starters, the main male protagonist could have become one of the best characters in this anime if only he has some spine and take a more hands-off approach at helping her sister compared to what he is doing in the anime. I cringe everytime he simply relents when his sister orders him to play a dating simulation, except for the first time because of the necessity of the storyline. Even his counterpart in Onii-chan is less of a doormat compared to him in this aspect. This is a pity because otherwise he has a good character development path overall which is even better in the latter parts of the series.

Moving to the main title female protagonist, it is suffice to say that her counterpart in Onii-chan is a vastly better character than her. This one-dimensional tsundere character development is glacial at best, in contrast to what her brother experienced. Basically, she is doing the same things over and over again for 99% of the series, like being permanently angry all the time and being stubborn for her own good for example.  Her two good friends at school are even better than her; the scene where one of them turned yandere at the Comic Market episode is one of the most memorable scenes in this series. And her other twin-tailed friend has done more in 15 minutes (see episode 10 – the cosplay scene is another great scene in this series) than what the main title female protagonist has done in 15 episodes. She is definitely an example of a below average tsundere, far removed compared to great ones like Yamada of B gata H kei.

One of the best scenes in this anime.

The best characters in this anime is definitely the kuudere Kuroneko (this anime has all of the *dere archetypes characters crammed into it), heavily aided by her significant role in the extra ending episodes. Some worthy mentions should also be given to the main male protagonist childhood friend. Some of the characters like the bespectacled girl could do with more developments though. Comedy in this anime is mostly decent, but not exactly top class unlike the way it is in Doujin Work. There is a lot of references to other dating simulation titles out there too in this anime, and I suspect they includes those that are not included in those ‘little sisters’ genre that the main title female protagonist enjoys.

The pacing of this anime is a little bit slower than what it should be, despite the fact that this series straddles about 1 1/2 year of the series’ calendar. The flow of the storyline is excellent though. And unlike Bakemonogatari, the extra episodes for an alternate ending actually enhance the series even more. I’m glad I waited until all 15 episodes comes out because the original ending, crammed into only one episode, seems to be written in a hurry and affects the flow of the storyline. With the extra episodes, the alternative ending path lengthened the series a little bit more and allows the alternate ending to be presented in a more satisfactory manner. And of course, there are more Kuroneko in it, although I hoped that the other girl could have more character developments in it.

An apt description of the perfectly normal main male protagonist.

Character Design:-
It wasn’t that different really to what you can see in B gata H kei, which is just your standard shounen genre character designs, but not as good as B gata H kei is. Do not be mistaken by the shoujo-style designs in the first two screenshots above, there is nothing like that here. Black hairs are numerous, and of course this is a good thing considering the setting.

Voice Acting:-
Voice acting in this dialogue-heavy anime is good in general. The best gigs you can expect from this anime comes from Kuroneko, the bespectacled girl and also the childhood friend. The two main protagonists has done well too, although in the case of the main male protagonist, he could do with some more improvements. A positive aspect for this anime.

I’m not really sure the yandere girl appreciates being put on the same level as School Days is.

Music:-
The OST is decent, but not so for the OP theme. Each episode in this series featured a different ending theme, and the only good ones comes from episode 3, 6 and 13 (a success rate of 18%). The insert in episode 10 during the cosplay event is surprisingly good too.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is good, even in fast-paced scenes. Integration between CGI and traditional 2D animations is excellent. Choreography in this slice-of-life anime doesn’t exist. The director has used some neat camera tricks in some scenes, although he should have done something about the pacing.

An ending that features her prominently is probably a better option for this series, storywise.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. The extra episodes alone gives at least a point to the final rating. Not really sure when the next review will come out…

This Meruru anime must really sucks if this description is correct. Even Powerpuff Girls Z doesn’t pull this DragonBall ripoff.

Shortlink: http://wp.me/prgSo-tT