Vs Series #2: The Oreimo Champion

With Kuroneko's asking the main character out and then dumping him, I lost a whole lot of respect for both her and the main character... the main character because he has no balls what so ever (seriously why are you even inviting her to places?) and her because she's making a game out of it. I know what it's supposed to be a learning step for the main character and symbolic but do you need to mess with EVERYONE to get the point across?

Well, at first, Oreimo seemed like a comedy. A bored, sarcastic big brother who has to deal with his little, annoying, perverted sister and her lesbian fetishes. Essentially the story is based on Kirino, with Kyousuke being a supporting character that we see the story from. Kirino meeting Saori and Kuroneko, being friends with Ayase, dealing with making sure her parents doesn't find her otaku hobbies, and Kyousuke hesitantly helping her out.

First set of OVAs came, and we have some great development for Kuroneko, and the ship bait starts. While the OVA was one of the most enjoyable of the whole series, it's also when the series starts to fail, because with the OVAs, something wrong came into the picture. Romance. Which by itself isn't anything, but the central focus here was on Kyousuke, not Kirino. If it was say, Kirino suddenly liking someone or having someone who likes her and doesn't know how to handle it, then yes that'd be great, and potential for Kyousuke being overly protective of the (un)lucky guy and character development. Instead here is when Kyousuke starts becoming the main character and 'Oreimo' becomes not about the sister with a brother, but about the brother who has a sister.

Then, S2 came, and the first few episodes were enjoyable, mainly developing more of the cast. That one episode about Saori and her past is gold/10 material, and there's more about Kyousuke x Kuroneko ship, which was good and all. Then, drama. Kirino doesn't approve, does a lot of shit, things become dramatic, and its when the series truly falls down the gutter. Yes, Mikagami is a cool character and my favorite male character in the cast, but the whole Fake Boyfriend incident ruined Kuroneko's character AND only made Kirino more annoying as an annoying jealous brat who doesn't have any traits that would make me like her. The 'dere' side of Kirino barely even shows. Then, more stuff happens, and then HOLY GOOD LORD AYASE PLEASE BEAR MY CHILDREN AND BECOME MY WIFE. First of all, back in season 1, the Ayase ship was fairly bland to me, and I honestly had no opinion on it. She was a fun character enough, due to her relationship with the two Kousakas, and how Kyousuke and Ayase's relationship has Kirino as the foundation. In a sense, Ayase is a tsundere done right. At first, she was hostile to Kyousuke, then she viewed Kyousuke as a kind of underling in her conquest to win Kirino's heart. Then she fell for Kyousuke. The path from her tsun side to her dere side wasn't particularly well-written or anything, but her dere side is adorable. Ayase by the end was lovely, and holy fuck Kyousuke why would you reject her? She's the perfect waifu, the perfect Oreimo(so to speak). Plus, she's also yandere and who doesn't want a yandere?

Then, OVA2 came, and incest goes real, Kuroneko gets rejected(Goodbye young Catgirl), and WOOOOAAAAAHHHH MANAMIPUNCH, THE PUNCH THAT MADE ME RESPECT HER AS A CHARACTER. After spending the majority of the series doing her very best to be a docile, overly kind person to everyone, she finally lets loose and shows Kirino what she truly thinks. Manami is a bro. The bro of Oreimo.

Anyways, yeah, in the end, I'd view back on S1 and OVA in a good light and can legitimately say I enjoyed them. S2 will mostly be a guilty pleasure to me, but thanks to Saori and Ayase it was enjoyable. S2 OVA, nope, only good thing there was that beautiful glorious punch that sounded like trumpets in a Yoko Kanno-composed OST for me. Otherwise, wouldn't watch again.