The claw is our master!

Okay, drop everything you are doing right now and listen up. I am watching only one series this fall. Yup, it has already come to this; my last ditch attempt to spin my fanboy generators to maximum, my last summoning of will to enjoy an anime series with every fibre of my being. This is in a way quite sad, as there are plenty of people enjoying this season’s other anime to their fullest. Samurai Girls, Iron Man, Sora no Otoshimono, Panty and Stocking, or whatever your vice is; none of these are doing anything for me. The fanboy generator room has instead become a place of quiet meditation and brooding. That is, until I started watching My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute. Thats when things finally started spooling.

Now Jeagle did begin to review this series a few weeks back, but has since become lost in his own little world. My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute (or OreImo for short) has quickly become my numero uno anime for this season. Witty writing and dialogue, interesting characters and a wonderful art style makes for pleasant and funny watching. I guess what makes it so out there for me is the story. Here we have Kyōsuke, the older brother, almost characterless and devoid of much emotion, at least to start off with. He is sick of being the neglected child despite being the eldest of two. Then there is Kirino, the star of the show, the younger sister, the teen goddess, and boy, doesn’t she know it. If the anime itself isn’t very pretentious, Kirino makes up for this in leaps and bounds, much to Kyōsuke’s chagrin. The catalyst that kicks off the fun is Kirino’s closet fetish for little sister eroge. Sound dangerous? I have no idea where this series is heading, but am along for the ride.

Read more after the break.

What's that? Azusa not moe enough for you now? Baka.

What I Loved

Art: Okay, I admit it. I’m still into moe. I tried weaning myself by ignoring the K-ON! experience (not that hard a choice), but Kirino is just so damn CUTE. Perhaps it’s her blue eyes or pretentious nature, but Kirino is the most endearing character of the season. Does the fact that she’s fourteen years old make this dangerous? I shall claim innocence here and say it’s the wonderful art and production elements. This series is turning into real eye candy, in more ways then one.

Story: Continuing on, I am really enjoying the interactions between Kyōsuke and Kirino, even though Kyōsuke’s character is a mite unbelievable. A 17 year old not knowing about the existence of eroge? Puh-leez. Is it weird I am actually having a harder time believing in Kyōsuke’s naivety then Kirino’s eroge fetish? Anyway, another interesting point is Kirino’s desire that nobody find out about her otaku nature, when in reality people would be much more worried about what she actually collects. Kyōsuke, being the understanding elder bro that he is, decides that Kirino shouldn’t care about what other people think, and that she should come out of the closet and find some fellow otaku friends. She takes his advice, and by joining an online forum for otaku girls is quickly invited to a meetup in Akihabara. Not content in going alone, she drags Kyōsuke along for the ride. Since the meetup was held in a maid café, the antics that ensued were funny and even charming, yet not over the top.

Character Development: I mentioned earlier that Kyōsuke was almost characterless, at least initially. At first I thought his character merely existed to prop up Kirino, but he quickly proved himself to be interesting enough not to be outshone. With his unwilling entry into the wonderful otaku world, it was pretty hilarious watching him cope with the maid café and the type of people who frequent that kind of establishment. He also has proven over and over to be the ultra-dependable oniichan, even playing through his sister’s eroge so as to understand her psychology better. When Kirino follows Kyōsuke’s advice and comes out to their parents about her hobby, he stands up to them in her defence. This is a huge leap ahead of the sibling rivalry we were witnessing in episode one. Kirino also mellows out as she learns some life lessons, such as not caring what others think: not her brother, her parents or even her friends.

...can I get you something, Oniichan?

Voice Talent: Of course, even the best writing needs an equally good seiyuu behind the microphone, and both Kirino and Kyōsuke have some excellent talent voicing them. Ayana Taketatsu portrays the fiestyness and intelligence of Kirino really well, and Yuuichi Nakamura plays the voice behind Kyōsuke. Yuuichi would be instantly recognizable as the guy behind the homonculus Greed in the recent Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, while Ayana is non other then Azusa from K-ON! Both act their respective parts really well, and when backed up by other seiyuus with equally good skills, this makes for added win.

What I Hated

So far there ain’t much to hate except for minor niggles:

• Upside down trains. Seriously, WTF?
• The whole pretense that Kirino loves the eroge for their cuteness, and completely glosses over the 18+ classification. There is a reason for the classification, and I am certainly not going to divulge anymore on that topic. Happily, the anime doesn’t either.

Overall Summary

My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute is a funny, charming and, despite the eroge pretense, quite innocent anime that I am so far enjoying immensely. The story and character development has blended together nicely over the first three episodes, and with plenty of talent behind the scenes makes this series a must watch. I only hope you are enjoying this as much as I am. Here’s to the next episode.