Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai or simply known as Oreimo is an anime based on a light novel series written by Tsukasa Fushimi. The anime lasted for 12 episodes, with 4 more episodes released online labelled as the show's "True Route", giving this show a total of 16 episodes, including an alternate version of the show's 12th episode, leading to the events of the show's True Route.
Kyosuke Kosaka is just your average high school student who doesn't get along with his sister, Kirino. Everything changed when he bumped sister, causing her to accidentally drop a DVD. Kyosuke then discovers that the content of the DVD is a copy of an eroge (adult game)! That night, Kirino brings Kyosuke to her room, and learned that her sister is an otaku, has an extensive collection of magical girl anime and younger sister-themed eroge! Problem is, she can't reveal her hobbies to other people, including their parents, and thus, Kyosuke ends up becoming her secret keeper and Kirino's life counselling advisor.
When I first watched Oreimo years ago, I just only find the series entertaining, there is nothing special about it and find it as your average anime featuring incest implications. I decided to watch it again just to prepare myself for the show's second season, and during that time, I played at least two eroge titles namely, Fate/stay night and Katawa Shoujo. Much to my surprise, I ended up liking the series more. I guess this is a result of me better understanding Kirino's hobbies now that I tried playing it.
The reason why I started to like Oreimo more is that Kirino is like most closet otaku, she has a life that you can consider as "normal". In Kirino's case, she is the perfect role model student and she wants to maintain it. If she starts talking about eroge or just anime in general in her school, chances are that she will be stereotyped with the rest of the school's geeks, destroying the image she created. This is when Kyosuke comes in, he is the only person that she can talk to about her hobbies and the first person who suggested that she should try to find friends online that has the same hobbies like hers. As a result, she gained new friends where she can act like herself.
Because she made otaku friends, there are chances that she might end up meeting some of her "normal" friends from time to time and we see it happen in one episode. The episode where Kirino confessed that she like her hobbies, and at the same time, like her best friend who thinks that her hobbies are poisoning her mind is one of those rare scenes in the series where Kirino actually stands up for herself, and not let Kyosuke do most of the job. Though Kyosuke pulled some strings in the process by showing proof that there is nothing wrong with Kirino's hobbies, it is one of those times that Kirino did most of the effort.
Even though Kirino is the star of this anime series, this series is more focused on Kyosuke and how he tries his best to be the supportive older brother. Though he doesn't act like a brother who is willing to go to the ends of the Earth just for his sister, he willing to do everything just for her. Heck, there is one point in the series wherein he lied that he owned Kirino's collection of eroge so that Kirino can still have her collection... even if it is the cause is part of his dignity. At the end, it is how Kyosuke handled the problems Kirino have that made me not drop the series, during the times I want to drop it.
Finally the anime's True Route, unlike the previous 12 episodes that aired on TV, the last 4 episodes aired online with True Route's 12th episode basically the same as the TV 12th episode with some changes at the episode's last minutes. If there is one thing I noticed with the True Route is that it is more focused on Kirino's friend who ends up becoming Kyosuke's junior, Ruri "Kuroneko" Gokou. Even though there is a lack of Kirino in the show's True Route, the fact that it is focused on the introvert Kuroneko and how Kyosuke influenced her to start opening up to other people made this route worth watching.
Even if there is too much Kuroneko in the True Route, it is still about Kirino. Heck, the final episode of this arc is Kyosuke flying to America after he received a strange message coming from Kirino! Even though she only appeared in the last episode, you can still feel her presence in the episodes she is not in even if most of the episodes are about Kuroneko. Kirino's motivation on why she barely talked to the ones she care the most is something that I didn't expect Kirino to have. At the end, Kirino finally returns to Japan and it seems that Kuroneko developed feelings for Kyosuke.
Overall, Oreimo is one fun and entertaining series. If I can sum up the show's strong points, it would be how they depicted a closet otaku and the problems it faced. Thankfully, Kirino has Kyosuke who is forced to be supportive to his sister's hobbies. Now to some of my problems in this series, this show has a lot of implied incest thanks to Kirino's love for little sister-themed games. Heck, there is one point while watching the series that it feels like Kirino likes Kyosuke more than just her older brother! Another problem I have with the series is that they never bothered explaining how Kirino ended up playing eroge at the age of 14, heck maybe earlier! Hopefully, they can explain it in the second season.
