Anime Review | Oreimo Series 2 (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Oreimo Series 2 (UK rating: 15)

The finale of the first season showed a branching path, with two episodes that showed alternative endings. Kirino had the opportunity to go and study in America and Kyousuke had the choice to let her go or convince her to stay… The "true" ending was that he let her go and this season carries on from that point. Kyousuke is finally becoming his own person; the group of friends he tried to gather for Kirino has become closer with him than it ever was with her, and there's a lot of promise shown in the first episodes with these characters. Then Kirino comes back… and things go back to how they were...

That's not to say it's all bad. Most of the series, in fact, is filled with funny and charming moments. The series continues to thrive on the strengths of its extended cast; each episode that focuses on characters other than Kirino really shines as something special. An episode delving into Saori's past is particularly superb, managing to tell a compelling tale in a single episode. Similarly, Ayase, Ruri, and Kanako all get some real development and time to stand out. The relationship and attitudes between the siblings is finally explained, too, by looking back into their early childhood and how Kirino went from loving to actually hating her brother, and how their relationship degenerated. It's a simple enough story: Kirino was obsessed with her brother, she admired him and loved him, but as he grew older and wanted to do less with his little sister, she strived to catch up to him… then she overtook him. Suddenly, the brother she idolised seemed lazy… seemed to stop caring about the things that she loved about him. It also showed why their relationship began to be repaired from the first season, as she began to look up to him once more.

These episodes and moments go to show just why the show is so loved in Japan and heighten this second season far above the initial into something truly special. That is... until the final few episodes… Without spoiling the ending - after all, the show does a good enough job of that itself - the final few episodes are terrible, ruining every relationship built up over the course of the story and making little sense. It's bad enough to taint everything that came before it.

Now that that's out of the way… there are elements to almost make up for this appalling conclusion to the story. There are still plenty of scenes to make Japanophiles homesick. Akihabara is strolled through regularly, along with the familiar sites (and sights!) of Yoshinoya, the Mulan stores, Mos Burger and Taito Game Centres - even if they are slightly renamed for copyright issues. Extras are much improved for this season, too, including some great original animation stories and, thankfully this time, they are subtitled. There are a series of really funny skit episodes using chibi characters from the show in a range of situations. Kyousuke and Akagi travel the fujoshi shops of Ikebukuro, the game club gets addicted to Dragon Fantasy Online (an obvious rip-off of Sword Art Online). This also give the opportunity for some 4th Wall breaking gags, with Kirino finding herself in the same outfit as Leafa from SA:O, playing off the fact Kirino's voice actress also provides the voice for Suguha.

4/10

Subpar

This is such a difficult series to judge, as Oreimo Series 2 has some great moments and some fantastic characters, but between the heavily unlikeable Kirino and that horrendous ending… Often in storytelling it's more about the journey than the destination, and the quality of the series as a whole can overcome a bad ending. However, the final few episodes, and the ending itself, are just so terrible that they completely ruin much of the good will gained throughout both seasons. What a waste.