You may have heard about this light novel/manga title getting an anime adaptation recently, but what is it about? The story revolves around Kyousuke Kousaka, an average 17 year old male high school student. Kyousuke has a mother who thinks he’s doing “personal business” whenever she walks in on him, a father who’s so strict that if you’re not at the dinner table at 7pm sharp you’ll be left to starve, and a younger sister that looks and acts like a fashion model and treats him like trash. One day Kyousuke finds an anime DVD box on the floor, and upon further inspection, finds an 18+ eroge (erotic game) inside. Obviously puzzled as to who it belongs to, he plans to figure out who it belongs to during dinner that night by mentioning anime. His parents object to the viewing of anime, while his sister, Kirino, remains strangely silent. Later Kyousuke finds Kirino in his room searching for her DVD, and it’s exposed that Kirino is actually a closet-otaku who likes anything to do with cute little sisters.
I’ve read descriptions of the show that emphasize the fact that Kirino plays eroge, making it sound like the story of a guy with a perverted sister, but that’s really not what it’s about. Like I said earlier, Kirino is into the “little sister” archetype that you normally find in anime/manga, and they just also happen to be common in eroge too, which is why Kirino has them. Ore no Imouto is really about the relationship between two siblings. Unlike the happy relationships you normally see in anime and manga, Kyousuke and Kirino actually get on each others’ nerves quite a bit and have a love-hate relationship that you normally find with siblings in real life. It’s certainly a change from the little sister that will cook and clean for you, and the big brother that will help you with homework.
In one chapter, Kirino says that you can never put the 2D and 3D worlds together, but perhaps it’s this touch of realism that you don’t usually find in the 2D world that’s making this series so popular in Japan. It’s either that or the fact that Kirino is an otaku, and we all know that otaku love characters that are otaku as well (especially if they’re female). Ore no Imouto is certainly a refreshing series, and anime fans can look forward to it soon.
