Ah good old Post-Conventional Shock Syndrome, the feeling of waking up and another convention’s come and gone for another 363 days. Nekocon 15 proved to be another awesome year with good vendors, great cosplay, and an even better atmosphere! I hope to see you guys return again next year! I’ll attempt to get myself down to Katsucon for my first year BUT no promises. Anyways… onto this week’s ReviewMa! I first ran into the anime version of this manga about two years ago, when I found it on Aniplex’s homepage for sale. I eventually streamed the 12 episodes (+OVA) and I fell in love with it.
The story goes like this. Enter Kyosuke Kousaka, the “as normal as it gets” main character. He prefers his normal boring lifestyle. Until one day he bumps into his tsundere sister Kirino Kousaka (did I mention tsundere?). He eventually finds out that his sister is actually a closet otaku (literally and metaphorically). Throughout the story she enlists the help of her brother to assist her in a series of “Life-Counseling” sessions to learn how to cope with her obsession of her hobby.
First, this is a great premise. Throughout my reading, I found that there were a lot of things about otaku that were greatly shown (i.e. visual novels, character goods, etc.). The main characters do present a great sense of parallelism with whatever type of reader you may be. Some of the support characters don’t exactly have HUGE parts considering that it is only the first volume. Later volumes will probably shine some more light on themselves. Oh, and the famed support character, Kuroneko, does make her appearance here, and she makes for a great rival character for Kirino herself. She has a sense of self-support that really shows later in the series. That makes a case for her as more than just a support character.
Of course the manga following the same art style as the source material, the character models are different than in the anime itself. This being said, I have come to enjoy the manga versions of the characters a bit better than the anime versions. The manga versions have a sense of quirkiness (especially Kirino) that makes for the English translation of the title live up to its name.
Some of the settings and backdrops through the story won’t exactly catch your eye by first glance. And some of the conversations Kyosuke has with side character Manami, isn’t going to exactly very memorable by any means. Also the book leaves at a pretty big cliffhanger, so if you’re really dedicated, buying volume two will be a no-brainer.
With some slight issues aside, this is a great read for anyone who’s a complete otaku. If you’ve seen the original series, you’ll have seen most of this already in the anime. For those that are curious about the series, if you’ve ever wanted to see what a hardcore otaku looked like while still being very cute, then Oreimo will fill your quota and then some.
Onto this week’s question! How did you show a family member or friend how much of an anime/manga fan you were? Feel free to post in the comments!
