Oreimo 2 Episode 11

What They Say:
Kyosuke Kosaka, a normal 17-year-old high school student living in Chiba, has not gotten along with his younger sister Kirino in years. For longer than he can remember, Kirino has ignored his comings and goings and looked at him with spurning eyes. It seemed as if the relationship between Kyōsuke and his sister, now fourteen, would continue this way forever. One day however, Kyosuke finds a DVD case of a magical girl anime which had fallen in his house’s entrance way.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Oreimo having worked a couple of different angles over the course of the season, starting with conflict between the siblings and then easing it a bit, it shifted well to Kyosuke ending up in a relationship himself only to have that go south. But it provided an intriguing catalyst with how Kirino got involved and tried to salvage things on some level. But that time spent together as she saw him suffering has altered the dynamic of their relationship and they are, for the most part, getting along better than they have in the past. But that getting along has made an impact on their mother, who now views them as getting along too well and something must be done. While their dad isn’t worried, expressing some level of trust in them, he still opts to do something interesting by getting Kyosuke a place of his own for the time being so he can focus on his studies.

Kyosuke manages to handle the situation fairly well once he’s out and it’s amusing to see Kirino’s concern for him with the way she buys him a fridge and stocks it a bit for him. Of course, she also takes care of him in other ways by providing him with a recent eroge game release, which is pretty creepy in its own way but is completely who Kirino is. The way the two interact in general is fun, but the game brings something a little different into it as she makes it a real challenge for him. Even more amusing is that she makes a different challenge when it comes to his studying by offering to do one thing he asks should he pass and get an A. That can be read a lot creepier than it’s said between them, but there’s an undercurrent to it as well. Unfortunately for Kyosuke, he gets a fair number of distractions amid his studying which makes you feel like he’s only going to get so far.

Those interruptions are amusing in different ways as Kuroneko shows up at one point as well as Ayase, who really is the one to watch. She brings a housewarming present in a very sharp knife, which sends him into a comical panic. When Kuroneko and Ayase come across each other at the same time, it just sends up all kinds of tense moments, especially since Ayase starts acting like a girlfriend in regards to her and Kuroneko isn’t sure how to take any of it. With the three of them together in Kyosuke’s own place, there’s some really amusing gags as it goes along as the two girls spar and Kyosuke suffers physically and emotionally since he’s trying to avoid misunderstandings and further complications.

In Summary:
Because of how things have worked out in the last couple of episodes when it comes to, well, everyone, there’s a sense of unease and uncertainty with who wants what and where they’re really headed. That plays out well in some areas, especially in kicking Kyosuke out of the house for awhile, but it also adds more complications as well with how Kirino feels about her brother and the kind of tension that arises when he ends up with both Ayase and Kuroneko in his apartment at the same time. A young man’s dream to be sure, but one that obviously doesn’t go like how his eroge games would make them out to be.

Grade: B-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.