Aagh! Not the sister!
This episode made this show cost a lot of points. Mari Okada, you should know better than this. Even if this was exactly like the original source material, this episode had such major problems that they should have been fixed by the script review. I think everyone here is to blame for not noticing it, but even then: someone had to have come up with this.
First of all, the sister was an exact carbon copy of all the other token sisters you see everywhere. That was by far the worst offense this episode made. It didn’t start well when she started by randomly showing her panties, but the rest of the episode did not make this better by making her only defining character trait “I like my brother”. This was just plain bad.
Another problem was that she also dragged the entire show along with her. Previously I said that the fanservice in this show adds to the characters: remove it and the show would be less good. The fanservice in this episode however, was just plain random and pointless. The sister just randomly shows her underwear, the bath randomly breaks down so that we can go to a bath to see the girls grope each other… it’s all incredibly shallow that you’d expect from a third rate hentai game adaptation, not this show that prided itself with quality writing and character development.
On top of that, there was Nanami. Previously she was a character who also had her agenda. In this episode her entire character also got reduced to “I like Sorata”. Again: Mari Okada, you should know better than this.
The sole salvation for this episode was the direction: it knew it had something completely awful to work with, and at least tried to make the best of it. The visual images were great to watch, the use of life action worked great and the camera angles and timing actually made me laugh. Sorata’s straight man act also saved this episode from a complete disaster, and Misaki getting her drivers’ license also was a nice touch. I expect much better next week though. But what do you mean that the sister is going to be a recurring character!?
Rating: 3/8 (Mediocre)
Mari Okada didn’t do the script for this episode. However what is more concerning is that the light novel author did it. The fact that he put together such an awful episode makes me wonder if the first novel was just a fluke. I guess we’ll see if it returns to goodness in then next few episodes.
I thought that would be the case because this episode was horrible and I really love mari okada’s works and this dont not feel like one at all. SO DONT PLAY THE BLAME GAME UNTIL YOUR FACTS ARE RIGHT!
Mari Okada can certainly have her off days. You just need to look at the weird bondage episodes in Hanasaku Iroha as evidence for that. Also no need to shout.
It was probably a collaboration between Okada and the original author. She’s in charge of overall content planning, so including an original episode like this was very much her decision.
Okada began her career (anonymously using a pseudonym) as an eroge writer, and it’s well known that she loves dirty, wacky hijinks. Drama isn’t the only thing that defines her style.
Well that sort of thing is probably more common than you think. Akiyuki Shinbo has directed Hentai after all (under a different name). Can you imagine the head tilts there :)))
Considering how pathetic this episode should have been I did actually manage to enjoy it. Sorata. I actually feel bad for him. Personally, I despite siblings, having one myself. This episode could have been a million times better with a little brother, I mean hell; seriously. Do younger annoying male siblings not exist in anime? Anyways, my faith in the show isn’t really shaken, so hopefully it’s just one of those random episodes.
Nothing interesting in this episode. I actually liked it a bit because it’s still entertaining but… Hopefully it will go back to its dramatic self soon.
Just when I thought a series could go without an incest cliche here we go again. Seriously, Japan this is dumb. This whole thing could be set right if the male character just up and told her to cut it out and put a sock in it.
Then the character. Oh dear God this is offensive. This is a very good series up till now but all of a sudden this pops up. I hope the show gets back on track because the themes it has are very good. Suddenly turning into a fanservice driven series would be a disaster. Putting the sister in there, especially one like this, is like watching Saving Private Ryan then suddenly seeing Shia Labeouf do a screaming Transformers level appearance.
*Sigh*
The script is okay for me though, what’s wrong was the direction! It was going way too fast! Transition from Next scene to the another. So much is happening! It’s like sister – mashiro – nanami – alien – back to sister – nanami – mashiro – then alien again! DTYLNJMUYGFMK
Real world brothers all know: Imouto ruins everything.
Wow, the sister WAS terrible. I don’t have a problem with “bro-con” sisters but it was quite hard to watch any second with her on screen (sometimes she even brought down the other characters to her level).
On the good side, Misaki’s side-story was quite entertaining and I loved Sorata’s parents and their portrayal. I guess we also got some fanservice which, putting the banana tripping aside, wasn’t too bad.
Methinks you’re giving Okada way too much credit for the previous good stuff…
This is hilarious… Im glad I dropped it 2 episodes ago
All you describe there is stuff Ive been noticing since the first episode, so I dont know how people could possibly be surprised
This show is ALL about the fanservice, and its like they are pulling everything from a harem cliche book… The loli, the classmate, the sister… What a trainwreck
I just saw this reply and ‘I had to say your taste is horrible. This is probably one of the best shows in years.
It’s disappointing. It started strong and then it going into harem land. Mind you, as far as sister characters go, I did like how absolutely shameless she was about visiting (I’m here so you can pamper me!) and the weird faces she’d make too.
Nanami completely devolved too. And yes, fanservice is starting to become the entire focus of the episodes and that’s a disaster for this series. It was different… and now it’s on the verge of becoming another dull harem show… with slightly better execution.
To make it worse, next episode is a beach episode?! It’s like they’re trying to make me drop it. I hope it regains its footing soon or I won’t care anymore.