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REVIEW: Recently, my sister is unusual.


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AsherFischell



Joined: 24 Feb 2014
Posts: 327
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 3:40 pm Reply with quote
I also hated the watersports stuff, but it's worth mentioning that it wasn't present in the manga and the scriptwriters forget about it after the second or third episode. As far as shows like this go, I really disagree with the hate, as I think it tries something substantially different from other series. Look at it this way: Oniai is a show about a guy living in a house where every girl there wants to screw him. That's pretty much all there is to the show. There's very little characterization, practically no plot and virtually no imagination. Imocho, however, is a different kind of show. Instead of a clueless, male main character who has women throwing themselves at him, we get a female main character. After years with an abusive father and later watching her mother go from man to man, she doesn't want anything to do with men, but all of a sudden she's forced into house with a guy that she just met and she doesn't know how to behave.

The thing about Mitsuki is that's she and Hiyori are actually pretty decently developed. Unlike most shows like this, these characters don't exist simply to be pieces of meat. Yes, what happens to Mitsuki is cruel and pretty much undefendable, but what's interesting is the way that Hiyori's presence makes her change her outlook on life. She gradually develops past some of her issues and we see her grow as a character. Most of these shows simply throw a reluctant woman at the male lead, she talks to him for five minutes, and then BAM; she's magically in love with him and has compromised multiple things that are important for character believability. I really think that a lot of people who constantly rant on how horrible it is whilst singing the praises of similarly low-minded titles didn't give it enough of a shot.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 4:13 pm Reply with quote
AsherFischell wrote:
Imocho, however, is a different kind of show. Instead of a clueless, male main character who has women throwing themselves at him, we get a female main character.


A female main character who is A: throwing herself at a male character (even if she doesn't want to) because the outrageously offensive plot demands it, and B: not really the main character anymore (in the manga she was the main character but the anime gave the step-brother way more screentime to the detriment of Mitsuki).
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AsherFischell



Joined: 24 Feb 2014
Posts: 327
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 4:29 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:

A female main character who is A: throwing herself at a male character (even if she doesn't want to) because the outrageously offensive plot demands it, and B: not really the main character anymore (in the manga she was the main character but the anime gave the step-brother way more screentime to the detriment of Mitsuki).


To A: yes, that's true, but being clued into her thought process makes all the difference. Even if it is offensive, (which it certainly is) Mitsuki isn't the one throwing herself at him, it's Hiyori in her body. There's a massive difference between the usual "I'm a female character and that guy over there is the male lead, so I am magically in love with him for no reason" and "My body is being manipulated by a somewhat malicious spirit, where we both die if she doesn't take control of my body and force herself on him." I'm not saying that it's a great show or anything, but at least the mangaka made an attempt at making something different instead of making a carbon copy of every other similar story in existence. Sure, it can get grossly offensive and downright disrespectful, but I feel that it maintains a mostly respectful view of Mitsuki as a character, which is impressive considering the hoops it makes her jump through.

To B: Looking at the show's format, even if Yuuya gets more screentime in the anime than in the manga, I still can't see how Mitsuki isn't the main character. She gets more screentime than him, she's infinitely better developed and the story literally revolves around her.
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Morning Blue



Joined: 08 Sep 2008
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 4:47 pm Reply with quote
The Metal Gear Solid parody was the one joke in the series that got a laugh out of me.

The show was a lot better when Hiyori wasn't around. Some of Mitsuki's story (mainly her past, and her worries about getting close to anyone) was actually well done, but DAMN if Hiyori doesn't spoil any opportunity of character development/entertainment. She outright ruined the show for me with her selfish, unhealthy behavior. You have to put up with a lot of shit to get to anything good in this series.
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Splitter



Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 1276
Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:18 pm Reply with quote
It is what it is, nothing more or less. Giving it a C is right on.
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Quark



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 710
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 8:43 pm Reply with quote
To steal from the late Roger Ebert, "I hated, hated, hated, HATED this anime"
I mean, the premise to start with is just...ugh. Hiyori repeatedly rapes or attempts to rape Mitsuki, whether directly or indirectly (I know you don't want anything to do with him, but have sex with this guy I like or you'll die) and then Mitsuki gets sexually humiliated over and over again. That's pretty much it.
Hiyori is one of the worst characters I've seen in anything. She's self-centered, selfish, abusive, insecure, and is just all around terrible. I kept wishing that an exorcist would show up and banish her to Hell.
Then there are the 'hilarious' scenes where poor Mitsuki pees herself in front of Yuuya, or has her chastity belt exposed or orgasms (that scene with the fish...I can't even...)against her will. Yeah, that's comedy gold alright.
I have nothing against sex comedies. Hell, I was watching B Gata H Kei around the same time and absolutely loved it. But then again, Yamada had complete bodily autonomy whereas poor Mitsuki had hers stolen from her at every turn.
So...um, I really didn't like this show.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:14 pm Reply with quote
Pretty good review. It must suck to have to watch something you don't like all the way through.

Personally I'm not sure why I watched the whole thing -- I recall wanting to see Mitsuki liberated or something. The setup did have a pretty strong non-consenual BDSM vibe to it, with a payoff of Mitsuki starting to actually like her predicament as all good bottoms do.

Mostly I agree with Theron that the story had a long series of wasted opportunities to develop something poignant or thoughtful. At the end of every episode when I realized that they failed at that yet again was really frustrating.

Let's hope they leave it there and never do the sequel they set up.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:22 pm Reply with quote
AsherFischell wrote:
The thing about Mitsuki is that's she and Hiyori are actually pretty decently developed. Unlike most shows like this, these characters don't exist simply to be pieces of meat. Yes, what happens to Mitsuki is cruel and pretty much undefendable, but what's interesting is the way that Hiyori's presence makes her change her outlook on life. She gradually develops past some of her issues and we see her grow as a character. Most of these shows simply throw a reluctant woman at the male lead, she talks to him for five minutes, and then BAM; she's magically in love with him and has compromised multiple things that are important for character believability. I really think that a lot of people who constantly rant on how horrible it is whilst singing the praises of similarly low-minded titles didn't give it enough of a shot.

This is what my "occasionally the writing shows more promise" comments in the review were about, the reason why the show didn't get a D or F from me, and the reason why I actually stuck with this one for the whole season. Definitely not enough of it to overcome the show's deep flaws, however.
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Quark



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 710
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:28 pm Reply with quote
HaruhiToy wrote:


Personally I'm not sure why I watched the whole thing -- I recall wanting to see Mitsuki liberated or something.


You're not the only one. In my mind, I had crafted a scene where Mitsuki tells everyone to go f*** themselves, and runs off to live a new life all on her own. Alas, it didn't happen. Instead we got to listen to her talk about how her heart throbbed around Yuuya. Yay.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 12:33 am Reply with quote
But we like our girls to suffer! Laughing
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AsherFischell



Joined: 24 Feb 2014
Posts: 327
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 12:41 am Reply with quote
Quark wrote:
HaruhiToy wrote:


Personally I'm not sure why I watched the whole thing -- I recall wanting to see Mitsuki liberated or something.


You're not the only one. In my mind, I had crafted a scene where Mitsuki tells everyone to go f*** themselves, and runs off to live a new life all on her own. Alas, it didn't happen. Instead we got to listen to her talk about how her heart throbbed around Yuuya. Yay.


But, she would've died. . .
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Shory



Joined: 23 Apr 2014
Posts: 94
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 2:22 am Reply with quote
RenimLS wrote:
king 47 wrote:

I've seen about 30 seconds of the first episode and knew immediately that it is not worth any more of my time. I should've not even tried, but I try not to judge things before giving them a chance.


Just double checking here, you watched the scenes showing the town (00:00-00:04), a truck going down the street (00:05-00:07), their house's mailbox (00:08-00:10), the desk of the brother's room with a cooking magazine on it (00:11-00:13), the brother shutting off his alarm clock and getting out of bed in his PJs (00:14-00:19), brother brushing his teeth (00:20-00:22), brother walking back to his room and yawning (00:23-00:24), sister getting ready to change and lifts up her PJ shirt revealing her midriff and the brother walking in (00:25-00:26), sister standing there shocked with her lower back exposed (00:27-00:30), the brother not sure what to say and says "good morning" (00:31-00:32), sister glaring at the brother (00:33-00:34), brother apologizing for walking into her room (his old bedroom) and then leaving and shutting the door with the sister's midriff in the foreground (00:35-00:37), brother with his back to the door and sighing (00:38-00:43), breakfast on the kitchen table (00:44-00:47), brother and father eating (00:48-00:51), sister eating and looking unhappy (00:52-00:53), and back to brother and father eating with the brother sighing and then asking the father when he and the mother depart (00:54-01:02)? After getting through somewhere within this time frame of events you determined this show was completely worthless and never should have looked at it at all?

There is the concept of taking things too literal. This would be a good example.
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Ggultra2764
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Joined: 21 Jan 2004
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Location: New York state.
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 5:51 am Reply with quote
Agree that this thing is a turkey, though the rep it has gotten is a bit overblown. Actually think that if you took away the whole chastity belt gimmick and Hiyori's obnoxious behavior, the show could have been more focused on Mitsuki adjusting to her new living conditions with Yuya instead of focused on Hiyori trying to getting Mitsuki to jump his bones. Wouldn't make for the most thrilling of titles, but would beat having Hiyori around. This predicament is kind of similar to Kodomo no Jikan where the series had a plot element to it that could have been focused on more instead of cheap ecchi antics. Pretty much, I feel Hiyori's mostly the big reason why this baby's a dud since she contributed to much of the ecchi antics in this series and doesn't really have much that defines her as a character beyond being a sex-obsessed loon.
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Ryu Shoji



Joined: 15 Jul 2009
Posts: 671
Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 9:34 am Reply with quote
I binged-watched this series out of a morbid curiosity to see if it would actually end with *that* ending. I ended up being both greatly relieved but also disappointed at the same time, if that's even possible. I guess I saw how may lines this series had crossed and was wondering if they cross the final one.

This series was...something. I mean, the way Hiyori would pretty much rape Mitsuki made me cringe, but the comments indicating that although she hated it at first, mid-way through she'd start to like it made me throw up in my mouth a bit. And what about that scene where she had an orgasm in the aquarium because those little fish were nibbling her feet? What was that about?

I also just couldn't shake myself away from the various Pokémon references that snuck themselves in. I mean sure, the Metal Gear reference was brilliant, but did no one notice the occasional Pokémon ones that were littered around?
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TheGotank



Joined: 18 Jun 2008
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2014 12:38 pm Reply with quote
Between being awful and mundane, I believe awful is preferable for anime. And ImoCho certainly isn't mundane.

Most of the criticism and bad impressions the series received for its first few episodes are justified, and I certainly don't blame anyone for outright dropping the series within the first episode. For whatever reason, I didn't drop the series, and believe me it wasn't because of the hilariously silly chastity belt.

With those caveats aside, I will say, to my own uncanny disbelief, that ImoCho was actually not bad.

The character development between the leads was handled surprisingly well, Mitsuki's relationship with Yuuya and Hiyori evolved seamlessly through the series, from open hostility and apathy to fondness - and they made this evolution believable. The gradual progression of character relationships culminated in a number of surprisingly heartwarming scenes sprinkled throughout the series. The same could not be said of most anime,

We get several rationalized characters who plausibly struggle to accommodate and accept each other in light of circumstances which befall them. That's probably the highlight of the series; and to the ends of illustrating that, ImoCho was fairly successful in my opinion.

With that said, ImoCho had a plethora of significant flaws - probably too many to list, and many have already been pointed out in this thread. However, the few things it did well, while not necessarily redeeming its shortcomings, certainly propelled the series, in my eyes, above the slew of mediocrity that is the average anime.
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