Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! Review

This is review number ninety five. I’m still in the Summer 2012 lineup as I try to finish everything I can in this lineup. There aren’t a lot of anime left and most of them are season twos of another anime so I’ll be putting them on hold. Anyways, the anime I’ll be reviewing is “Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru” or Little Sister is among them. It’s a nice harem anime with the added bonus of a mystery where the character is figuring out who among his girls is related to him by blood. Let’s read on.

Story

The anime is about Shougo Mikadano who was deemed to be the successor of this mega corporation after the untimely death of his dad. His mom already decided he’ll be the next to run the company but there is a catch. He must first get married and have a family of his own as a way of showing to the rest of the world that he is ready to take the responsibilities of running a company. So she sends him a way to a school and tells him to find a girlfriend and marry her. It wasn’t that hard because in his first day of school, he easily meets a bunch of girls that are attracted to him. It’s seems his life is on the upside until he discovers that he has a little sister. He is an only child so the girl is an illegitimate child of his dad. The girl began contacting Shougo and telling him that they should marry. Of course he can’t do that. It’ll be a huge scandal for the company and it’ll ruin his chances of running it. The problem is, one of the girls that like him is his little sister. Shougo is now in a bind because if he makes a wrong move, he could end up marrying his little sister.

Taking the Pants Off

There’s something remarkable about this anime yet it’s also a bit stupid. It’s remarkably stupid. I watched it and finished it. I sat back at my chair and arranged the thoughts in my head. Did I like it? I honestly don’t know but I didn’t hate it. The anime is remarkably stupid in a way that it was able to attract me with a unique premise but put a frown on my face by having the premise stand on top a pile of generic themes. I was close to putting off the anime as something that couldn’t hold its premise and just used it as a façade to deliver harem but it actually surprises and keeps me guessing. I can tell you that this anime is unique and the idea is really nice but it’s not for everyone. You see, the word remarkably stupid can be seen as an insult and praise. In terms of this anime, I think it goes both ways. Yes, it’s remarkably stupid. I love the word now after rambling this long.

The premise is really interesting and I’m a sucker for an original premise like this. The guy is slowly forming his own little harem with girls throwing themselves at him but he just can’t be happy because one of them is secretly his sister. I love it because off he goes trying to discover who the little sister is. The little sister hunt will often be set aside though because he has a group of pretty girls trying to seduce him and make him their own. There is nothing like a slap dash romance to make the anime more exciting. The anime is really great because it has the elements of a good harem anime but it also has some mystery on the side. The step by step elimination of possible little sisters is the real custard of the anime. The anime did a great job of making Shougo be attracted to the girls and then raise his suspicion of them afterwards. That little mystery is the brilliant thing that really ties the anime together making it more consistent and making sure no girl is left untouched. There is a bit of a problem though when it comes to the execution of the anime.

The anime is Harem with a touch of Mystery. The balance of the genres is a bit messed up and it will come to a point where you ask yourself if the hunt for the little sister is even important. The harem elements are very strong with girls pulling of Shougo’s arm just so they have him alone. It has a basic set up of Shougo having some alone time with the girl and getting to know her better. The closer they get, the more aggressive the girl becomes. It doesn’t take long for a girl to strip in front of our lucky hero. He gets to sleep besides them, have them wake him up, let them cook food for him and offer themselves as dessert for him. Yeah, the harem is strong and it could easily make the anime shine. Where does the mystery fit? The anime is 90% Harem and giving ten percent of the anime to some light handed mystery can be seen as a clutter, an unwanted element. Sometimes the mystery is just there to add some plot to the story and keep it steady. At times, it’s just a pretense for Shougo to be closer to a girl and any other kind of cliché would’ve worked in place of the little sister hunt. The problem is, after trying to hunt for the mystery sister, the anime abandons it or downplays it so it can shove some harem teases to the story. It’s seems a bit ridiculous at times and it honestly reminds me of Shuffle that had a story of the guy choosing a devil or an angel for a girlfriend only for the anime to drift away from the plot and he ends up with his childhood friend. It’s just stupid.

The anime is dominantly Harem and the Mystery is a side dish but this element of the anime is something I both love and hate. As I said, the mystery is just a pretense for the harem to shine through but it’s oddly intriguing. The mystery element of the anime would always shove itself back in the story after the harem is done and soon the plot thickens. You’re suddenly attracted by the identity of the little sister and you try to put the pieces together in your head. While you’re doing that though, the little sister reveals herself. I was taken aback by this because the revelation happened on episode four. I was annoyed and I said “That’s it.” I then cursed the anime for presenting such a shallow mystery until the anime gives us a massive twist and the mystery commences again. I really did wonder why the anime didn’t just focus on the mystery because it was able to raise the interest of the viewers and it hyped the identity of the little sister. I honestly think the mystery is brilliant but the anime didn’t want you to focus on the mystery, it wants you to love the harem. Whenever the mystery would hit a high point or a clue is revealed, the anime often ends rather pathetically. My first reaction of the mystery is “That’s it?” with an unsatisfied look on my face. I get that look countless times in the anime and I utter the words several times. You think after one pathetic and anti-climactic mystery, I’d be immune to the same approach but I fell for it several times. You can call me an idiot or a gullible fool but I was reeled in by the mystery and I was enchanted by the facts presented that I always had high hopes for the revelation later on. Never forget, the anime is a Harem and the Mystery is just a side dish. The Harem will always come first.

The characters are all generic, no surprise there. They all have a specific role in the anime and they play their parts well. The one thing I admire about the anime is that it was able to give each potential girlfriend/ little sister some alone time with the main character. The anime is actually divided into arcs to give some deserved screen time to all the girls. When you watch the anime, you’d easily have one girl you’re going to like and root for so I appreciate the fact that the anime tried to be fair with the girl vs. guy ratio. The perversion in the anime is actually tame. I don’t think the anime is even perverted. This is a light novel adaptation and they are very dialogue heavy so the Ecchi of the anime is mostly served in dialogues. There are lines like “I’m your dessert. I won’t move until you eat me” and “I need a blood or urine sample.” The second one doesn’t sound bad but you’ll understand when you see the anime. The anime even has some bathroom scenes where the girls talk to themselves about liking Shougo and there are classics lines like “I bet he wants my cream puffs!” There are some pretty good Ecchi scenes in the anime but they are dialogue. There isn’t a lot of boob grabbing and there are no panty shots. It’s just good ol’ dialogue dependent Ecchi.

The anime is great and I stand by my mixed feeling about it because it’s not for everyone and only a handful can appreciate the anime’s beauty. The anime does have a pay off because the little sister is revealed in the end and all the facts were taken into consideration. I love the anime’s sly tricks of presenting twists that may or may not help the little sister hunt but in the end, everything works out fine. The premise is nice and the story was decent. If only we could block out all the cliché in the anime then we’re golden.

Sight and Sound

The character design is pretty simple. There is nothing that really stands out and they are all pretty generic. I do admire the looks of the characters nicely complementing their personality. No character looks alike which is a good thing and it’s not that hard to slowly like the characters as the episode progresses. In terms of the Ecchi of the anime, it’s pretty tame and very PG. This anime is pretty heavy on story so I didn’t really need any excessive fan service. There is just enough to make the characters look attractive. The nice boobs and sexiness of the characters is enough to make the Ecchi prominent.

I’m not a fan of the safe fan service though. There is a scene where the characters gets their maid skirts lifted up and naturally, their panties are exposed. The anime didn’t show it; instead, we are treated to the blinding light. No, it’s blinding darkness in this anime. Every overly perverted scene in the anime gets the blinding darkness treatment which is a bit of a cop out. Plenty of anime has crossed the line and this just goes to show you that Story and Ecchi are polar opposites. They’re allergic to each other. There are also scenes where the characters get their boobs exposed and nothing. No pink dot on the boobs or nothing. All we see it the curve on the lower part of the boob to suggest they are there. It’s like the characters are wearing body stockings. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine.

The OP of the anime is “Choose me♡Darling” by StylipS. It’s a hyper song you’d mostly expect from a harem anime. The song has a fast beat and the singers speak fast. I personally like the song because it reminds me of the OP song of Boku wa Todomachi ga Sukanai which has the same fast beat and crazy energy. The OP sequence is pretty nice. It features all the characters and the first time I saw it, I easily knew the anime is harem.

The ED song is “Heavenly Lover” which was sung by the cast of the anime. All the girls in Shougo’s harem sung the ending song. The song is pretty generic, to be honest, but it’s a nice way for the voice actresses to showcase their talent and I appreciate that. The ED sequence is pretty normal as well. It features Shougo running from the girls. It’s done in chibi and in the background; there are pictures of the girls with the lucky bastard. It ends with the girls in a wedding dress.

Overall Score

3/10 “It’s a nice anime with an interesting mystery element that makes the anime unique.”

I still find the anime remarkably stupid because I hated its balance of the two major themes but I also loved how it handled them. It’s a bit hard to explain and I’ve done too much rambling so just go watch the damn anime. If you’re a fan of the classic harem anime then this anime is for you. I recommend it.