Title: Oreimo
Genre: Shonen, Comedy
Story/Artist: Tsukasa Fushimi/Sakura Ikeda
Publisher: ASCII Media Works (JP), Dark Horse (U.S.)
Serialized in: Dengeki G’s Magazine
A review copy was provided by Dark Horse.
This third volume is a bit of a switch up initially; instead of focusing on the Kirino and Kyousuke’s ambiguously odd relationship, the first half of this volume focuses on Kyousuke’s decidedly more mousy best friend Manami. When a classmate all but admits having feelings for Kyousuke’s childhood friend, Kyousuke finds himself forced to ponder the nature of his life-long friendship. It doesn’t help that Manami’s suddenly avoiding him, either. Desperate to understand his friend, will Kyousuke have to ask his sister for… girl advice? And what’s this about going to a comic convention?
I didn’t consciously feel like we needed a break from the Kyousuke/Kirino/eroge bit, but the focus on Manami for the first chunk of Vol 3 wasn’t an unwelcome change. Manami popped up a bit before now, mainly just to console Kyousuke and make sure he’s doing okay despite struggling through life playing eroge games. Here though, we get a glimpse into her and Kyousuke’s long-standing friendship; Kyousuke regularly visits Manami’s house and teases her grandfather about “joining the family.” All this seems perfectly normal to Kyousuke — he mentions feeling pretty darn content when he’s with her — but when a classmate mentions wanting to actually date his best friend, Kyousuke makes it pretty clear that a) they’re not dating b) Manami dating anyone is a no-go. Apparently Kyousuke’s not game for someone busting up his contentment party, romantic inclinations or not. On the obvious flip-side though, Manami looks to have perhaps the tiniest crush on Kyousuke; when Kyousuke notes how cute one of Kirino’s friends is, Manami gets oddly distant and goes out of her way to avoid Kyousuke. Enter Kirino, who is able to put aside her seemingly constant contempt for her brother and try to offer some advice to get through to Manami.
I for one thought this was a nice change. The bickering is funny for a bit, but Kirino at times seems terribly mean-spirited towards Kyousuke. I get that this is supposed to be the “thing”; she’s super mean to Kyousuke but also really cares him! Got it. Still, Kirino is terribly abrasive at times.
That being said, the latter half of the book deals with Kirino’s soft spots; perhaps in an attempt to bond and spend a bit more time with his sister, Kyousuke offers to come along to a large comic book convention with tons of otaku. Kirino’s new friends Saori and Ruri from the off-kai round out the group, and they have very Genshiken-esque moments while they explore the convention and try not being the inspiration for a fangirl’s latest incest doujinshi. It’s all in good fun, but there the’s obvious undercurrent that one of Kirino’s “friends” is paying a bit too much attention to Kyousuke… and Kirino doesn’t really like it. It’s not a particularly surprising development, and I sense romantic…entanglements on the horizon. I can’t help but think Kyousuke is far too bland a character to get all this female attention, but it’s not completely unthinkable that a nice, if slightly boring guy would still catch a girl’s eye… just not his own sister’s.
Still, at the end of this third volume, I still like Oreimo. I’m waiting for it to drop some hugely awkward bomb that’s too weird for me to get behind, but for now I’m enjoying what I read and look forward to the next volumes.
