Oniisama e...

When 16-year-old Nanako Misonoo enters the prestigious all-girls Seiran Academy, she believes a bright future awaits her. Instead, the unlucky girl finds herself dragged into a web of deceit, misery, and jealousy. On top of that, she is chosen as the newest inductee of the Sorority, an elite group whose members are the envy of the entire school. Having none of the grace, wealth, or talent of the other members, Nanako quickly draws the ire of her jealous classmates—especially the fierce Aya Misaki.

To cope with her increasingly difficult school life, Nanako recalls her days through letters to her former teacher, Takehiko Henmi, whom she affectionately calls "onii-sama" (big brother). She also finds comfort with her four closest friends: her childhood friend Tomoko Arikura, the sociable but erratic Mariko Shinobu, the troubled musician Rei Asaka, and the athletic tomboy Kaoru Orihara.

An impassioned drama about the hardships of bullying, Oniisama e... chronicles a young girl's harsh life at her new school, as she endures cruel rumours, heartless classmates, and countless social trials.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinobu, Mariko Main

Tamagawa, Sakiko Japanese

Asaka, Rei Main

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Misonoo, Nanako Main

Kasahara, Hiroko Japanese

Orihara, Kaoru Main

Toda, Keiko Japanese

Ichinomiya, Fukiko Main

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Arikura, Tomoko Supporting

Kanda, Waka Japanese

Henmi, Takehiko Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Ichinomiya, Takashi Supporting

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Japanese Teacher Supporting

Shinohara, Daisaku Japanese

Nanako's Mother Supporting

Suzuki, Hiroko Japanese

Shioura, Masakazu Producer

Dezaki, Osamu Director, Storyboard

Yamada, Etsuji Sound Director

Shinohara, Toshiya Episode Director

Reviews

Feb 8, 2025

keemoksa

Recommended

Review of Oniisama A (No Spoilers)

Nanako is a kind-hearted but overly timid high school freshman. She is an ordinary girl with nothing particularly special about her. Her new school has an old tradition called the Sorority Club, an elite group that only selects the "best of the best." Given her average nature, Nanako expects not to be chosen, but the opposite happens—and this is where the story begins.

While the premise of "elite school hierarchies" is common in anime, Oniisama A executes it with unmatched realism and depth, setting it apart from typical school or shoujo dramas. This is due to several factors, which I’ll detail ... in upcoming tweets.

Realistic Dialogues & Psychological Depth:
The dialogues are strikingly realistic, I'd say almost uncomfortable for some viewers, as they delve into heavy psychological themes like:
Possessiveness born from loneliness, Jealousy intertwined with friendship, Narcissism, manipulation, and accurately portrayed sexual deviations...

The realism stems from the characters’ nuanced development:
Their growth or decline is shown, not told.
Unlike in real life, where psychological issues are harder to detect, the anime subtly allows viewers to observe the characters’ struggles without resorting to forced, convoluted monologues.

A Brief dive to some Characters:

Shinobu & Mariko
Shinobu is isolated not out of shyness but due to her selfish, opportunistic personality—a result of her complex upbringing (a detached father and a helpless mother). Yet, she retains traces of kindness.
Fukiko Ichinomiya
The Sorority Club president is manipulative, obsessed with the past, and willing to harm anyone to achieve her ambiguous goals.
Kaoru Orihara
A kind, selfless girl burdened with repressed issues she hides to protect others.
Every character—main or side—feels distinct and deeply human.

Art & Direction
Background Art: Oil-painting-like visuals rich in details that capture each location’s essence.
Character Design: Eyes are especially expressive, conveying emotions masterfully.
Animation: Consistently good, peaking in key scenes.
Direction: As usual, Osamu Dezaki's direction is distinguished by its Excellent camera angles
and the Postcard Memory style for important scenes is beautifully applied too. One of the things that caught my attention is the running scenes, how they show many emotions in an expressive and innovative way

Flaws
Overuse of Coincidences: While coincidences can enhance realism, here they feel lazy, replacing proper plot-building.
Rushed Ending (Kaoru’s Arc): Her pivotal moments feel abrupt and illogical, breaking the story’s credibility.


Conclusion:
Oniisama A is a masterclass in psychological realism, rare in anime. It’s excellent overall but demands emotional preparedness due to its heavy themes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 4, 2024

itikitty

Mixed Feelings

Have ever imagined wanting to write a review for an anime that aired before I was born? in 2024 where all anime looks very beautiful?! here want to dedicate all passion to onii-sama e.. just for my precious Kaoru-no-Kimi

succeeded because of one story, not the main character but a supporting named Kaoru who brought me to the finish line. So can I write a review just for her?

synopsis: Kaoru no Kimi, a beautiful girl, good at sports, the idol of the whole school, her world is very perfect.. how the angel will fall when her wings are cut and can't fly because of ... a sudden illness, she lies, smiles, and crying alone. keep trying to be a leader.. giving hope in the darkness.

Here we see how amazing Kaoru's psychological powers are can still fight ,seek justice from school elite group that setting many standards for girls, making them birds in cages or beautiful dolls.

Even though the story focuses on "shoujo-ai", Kaoru focuses more on being a good friend and leadership so in my eyes this story is now in the genre "friendship" and " "drama"

plot: 9/10 in this story you will find many forms of love in various arcs. Kaoru's love story will be at the very end, (36-39) like a very precious strawberry, bittersweet.

soundtrack: 7/10 heart-wrenching, and sometimes silent without a sound to hear all the sadness coming from her tears.

art: 6/10 can't deny the design is very old school, but the panorama they provide, the color of sunset, blue of ocean. birds flying in the sky.comes from miraculous hands and great effort,realize it in an instant and amazed.

VA : 9/10 with old school art.. honestly sometimes the expressions on their faces are unreadable but voice actors who can convey emotions can still leave a mark in my heart,

confused and indecisive when the story has so many "red flags", I know not everyone will like it.. but Please give Kaoru a chance to tell her story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 6, 2018

JuneNephthys

Not Recommended

Oniisama e… is an anime that I really wanted to like. Aesthetically, it’s right up my alley.

○ Beautiful flowers!
○ Musically talented and proper young women!
○ Lady Prince archetypes!
○ Creepy dolls?
○ Riyoko Ikeda's fabulous OG shoujo style!
○ Sexually ambiguous and lesbian overtones!

○ While my reasons for wanting to indulge seem terribly vapid, these are things that I have really enjoyed in the past. An example in anime is Maria-sama ga Miteru: a very simplistic, platonic, and elegant TV series about ordinary girls coming to terms with their blossoming sexual preferences and just generally being an adolescent.
...
○ Before I digress too much into insipid hatefulness, let me clarify the main hinderance to my enjoyment of Dear Brother was that I didn't really understand where the story wanted to go, and once I thought I knew, it was derailed from what it had spend thirty episodes preparing for.

○ The story is full of nightmare fuel (I felt seriously horrified during a few moments) and most of the characters should be checked into an insane asylum, (seriouslyーbitches are fucked up and crazy) all the while focusing on the prestige of the academy and the sorority's notoriety. So, I thought, 'Sure, this anime makes sense! It's deconstructing the usually beautiful, wealthy all-girl school fantasy. Now, all of these potentially pick ax-wielding psychopaths have a purpose! This anime might be the best shoujo deconstruction I've ever seen!'

○ After Episode 32: the build-up, drama, and horror is all diminished with a random tragedy that is reminiscent of an after school special, but there is absolutely no foreshadowing or build-up to it. THE TWIST CAME COMPLETELY OUT OF LEFT FIELD! Like, all of the anime fans who were complaining about Re:Zero's asspull tragedy, this is exactly the same!

○ In my opinion, if any of the sorority’s horrifying antics and murder attempts had actually lead to the climaxーit would have been fine, but it didn’t go that route at all.

○ I haven't read the manga, so I don't know if it has the same ending as the anime, but the ending seemed retconned to Hell and back. The anime came out in 1991, the same year as the infamous Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki, and THAT got banned in Japan and the creator was denied a production team, so I'm guessing that the same could have happened with Oniisama e… but this is pure speculation about things I don't know. It's like they told the script writer, "Um, this is getting a little too dark and controversial. Let's make it have a Dead Poet’s Society ending where all of the characters are suddenly straight!"

○ Another problem that I had is that the main character (Nanako) is so wide-eyed and bushy tailed that you would think that the second or third time someone tried to kill or rape her, she would have had some sort of trauma. Or at least had a different demeanor, but she keeps the unrealistic stance of a typical mahou shoujo protagonist, and is like, "Hey! Person A (name is withheld for the sake of spoilers) tried to drown me at their family's estate! I'm going to continue to talk to them because I see the absolute best in everyone behest my own life!" Or something stupidly forgiving. Really! She should have been filing a restraining order and transferring to a different school. The random death of one of her friends is the only thing that phases her, and even then she's overshadowed by an off-screen character screaming and crying at their funeral and seems to get over it rather quickly. I get that she's a sheltered, upper-middle class girl, but this is beyond unrealistic! Annotation: See Miaka Yuuki from Fushigi Yugi to learn how "realistic" shoujo heroines can be (I had to add a bit of sarcasm to this completely serious and professional review).

○ While the anime addresses a few real topics, such as: drug abuse, bullying, incest, divorce/affairs, and suicide (actually quite a lot). It doesn't save itself from the car crash of an ending that burrows into you like a disgusting pill bug. An ending that undermines the entire point of ever watching the damned anime to begin with! I mean, why were all of these romantic ties sewn, why all of the development? I'm going to leave off there and let you watch the show if you ACTUALLY insist on knowing after all of my regurgitated hatred, but I can’t even begin to fully voice my discontent at the unresolved relations and story arcs.

○ I think that the visual style is really the only reason for watching; I thought the surrealism in conveying certain scenes was very visually appealing. The animation is choppy, and there are action scenes that have the same frame repeated three or four times to compensate for the production team not being able to animate something due to the lack of budget or time, but because of the stop-motion style animation, all of the stills look gorgeous and none of them suffer from a deformed face, a qualm that many have with modern shows.

○ Overall, Oniisama e… is about mentally unstable lesbians (who really aren't lesbians, I guessーwith the exception of Rei), pointless melodrama, and a plot that could have gone somewhere but leaves you high, dry, and bereft of any long-lasting modicum of something called meaning. This is not a good series, I feel like I wasted time watching thirty-nine episodes of a gross exaggeration of female issues and adolescence, just to be left by the roadside with nothing. My rating: 4/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Onii-sama e... Episode 22 Discussion Fronzel - Nov 5, 2013	27 replies	by LunaLov »» Mar 21, 5:45 PM
	Poll: Onii-sama e... Episode 13 Discussion MagEarwhig - Oct 1, 2011	25 replies	by lordViolet »» Mar 2, 12:50 AM
	Poll: Onii-sama e... Episode 37 Discussion NinaShlimon - Aug 5, 2012	20 replies	by Zevven »» Feb 28, 4:40 AM
	Poll: Onii-sama e... Episode 36 Discussion NinaShlimon - Aug 5, 2012	32 replies	by Zevven »» Feb 28, 3:37 AM
	Poll: Onii-sama e... Episode 34 Discussion Seabury - Nov 17, 2013	23 replies	by Zevven »» Feb 27, 9:24 AM

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