Jun 18, 2017
Before I get into my review let me just say that I intend to make a review which tells my thoughts and feelings about this anime and my experience overall. What I felt and why I felt it. Stuff like that. I think that might be more helpful than just telling you what you can know from the description.
First of all, I'd like to say that the show has plenty of artistic merits in the audio/visual presentation department. The writing is well done for the most part. The characters are interesting. The pacing is good. It is just an overall well crafted piece of
...
work. And even though it is a show that made me sad in a lot of ways, it did make me think about a lot of things and write this review. That's something. That's what I love about 'Oniisama e'. I definitely recommend this to anyone who's in search of good classic slice of life drama.
Oh and this review is really intended for anyone who's reading reviews to check out what everyone's thoughts are about this series.I'm not gonna spoil anything that should not be spoiled but if you don't want to know anything about a series prior to watching it, the time to stop reading this review would be now. Okay ? Let's go.
Oniisama e is an anime that I came across as part of my search for good yuri anime. But what made me want to watch it was the art style I saw on the cover art and the fact that it is based on a manga published in the 70's and the fact that it aired in the early 90's. Prior to watching the show, I did know that it is not exactly a yuri anime. But as I kept watching it, I felt like it might be more yuri than I expected it to be. Because the characters do really develop and express romantic interest in other characters of the same sex. And the show initially seemed to heavily hint that some of the characters are lesbians. Having finished reading the manga 'Girlfriends', I know how interesting things could get in a lesbian romance between best friends. So automatically I was curious and interested in some of the overlapping romantic links between various characters in 'Oniisama e'.
But the sad thing is that even though the show at first seemed to imply that some of the characters are lesbians, it later revealed it to be not the case. Firstly and particularly,a character Orihara Kaoru, was shown to be very affectionate of her best friend Asaka Rei. And our main character Nanako,who is also the narrator of the show,had this to say about their friendship upon coming to know about it :
"This thing that connects them both so closely, is this what true friendship is ? If that is how real friendship works, it is so different from me and Tomoko. We are much more selfish about our friendship. We think of friendship as something that entitles, not as something that obligates. They are only an year older than us, yet they are so much more kind to each other, so much more patient . It's hard to understand why and how that could be. Unless it is something more special than mere friendship."
As we hear her narrate what she thinks of their strong friendship we are given a glimpse of the aforementioned character lying naked in bed with her said best friend. Not for sexual reasons but the scene is complimenting what Nanako was narrating.
In a later episode we see into the thoughts of Orihara through a surrealistic scene where she thinks to herself ;
" I can forget, because I love.
I can forget, because I've loved.
And I'll even forget that I've forgotten.
I loved you that much. "
Now, considering how the show already hinted at a homosexual relationship between her and her best friend, wouldn't this scene imply that the person she's in love with is Rei ? I can tell you, it would. And it was easy to see why she thinks she can't be with the Rei and why she's willing to forget about her feelings for her. You'll get it if you see it.
But towards the end of the show, it is revealed that the love she was referring to is actually some other guy. I won't spoil who that is but, it felt like a major wtf revelation. She's not in love with Rei. They're just close friends. She's in love with this other guy and she's not even a lesbian or a bisexual. That really bugged me. And it left a sad feeling in my heart when the show ended.
Another example of a character initially implied to be homosexual and later revealed to be heterosexual, is Ichinomiya Fukiko. But in her case, it didn't feel like an out of left field revelation. It actually made a lot of sense to me.
That was a well written revelation unlike the one I mentioned before. However her case is a bit different from Orihara's as she did struggle with the idea of it. She did have a tough time deciding between the man she loved and the woman who loved her.
And finally there is our main character herself who was clearly shown to be in love with Asaka Rei. Not just a hint like in Orihara's case. It was pretty solid. But in her case, homosexuality is portrayed as a silly phase that she went through during her immature teenage. Her love for Rei didn't progress much due to reasons I won't spoil. But in the end she did find a university student, who's a guy, that she has liking a towards. So she wasn't really a lesbian either.....
However , two of the lesbian characters did remain lesbian. Till the end of the show at least. They are Mariko and Rei. But neither of their love was fulfilled by the end.
I can't be the only one who interpreted this particular aspect of the show as a deliberate avoidance of portraying homosexuality in a positive light. ( To avoid controversy perhaps. I don't know. It was the 90's and it was in Japan. ) Almost as if the show is suggesting that true love can only exist between a man and a woman.
But then again, it can also be interpreted in another way too. Maybe the show just wanted the revelations to be a surprise and nothing else. Also, even if Orihara 's true love ,who is a man, was replaced by a woman in the story, it still wouldn't make the revelation of her true love any less ridiculous.
Everything about Orihara saddens me even though she's a likable character and she's happy by the end. It's just that ,throughout the show, women are portrayed as weak willed and needy housewives. Not the highschool girls. Women, like the mother characters. So when I see Orihara, a very strong and charismatic female character, being wed to some guy and finding happiness in being his wife and mothering his child, I can't help but think she too will be confined to the boundaries of a housewife. Not to mention she was only 18 when she got married. I think the show wants to me to be sad about it.
But that aside, the show has plenty of good messages which delighted me. And a lot of instances where the show avoided cliches and surprised me. Overall, Oniisama e is still a 10/10 experience. That's all of my thoughts on it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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