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I ended reading the manga shortly after finishing the anime and despite it not having the amazing animation of Studio Bind I still think it's just as good and even better in some spots.

So it's a genderbend manga about a NEET who's super smart sister turns him into a middleschool girl. Yeah the premise alone was enough for me to be extremely skeptical. However after giving it a fair shot I can say it's a like better then it sounds. Underneath that title is a great story about a brother slowly being rehabilitated into the world through another chance by his sister who genuinely cares ... about him. And you can see this as it goes on with him becoming more confident and acting differently, dressing differently, etc etc. You see these changes in him over the series and it's this steady character development that is wholesome to see from where they start to where they are now and every moment along the way.

Besides that the series is just generally extremely cute and heart melting with the occasionally funny moments. They add constant moments that make it just a joy to read seeing these sweet slice of life scenarios with our main character. And with a good cast of supporting characters that really add sometimes.

The thing that really keep me reading outside the general nice slice of life stuff is just to see where out main character will go next in his life. How will he change. and what will happen as time moves on. Who knows but it gets me excited to see each new chapter.

tl;dr at bottom

This is a show I went into with very low expectations expecting it to just be some overly sexualized every single second ecchi about this little girl but ended up being very pleasantly surprised by the end. To put it simply. Onimai is a cute Slice of Life anime with some of the best animation ever and good humor. And I love that. Out of what I first though it could be it ended up being more exactly what I want in something labeled "Slice of Life".

It does also go above sometimes though for it's genre usually playing into the genderbend aspect ... of our main character to create unique or interesting situations. However the core idea the show is usually pushing is the rehabilitation of our main character from his NEET lifestyle. (now as to why he needed to turn into a middle school girl I couldn't be sure). But regardless it still plays into his new body to show a steady character development into this better person his sister knows he can be. Being able to see and feel the changes in Mahiro from episode to episode. It gives this sense of character development I love to see. As not only did his body change but the rest of him does as well, and by the end you can really see how different he is. Among this there are standard things I just like such as character interactions and cute moments, especially the sibling bond between Mahiro and Mahiri.

But I do still have gripes about the show that stop it from being perfect for me. The biggest and most obvious one is fan service. I know at the start I prefaced it as if it might not be that way but despite the fact it could be much worse it still is unfavorable enough for me to have a uncomfortable grimace on my face at certain scenes. It's not about the scenes not being important sometimes or having good moments but just having a unnecessary need to show things that seem too provocative or sexual for such a light hearted show at most times.

Now since I did enjoy the show enough I went and read the manga to which I may say I enjoy a lot more. While it doesn't have the 10/10 animation this anime has it does a much better job at delivering it's story and contains everything I love in the anime but with a lot less of that fan service I complained about. Comparing the two you can really see studio bind kinda went out of their way to make the anime a lot extra saucy then it's source material would ever have you believe. While the manga still has some it's basically not even worth writing this sentence about compared to the anime.

However despite things I disliked they're easy enough for me to look past or aren't really noteworthy enough to change how I feel that I still really enjoyed the show. It can't be understated how this show just melts your heart at times, it's just a very cute show with some very wholesome and funny moments. It's just nice to have a cute slice of life sometimes with good character development and animation. I expect nothing more from this show other then what it's made to be and I love it for that. If you loved anime like YuruYuri and Dragon Maid for example then you'll be dying to watch this.

tl;dr cute genderbend slice of life with good character development. Has more fan service then I'd like. Read manga if you like it's story.