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Originally Posted by Marcus H.
It felt like "winning the Oreimo" was too easy for Kirino. I wanted a greater challenge to their relationships rather than those "excuses for romantic competitors". I mean everyone else got demolished within the span of THREE EPISODES! That rejection spree continues to piss me to no end.
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Well, the only reason it has to be written that way in my view is because of the compromise at the very end. If this had been any other case, the protagonist could have just confessed to any of the girls, and seeing them all get rejected would not have been necessary -- it would have gone unspoken once they found out, and you might have seen them move on. But the author had to deal with your next comment:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus H.
Just as long as she doesn't consider trying to win over Kyousuke, it's okay for me.
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If they didn't show her painful rejection and the story ended the way it did, you could say the ending is "the romantic battle for Kyousuke's heart is back on again", and it really would have been an open ending. As I've said before, ending the story this way seems to be mostly about creating "no escape routes".
I'm not trying to say this explanation makes it easier to stomach seeing it go down, but at least I think it explains why it was written this way. (I think I would have preferred if the anime has excised some of the other "candidates" from the "running" given the huge time constraints, but the desire to give something to please the fans of those characters appears to have been given priority. I can understand that point too, but it makes the anime a bit less accessible for those who haven't already read the books.)
But, I would always say this: this was never really a story about who would "win the OreImo" in that sense; it was only ever really a story about Kyousuke and Kirino rekindling their relationship. The story at the end was going to go one of two ways: Kirino has her love requited (Kirino "True End"?), or Kirino's love goes unrequited and she has to accept it and move on (Kirino "Good End"/"Normal End"?). Either way, the bulk of whatever was going to happen at the end of the story was always really going to be about Kirino, even (and particularly) if he had chosen another romantic partner. And I guess maybe in that sense you could say that it seemed too easy; she remains at the center of the narrative through thick and thin because it's always
about her quite literally. And if you never really got over a dislike for her, and felt like she always "got her way" (though they did show that she didn't), I suppose seeing her feelings "rewarded" in the end may be more difficult to appreciate. In the end, she's unavoidably a bratty, selfish little sister, and if you're the sort of view who tries to place yourself in the protagonist's shoes, it's not hard to imagine that many other people would have made different choices. By the same token, I do understand why this was a logical destination for Kyousuke given the journey he took as a character.