Quote:
Originally Posted by Mentar
I think this episode is great BECAUSE Kirino is back to her usual antics in the end 
Tastes are different, but _I_ absolutely can't understand why the exceptionally _boring_ Manami episode was received so well while people sigh about this excellent 2-parter (which displays the true origin of Oreimo). The only explanation I can come up with is that a bi part of the viewership feels uncomfortable with the tension created by Kirino-singing-along-with-Meruru to Insufferable-Selfish-Bitch-Kirino.
Well, I love it. Sorry |
It seems to me that the common thread is this: anytime the story makes romantic allusions about Kirino and Kyousuke's growing relationship, people get offended/uptight. The two main reasons I've surmised after reading this thread are: a) people don't want to admit that this theme has always been present as an undercurrent in the story, and b) people don't find Kirino "worthy" because of the "abusive" way she treats Kyousuke.
I don't think, for whatever reason, certain people can see/appreciate what the story is trying to pitch as Kirino's "cute side" when it comes to her relationship with Kyousuke. It's the typical tsundere tension between "honesty" and "dishonesty". The thing that Kyousuke realized by the end of episode 3 (and in many episodes since) is that there actually is something else beneath her brusque and bossy exterior, and every once in a while she peels back her mask just enough to reveal it to him. In the second half of this episode, there were at least two such moments: when she talked about receiving a present from the person she loved, and when she was shown wearing the earrings her brother bought for her. That's the part of Kirino that Kyousuke finds cute (ref: episode 3, show title, etc.), and so he can't help but go along with her antics. In both of those scenes, no matter how tense and annoyed he was before, we see him visibly ease up. Despite it all, he really does care for her; he shrugs it all off as "that's just Kirino being Kirino". And as third-party observers, that same sort of "shrugging it off" is something some viewers don't seem able to do, rightly or wrongly. (I think the show is
also pitching Kirino's dishonest side as cute... but I don't expect people who don't already see things that way to change their views on that point. That may take years of tsundere heroine eroge/anime/manga training.
)
As I explained to someone recently, I think the appeal in a tsundere heroine is in what you notice
beneath the surface (which will eventually rise to the surface over the course of the story), so people who are focused on Kirino's bitchiness re: Kyousuke aren't seeing her in exactly the same way he does. Those brief moments where her true feelings are revealed aren't enough, in their minds, to make up for it. In some cases because they feel Kyousuke has "better options".