Well that was entertaining. Good episode, but not without its flaws. The change in Kirino felt very abrupt. It was odd to see her tsuntsun side disappear almost completely like that so quickly early in the episode. It did, however, reveal a fairly interesting tidbit about Kyouske; namely, that he is probably just as tsundere for Kirino as she is for him. He was able to be hostile or cold to her when face to face but now that she's no longer justifying those actions he struggles with how to react. It's now clear that the opening line of the OP ("Don't be so nice to me, I just don't know how to react") could just as easily apply to Kyouske as to Kirino. His phone conversation with Saori just serves to drive this point home.
What happened next left me a big confused. We're all quite aware that Kyouske's behavior towards his sister, as far as assisting her in achieving her goals is concerned, has been odd given how little he receives in return. That said, going to a launch event an hour away to buy eroge for her goes beyond what would be reasonable even for somebody you're on good terms with. I had a hard time believing he'd do that. I'll forgive them for it because it led to the hilarious scene where Kyouske runs into Akagi at the launch event. Kyouske's sudden acceptance that someone's sister would ask her brother to buy such a game was funny enough, but Akagi's declaration of "I like homos! I like them a lot! I love them!" followed by the applause of all the girls (women?) in line had me on the verge of tears.
The title of this new game was delightfully ridiculous. "I'd never steal something like onii-chan's pantsu"? Some people will buy anything. The following scene where it's revealed the Kirino is planning to leave for America felt somewhat abrupt. Yes, there was the hint that such a thing was possible since Kirino said that the next life counseling was the last, but it was clear at this point that they are trying to fit an ending that really needs 2-3 episodes into one episode even with the extra time they gained by omitting the OP.
What followed could only be described as dueling tsundres of epic proportions. Sometimes (ok, all the time) I wish these two could just be honest with each other. Fortunately a falling laptop and mouse was there to say what they were both thinking. The way that played out felt pretty contrived but hey, what can you do? It was pretty clear to me that Kirino had no intention to actually leave for America and that she had expected Kyouske to tell her to stay, thus giving her an excuse to do what she had planned on doing all along.
The ending wrapped things up pretty well. Kyouske seems to have finally realized that the solution to Kirino's antics is to just ignore them. Now that he's figured out how she really feels it all seems kind of silly now doesn't it? (cute even?) I would be remiss if I didn't mention what was the high point of the episode. Namely, Kuroneko dancing in front of the mirror in her cat-maid outfit while her siblings watch in horror.
Overall it was a good episode with a lot of laugh out loud moments but I think it could have been better if it had been given more time. A lot happened in this episode (as evidenced by how much I just wrote
), much more than in a standard 22 minute episode. The way I see it, the writers have nobody to blame for this but themselves as several of the previous episodes dragged and could have been removed or shortened to make space for a longer "good end." I'm hopeful that the "true end" won't have these issues because it will be spaced out over 4 episodes instead of 1.