Ore no Imouto (Season Two) - Episode 13 [TV End] Discussion / Poll

[johan8989]

What I hope! is that the company that makes the anime, do not change the end .... hopefully the anime end like the novel.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

The actual problem is that for what has been shown to the audience

Spoiler for Comparison to the novels:

That's the problem with the show being shown out of the perspective of Kyousuke. In the novel the hints are bigger and for example there was a chapter told out of the perspective of Kirino in volume 9 or so. But in the anime one really has to look very careful to even pick up leads.

[finalfury]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

The actual problem is that for what has been shown to the audience, Kirino's attempt to "convert Kyousuke back to her ideal brother" is next to nill.
The show always has been quite thorough with the abuse Kirino has done thus far, and frankly, past the "cold period" between the two, none really made a move whatsoever to make up.

What actually worsens anime audience perception is that whereas Kyousuke was always ready to help Kirino whenever a whim or issue arise, the opposite didn't occur one bit until... very far, as far as the whole deal with Kyousuke and Ruri.
I dare say: how do you expect Kyousuke to "understand" Kirino if the latter just can't stop idshing out such obnoxious facade with little to no gratitude whenever something has been cleared out?

It is even worse when Kyousuke is "worth" praising for his help (such like when he stood out for her sake against their father) she basically don't even mention anything about that, save a minimalistic "thank" at best, without any mention of "looks like you are back to what you really was" or something.
I don't think the episode was made to absolve Kirino by any mean, although I think this flashback comes way too late.

Personally, for what it's worth, I think the purpose of the episode is not forgive Kirino or even hate as surprising as that may be, but to understand where she is coming from. There is no reference at all, in the entire series that she want's wants her actions towards Kyousuke to be forgotten. If the anime ever made a mention of her asking Kyousuke to forget about how she treated him or to not care about how much she abused him, then I would drop this anime in less than a heartbeat.

There are just way too many implications and subtleties to be derived from this episode, not helped by the fact that this wasn't a stellar adaptation. What I feel this anime does well, whether or not anyone likes it, is introducing concepts and mindsets that are foreign to a lot of people and may antagonize their mindset and perspective on life. It's this kind of incorporation which shows a lot of stubbornness despite the critical responses and opinions that come as a result. I do think the animation committee could take a few lessons from Sunrise on how to make a cliffhanger/transition ending.
Will add more later.

[Solafighter]

This episode is great. Laughed my ass of on the part, when Kirino became an otaku. She really is adorable when she is younger. The the blond hair, I would assume she dyed it to make her look more attractive/attention seeking(?). I wonder, how the current aged Kirino would look like with her natural hair color.
This episode makes a very suitable end of the second season and basicly the whole Oreimo series.

Certainly can't wait to see the OVA's in August.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by SigUp

Spoiler for comparison with LN:

That's the problem with the show being shown out of the perspective of Kyousuke. In the novel the hints are bigger and for example there was a chapter told out of the perspective of Kirino in volume 9 or so. But in the anime one really has to look very careful to even pick up leads

.

There are -obviously- points that indicate that Kirino doesn't hate Kyousuke's guts, otherwise a lot of people wouldn't be able to compute the recent changes in S2.
However, I stated my opinion as follow: Kirino's motivations do not justify her obnoxious behaviour, and the fact she could feel remorse and/or mixed feelings about her behaviour do -not- absolve her, specifically because the target of her affection, Kyousuke, was basically left in the dark and beaten thoroughly for months.

The intention being different does not magically change her actions at all, especially in S1 where a lot of them were strikingly similar to spite.

Originally Posted by finalfury

Personally, for what it's worth, I think the purpose of the episode is not forgive Kirino or even hate as surprising as that may be, but to understand where she is coming from.

That's exactly what I stated: it isn't meant to make her more bearable or anything. That being said, I find extremely irking that "since it is just Kyousuke's perspective thus far, it is normal Kirino wasn't understood" argument pulled right there, despite it is exactly because Kirino wasn't developped in a balanced way that lead to such polarized situation within the audience.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

What actually worsens anime audience perception is that whereas Kyousuke was always ready to help Kirino whenever a whim or issue arise, the opposite didn't occur one bit until... very far, as far as the whole deal with Kyousuke and Ruri.
I dare say: how do you expect Kyousuke to "understand" Kirino if the latter just can't stop dishing out such obnoxious facade with little to no gratitude whenever something has been cleared out?

I definitely think Kyousuke's willingness to put up with her obnoxiousness during her proverbial "rebellious phase" is praise-worthy. There's no question he put up with a lot of crap for her sake, and basically just bore it because he was her brother. And it did take her a long time to finally admit it openly -- this anime season is basically tracing the path of that transformation: she has a fall from grace, has to come face to face with her own jealousy, decides to put his own happiness ahead of her own, acknowledges the way he's been there for her all this time, and starts caring for more than just herself. This episode really just puts a cap on all that by confirming the realization she has had, and the path that led her to this point.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

However, I stated my opinion as follow: Kirino's motivations do not justify her obnoxious behaviour, and the fact she could feel remorse and/or mixed feelings about her behaviour do -not- absolve her, specifically because the target of her affection, Kyousuke, was basically left in the dark and beaten thoroughly for months.

The intention being different does not magically change her actions at all, especially in S1 where a lot of them were strikingly similar to spite.

I guess, to this point, the question is really more: can you forgive her? I mean, I think it's pretty clear that Kyousuke has forgiven her without even knowing all her reasons. But I take it that many viewers won't be satisfied unless she offers more than an acknowledgement, but an apology. That, however (as we all agree) wasn't the point of this episode.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Solafighter

I wonder, how the current aged Kirino would look like with her natural hair color.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

Episode 1 of the first season, in Kyousuke's dream you get to see that.

[KronosPlasma]

Originally Posted by tommythecat

I'd imagine the entire population of Kuroneko shippers

of which there is many.

I ship Ruri but I don't hate Kirino. You might be thinking of the other girls fans. Kuroneko fans don't seem to care anymore.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Their attempt to manipulate the audience into liking Kirino was pretty poor. They even turned Manami into some sort of villain in order to make her appear as a sympathetic victim. I might have bought it if Kirino's reason for hating her brother wasn't so pathetic. She started to ignore him and abuse him (which they conveniently left out of the episode. Sorry my memory isn't so bad that I forgot how horrible she was to him) all because he didn't meet her ridiculous expectations. He remained a very good brother all the way throughout, but she didn't care about that, she wanted HER ideal Kyousuke. Who cares what he himself want, right? Poor girl, she couldn't have a flawless onii-chan. She was a misunderstood little angel all along!

Yeah, no. This confirms it. Kirino is/was a bitch. She never once tried to understand Kyousuke. It was always all about her.

The second half of the episode was at least amusing. And it's good that Kirino has finally accepted her brother for who he was. It took her a really long time to come around though, as well as a lot of effort on Kyousuke's part.



It wasn't all that long ago that she was voted the most hated character of the year on animesuki.

Looking back on it I kinda agree with you on most of it.
The one thing that gets me is by the end she seemed okay with him just caring for her like a normal brother. Yet all the time in the show and novel she she keeps pushing for more. That and this episode doesn't really show her being in love whit him just looking up to him. The way she reacted when kyousuke was helping Manami study was a bit much. Seeing as theirs no hatred between them yet. Most of what I got out of this episode was Kirino taking this to far when something comes up. Well no new eps till August so hopefully this will finally die down some on 4chan right?

Side note Manami Just flat out saying nope was too funny

[Micromancer]

there's one hell of big chunk missing from the story and it likely fails the whole reason of Kirino's hatred towards her beloved old oniichan

Spoiler for comparison to novel:

The point on how kyousuke became a lazy ass unfortunately had been removed by the anime (read: the story between him and Sakurai)

hopefully the upcoming episodes will cover the story, otherwise.... otherwise.... idk what to say

nice episode tho,

anw, anybody wanna make a gif image out of the scene where kirino bangs her body xDDD ?

(around 17:23-17:24 iirc)

[finalfury]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

That's exactly what I stated: it isn't meant to make her more bearable or anything. That being said, I find extremely irking that "since it is just Kyousuke's perspective thus far, it is normal Kirino wasn't understood" argument pulled right there, despite it is exactly because Kirino wasn't developped in a balanced way that lead to such polarized situation within the audience.

It only makes her more bearable if you understand where's she coming from, which few, if any can claim. I don't think Kyousuke even understands himself to be honest; he didn't really give a legitimate reason for why he changed and acted as if the past meant nothing to him and could be compared to a dream, which caused a misunderstanding between the two. At the very least, Kirino tried to speak to him before going to Manami and that was a step in the right direction but he really didn't make an attempt to try to communicate with her and explain himself to someone who cared for him. I'll give her that much even after what she did.

Even though Kyousuke did go out of his way to help her, it doesn't erase what he did in the past. Kyousuke is no more guilty than she is and Kirino is no more guilty than he is is you look at their entire lives as evidence which the anime failed in portraying well imo.
I think season 2 episode " Kirino and her fake boyfriend" said it well enough.
Kyousuke: "I don't understand you."
Kirino: "I don't understand you."

I think I'm being objective here, if I'm not please feel free to correct me in the proper manner of being objective. I'm using implications with a lot of these statements so please point out if there's anything that doesn't make sense.

For the last point, I think it has to do with more of a:
She did X number of horrible things to said person who did Y number of good things to her, which creates a negative response to her. It's pointing out that she's a horrible person for doing a, b, and c, so there's no point in understanding or trying to learn more about her. If you don't believe me, I can list a number of examples that follow similar reasoning. Examples include cases where a person has been falsely convicted of a crime(such as rape) and was acquitted of all charges. That doesn't stop society from condemning that person for their entire life even though he/she wasn't guilty and was falsely accused and not trying to understand the person in general, ergo the "he/she is a bad person for doing X, so I will dislike her/him" mentality develops. Furthermore, a number of valid proof or reasoning is lost on them due to this mentality being difficult to erase and due to the power of the social stigma.

tl;dr: I think both of the siblings are idiots for not understanding each other but honestly, people (mostly me) aren't really capable of understanding each other easily (it takes a long while). Will edit more later to make it more coherent and understandable.

[Somnus]

This episode, while personally unexpected, was fantastic. I'm an anime-only viewer and you'll hear nothing but praise from me. To be honest, through the course of this season OreImo had become one of my most anticipated shows. Can't wait to see the final three.

As for comments, it was great seeing Kirino's viewpoint of it all. More importantly, loli-Kirino is completely adorable! Also, her "discovering" her inner-otaku had me laughing out loud.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by finalfury

Even though Kyousuke did go out of his way to help her, it doesn't erase what he did in the past.

I wouldn't put their situation on the same scale, even though it is obvious Kyousuke is not completely innocent since if it wasn't for Kirino penchant for eroge being busted, their relationship would be stalled for who knows how long.

That being said, while Kyousuke obviously doesn't know all the details and such, he did took responsibility to an unbelievable extent. While it is obvious he doesn't make for everything done so far, he actually acted so their relationship wouldn't be strained like prior the series debut.

OTOH, Kirino who was longing for her brother's presence was basically denying most efforts done so far, with little to no compromise. If she at least tried to "educate" Kyousuke past the eroge part, it could be a good step, but that wasn't the case since she took Kyousuke's help for -granted-. It only took several jealousy cases and a major situation before she opens up herself.
It would have been a complete different matter if Kirino actually tried to hang around Kyousuke by her own volition even in tsuntsun. Prior her fake boyfriend plan, it was however inexistent.

For the last point, I think it has to do with more of a:
She did X number of horrible things to said person who did Y number of good things to her, which creates a negative response to her. It's pointing out that she's a horrible person for doing a, b, and c, so there's no point in understanding or trying to learn more about her. If you don't believe me, I can list a number of examples that follow similar reasoning.

It isn't a matter of equation or math whatsoever. It is a matter of how some circumstances would lead to specific consequences. The fact X has happened doesn't mean Y becomes justifiable and/or the best course of action. As such, the fact a certain character did some ill deed doesn't mean the other one can retaliate 10 times stronger than it was.
Likewise, this episode wasn't meant to give the unknown factor to magically accept Kirino's behaviour, although it does help to understand where she comes from.

But all the points I was mentioned was mainly aimed to the statement that Kyousuke's POV doesn't explore Kirino's character, while the very flaw was actually how Kirino wasn't honest at all right from the get go.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by SigUp

Spoiler for Contains vague comparative references to the LN:

Well, here goes the opinion of our anime only watchers. As for some points, why manipulate, she is like that all the way. The show is told out of the perspective of Kyousuke, so Kirino's fault are overexecerbated. Imagine people only getting the part of Kuroneko insulting people, would she come over as a likeable person? Her expectations aren't really ridiculous. She wanted the old Kyousuke back and was angry at him because he did not understand her at all and was a pathetic being. She wanted to be loved and praised by him, instead he ignores her (here some parts missing form the LN really hurts her case). As for Manami, she is like that all the way, they and Fushimi did not turn Manami into a villain just for the sake of making Kirino look better. And as for Kyousuke, he also never tried to understand Kirino either, so to put the blame solely on Kirino is unfair at best.

When was it hinted that Manami was like that? That really seemed to come out of the left field to me. Her "daaaaaame" was almost said in an evil tone and was pretty heartless (it was a rather hilarious scene, a desperate Kirino screams at her and that's what she replies with ). It felt to me like they were trying to tip the scale in Kirino's favor. In order to make sure everybody would like her, they pitted somebody even "worse" against her. The problem is that they never explained why Kirino blamed her. Her accusation didn't even have a clear basis.

And please don't blame Kyousuke, even partly. He was never at fault. She started hating him for reasons that were outside of his control. How do you even attempt to try to understand somebody who constantly throws insults at you? When he saw her crying he tried to console her as usual and she rebuked him in the worst way possible. She had the one who had a problem with him in the first place, and it was up to her to come up with a solution.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I think that's a rather extreme reading (borne out of no small degree of resentment/frustration). I don't think this episode was ever intended to portray her as some sort of innocent victim who was never wrong or anything. Quite the opposite: her narration at the end in particular highlights the way she herself acknowledges that she was mistaken about her expectations for Kyousuke, and how the brother she admired didn't actually exist after all. I don't really see any effort to justify what she did, only to show where she was coming from. Have to remember that she's 3 years younger than Kyousuke, so her recent "down-to-earth" realizations (like her failure at Track) are still sinking in. He was an over-achiever who had a rather abrupt fall from grace, and she became an over-achiever chasing her memory of him, and had to learn too that she's not invincible. It's only now, approaching the end of the story, that she can appreciate him for who he truly is because she's growing up.

That is rather uncalled for and petty. I don't even know what you're getting at. Resentment and frustration over... what?

I believe they were trying to excuse her bad behavior (mostly because of the scene with Manami, remove that and I would probably agree with you. I'd like to know what you make of this scene, by the way) and I think I'm entitled to my opinion. As for the rest of your post, I agree with you. She's finally learned to appreciate Kyousuke for who he is and that's great. She is likable enough now but the problem is that she wasn't before. As Klashikari pointed, she wasn't developed in a balanced way. This is happening too late for me to start liking her over the other girls, who have been likable and understandable from day one. In order to counter this, they pulled this "she was always misunderstood" card, which didn't work on me.

[Dr. Casey]

An episode I've been waiting for for three years, loved every moment of it.

But, wow... Manami... sure is glib. "Nope!" Manami for Therapist of the Year.

[finalfury]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

A)I wouldn't put their situation on the same scale, even though it is obvious Kyousuke is not completely innocent since if it wasn't for Kirino penchant for eroge being busted, their relationship would be stalled for who knows how long.
That being said, while Kyousuke obviously doesn't know all the details and such, he did took responsibility to an unbelievable extent. While it is obvious he doesn't make for everything done so far, he actually acted so their relationship wouldn't be strained like prior the series debut.

B)OTOH, Kirino who was longing for her brother's presence was basically denying most efforts done so far, with little to no compromise. If she at least tried to "educate" Kyousuke past the eroge part, it could be a good step, but that wasn't the case since she took Kyousuke's help for -granted-. It only took several jealousy cases and a major situation before she opens up herself.
It would have been a complete different matter if Kirino actually tried to hang around Kyousuke by her own volition even in tsuntsun. Prior her fake boyfriend plan, it was however inexistent.

C)It isn't a matter of equation or math whatsoever. It is a matter of how some circumstances would lead to specific consequences. The fact X has happened doesn't mean Y becomes justifiable and/or the best course of action. As such, the fact a certain character did some ill deed doesn't mean the other one can retaliate 10 times stronger than it was.
Likewise, this episode wasn't meant to give the unknown factor to magically accept Kirino's behaviour, although it does help to understand where she comes from.

But all the points I was mentioned was mainly aimed to the statement that Kyousuke's POV doesn't explore Kirino's character, while the very flaw was actually how Kirino wasn't honest at all right from the get go.

A) I wasn't trying to put their situations on the same scale, just trying to make clear that Kyousuke is not the "saint" that some people think he is. There is no denying that he is going "off the meter" to help her, but the whole "thanking someone for their good actions" mentality doesn't exist for everyone, which is a mentality that this anime does not cater to. I still think Kyousuke feels subconsciously guilty for what he did, and that contributes to the "drive" to reconcile their relationship. I personally don't think he ever tried to find out the details of what she is thinking about and focused more on the reconciliation between the two. I do agree with you on him attempting to fix their relationship, but the method he chose to was mainly like " fix the surrounding" and not "fix the core". You can patch up a tree as much as you want but if you can't fix the core or the roots shall we say, then the tree will still die.

B) Being open with your problems/feelings and trying to reconnect with someone you previously had a bad relationship with is not something certain people are comfortable with, especially in a place like Japan. It's kind of like this: If you knew someone who kept failing to get into college for a number of years(let's say 3-4), would you still keep on encouraging them to go to college. A good number people would give up on them after failing once to get into college. Kirino asks Kyousuke for his reasoning on why he changes, he responds with a lazy answer, she assumes that she can know longer change him but still is driven by the slight hope that she can/he will come back which drives her desire to become better. It's feels like a conflict between rationality/practicality/logic and feelings/hopes I think. :/ That's also probably the reason she's denying his actions with little to no compromise since the recent events don't match her schematic network which portrays Kyousuke as someone who doesn't care about her and another schematic framework which portrays him as someone she cares about. For the last line, does season 2 episode 1 and 4 not exist, or am I misunderstanding what you are trying to say here. In both of those episode, she took him to Akiba with her even with her tsuntsun armor on and even the fake date episode which predates the fake boyfriend episode counts as "hanging out with Kyousuke on her own volition" if I'm not mistaken.

C) That simple math is a good way for many to understand the logic the series is trying to follow. I.E. Kirino hits Kyousuke for trying to be nice to her, Kyousuke saves her hobby from being eliminated from her father but is barely thanked for it, and Kyousuke reconciles her friendship with Ayase, but isn't thanked for it and is treated with the same behavior as before. This can be represented as Kirino did A since Kyousuke did B, Kyousuke did X, but Kirino responds with W, and Kyousuke does Y, but is treated with Z from Kirino. I wasn't using it to illustrate the importance of the actions but rather the logical progression that defined the actions. Most of this is based on the anime logic so it sounds stupid I think.

tl;dr: Yea, I really think we do agree on a lot of points but I still feel like adding additional interpretations to it.
Edit: Trying to fix due to lack of coherence and maybe OCD and distractions from others. :/
Kyousuke wasn't very honest from the get-go himself but I do agree with your point that the inherent flaw involves Kirino and her inability to clearly state her true feelings.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The problem is that they never explained why Kirino blamed her. Her accusation didn't even have a clear basis.

This was inherent to the context of the previous scenes: that Kyousuke was getting closer to Manami and, at the same time, beginning to distance himself from her. Thus, in her mind, Kyousuke's change in behaviour is probably related to the person he appears to be more drawn to. (And it also probably helps that his change in behaviour is more compatible with Manami's general behaviour.)

Originally Posted by Kanon

And please don't blame Kyousuke, even partly. He was never at fault. She started hating him for reasons that were outside of his control. How do you even attempt to try to understand somebody who constantly throws insults at you? When he saw her crying he tried to console her as usual and she rebuked him in the worst way possible. She had the one who had a problem with him in the first place, and it was up to her to come up with a solution.

This episode only presented you with Kirino's point of view, and doesn't explain at all what happened in Kyousuke that caused the scales of his behaviour to tip. But beyond that, as explained above, she would still blame Kyousuke for choosing to "side" with Manami and "abandoning" her by proxy (which started before the confrontation with Manami). You could say that she's being unreasonable and that she should be more accepting and less possessive... but there's a pretty big maturity gap at that age. It's not like he become a horrible irredeemable person (as she comes to understands in the end), but she feels at that time like Manami took her beloved brother away from her. More of her anger is directed at Manami; she only shows disdain for how low her heroic brother has fallen and that he seems resigned to that fact (and he doesn't really explain to her why he's basically given up trying). But again, she's three years younger than him, and doesn't yet understand the subtleties of what's going on; she had to experience some of the same things he did for herself. That's growing up.

Originally Posted by Kanon

That is rather uncalled for and petty. I don't even know what you're getting at. Resentment and frustration over... what?

That's certainly the way I read the tone in your post. It seemed very resentful as if the anime is trying to "gloss over" past sins, but I really didn't take this from the episode at all. So anyway, I didn't intend it to be "petty", but it seemed to be fitting in response to the tone. But conveying tone over text is always hard, so perhaps I over-reacted. Sorry for the offence caused.

Originally Posted by Kanon

I believe they were trying to excuse her bad behavior (mostly because of the scene with Manami, remove that and I would probably agree with you. I'd like to know what you make of this scene, by the way) and I think I'm entitled to my opinion. As for the rest of your post, I agree with you. She's finally learned to appreciate Kyousuke for who he is and that's great. She is likable enough now but the problem is that she wasn't before. As Klashikari pointed, she wasn't developed in a balanced way. This is happening too late for me to start liking her over the other girls, who have been likable and understandable from day one. In order to counter this, they pulled this "she was always misunderstood" card, which didn't work on me.

Again, I don't really think this was the intent of the episode. I don't think they're necessarily telling you to "like her" (not least "over the other girls"), but only trying to help you see where she's coming from -- that her behaviour wasn't completely arbitrary or random, but had some sort of a root cause, and that her point of view has evolved over the course of the narrative. This is important to resolve the primary plot point of the show: the rift that formed between the siblings.

As for the scene with Manami (also related to this quote)...

Originally Posted by Kanon

When was it hinted that Manami was like that? That really seemed to come out of the left field to me. Her "daaaaaame" was almost said in an evil tone and was pretty heartless... It felt to me like they were trying to tip the scale in Kirino's favor. In order to make sure everybody would like her, they pitted somebody even "worse" against her.

...As I sort of alluded to before, you're seeing the story told from Kirino's perspective, and we've known for a long time (since the beginning) that she sees Manami as an enemy/rival. There needs to be a reason why she sees her that way, and this episode establishes why. And, on its surface, there's nothing really so "absolutely evil" about what Manami did, but it certainly seemed that way from Kirino's point of view at the time. (A lot of this story is really about the bias of perspective; the way Kyousuke sees Kirino, the way Kirino sees Manami, the way Ayase sees Kirino and her hobbies, and so on.)

But that aside... Manami was pitched as a love interest to Kyousuke early in the story, but that seems to have sort of fallen by the wayside as he got distracted by other things. It made sense to me that this insinuation would come up again as we got closer to the end of the story. But it's important to keep in mind that this is Manami from three years ago, just like it's Kirino from three years ago.

[type-R!]

I'm dissapointed that they didn't show the key points I was expecting, and they even included both the op and ed. For a temporary final episode they could have made use of that extra time.
Well, there is still room to do so in the upcoming episodes, in fact, it could fit adequately at a later event.

[GVN.Chaos]

Holy crap, Manami. Kirino is angry, pissed off and nearly has an outbreak and you SMILE? Are you trying to troll her? I have been convincing myself that Manami's action was just her normal way to give advice, but this? I take that back!

[finalfury]

Originally Posted by GVN.Chaos

Holy crap, Manami. Kirino is angry, pissed off and nearly has an outbreak and you SMILE? Are you trying to troll her? I have been convincing myself that Manami's action was just her normal way to give advice, but this? I take that back!

The famous troll smile. It only bestows upon the one most trollish or devotely believes in what they believe.
Manami, you created a monster with that troll smile of yours. My avatar can attest to that.

[Peanutbutter]

Manami, you really surprised me.

That smile and that "da..me" showed me you're possibly the darkest character in this series after all.

As for Kirino, liking her brother (as a brother) is one thing, but I really dun see any romantic links between them. Maybe the anime itself didn't have much time to pull that off.