Final Impressions: NakaimoWhen I first came into NakaImo, or Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru, we know what we're dealing with: an anime about sister-like romantic interests. What we didn't expect was this intriguing whack-a-mole about not getting it on with your actual sister, nor is it clear that why the story is more preoccupied with twists and turns in regards to who is really the sister of the main character, Shougo Mikadono. The whole point of the show, in a way, is about how he reacted to the claim that his illegitimate half-sister is trying to get into his pants. The focus on the incest-free options is largely lacking except in a couple cases. I suppose that's all about focusing on the target audience, after all. Admittedly Shougo has taken that fact much better than I could, and that's a major saving grace for NakaImo. If anime made from visual novels gave us straight and narrow, if boring, harems, anime made from light novels are driven by its quirky characters and fast-paced twists and turns. So who is imouto? Click on and find out. If we break down the episodes into arcs, this latest episode would be the final chapter for the Yuzurina arc. We found out from Mr. X that Yuzurina used to be an actress in the sentai show that both Shougo and Miyabi liked. What we don't know is why is she acting as Shougo's sister, and how did she and Seri teamed up in the first place. We also don't quite know how she just disappears from their radar after her confession.
Even though we haven't had much in terms of the over-the-top humor in this arc, the final episode saved some face by skipping through what usually would be Shougo setting up his confrontation with his suspect. Instead, we have Shougo confront Yuzurina right off the bat, who confirms Shougo's theory about Miyabi--Miyabi Kannagi is his sister after all. That, along with the dramatic confession at the start of the episode, made this week's plot at least somewhat interesting. Thankfully, Shougo was able to talk to Miyabi and get both of their stories straight and soften the impact of Miyabi's hurt feelings.
Perhaps unfortunately, having Miyabi as his sister only changes the dynamics between Ms. Choux Creme and Ms. Twintails. They do have a developing friendship, but it's the sort of ending where everyone still hits on Shougo and instead of Shougo worrying about who is his sister, it's about how to fend off all these women from getting into his pants. It's as if he just lost his final excuse, and NakaImo has lost its one major point of distinction with the countless other harem endings out there.
In the end, I guess NakaImo passes for above average for its genre category. It's still not a show you would want to recommend to anyone who can't enjoy some over-the-top sex jokes, or bemused at Shougo's predicaments as he dodges naked girls trying to get a piece of the action. But for those of us who can handle that, you certainly can do much worse than Nakaimo, My Sister Is Among Them. Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
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