Blog Archives
Blog Carnival: The impact they had on us (Or: Why I still love OreImo)
About two months ago, Foxy Lady Ayame and Neko-kun started a blog carnival to talk about anime which influenced their lives. I thought it was a great idea – you should definitely check out their post as well as the list of other bloggers who have participated in the event. But personally, I found it really hard to come up with something to say about this topic. I feel like I’ve already written quite enough already about the anime titles which have influenced me personally. (Examples: 1, 2, 3)
Then it hit me. It’s not just well-written anime that has an impact on you. In fact, there are plenty of (what I would consider) relatively poor anime that have a special place in my heart. In the end, it honestly doesn’t matter how clever you are or how refined your taste is – the most important thing is what you make of what you watch.
One particular anime has had such an enormous impact on my outlook as an anime fan that I still think about it almost constantly to this day, even when so many others have deemed it trash and moved on with their lives.
This anime is called My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute!
What’s With All the Sisconning in Kyoukai no Kanata?
And now for something completely different.
It really says something about how inundated anime viewers these days are with “siscon” jokes that no one bats an eyelid at how overtly Hiromi fetishises his own little sister in Kyoukai no Kanata. It’s just an anime thing, not something to be taken too seriously. And Hiromi’s little sister complex is probably one of the funnier recurring gags in the series.
But when you step outside of looking at Kyoukai no Kanata through the perspective of an anime viewer and just look at the narrative as it stands, what is Kyoukai no Kanata actually trying to say about Hiromi by characterising him as a siscon?
The answer is quite interesting.
Why Do People Like Bakemonogatari?
Gee, I wonder.
Note: This is not a hate post. It’s a post about extreme doubt and ambivalence.