My Little Mahou Shoujo Can’t Be This Cute

The 10th episode of Ore no Imouto lavishes attention on Kanako, the show’s dangerously appealing little mahou shoujo.

This episode focused more on supporting characters, so the alluring quasi-incest of last week’s episode is mostly MIA, but most viewers will likely regard the use of Kirino’s cute friends as the episode’s main cast to be more than satisfactory.

This image is here just to point out Ayase’s cute keitai strap, yet another of Japan’s inventions given to the world – phone straps that is, although Ayase is no doubt an excellent invention herself.

The OP this week had rather more changes to the basic OP sequence than usual:

Kirino and Ruri’s mahou shoujo-style battle was excellently animated, and matched the content of the episode too.

The closeup on Ruri’s fujoshi eye is great!

Kirino’s wet, semi-transparent shirt was a nice tease.

Girls crying is also an established form of moe.

Ayase thighs make for a good intro to the episode proper.

Ayase sadly has trouble appreciating the beauty of ota-figures, a malady afflicting most commoners…

Kirino has a cute spat of jealousy with Kyosuke over all the girls he has been meeting with behind her back here, which is especially fun since Kirino is so rarely honest about her feelings for her own brother.

Not the only beating Kyosuke takes from a little girl this episode.

Poor Kyosuke…

Saori looks as good as ever, even if the anime seems to be more reticent than the manga or novels to show her off…

Note the Tsukihime book (the blue one, ninth counting from the left)!

The ero-doujinshi look as authentic as ever too, all of them being drawn by actual doujin artists; a rather lengthy list of their names plays over the ED’s credits.

“Kono hentai!”

Kyosuke digging his grave even deeper.

“Baka! Ecchi!!”

This Meruru character name happens to be “Thanatos Eros.”

Poor Kyosuke.

At least Ayase can switch quickly back into embarrassed-mode.

Another good running gag the series keeps showing occasionally.

Salaryman Kyosuke comes off quite dapper looking.

The “UOX” building Kyosuke is standing in front of, and where much of the episode takes place, is really the Akihabara UDX in real-life Akiba, the only location in Akiba suitable for events such as mini-conventions, concerts and such.

Little of interest (to otaku) goes on there unless it happens to have an event running on any given day, but many visitors pass by it, owing to its proximity to the train station.

Lest anyone forget, Kirino’s twin-tailed loli friend Kanako Kurusu is played by 田村ゆかり / Yukari Tamura, of Nanoha Takamachi mahou shoujo fame, who also played the lead in recently aired B-Gata H-Kei.

Unfortunately (for Kyosuke), part of Kanako’s character archetype is “the disapproving friend who actually doesn’t fall for the male lead” type, so all of her cuteness is mostly just for show here.

Putting Tamura’s character into a mahou shoujo cosplay is a nice in-joke, intentional or not.

This sort of small event is a good example of what takes place at the UDX’s otaku gatherings – Tokyo, naturally, has poor access to the huge spaces convention centers require.

Kanako looking wonderful.

Kanako’s seiyuu is of course an expert at mahou shoujo, and does a great job of singing Meruru’s theme.

The audience at otaku events really does get this frantic in reality – joining the glowstick-wielding masses is quite the experience.

Poor Bridget (actually the name of the character being cosplayed, but close enough) is aghast at how un-pure the wonderful Meruru cosplayer seems.

The aftermath:

“Meruru being hauled in by the police.”

This week’s ED sequence goes back to the more simplistic style most of the past EDs have used.

The artist for this week’s beautiful ED image is another big name in anime art, none other than いとうのいぢ / Noizi Ito (personal website here), the artist behind the light novel illustrations for such famed series as Haruhi Suzumiya and Shakugan no Shana.