Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Little Sister's Hero Is Her Big Brother: NakaImo 4


Shogo has ruined his relationship with Miyabi; after letting Konoe know about his secret, a new problem arises. (Source: Crunchyroll)
Spoiler alert: Spoilers for all episodes of NakaImo so far are in this review. Don't read until you've caught up!
Yes, we found the imouto! Or did we? The great mystery of who is imouto seemed so perfectly wrapped up in this fourth episode, but the end of this one has me thinking otherwise. So don't hang your head in despair, people who thought they knew the outcome of this sis-con-tastic question; there's still time to guess who the real imouto is!
And, of course, there was fanservice. Glorious shiny fanservice. But who didn't see that coming?

Ladies and gentlemen, if you had Konoe as your top pick for the mystery imouto on the phone, feel free to do a victory dance. You were right! Yes, it seemed pretty obvious (at least to me) that it couldn't have been Miyabi with how she reacted at the end of episode three. Would the real imouto have cried, not confirmed Shougo's suspicions and openly declare herself his beloved little sister? Exactly. The fact that Shougo could not realize that makes me wish the writers would make him drop the Idiot Ball once in a while.
And it's because of his plot-contrived stupidity that Miyabi pretty much has to spell things out for him. After, you know, leading him on a wild goose chase to find her. Not that I can blame here; she would have been pretty upset after hearing Shougo say that Miyabi, not Konoe, is his sister. Which was a stupid conclusion to draw anyway, Shougo, considering what little evidence he had at the moment - but then again, Shougo is the king of jumping to conclusions with lacking any facts to back him up.
Did I mention Konoe technically isn't related to Shougo? In fact, they only grew up in a sibling-esque relationship. Konoe wished that Shougo would be her older brother as he was her hero while growing up and they spent so much time together, he was practically like a brother to her. So yes, Konoe fans, continue to wish for Shougo/Konoe as endgame while confident in the fact that they aren't blood related.
So Konoe pretty much spells out what her deal is, something I won't concern myself with recapping except that for someone confessing her secret identity to her 'onii-chan', she stays surprisingly level-headed about the whole thing. And then, not to let a moment like this slip by, Miyabi reveals that she is actually Shougo's childhood friend and that Shougo promised to marry her. Bwuh?
And the funny thing is, thanks to Shougo's injury that has disfigured his memory, there's no real way for him to verify Miyabi's story! Although I guess she doesn't have much to lose, admitting to Shougo her connection with him if it helps her win his heart in the end. Plus, Shougo seems like the kind of hopeless sap that ends up honoring such a (literally childish) commitment.
So the episode ends with an amazing love triangle - Shougo, his fake imouto, and his childhood friend - and also the revelation that his real imouto is still out there. Clueless Shougo thinks this girl must be living far far away and is not an issue any longer. Either he doesn't see the mountain of coincidences his life is based on or no one has told him the name of the show.
The final scene is of Mei Sagara in her cosplay cafe. A premonition of the identity of the true imouto? I think maybe the imouto isn't Sagara per se but someone connected to her, someone who works at the cafe that hasn't revealed said connection yet. All I know is if that means girls in adorable cosplay serving tea and calling people 'onii-chan' then sign me up, NakaImo. I am there.
As always, you can watch subtitled streaming episodes of NakaImo over at Crunchyroll.
AND DID I MENTION IT'S BEEN LICENSED FOR HOME VIDEO RELEASE BECAUSE IT HAS. God bless you, Sentai Filmworks. Now take my money already.

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