Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!

The story is a bit original, because this guy have to marry a girl who can accidentally be his younger sister. And lucky the protagonist isn't an mediocre idiot, but still not a Don Juan.The art is good so far as i saw, good quality.
Nothing to say about the music, not bad. You must watch if you like romance, and harem. it's quite enjoyable if you look for an "ecchi comedy romance". But don't be fool and don't look for a "Clannad" or "Death Note" in this anime.

Just plain trash just skip this.

The story could have been good. Its a interesting setup but it gets turned into a stupid clitche harem.

The dialogue is so bad that I actually have a hard time watching because it makes me feel embarrassed for the characters.

The storyline has no pace and is just random stuff coming out of nowhere.


I will admit tho the art and animation is pretty good but thats about the only good point.

Kono naka ni Hitori,
Unlike many other shows, the main character actually has to urgently get a wife which helps develop the plot unlike many other romance stories where the story gets no where. The twist is that he lost his childhood memories and he has a lost sister who is trying to marry him.

The main character seems like a really nice well rounded person as he is not too much of a pervert, loser or gets into too many accidents. However, as most characters do, he makes stupid decisons that piss people off. The people around him all seem to have their own unique personalities.

So far, it has been enjoyable without too uncomfortable or stupid moments.
Overall, i would give this show an 8 as it is nothing special but nothing bad either. If you watch it without expectations you'll probably enjoy the comedy and the progression of the plot. However, as most harems are, its not perfect but at least the story is going forward ( doesn't look like a back to where you started story). It's obvious that the main character does not do things the easy way or else there would be no plot and a simple resolution.

I would recommend people who enjoy nice romance anime to watch this. However it isn't a show for people who want a clever main character that uses strategy to solve his problems like code geass or death note

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(Previously on "WHO IS IMOUTO?”)

Shougo had just came back from his father's funeral. He had learned about his large inheritance, but in order to receive it, he must attend a school and get married to a lovely girl. But, one of the girls is his long-lost sister. Shougo, heir to the Mikadono Group, knew he didn't want to bone his sister, so he became a temporary Private Investigator, searching and uncovering the identity of his long-lost sister. Will he succeed? Or will he bone his sister?

With his naive, kind, and determined personality, he ventures forth into the unknown school called Miryuin Private Academy and searches for his sister. There, he encountered many women, like the blond, competitive princess Rinka, or the childish and quiet student council president Mana, or the mysterious witch girl. Every girl he encountered were suspicious and questionable. He needed an assistant and, thus, Ikusu, aka 'Mr. X', showed up. With 'Mr. X, as his partner, they followed up on some leads and would soon uncover the mystery. Or will they?

[Cue the CSI Theme Song: “Who are You” by The Who]

(On this Episode of "WHO IS IMOUTO?”)

Private Investigator Shougo has been, for three days, searching for the elusive Imouto. He has followed up on several leads, all of which had led to dead ends. As of now, there are five potential candidates, and they all seem very suspicious, as if they know who is the real “IMOUTO”, but refuse to tell him. He was getting desperate. He needed evidence, he needed some lead.

Just when he was at his wit’s end, Mr. X, his partner, burst through the door. She noticed his frustration and offered a suggestion.

She said, “Why don’t we do a DNA test? I’ll get the hair samples of all the candidates and then we can compare them with your hair.”

He had almost forgotten that Mr. X was a ninja in training, and it completely slipped his mind to use a DNA test. What a fool he was.

He said, “Your right! Why didn’t I think of that? Go get the samples, and then perform a DNA test.”

She complied and went out the front door.

[Several days later.]

The results were in, Shougo was holding a vanilla envelope, which contained the answers. He opened it and stared at the contents.

“My God”, he said, “This can’t be true!? Can it?”

“What? What happened? Who is it?” asked Mr. X.

“This girl. I…I was close to her…very close to her! And, yet, she’s my sister!”

“Tell me, who is it? Tell me!" she yelled.

He stuttered, “It’s…it’s…it’s…

*Tune in to next time on “WHO IS IMOUTO?”. Where we reveal the true “IMOUTO” or is it?*

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In my view people are underestimating this anime.

Recommend seeing 3 episodes before of drop the anime, mysteries begin starting the episodes 2~3.
Watch 3 episodes before of give the note for the anime please.

I must also say before that if you do not like animes with hot scenes that appear panties and etc. .. you should avoid this anime, although my goal here is to give you a chance to show.

For me, the author of this work is doing a very good job at getting to have both an anime thriller with a theme so simple, I see that many people did not understand the essence of the work (his main focus is the suspense, you should not expect he works upon the characters and how their feelings etc. ..) and I come here to try to convince people to give a chance to the anime.

Good talking a little anime itself.

He tells the story of a son of an owner of a large company who dies and leaves everything to his son but for him to assume the company he has to get married first, on the day of the funeral of his father appears a person saying his sister by (his father would have had her with another woman who is not the mother of the protagonist), the protagonist moves to a school after the death of his father to find a woman to marry, but before that he needs solve this mystery and find out who is his supposed sister by father (because he does not want to marry his sister.) The anime is totally focused on this mystery and to help in this development appears several other girls in the protagonist's life when he starts attend the college, the anime works fine its mystery story leading you to believe that is one of the girls and it's nothing you of a smack in the face and you already start to distrust another person holds the anime and you're wanting solve the mystery and find out who is the sister that, if you love to solve mysteries and uncover clues like a detective advise you to watch this anime.

Proof of it all, is one that appears 2 or 3 girls with the same cell that changes the voice, the question is which of the three who can be? Or is it someone else? Who supposedly said on the radio for the school Shougo (protagonist) who stop looking for her sister? Who was the girl who called him six hours every day? Whoever stole the phone of one of the girls who had thrown it in the trash? Whom is actually the person who helps Shougo and lives on his side?

That's just some of the mysteries that await you, who seek to be unraveled by someone!

How about you become a bit like detective?

Note: Since the goal of the anime is the suspenseful if I dwell too much on his description I could end up giving spoilers and many Eventually grace.

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History: 10
Suspense is the essence of this anime, and he is very well done in this part, as I said above still can not solve the mystery, and keep seeing the episodes to see if I can find any clues.He will play for one side to the other and making you believe a track that is not true and nothing you're already distrusting someone else (as I said above), every detail leaves you intrigued and each new track makes you seek links with other previous tracks to try to solve the mystery, it really is exciting in that respect.

Art: 9
The anime art is good, and very detailed, perhaps a bit too colorful and glossy, but you get used to it,scenarios are well made in every detail and the characters also has appearances quite pleasant with well defined traits.

Characters: 7
I think it might be one of the weaknesses of this work, I really think that it ta strong in its suspense because the characters do not make you like them, do not have a work upon the feelings of the characters, what they think, what they think, really the whole work is focused on suspense.

Sound: 7
The sound should be the weakest part of the anime, are not well placed, in the opening scene has a sound more or less, the closure is a bit better, if you expect an anime Kimi to Boku like that in my opinion has a fantastic sound and good choice of songs, Kono naka probably will not suit you.Some scenes even have music and they do not fit the times he has, but as the anime style is mystery, suspense think to understand a little of that side, the strong anime of this genre does not have to be sound (is how I see it)

Enjoyment: 7
The anime is fun and provide a sense of wondering what will happen next, if you expect an anime filled with comedy, comedy scenes without forced and more natural, you probably will not like this anime.Now if you expect that anime makes you actually engage with it, try to understand what goes into it, that detail is what this show is for you.

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NakaImo
Fast review.

Story
The problem with this anime is that it was predictable, the story is good but predictable and in the 9th episode i knew who the sister was, it was obvious if you payed attention to the things they said and what they knew till that episode, and even in the first episodes i knew she was going to be the sister with another suspect that i had, but i knew it, was predictable so the story was fine.

Art & Animation
Being an ecchi harem anime this should have great art, but it was just good, nothing amazing or great, the uncensored parts were fine, Ikusu parts were good and funny, it was good overall, don't expect much nudes.

Sound
It was fine, the voice acting was good, but the background music was ok, the OP and ED were boring, overall was fine.

Character
Almost everyone were ok, just Miyabi and Ikusu were interesting and sometimes Konoe, but it was fine because of somethings that you will see, if you get to watch it.

Enjoyment
I enjoyed the art and the comedy mixed with the ecchiness, it was fine.

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Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru anime, like most recent animes, is an adaptation of its manga.

Story: Shougo Mikadono is the son of a famous business man that is left with a will which states that he will be the successor of the company also has to marry before graduating highschool. However his long lost sister, who keeps her identity anonymous, states that she will marry him. Of course incest is creepy shit, so Shougo wants to avoid this but the imouto (sister in japanese) will attend his highschool where she will try to make him fall in love with her. Remember he doesn't know who she is which poses a problem

This idea is actually pretty intresting but oh. my. god. it was poorly executed. Now you obviously know that the girls on the cover are part of Shougo's harem which means character development would be quite difficult. But its like the team barely put any effort at all. Based on the 1st episode a girl suddenly shows a romantic interest. Now this probably would send a message to the audience that "hey this girl seems to already have feelings already which makes her suspicious already." But god damn when the 2nd girl was introduced she also SUDDENLY have feelings. Now you can tell that this story was rushed beyond believe, and will continue, because 2 of the 5 girls were introduced where they are in "good" terms with the male without any decent reason. i honestly wouldnt be suprised if all the girls "fall in love in first sight." If thats the case then Shougo is a lucky bastard.

Now that i established that character development is not even present in this anime i'd like to say that the dialogue is just terrible and ive already scene a typical boy-meets-girl cliche. *spoiler alert* The girl with black hair, Tsuruma Konoe, was saved by an incoming truck by Shougo who pushed her out of the way. no wait....THE BUS FUCKING HIT HER. I'm not even kidding folks she was smacked by a truck. Next thing you know the boy runs to ask the girl if shes okay and she didn't even have a bruise....wow hulk mode. *spoiler ends*

I want to quickly top this off by saying that this is a generic harem bullshit. Actually this reminded me of other generic animes such as Fortune Arterial and R-15 and guess what, same director. I also realized he did kissxsis which was actually decent-good but how coincidental is the fact that both animes are related to incest.

Art- Not jaw-dropping but okay. You obviously won't see the insane animation works from Hironori Tanaka or Takashi Hashimoto but the actual art is good
I give it a 7....i give the artists a 10 for having the balls to stick through this project. -respect-

Sound- I'm not even sure how to rate this. everything sounds normal. Now if your talking about the OP and ED, those are just so annoying to listen that i had to skip them. the voice seems typical but the background music for the OP is just a mess. The different sounds aren't even aesthetically place. Its just a messy bunch imo. But in the end its whatever the viewers preference is because music is music.

character: Oh god....Okay let me start by saying you will probably never see any character development but there are distinct personalities with each girl. Shougo is just a failure...excuse me he's just really typical guy who happens to be rich. Now that could be ideal for his situation but when you start to see him talk and move around...you would much rather see him be an asshole or some cocky person where he can be somewhat intresting.

Here's my take on the girls. they are all going to be distinct but ridiculously bland in their category. the tsundere in this story probably blushes by looking at the cloud that Shougo is looking at. Nah I'm kidding but don't expect to see very very good tsunderes like aisaka taiga or louise (both voiced by kugimiya rie i might add)...hell don't expect anything that would make you grow attached to them. oh yea the dialogue is just bad, no intresting conversations whatsoever.

enjoyment: I was actually frustrated and bored. I've read the manga and found it pretty interesting so i was somewhat excited by the anime adaptation of it but boy i was disappointed. With this very bad start to this show it almost seems impossible to bounce back and have a good finish. I gave the story a 6 because it had POTENTIAL...lets just hope the anime can use the interesting plot to their advantage....probably not.


Overall: it is generic, boring, and boring and boring.
In all seriousness its just bad in my opinion but i won't be surprised if other people enjoy it. This doesn't mean that those guys or girls are trees with no sense of taste but i for one already can't stand it.

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Okay this is my very first review ever, so don't be too harsh for me.

When I first got my sight on this anime, I immediately thought it's gonna be boring, half-baked anime, that's what I had in my mind after seeing how low the anime is rated on MAL. But as soon as I started watching the anime, I was pleasantly surprised, it was way better than I expected it to be, in my opinion the anime is highly underrated, and deserves to be rated better.

Story: 7/10
The story of Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! was pretty good in my opinion. Sure it wasn't something unique, just another school romance anime with some harem, but there is no way I would call it boring. The story itself kept me intrigued untill the very end. Anime seemed to be dragged out, and the second half of it wasn't even close to being as good as first half. Then the humor was typical, boring jokes and of course how without accidental tits squeezing situations. The ending left some questions in my head. It just felt too rushed and incomplete. I don't know If I can expect another season, since the anime wasn't successful. Probably not. :(

If you're looking for something impressive or unique, this anime might not be for you. But if generic school romance comedy is what you looking for, you might be left satisfied with this.
Sure this isn't maid-sama, or toradora but definitely "worth giving a shot" anime.

Art & Animation: 8/10
This section is pretty hard to talk about, because there's not much action, where the animation capabilities could be seen properly. But anime itself was pretty pleasant to watch, characters seemed to be drawn modern, didn't really felt like watching 90s anime. Only downside I disliked was the shining redness on girls shoulders, knees, and everyone knows where else.

Characters: 7/10
If the story is cliché and generic, could the characters present themselves as deep, interesting personalities? Dont think so.

Tsundere girl? Check. The good girl (a.k.a. the Tsuruma, Konoe)? Check. Perverted friend that supports and helps main hero? Check. There are no characters that would be totaly unique, and all the girls seem to be somewhat similiar and maybe even too unexceptional.

There also was little character development, characters changed (sensibilities, deeds, likes, motives) really little through the series. Despite that it wasn't boring to watch.

Overall: 8/10
Nakaimo obviously isn't amazing nor great anime by any means. But sometimes it's totaly enought to be an enjoyable anime by what this has to offer. It brought nothing new to the table, but my hand just can't rise to give a worse rating to the anime, that kept me intrigued throught the series untill the very end.

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English isn't my main language so I apologise for possible spelling or grammar mistakes in advance.

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Before I start, let me tell you that I'm a big fan of Harem animes (Hoshizora E Kakaru Hashi, Mashiro-Iro Symphony, Akane-Iro Ni Somaru Saka and the such) so I'll write this review on the viewpoint of a harem fan.

Let's start! ^o^

Story: You are given the chance to be a heir to a big company. The only condition is that you should get married first. So you enroll in a school so that you can find your typical waifu (wife) then, suddenly, you have five awesome and beautiful girls sorrounding you. You can choose one of them so that you can marry her and lead the company.

Sounds like a dream life eh? You get to choose who you want to marry and become rich at the same time. It's like hitting two birds with one stone.

The TWIST: One of those 5 awesome and beautiful girls is your long lost, blood-related Imouto (Little Sister) who was separated from the family long ago because she is an illegitimate child.

NakaImo is a little original when it comes to the story part. A harem anime typically consists of three or more girls fighting for the love of the male lead but the twist is what made it original. I can't even imagine myself being in the shoes of the male lead because it's so hard to choose even though some guys are saying that there's only 20% chance that the male lead can choose his Imouto by mistake. It's only a little original because the characters have the same personality for a harem anime. (Which will be discussed later in the character part)

Art: The art is what I liked most about this anime. The girls are, well, how can I say this? Have a little moe (as in moeblobs from K-on!! or Upotte!) and then all of them are kawaii (Like those girls in Visual Novels). I admit, I have a crush on all of the girls in this anime (especially on Konoe Tsuruma).

Sound: The OP single (Choose Me ♥ DAARIN by StylipS) is what's catchy about this anime. I usually repeat this song again and again on my phone when I'm on the bus. I can't find anything else about sound that caught my attention.

Character: The typical harem anime. We have a genius, silent-type, class president, vice-president (not to mention a TSUNDERE (by the way, I'm also a big fan of Tsunderes. I want to have a Tsundere girlfriend in the future)).

Enjoyment: If you're looking for a typical harem anime with a not-so-typical storyline, then NakaImo is for you. After all, the fanservice given by this anime can make you squeal. (I don't want to spoil you but I can't get the sound Konoe made when she was squealing out of my mind).

Overall: If you're a big (and I mean BIG) fan of Harem animes, then this is for you. The love story isn't too heavy unlike Mashiro-Iro Symphony (or Princess Lover!) and it isn't too light unlike Hoshizora E Kakaru Hashi.

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Hooray! My first review! I just happen to download this randomly, and it turned out regrettably a waste of time... I barely able to finish the whole episode.

Story 5/10
Well, the prologue turned to be quite simple. Nothing deep. Confusing at some point...

Art 5/10
The art it just aint my type. Average. Not the type that will make you fall in love with and keep you watching even if the story is unpleasant.

Sound 4/10
Nothing special.

Character 3/10
In my opinion... A lame pathetic looking main character, and unbelievably annoying bunch of female characters.

Enjoyment 2/10
At first, I was kind of interested in the story, even though the art and characters didn't simply fit my taste... but as the story progressed, I begin to lose all of my interest.

Well, I honestly wrote personally what I think. In the end, it all depends on your taste.

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I know that almost everyone says this, regardless of whether it is true or not, but this is truly my first review. i dont know what rupok93's problem is but i would guess he is a huge shonen jump fan and landed on this anime by mistake, and simply cannot see the beauty of harem anime.

Story: 10
i love the concept of having the main character having to choose from a group of girls without accidentally choosing his sister by mistake.


Art: 10
The artwork is great and does not affect the entertainment level of watching this series

Sound: 8
nothing too special but its not bad but not the best either

Character: 10
i enjoy all of the characters in this series. my personal favorite is konoe but all of the girls are good. and none of them are annoying or bring down the overall enjoyment of the series.

Enjoyment: 10
nuff said

Overall: 10
to be honest with you i have no idea why this anime is ranked in the 3000s. i believe that it should be within the top 1000 atleast if not the top 500. it is by no means the best anime i have seen, but it is for sure the best harem i have seen. i enjoy this anime much more than i did highschool dxd or sekirei. if you are a fan of harem i recommend this anime to you.

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Every guy wishes to become someone successful and famous that all the girls would just scream out his name and asks for marriage. And that is Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!, shortened as Nakaimo, premise. So allow me to vent out my thoughts for the show.

STORY: 5/10
It may not be the first to feature this, but Nakaimo still delivers a story that has been retold by many animes before. From the start of the story, the show made it clear that it will definitely include some incest - specifically brocon - which I am now getting used to.
Nakaimo centers around Shougo Mikagami, the next head of his late-father's successful company who is sent to Miryuuin Academy to look for a life partner but is thwarted when news of him having a little sister who attends the same academy as him came in and is now struggling to find her. Along the way he meets various girls that took interest in him but Shougo is having trouble choosing from them fearing that one of them maybe his little sister.
The story's a first but the main concept is as bland as ever. But a plot twist in the end did earn a few points for me. However, it alone can't make this stand out from the bunch. The story can also be humorous from time to time while fan service is just waiting around the corner preparing for a proper scene to show off some thin fabric and skin, which kept me either ogling or annoyed when it became too much. The story all throughout didn't exceed my expectations but what was surprising is the revelation on who Shougo's true little sister is. Wanna find out, watch it yourself.

VISUAL QUALITY AND AUDIO: 7/10
Like its story, the visual is what you'd expect from the given genre. The art emanates warm colors found in the well detailed backdrops. Character design is pretty especially how they highlight a given character that it separates it from the rest of the cast. Animation's decent too.
Voice acting is well delivered and greatly mimics the character's expressions. Soundtrack is good but not all memorable.

CHARACTERS: 7/10
Nakaimo features a cast of wacky people; the protagonist, the busty honor student, a tsudere swimmer, a cross-dressing ninja, a blonde elitist, a gluttonous president, a young shop manager, and even a loli teacher. Given that, their personalities and characteristics are quite unique but it still what you'd expect from an anime of this genre. Their girls' ways to approach Shougo is quite amusing and sometimes humorous. Character development takes place as the story progresses.

OVERALL: 7/10
Not the kind of an anime that will go against the flow but Nakaimo delivers a fun-filled romance story. I greatly enjoyed this that I finished the series and I'm still willing to watch it all over again. So Nakaimo is worth checking out in your into the common harem genre.

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Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!
Where you get to watch a young man named Shougu Mikadono play the pray like hell that I don't fuck my sister game, which is a fun game to play.
*shh it's the one we all think it is*

This is my first review so please bear with me.

A TL;DR synopsis of this series is a guy who's trying succeed his late father's company, but has to find a lover first. Twist? One of the prospects is his unknown sister.

Story - Score: 5
As far as story and plot goes...well.... This was something that hasn't been done before (the core plot theme anyways), but for some reason it kinda makes you shake your head all the same. Another interesting develop-able plot turned into another generic harem situation, which this anime pretty much is. As one of the other reviewer stated, this was just a dragged out cat and mouse game. To be fair, it's supposed to do that because that's what the main plot theme was supposed to be: him trying to find a lover while to trying to avoid picking out his sister. However, he makes it plainly clear that he's trying to avoid at all costs. So people who are looking for a wincest anime? Don't get your hopes up please.

Like many wincest potential animes, they are all doomed to deliver. And this one is no exception, if his views and stance is not clear enough. This isn't a spoiler per say because honestly the majority consensus not only in the anime industry but in society in general for incest is terribly harsh. Therefore the wincest element is always just reduced to a plot device or attraction gatherer. And the true ones are tend to be very niche. Don't trust me? You can go see it for yourself.

Anyways going back to the story itself. This is a fairly paced story. It doesn't drag out too long, but in doing so it sometimes feel like it's been a little rushed at times. Also the ending will leave you perplexed due to the anime covering only a portion of the light novel it was adapted from. So honestly it's not even a finished anime. And a second season seems to be not a possibility anytime soon, so you would have to rely on the original source for the conclusion...

IF anybody decides to revive that project. It seems like it has a poor fan base, considering that the source material had already wrapped... years ago... So honestly you're probably better off having to read the wiki or scouring through the net to learn how it all ends.

Art - Score: 6
Nothing too special, nothing thought provoking nor anything that would push the envelope. Something that was nice and safe. Just your standard typical anime art style. Ecchi art style at that.

Sound - Score: 6
Like the art, your standard run of the mill music. From its opening to its ending. Pretty forgettable to most. Few of the scenes music was pretty nice almost like from a generic visual novel game or something, but that was just it. Just pretty nice.

Character - Score:5
Run of the mill characters as well. You got from your nice, kind, ideal girl to your tsunderes to rich proper lady, to the airheads... Your basic harem staple. Nothing new.
Same with the protagonist. Standard guy who's a closet perv, but is afraid and wish-washy to go far with any girls, but this time with the mystery sister as an excuse.

Enjoyment - Score: 6
Honestly I gave this a fair rating just because of the fact that even though there were times when it made me groan, it also made me chuckle a bit when things started to get a bit wild. Not in the ecchi sense, but the weird moments sense. So I don't wanna be mean and give it a poor score just because it didn't please me all the time, but that does not mean it has fully redeemed itself. Nowhere close.

Overall - Score:6
Warning: This show is not for everyone. People who like a bit of story alongside with their dish of moe and fanservice stuff rolled into a harem sushi? Then this show is definitely for you. People who expected incest. Sorry. See my story review comment above (If you all came here because of (a) certain reviewer(s) from youtube said this is incest..well..they were slightly right?). People who wanted a great, complex, mind blowing or even a concrete story? Umm.. ha ha ha... You're in the wrong section, friend... This show have deviated a bit far from it's original source to become an ecchi/fanservice guilty pleasure sin. Typical fate of good number of anime adaptations or even original creations at times.

Personally speaking that's where the whole show should've focused on. Just be your typical ecchi with some comedy moe moments at the side. At least that way it could've been another staple of the ecchi/moe genre, but instead it tried to mix both it and the original source's story in an attempt to deliver something that all fans could enjoy, resulting in a shaky mess....

All in all, it was not bad... but definitely not good. It was a stable harem series. Nothing more.

Honestly this should've been a VN (visual novel) or even a galge (gal game)... Those girls would've been perfect for that kind of stuff.

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Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru is a typical harem anime with a serious setting and a mysterious sister. That being said it could have some more comedy as most viewers want mostly two things from a harem anime and that is fan service and jokes. So if you are a fan of the genre and also a story lover more than the fan service and jokes I would recommend this anime.

How to start this review... I guess I could start by saying that Nakaimo: My Sister is Among Them!, or Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! if you prefer the Japanese name, is an ordinary harem/echii anime. Or, at least, that's what I thought when I began this series. In all reality, it's a unique series to it's genre, and I mean the harem genre, not the echii, since there are multiple animes with similar echii aspects.

As for the story, I found it unique and interesting throughout the entire series, and quite enjoyable really. The story goes like this: The president of a highly successful company has just died, leaving his entire company to his son, however, in order to inherit it, he must get married by the end of his high school life. So he has been sent to a new high school to start looking for a bride-to-be. But, there's another catch, he has a sister that his family never knew about, and she goes to the same high school as him, and what's even more surprising, she's in love with him and wants to marry him. So now, he has to figure out which girl is his sister out of an entire group of girls that are potential wives. When I found all of this out, it got better each episode. The thing is, you never know who his sister is until the very end, and the series keeps making you think one thing, but then takes a giant curve and gets you thinking about another thing, and I never saw the ending coming. Very good story.

Artwork, similar to most animes being made these years. The designs of the characters are well made, you are able to tell them apart easily, and the setting seems modernly realistic. All aspects in which make a good anime.

As for sound, voice acting was well done, I recognized some actors and actresses from other animes. I didn't like all of them, but that's just me. Overall, very professional and well done.

I think what I liked about this story were the choices in characters. The main guy seemed really cool, and down-to-earth, unlike some characters you may find in animes these days. He was mature in some parts, but had just the right amount of a perverted side to him as most normal teenage boys would, so he seemed real to me. As for the girls, I liked them all, especially Rinka, my personal favorite. They all had different personalities, and they were all in love with the main guy, or at least I assume so. In the story, they each get their moment in the spotlight, so the screen time was evenly distributed between them so they each have about 2 episodes about themselves, and the moments in this anime that made me laugh the most were always where the girls were thinking that Shougo has a thing for guys whenever something weird is happening between him and Ikusu (which obviously isn't a guy).

I can honestly say that I didn't hate this anime. In terms of fanservice, believe me, there's plenty of that. There were moments of awkwardness that made me cringe, which is common in most echiis these days, and of course, there's always just enjoying one guy getting loved by a bunch of girls to an extent where you wish all his girl troubles were yours. It wasn't until the end where I was unsatisfied on where the story went. This isn't really spoiling anything, but like in most harems, the main character never chooses which girl he will get with, it'll end with all of them proclaiming their love to him or something like that. Even though it had an unsatisfying ending, I do recommend this to anyone looking for a harem/echii with fanservice and a good storyline.

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This Is My First Review So Sorry If I'm Wrong Haha

The Anime It Self Has A Outstanding Story Line And Thus I'll Rate It Overall 10. I Enjoyed It Cause Of It's Comedic Parts And Also The Romantic Stuffs. I Love The Genre "Romantic" And This Anime Has It. A Perfect Combination Of Comedy And Romance, Plus The Harem Part Makes It Exciting. Who Will He Choose? Who Does He Love The Most? More Apparently Who Is His Little Sister? Haha I Already Finished The Anime So I'll Say 10 Of 10 Is Worth It.

Thanks! Love The Anime! Hopefully It'll Have Another Season.

I guess I'll never see profiteroles the same way after watching this one... With a really flawless plot, what screws it was the share of uncensored fanservice moments. Can't say it wasn't good, but great animes don't appeal to that...

{STORY - 5/10}

After the death of Kumagorou Mikadono, his son, Shougo, gets transferred to Miryuuin Academy, with the mission of finding the girl with whom he would spend the rest of his life. This needed for him to become the new president from his father's entreprise, the Mikadono Group.

Problem is that Shougo has an unknown half-sister, whose has promised marrying with him and studies at the same academy. Soon enough, Shougo starts attracting some particular girls, unable to date them under the risk of getting in love with his sister.

An well elaborated main scheme, based on all this situation, is proved to be related with Shougo's ascension. Discovering who his real sister's identity is required to avoid a huge scandal against the Mikadono Group.

Constant calls from a misterious girl that artificially modificated her voice and claims to be Shougo's sister makes him concerned. The device used turns into a lead. Still, putting and end to this mistery seems impossible, as the suspect changes everytime...

{ART - 6/10}

Nothing that much impressive, but overally gorgeous. All girls are beautiful and the eye design is amazing. Everything looks so smooth and sweet...

{SOUND - 7/10}

Simple backgrounding and really nice OP and ED songs. Both of them match this anime's style, being cheering and cute. Other thing I noticed is the use of unrelated songs at Mei's cafe. First time this happens to me...

{CHARACTERS - 5/10}

There are few, but all of them are very distinct. Shougo is one of those confident guys, who has a charming side and respects women. Not knowing who is his sister prevents him from showing true affection to all the other girls that he knows...

Konoe and Kannagi are the first ones Shougo meets. The fact that both are childhood friends is forgotten as he suffered an accident on that time. Konoe shows a calm and sweet personality, being a total pervert on the inside. Kannagi loves Shougo since the first day they met, but she's unable to show her feelings and wants to stay by his side all the time.

The cafe owner and prodigy girl, Mei Sagara, deeply relates to Kannagi and is a essential piece from this puzzle. Rinka is also on the middle of this entire scheme, as her father is a Mikadono's rival. After being helped by Shougo, she starts developing feeling for him too. Like on many other seinen manga based animes I've watched, there's also a woman that disguises herself as a man... I don't know why but I feel attracted to this type of character every time I see one...

{ENJOYMENT - 10/10}

It's impossible not liking an ecchi... Other than that, the mistery involved is awesome. It just keeps you wondering who the real sister is on every episode, with a true answer being shown only at the ending... It was totally unpredictable and that's why I liked it so much.

{OVERALL - 6/10}

Choosing someone affraid of a blood relation, Shougo is both lucky and unlucky. There's a girl somewhere that wants to meet his brother and be his new family, but her identity is unknown... Shougo has to discover who she is and stay by her side. Until that, starting a deep relationship with any girl could mean trouble and some other problems may get on his way. An investigation full of twists begins...

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+ Imoutos!
+ Absolutely cute and pink art, makes me feel like a cream puff if you know what I mean...
+ Miyabi is cute! x3
+ Funny and cute episodes, like when they're at the ball or amusement park
+ It surprises the viewer couple of times
+/- Old (good?) character types, a good girl, tsundere, a rich girl, a genki and clumsy girl and a cosplay girl
- It doesn't take "can't sister and brother be lovers?" -theme to any deeper reflection.
- Too many pointless fanservice and naugty jokes
- Homophopic moments and jokes
- The mystery is kind of boring
- Like usual, the main guy doesn't have any personality
- The plot is forseeable after all.

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Shogo Mikadono had been living a comfortable, carefree life up until high school. As the only child of the Mikadono group, a wealthy network of the Mikadono family and it’s friends and business partners, he’s been selected as the sole heir to the company and family name that his father, Kumagoro Mikadono, has dedicated his life to strengthening and expanding. Unfortunately, on the day of his ageing father’s death, when Shogo is finally given a taste of what’s written in the family patriarch’s will, it’s revealed that in order for the young heir to inherit his father’s very lucrative estate, he must undergo one final task; To enroll at a certain high school, fall in love with a dignified and agreeable classmate, and make her his fiancee, with whom he’ll be sharing untold riches on the day of their marital vows! It might not be the most romantic grounds for a proposal that anyone’s ever heard of... Still beats the idea of having to come together to repopulate the earth, when you get right down to it... But for a rich man to marry an attractive woman who’s only interested in business and money isn’t a new concept, and it certainly isn’t unheard of.

However, as is the unfortunate pattern of life, even the simplest plans must become complicated somewhere down the line. Not long after hearing about this stipulation, he’s confronted from just out of reach by a soft, reassuring voice that he won’t always be alone... That the owner of the voice is his long lost sister, who has every intention of marrying him and staying by his side forever. Wait, did I say soft and reassuring? Because I meant deeply concerning, as it turns out that his father did in fact father an illegitimate daughter who’s been separated from him since birth, and to make this revelation even more shocking is the fact that the girl with the voice is also going to his new school! Now, his attempts to pluck a bridal rose from a garden full of crazy weeds is being hampered by the fear that one of his sultry suitors may actually be his secret sister! This matrimonial minefield is made even harder to cross by the fact that with each step that moves him forward, he’s being confronted by red herrings that are only pretending to be his sister for their own ends. Can Shogo safely pick the woman of his dreams and collect his rightful inheritance, or is the only thing he’s bound to inherit a deformed child and a one way ticket to Alabama?

You know, the longer I do these reviews, the more likely I am to cross every single animation studio off of my list at some point. This time around, we’re talking about Studio Gokumi, a company that spun off from Gonzo in the early 2010’s. The name literally means Studio Group 5, which... I don’t know. I have no idea what that does, or even COULD mean on a larger scale. In any case, they haven’t done very much work, although I have seen two of their shows before, namely A Channel and Yuki Yuna is a Hero, two shows whose best qualities were their visual qualities. A Channel, like most of Gokumi’s early work, was low budget, but managed in such a way that it’s lack of funds could never hurt it in any noticeable way. Yuki Yuna, like most of Gokumi’s later work, was gorgeously animated with a lavish budget that the producers took full, appreciative advantage of. Between the two, Nakaimo is closer to A Channel, being one of the studio’s earliest projects, and it looks way better than it really needed to look, given the nature of the material.

True to form, Nakaimo looks perfectly fine. The visuals aren’t mind-blowing of world-challenging, but they’re more than serviceable enough to be above complaint. The animators were very clearly working with a tight budget, so the movement on screen is never exactly fluid, but the characters still move just as much as they need to to convey a sense of life. There are shortcuts taken, which is kind of inevitable in such a situation, as movement occasionally has to be limited to save some money, but it’s never prominent enough to bother even the most astute viewer. Not to mention, these shortcuts pay off with interest when the show DOES want to dazzle us with more impressive shots, such as one of the main characters swimming in beautifully animated water, or when they need to show us random CG effects like a can flying at someone’s head from off screen. I’ve said before that given the choice, I’d prefer a well-managed low budget over a lackadaisical high budget at least seven times out of ten, and Nakaimo easily delivers on what I wanted to see from it.

The artwork is also very pretty, with it’s only real flaw being certain shots where the background has an unnatural sort of heavenly shine to it. It doesn’t happen often, thankfully, but it’s irritating when it does. The backgrounds are fairly well drawn, and while most man-made backgrounds to have a surprising level of intricacy in their design and range of details, things like grass, trees and bushes do blur a bit when you look at them closely. The characters themselves are drawn to type, milking the most cliched archetypes of the ecchi genre dry, extending all the way to the teacher being a little girl. You’ve got the cosplaying loli, the pigtailed flat-chested tsundere, the overdressed goth-loli sweetheart girl, and of course Itsuke from Haruhi as the protagonist. It’s saving grace is that once you get past the clichés, the characters are still designed and drawn really well, although the constant blushing can get extremely annoying. The lighting and filtering effects are also utilized well, if not very often.

The soundtrack is a bit on the generic side, but it’s not bad by any means. It’s very pretty in it’s orchestration, but it’s also really repetitive, as any given track just loops around every few seconds or so. It does it’s job well enough, and you’ll hardly notice it, unless it’s doing the one thing about it that impressed me... Instead of playing off the little sister mystery as sexy or romantic, moments dealing with the mystery... AKA phone calls allegedly from the sister and certain off-color remarks tying into it... Are paired with music that actually manages to make the concept feel creepy or ominous, which is how it damn well should feel, so props for that. The opening theme, Choose Me Darling by StylipS, is your typical fast, catchy song from multiple harmonized female singers, but what makes it awesome is the percussion underneath it, which creates a pretty memorable beat. That, and i’m pretty sure a decent amount of the animation budget went into it, as it makes for a pretty awesome watch, and it goes out of it’s way to introduce the characters and several plot points that happen throughout the show.

The English dub was produced by Sentai Filmworks, and before I start doling out the praise... Of which I have plenty to go around... I’m going to have to go into some negatives, because Nakaimo’s dubbers made two huge mistakes. First of all, I was shocked to see that Steven Foster wasn’t on this dub. Yeah, he quit a while ago, but I’ve only ever seen lip-synching this bad under his direction. In his heyday, his response to the critics blasting him for his translation choices was to release dubs where he stayed true to the original Japanese right down to the letter, and stopped giving a fuck about lip flaps. These were his *better* dubs, so I’m kind of assuming the company figured out from him that they can do this to save some time and effort and still remain on peoples’ good sides. This purely speculative explanation, whether true or untrue, doesn’t excuse the final product, where characters talk while their mouths are closed and stop talking while their mouths are still open. It’s over-all a pretty sloppy job, but the other mistake is even worse.

See, there are several voice actors in the anime industry who have immediately distinctive voices. I like to bring these individuals up as... How can I put this gently... Target practice for beginner voice chasers. You don’t need much experience in voice chasing to recognize voices like Greg Ayres, Luci Christian, Monica Rial, Brittany Karbowski, J Michael Tatum or Hillary Haag, because while these are all fantastic actors, they can not disguise their voices for shit. This usually isn’t a problem, as you don’t need to be a chameleon to be a good actor, but Nakaimo presents a unique circumstance. The plot of the story revolves around finding out which member of the harem is Shogo’s little sister, and right in episode 1, we’re given a brief clip of the sister’s real, unfiltered voice. Sentai was clever enough to not credit this voice, but it uses the same actor as the eventually revealed sister character, and they used the most distinct-sounding voice actor they had. They could have used Emily Neves, who’s actually really good at disguising her voice, but nope! Even the most unseasoned of viewers can figure out the mystery as soon as the sister talks again.

For this reason and this reason alone, I almost want to recommend the Japanese track with subtitles, as the sub didn’t make this mistake, but if you did that, you’d be sacrificing what actually turns out to be a pretty awesome dub. I’ll admit that Clint Bickham is a bit awkward in the beginning, but he grows nicely into the character before long. Monica Rial and Brittany Karbowski play his two most prominent love interests, and of course, they’re more than reliable even with the worst material, which is good, because by the end of episode 1, they’ve respectively gushed to themselves over how puffy and cream-filled their boobs are and tried to badger Shogo into sticking his tongue into them through convoluted logic. I would not trust lines like this to any other actors, so thank god the director knew what material to drop in front of what actor. Most of the actors are newcomers and less-popular names, with the exception of veteran Tiffany Grant as the trio’s homeroom teacher, and while everyone does a pretty damn good job, none of them stand up enough to be brought up on the same platform as our three leads. If it wasn’t for the serious misstep I mentioned earlier, I’d tell you to skip the dub and watch it in Japanese... You know what? Screw it, just do that. Good acting isn’t worth spoilers.

Off the top of my head, I can pick out two genres and one trend that have dominated the anime landscape in recent years, earning an equal amount of ire from anything but the lowest common denominator of the anime viewing community. These genres are Harem and Moe, and the trend... One that many critics wish would just go away and die already... Is incest. Specifically little sister incest, because incest without focus apparently isn’t abrasive enough. The harem genre has been a mainstay for decades at this point, and in it’s trek through time, it’s become one of the laziest, samiest things imaginable. I mentioned earlier that the characters were drawn to type, and that’s because there are a lot of repetitive types to draw from. Moe hasn’t been around quite as long, but it’s become just as repetitive with it’s sexist characterizations and shameless melodramatic tragedy porn. These three elements are copied and pasted to death because they work... People flock to them, both here and especially in Japan, so nobody bothers changing it. That would be all well and good, if it wasn’t for the crushing feeling that people pushing out this material know damn well that they don’t have to try.

Well, this was more or less what I was expecting when I bought the series on DVD, but I was very quickly astounded to notice just how much this series DOES try. It puts forth genuine effort to be more than the some of it’s parts. If you haven’t had the mystery spoiled for you... Which means you’re probably watching the sub... It’s a shockingly good mystery, played out through a story that’s way more interesting than anybody should justifiably expect it to be. A character is introduced in episode 2 who’s supposed to be the show’s stand-in for one of the worst harem tropes imaginable, the ever insulting “Trap” character, and while I won’t tell you just what their deal is... It’ll be more satisfying that way... I can think of two reasons the character was introduced. The first I’ll get to later, but the second ultimately makes them my favorite character in the show. Instead of acting as a member of the harem, they exist to help Shogo unravel the mystery of his sister through their epic set of ninja investigation skills. This in turn adds a little more depth and attention to the plot, which can often be forgotten among the tons of fanservice.

The story has many twists and turns, and a handful of the characters do get individual arcs, which is a common enough way for a story like this to explore each member of the harem, but Nakaimo does it a little differently. While each arc ties into the fleshing out of an individual character, they also revolve around the mystery of his sister’s identity, with each one setting up what we’re supposed to believe is a new red herring for him and his gender-neutral ninja sidekick to discuss and solve. Each character with the exception of the student council president has their own backstory, their own tough circumstances, and their own reasons for getting tied into the mystery. What they don’t have, however, is individual reasons to pursue Shogo, because guess what? Half the harem don’t even really want him! Only three of the six girls compete over him, with the other three busy pursuing their own interests that he may or may not be relevant to. It’s a pretty sad commentary on the repetitive nature of the harem genre that THAT’s a breath of fresh air. Having said that, I liked these characters, underwritten as they may have been, and I genuinely cared what happened to them. Shuffle and Maken-Ki didn’t make me feel that way.

After all that praise, you’re probably expecting me to call Nakaimo a genre defying masterpiece, right? Oh God no. It may be one of the better products of it’s genre, but it’s still a product of it’s genre, and as such, it comes with a lot of the same trappings. When it comes to the writing that carries the series to it’s full run, coincidence is the rule, not the exception. It’s hard not to roll your eyes at how the different arcs incorporate themselves into the little sister theme, from a girl claiming to be his sister to promote her little sister maid cafe to the entire school thinking Shogo’s so awesome that calling him Big Brother becomes a trend. Even when the plot gets really interesting towards the climax, it doesn’t... DO... A climax, and very little is actually followed up on. Also, I should probably mention that there’s a ton of nudity in this anime. Not only that, but they go out of their way to show every female character named at some point... Well, thankfully, this excludes the teacher. I generally separate nude scenes into categories of integral, incidental and forced, and while Nakaimo’s are all over the place, most of them feel forced. Hell, the other reason the gender-flip character exists is to guarantee maximum flesh output. Seriously, they’re excuse for casual nudism makes the chick from MGS who breathes through her skin seem legit.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re one of the special little snowflakes who gets triggered when they hear a work of fiction called ‘sexist,’ you might want to jump on over to one of my other works. “You can’t call a fictional work sexist, that’s stupid, it’s not real!” Yeah, well, there’s a reason the term pop culture has the word culture in it. The way you write people is a reflection of the way you view them, and the popularity of the work is a reflection of how accepted that mindset is. Nobody watches Coal Black without thinking “That’s racist.” On that note, there are several character constructs of the harem genre that I consider sexist, and while Nakaimo only hits a few of them, it’s still really bad. Girls holding onto a crush for well over ten years is sexist and unrealistic. Girls becoming obsessed over a boy over a misunderstanding that makes her think they’re betrothed is sexist and paints women as idiots. Girls being so thirsty for the D that they claim being a pedophile is better than being gay is... Well, I’ll give them this, at least it’s a new one. But it still ties into the harem genre’s age-old insistence that girls will obsessively want the self-insert male character, and through him, the lonely male viewer.

If there’s one area where this show actually did come close to impressing me, it’s with the actual little sister character. While the series begins on a note that some sexy, exploitative Imouto hijinks are about to go down, you find out by the end that while the plot line is wildly misguided, it does manage to follow a more scientific interpretation of incestuous feelings, ala the idea of Genetic Sexual Attraction. In a nutshell, it’s been more or less proven that when two blood siblings aren’t raised as siblings, they’re genetically predisposed to find each other attractive later in life, and yeah, Nakaimo does adhere to this, whether intentionally or not. Unfortunately, I don’t think the writers really know what they had with this material, because it’s an uncommon enough subject matter that it still deserves to be taken seriously, and some serious groundwork needs to be laid down before it can ever be approached with this level of ecchi kitsch. I won’t spoil how the series ends, obviously, but like with all of it’s other promising aspects, it winds up dropping this ball pretty hard. Like I said before, I do appreciate it for trying.

Nakaimo, My Sister is Among Them is available from Sentai Filmworks, and can generally be found on Blu-Ray and DVD at a very generous 30-40 dollar price range. The set comes with an OVA episode 13, and while it kinda ties something off, it's ultimately not that important to the story. The original light novel by Hajime Taguchi is not available stateside, and I’m kind of feeling like that’s a good thing, because it continues way longer than the anime, and some of the spoilers I’ve heard about the extended story have been pretty cringeworthy. The manga adaptation, illustrated by Mottun, is also not available stateside.

Despite it’s unfortunate history, harem anime don’t have to be bad. They can be great, just like any other genre. The difference is that all the good harem titles I can think of were high concept works that used the genre as a backdrop for a clear, ambitious plot that received most of the writer’s focus. A few good examples would be Chobits and some versions of Negima. I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the same playing field as those titles, but for what it’s worth, Nakaimo DID vastly exceed my expectations. Of course, I was expecting it to be a 1/10 piece of filth, so that’s admittedly not saying much. It tried, and at the end of the day, that alone made me develop a soft spot for it. There was some genuine effort that went into making this title stand out among it’s genre, and while that effort might have ultimately been bogged down and silenced by the trends and clichés of the genre, it still makes enough of an impact to show what the genre CAN be. I enjoyed this show, I’d watch it again, and I’d even recommend it to a few people, but I’d be a bad critic if I didn’t judge it as a whole. I give Nakaimo: My Sister is Among Them a 4/10.

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