Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo

[Spoiler Warning]

I've finally found an anime that I can give a 1 to. Oresuki has great artwork, and decent fan service. However, I have never hated characters more than I have in this show. The MC is the most irredeemable protagonist I've ever seen as he allows himself to be walked all over, shows no backbone when things are against him, and shows no compassion to a person who is helping him out. We are given three female counterparts (as of episode 4) that are all just awful people that shouldn't be given the time of day. The childhood friend that abandons him over a ... situation that legitimately makes no sense to be upset about, the smart, popular girl that does the same, and the secretly hot girl that tortures the guy the whole way through. His best friend is revealed to have the worst motives ever, and he still wants to be friends with our MC again. I find the story to be contrived, ridiculous, and completely implausible. I can't understand how this show has such a sizable, loving fanbase, but to each their own there. I'd rather watch Saekano any day of the week.

I cannot comprehend how anyone that has watched a decent anime or read a single book can possibly enjoy this rancid excuse of a show.

The author has absolutely zero idea of how to manage a plot or characters - but manages to get his ideas published and animated by forcing the characters into a delusional, masturbatory fantasy for the average young male. It's repulsive and abhorring, and I question the sanity of the editors and directors that allowed this "thing" to get past publishing and onto an anime streaming service.

Characters:
The concept of a "self-insert" character in shounen anime is prevalent throughout all types of literature ... and manga, almost exclusively for the harem genre. The trope goes a certain way: We have an almost-perfect, simply designed MC that manages to build up a harem using his strength and bland personality.

Now, don't get me wrong - there isn't anything wrong with this trope. If anything, it's enjoyable, and I can name many other shows that have executed this trope well, including: Sword Art Online, Rakudai Kishi no Calvary, The Irregular at Magic High School, among many others.

The opposite of a "self-insert" character would be a highly dramatized character, in which the viewer perceives the MC make personality-unique decisions, struggle with moral values, and most of all - make mistakes. Some examples of these would be Kaneki Ken of Tokyo Ghoul, Kira of Death Note, or Subaru, from Re:Zero.

Something that will NEVER work, however, is mixing these two tropes together - that of both a self-insert (a character with weak personality) and a dramatized character (one with a detailed, realistic personality).

And this, my friends, is what the author and director have regurgitated on-screen.

There is a constant struggle between self-insert and dramatized characteristics; we can see the MC sacrifice his time and dignity to help his childhood friend; we can see him attempt to make-up with the friend that betrayed him; we can see him surrender to the quiet girl in the library, and decide to spend time with her. These would be self-insert characteristics, or the "ideal" character for self-projection.

And then, we have his "dark side" or "true character."

How idiotic.

He can call his childhood friend a bitch for hugging him, he calls the girl that likes him an "ugly cow" and demands that she take out her tits in exchange for eating lunch with him, he actively takes advantage of girls' feelings while at the same time feeling nothing for them. These would, through choices made that differ from the average viewer, suggest that a character has a strong personality -

But the concoction that unfolds on screen is spine-chillingly bad. We have unredeemable plot lines, ridiculous dialogue, cringy interactions, times where you cannot bear to watch the screen - and most of all, times where you wonder, "How did this become an anime?" Everything, absolutely everything is inconsistent; it's terrible; it's unwatchable;

And the SIDE CHARACTERS? Don't get me started.

Brain-dead, main girl archetype with glasses and braids - but is a secret beauty: Her character is executed decently well; she acts as she should and her personality is consistent; she schemes, plots, and betrays. Her endless, unconditional love for the MC, however, feels forced, absurd, and uncomfortable.

Baseball player: Is supposed to represent the classic shounen MC - but also, out of nowhere, possesses a secret, hidden "dark side" all for the sake of plot - how cheap and unimaginative.

Childhood friend: Fanservice character. I can't critique her.

Student Council President: Also a fanservice character.

The inconsistent personalities on-screen have both a lack of personality and a lack of redeemable qualities. If it was a self-insert anime, I'd watch it with a grain of salt, only for the sake of enjoyment - if it was a dramatized anime, I'd watch it for the in-depth characters. But this? This hybrid, unnatural mixture of inconsistent personalities and unoriginal drama? It's genuinely disgusting and insulting.

Plot:
Now, the fundamental plot - the "origin story," if you will, or if you're a nerd, "exposition" - Is DEFINITELY unique. It's a funny, hilarious, new twist on the classic harem genre. The first episode fell off a bit at the end, but ultimately, the plot was original and interesting.

The execution, however?

Abhorring.

The plot SHOULD HAVE gone like this:
The two girls confess that they love the MC's best friend.
The MC's best friend loves a different girl (The girl in the library).
A slow-burn romance, slice-of-life begins, as we watch the funny interactions between the four characters, as they all try to capture the others' attention and compete with one another.
Little do the girls know, however, that while they are attempting to get the Baseball character's attention, they have actually fallen hard for the MC.
The MC succeeds in hooking the girls up with his friend, but they have actually fallen in love with him.
He decides between the three girls.

That would be a normal, 12-13 episode plot. Maybe if some sort of extension was added, like a new girl or new plotline, it could be stretched out to 24 episodes.

Now, let's see what this delusional author did.

The two girls confess that they love the MC's best friend.
The MC's best friend loves a different girl (The girl in the library).

WITHIN {{{ F O U R }}} EPISODES, THE CLIMAX OF THE STORY IS SOLD SHORT WITH AN ABSOLUTELY IDIOTIC, NONSENSICAL SCENE WITHIN THE LIBRARY, WHERE RANDOM CHARACTER TRAITS ARE SUDDENLY REGURGITATED ON SCREEN FOR THE SAKE OF PLOT, A CRINGY, AWKWARD YELLING SCENE IS SHOWN, AND ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANGE OCCURS BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS - BECAUSE THE EPISODE AFTER, THEY ALL MAKE UP IMMEDIATELY.

ARE YOU SEVEN YEARS OLD?

How idiotic. It actually frustrated me - So much, in fact, that I made a review account JUST for this anime.

Animation - Decent, but I can spot many shortcuts and repetitive, reused scenery. Nice budget cuts, studio. You're really doing anime proud.

Music - Overdramatic soundtrack for a less-than-mediocre anime. Stick to high pitch girl sounds from failed idol groups, please. Don't waste instrumental musicians' time.

Theme -

I'll ignore the last category.

In conclusion, this anime, whatever its title is, is truly insulting to viewers, directors, and creative thinkers abroad. The characters are poorly designed, resulting in awkward interactions; the plot is original but sold short due to uncreativity, and the art and music feel wasted on such a poorly written script.

1/10, because I can't rate lower.

Matt A
Part-time Otaku and ongoing student of Harvard's English Department

Until now, there were 5 romcom anime that i have seen with the words of "ore"
Oreimo
Oreshura
Oregairu
Ore Monogatari
Ore no nounai blabla (Noucome)

Those five are worth to watching. I don't have any particular problem with those. Then, now i watching this too, Oresuki. Is Oresuki worth to watch? Lets read my review.

Story: 3/10
... What the fuck is going on?! (turn on some sfx meme)

The author seems to mixing this show with drama and comedy but fail to mix that.
How can those drama easily resolved with only a single minutes? MC lucky?
How can such a bastard character who against the MC suddenly came to friendly with MC without any awkward feeling? Even the MC falling in love with his enemy so he is turned into gay dude.
How can this school have a tradition that a guy dancing with 3 girls? any acceptable reason for this?
And also why all female cast easily falling in love with MC without any some sweet flashback story?

Art: 9/10
Looks decent for me, just expected for Connect. I always love their pretty art.

Sound: 5/10
Those sfx doesn't really suit. It's too overly dramatic to me. Also, why the hell Joro's Mother sounded like loli instead her face kinda like your 40's age mother. But, still i love Tomatsu Haruka doing her role as Sanshokuin Sumireko (Pansy). I love her sadistic sound, very suit to her as Pansy.

Character:1/10
Pathetic! and bit confusing.
How can the MC curse his childhood friend as bitch but in a single minutes they wants to befriend again without any awkward moment later?
How can such a bastard character then suddenly have a good term with MC without any acceptable reason?
Am I the only one who confuse here? please click "I found this review helpful" button if you agree with me.

Enjoyment: (5/10)
For its 3 first episode i found this really amusing for me. But later, i didn't get any idea how to react this show. Will i laugh? Will i cry? Will i angry?
FYI, I write this review while doing facepalm. So, am i really enjoy watching this show?

Overall: 4/10
Hate that score. (7.85 at 2019/11/9) Even this show can't beat those previous "ore". Better watching those previous "ore" than this one.

3/10 You can probably endure through it, but overall it's a waste of time.

Let's set something straight. Originality is not just mocking a common trope or cliche, but also the ability to disguise it and present it as a work that stands on its own. If you're content with the common female character tropes that have been going along for quite a long time now, then this show will be just fine. If you're looking for some fanservice or cute girls to look at, then this show will be just fine. In my opinion, when this show presented itself as a jab to cookie cutter ... romcom tropes, it raised my expectations. Unfortunately, my hopes were shattered, swept up, and poured into a dumpster fire that is this Oresuki as I fight the urge to visit my home therapist Clorox for a cleansing of my eyes and ears.

Story (2): Guy in high school tries to "manipulate" his life to set up a typical romcom scenario. Okay, seems cool. However, I've seen kiddie pools with more depth and less shit in them than the writing and dialogue of this show. The thing is though, the main plot of the show isn't really about the protagonist being clever or attempting to make things go his way. It's simply the type of romcom that tries very hard to mock, with your stale perpetual self cock-blocking main character in a powerless situation of a bunch of hollow cookie-cutter girls fighting over him. Imagine a girl becoming attracted to a guy because the guy is a good friend to *others*. Sorry, John Green, but we've got a better tear-jerker than The Fault in Our Stars. This story will make you cry when you realize that a studio decided that this was the one and invested a million or two into airing this show.


Art (6): The saving grace of this show is the artwork. Nothing special, but nothing to be impressed about either. Again, if you're into fanservice then you'll appreciate it much more than I will.

Sound (2): I do not know why but something about the characters' voices get to me. It feels like I'm listening to a kindergarten teacher as it lacks any subtlety or sense of naturalness to it.

Character (1): The protagonist is spineless. The side characters are bland and have the social awareness comparable to the baked potato I had for dinner tonight, difference being the potato actually had flavor to it.

Enjoyment (2): Overall, this show was incredibly difficult to watch. It has no sense of direction other than "basic romcoms haha, amirite?" I would say if you want to watch actual progression in a somewhat realistic scenario, avoid this at all costs.

*Spoiler warning*

"Are you the only one who loves me?". Going into this series blind and having watched the first episode(ep) that title carried a lot of meaning, set expectations for the direction this series would take and most importantly established a framework for the story. This held true until around ep 5 where this idea would completely collapsed leading into a terribly generic and disappointing ep 6. After watching the first 4 eps keeping the title in mind, it is obviously begging the question of whether "the stalker" is really the only one who truly loves him. Ep 5 easily answers that question with a ... simple no, is there an issue with this? Not particularly but it makes me wonder why the pretentious title? At the end of the day it is nothing more than bait and is completely misleading. That is the reason why I find this series to be poor, it begins by poking fun at generic rom-com characters like the childhood friend and the beautiful president. Yet it falls into the same generic plot after 5 eps, it went from a jokey "what if" I got this harem like I imagined and schemed for to a, I do get this harem but like every other MC in a rom-com do absolutely nothing.

This naturally leads into the story and characters. Again it tries not to be generic and pokes fun at the genre yet ironically the story and characters are generic. The kind touchy childhood friend and the shy president's only twist is that they have no romantic feelings for the MC for 4 eps. Naturally past this ep 4 they do suddenly like him disregarding how he schemed to make a harem out of them. How he schemed to make them fall in love with him and how he wanted to keep one of them when the other went out with his best friend. So like the generic tropes they are, they like the MC because he is a nice guy forgetting all about how he tried to manipulate them for the sake of the story. The MC himself past ep 4 never tries to scheme or manipulate anyone again, he is the nice guy he always "pretended" to be but in reality that was always him. The author essentially killed any brains he had in the first 4 eps, leaving him at the mercy of his harem which he gloated about in the first few eps. This naturally turns him into a generic MC. It honestly makes you wonder why when he wanted a harem and he gets one which he is fully aware of because the president kisses his cheek he does nothing. It is genuinely annoying and frustrating to see the MC go on and on about Pansy at the baseball game been attractive and him stealing look at her to have that same girl confess and have him do absolutely nothing(On-top of the fact he fascinated about her in his harem in her underwear lol).

All of the mentioned above just makes this story, characters and my overall enjoyment disappointing. This series would have been a 5, just another rom-com but it had the audacity to use such a misleading title. On-top of this is it poked fun at the generic tropes of its genre and later gladly walked down the beaten path which makes it worse in my opinion. With my short time with the manga, the adaptation was true to the source so it can't be faulted. In terms of what is good about this show, the art is fair.

This show took one of the biggest nosedives in quality that I've ever experienced in any media. The first 3 episodes were really fun and entertaining. I loved the constant 4th wall breaks by the main character, the jokes surrounding "bench-kun"were hilarious, it was a romcom with an interesting premise that imo was building up to be something comparable to in the best of cases Oregairu. And oh boi was I wrong because this became a painfully generic harem after that.

After the first 3 eps, the show kept introducing more and more girls instead of making the viewers care about the already existing girls ... by giving them any bit of characterization more than just being magically attracted to Joro. And of course like in any harem, almost all the girls the show introduces are immediately in love with the mc for some reason. I like my fair share of harems so that wouldn't a problem if I could care about any of these characters but I don't and most of them are really annoying.

The animation was nothing special and the art while it wasn't horrible, it was mediocre as there were characters that looked very much identical but with different eyes and hair color. Don't have anything to say about the sound.

Lastly I want to talk a little about the mc Joro. I found him to be such a bad character, he's a f***ing idiot with an inconsistent personality. He's mostly your typical dense harem protagonist, but he can also be a character with sass and kind of a douche bag but not really which is a type of character I like (example: Sakuta from Bunny Girl Senpai), and he can also be an actual douche bag on other times. I do like some of his monologues and his 4th wall breaks but yet I despise all of his actions and all of the decisions he makes.

The only reason I don't give this show a 1/10 is because of those first 3 eps and there's a tiny amount of things that I enjoyed like the 4th wall breaks like I already mentioned. I'd say definitely skip this show, is just a subpar harem. If you want a good romcom from this year then watch Kaguya-Sama Love is War. If you want a harem from this year then watch 5-toubun no Hanayome.

The main thing that is clamored about when it comes to Oresuki is the “twist” that occurs midway during the first episode, even though it’s quite explicit in the synopsis. Anyway, the gist of it is that the first half of the shows first episode comes off as a generic school romance anime. The protagonist is a by the numbers nice guy with a supporting cast consisting of the obligatory girl childhood friend, the elegant girl student council president, and a cool guy friend to help him out. All together they play through the motions of the show until a point where it looks like ... the childhood friend and student council president may confess to the protagonist, only for it to slap him in the face when they actually ask for his help to get in a relationship with his friend. Disillusioned and in the privacy of his home the protagonist reveals that his personality is a facade that he used in hopes of having his own harem as would be the expectation from a show like this. This “twist” forms the main idea and tone that will run throughout the rest of the show, most of which I would argue isn’t for the best.

This idea is the sense of duplicity that not only comes from the main protagonist, but also from every notable character in the cast. No matter how they act or what they do, there probably is an undercurrent of something quite the opposite. It does a good job early on for creating a sense of doubt for the viewers. However, the show really plays into it far too many times that it starts to feel predictable and too reliant on it's twists. It leads the show to only laying down two roads to go through but with the shows modus operandi, you can easily guess which one they will go with. I would chalk this up to the show letting the cat out of the bag far too early that the impact it had in the first few episodes die down way to quick and it is unable to replicate it again. Even more so is that once you get past all the duplicitous nature of the show, you realize how inconsequential the plot really is.

This also goes to the characters as well. Once you look past the thin covered veil, you can see how paper thin these characters are. Sure the duplicity lends to many of the characters being two faced, but it doesn’t equate to complexity or depth. They still play within their designated archetypes as any run of the mill harem rom-com only with the added degree that there might be something more underneath. Most of the time there really isn’t, and when there is it doesn’t really add much to the character that has already been known. Nevertheless they aren’t bad, and depending on how you see these kind of shows, they make a somewhat decent cast of two-dimensional characters. The best character being the main girl Pansy who’s the only character that worked well around the show.

If you are wondering why I haven't called any of the characters by their name until now, it’s because it requires a space of its own. One thing this show has going for it in spades are it’s meaningless meanings. By this, I mean their names have some meaning behind them. The most obvious ones being the girls who literally wear their names they're called on their hair as flower ornaments such as pansy, cosmos, himawari(sunflower), etc. And as we all know flowers are full of meaning, but as said before in the last paragraph, it adds very little to what is already known to the character. The main character and his guy friends have a bit more going on with their names, but not really a substantial amount. The main protags name is Joro which is translated to “watering can”, while his friend is called Sun-chan. Two essential things that are needed in order for plants such as flowers to grow. One being cold water that’s useful when there’s no rain, and the other being a warm glow star. Overall they are just neat tidbits that people can find appreciative from this show.

A bit less than the last one, but there a some literary titles that are dropped into the show. Three of which i can bother to think of off the top of my head, Dr.Jekyll And Mr.Hyde, Crime And Punishment, and I Am A Cat. the most obvious one being the first one explicitly presented, Dr.Jekyll. Being the case of one man living two different lives and how that is directed towards Joro and his two-faced personality of one being kind and the other one being more of a scumbag. The other two books are a bit more up in the air on whether or not they also play into the same role of Dr.Jekyll, stand for something else, or are just there because the setting takes place in a library.

The other thing that Oresuki has going for it is it’s comedy. One of the first things that easily comes to mind is how this show can be viewed as a parody of the genre that it’s playing. From the subversion of expectations, to the nonsense characters and situations throughout the show. The obvious one being “the bench”, a magical bench that appears just about anywhere, and brings a foreboding future towards Joro. It does happen enough time that it starts to have a feeling of ad nauseam, but that’s also part of the humor as well due to how overused they are in the genre as well. The other example is “the baseball game” an event that coincidentally lead to the motivations of most of the characters of the show. Starting off as a generic plot point only for every new character adding a new perspective to the event that gets increasingly ridiculous, even if there seems to be more going on underneath. The show also has its share of standard comedy that you will expect from the average run-of-the mill comedy anime. However for all that it does to make fun of the genre of harem rom-coms, it inevitably falls into line with the rest.

One of the worst things that can happen to a fictional story that attempts to be subversive, satirical, or a parody is that they may fall for the same narrative trapping that they are deconstructing or making fun of. It makes you wonder what was the point of all the setup, if the payoff is the same as the derivative works that it’s riding off of. At least with the more generic and derivative works you get what you expected, through and through. What was the point of the deliberate use of characters and plot elements, when they end up being the same shit as everything else. Why bother giving Joro a two-faced personality, when his more or less “good side” is the one that prevails the most. Why bother knocking back the harem aspect in the beginning of the show only to prop up a much bigger one later on. Seriously, why bother when in the end it ends up being a pile of nothing.

In this day and age, where every form of fiction is easily available for almost everyone. It is quite easy to get quickly used to story conventions and tropes. Leading some to create works that differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowd by being subversive or meta, and thanks to their understanding of the tropes used they are able to succeed in doing so. Yet it comes to a point where it is done so much that it ends up being the new norm. To be so overdone that it is forgotten why they need it to be subversive or meta in the first place. It only becomes a dumb game of the author attempting to one-up the audience in the most stupid way possible, and that’s what Oresuki is. A harem rom-com that tries to play smarter than it really is and only reveals time after time how it’s just kind of... Dumb. That’s the greatest use of duplicity this show inadvertently ends up achieving.

Also they did the redhead girl dirty and that’s unforgivable...

Well, this was pretty boring and hypocritical show.

This show started with a pretty unique idea and a couple of episodes later, it threw it trough the window.

The show despite starting like if the MC were the harem main character's best friend, he ends up being the MC of a harem show... and the only girl that seemed to pay attention to him was "an ugly (that wasn't that ugly to begin with) bitch with an ugly personality". But like I said, a couple of episode later, the bitch ends up being hot af (wow, like if I didn't see that coming) and actually, she ... isn't a bitch, she is dere AF... oh, and all the girls that were into the other guy ends up falling in love with the MC from one day to another... but don't worry, this time is true love. Oh, also some random gurls fall in love with the MC too, just in case you were worried about the Harem being too small.

The main character despite acting like a Kazuma on discount, it ends up acting like a generic harem MC with no personality. The MC tries to think like an asshole, but he always ends up being the nice generic beta harem mc guy. His "mean side" ends up being a product of his imagination and never gets reflected in any of his actions.

Also, "ALL" the characters were bland AF and they never seemed to have anything else besides what they are showing... and even if they had, the show tells you right away that there is something behind that is obvious af.

Overrall, this is your generic haremshow that tries to act like it isn't, thing that actually makes it worse than a generic harem show. Fake as the friendship between the main cast. It is a watchable show, but it's been a while since I got so disappointed about a show.

The art and animation was pretty nice tho, these are the best things about the show.

[Spoiler Warning]

This is also my first, and only, review I will ever write on MAL, so apologies if the format or the content reads a bit messy.

"Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo" (or "Are you the only one who loves me?") was an anime hailing from Fall 2019's season, but I only got around to watch it during these dreadful times, and oh boy, it only aggravated whatever misery I was trying to block out in me.

We are given the typical introduction to the main character in these high school animes, alongside the childhood friend who, of course, is a girl. As ... more minutes go by we find out he is also a member of the student council and he has a second childhood friend, the ace player of the school's baseball team. Neat. It is a decent introduction and there's nothing that really stands out, either negatively or positively. The plot, as we are led to believe, will involve these colorful, flower-inspired girls and the two childhood friends who are the Sun and the Moon, quite literally (due to their nicknames) in harmless, rom-com banter, as Joro, the main character, states right at the beginning.

But things take a turn when he's invited to what he assumes is a date by both his female childhood friend Hinata and student council president Sakura.
You see, the only segment on the four episodes I have watched in this show that could pass as the comedy portion of "rom-com" stem from both girls, on separate dates, asking for his help in hooking up with his friend Oga (or Sun-chan). The misunderstanding Joro made when on his "date" with both girls is what cranks the engine for the plot during the next three episodes.

And this is where Oresuki rears its ugly head and the one-hour crucifixion of my soul began.

The anime never was a rom-com. It was, at best, a commentary on the duality of Chad v Incel. I say that because the second half of the first episode our main character reveals that we, in fact, live in a society, where girls use their childhood friend status and maturity as a pretext to toy with a poor guy's heart strings, as if it was an harp playing a requiem for the fallen at a funeral for love. At every opportunity Joro can't help himself but to insult under his breath the two girls he felt that used him, calling them "bitches" at times. But, of course, the first episode's trainwreck could not stop there, because there was one more course, apparently. And that lies in the third girl, the one that loves Joro but Joro doesn't love her, since she is that weird, ugly girl that everyone avoids like they're at the peak of the Black Plague and she had just grown a small lump on her cheek. She appears holding a "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", in what I assume is a comparison of the man/beast with Joro's "obtuse", kind boy with the incel inside. To be honest, she could had been holding a copy of Shrek 1 and I'd still get the idea that like onions, Joro is multilayered.

And from here, it only got worse. At this point, any expectations I had sunk faster than the stock market in 1929 and I kept going through the see-through, predictable, mess of a story to realize that while Joro was helping both girls hooking up with Sun-chan, no character was likeable. Both girls are completely braindead. The plot here is that Sun-chan must never find out that they like him or that Joro is helping them, but... that doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm also braindead, but if Sun-chan knew about Joro's endeavors regarding the girls wouldn't it facilitate Joro's work since Sun-chan could just take over? But alas, for the sake of a plot point I could see on the other side of the world just like a mushroom cloud in the night sky, Sun-chan likes the weird girl (who is, by the way, extremely hot and not ugly as she appears). The anime picked up the love-triangle and decided it wasn't enough, we needed a love-pentagon (or a square if you bundle up the two girls that want Sun-chan together).

The third episode was, to no one's surprise, any better.
The plot goes out the window because Sun-chan, hurt by Joro's refusal in helping him with his love affairs, takes revenge on him, turning both girls against our infant Joker behind the scenes, resulting in a clash in the empty library (where our weird girl works as an aide) that hurts beyond repair Joro's image in everyone's eyes. Ostracized by his peers, left without any friends but the weird library girl, he lives a week used to his outcast status.
But, lo-and-behold, this was a master plan of the library girl, because Sun-chan was unmasked as a despicable villain by having betrayed Joro all because he got butthurt over a girl TWICE (the first one was in middle school) And that, for those who are keeping count, makes the total of unlikable characters to four. At least, the library girl wasn't bad in the three and a half episodes I watched before I decided I wasn't into this kind of torture. There was also a bit of dialogue that suggests Joro is in fact multilayered: apparently, he has the outer façade, the incel within and then underneath that lies the kindhearted friend. Adding more layers to a character doesn't help him when all of them are paper-thin.

The fourth episode (at least, the 10 minutes I spent on it before dropping this show altogether) opened up with the Meta-Commentary™, truly, the symbol of a show who doesn't know what to do next. This is followed by the addition of a new girl, who is also based after a flower (who could have guessed?) and works as a reporter. This conversation only got me until they mentioned an event called the Flower Festival (which already doesn't feel very original since all of the girls are based after flowers) where the crux of it is when a guy dances with three other girls in succession, and what do you know? We have EXACTLY three girls that will probably dance with him because the plot demands it!

I say "will probably dance" because this was when I said "aight, I'm boutta head out" and dropped it.

In terms of technical parts, the art and the sound are serviceable. The art looks good and the sound works. The OP and ED aren't really that memorable but I'm not docking points for that. The animations are what you would expect from an anime from this generation and look alright too. It's just the characters that are beyond salvation that even Jesus himself wouldn't die for their sins.

Seriously, if you want to watch a rom-com that is actually good, go see "Toradora". For the Flower Festival bit that also says that one of those three girls will marry the guy, "We Never Learn" is another rom-com with a similar festival but better, since the manga is taking full advantage of having five girls to do different routes for them starting at that event and its superstition. I wouldn't recommend Oresuki to anyone unless they would like to know if there's an anime version of Agent Orange or they are into BDSM, because this kind of torture is astounding. Hell, I watched Ishuzoku Reviewers, alone, in daylight and the sheer embarrasment I felt wasn't nowhere near as painful as having to sit through the first episode of this anime, I never got why they called Rising of The Shield Hero an "incel fantasy" when this anime features one as its main character.

There are great rom-coms out there, but this isn't one.

In short

Library Girl: Oh you want me to forgive you even though you tried to assault and rape me, ye sure thats fine.

MC: Oh you betrayed me, used me, tried to rape a girl while I watched, but you still want to be friends with me, ye sure thats fine.

MC: Oh you used me to try date my 'bestfriend', your sorry you abused me used me and treated me like shit and your sorry for blaming all your problems on me? Ye thats fine I forgive you.

Started of cringy, so I dropped it. But I heard it got better so I continued to watch and ... found out about his actual personality and got a bit interested. As I was interested I kept watching and expected him to eventually cut his ties with these people that are using him. But he doesn't he forgives them for literally no reason, because they've 'changed'. If someone treats you like shit, uses you, some what abuses you and blames all their problems on you, You don't forgive them its common sense for you to cut your ties. The attempted rape that the mc's 'best friend' committed that was forgiven like 10 seconds later, that was amazing, like yeah thats definitely how that works. After a girl gets sexually assaulted they become friends with the guy who did it, 100% amazing story writing. I didn't bother to watch much afterwards, it was just annoying knowing that the characters writing was skipped over and was lazily done. It had potential in my opinion, they just had to cut those guys out of the mcs life and actually make a good story.

Sorry for bad grammar lol

This anime is a history about Jouro, and his love interests, after some luckly (?!) events he find more about the people he likes.

Well ...

Sound 1 -

The intro and the ending music is really generic, there´s no memorable parts in it ... and the sound inside the caps. are forgotifull too. The sound don´t get in the way of the anime ... because it is not there.

Art 4 -

... The art at the intro is great they´ve put a great effort at that... but aside that
the animation is ok ... if you look closer the charaters always make the same mouth moviment when they are talking . Sometimes the art get pretty bad but you can find animes with a worst art.

Storyline 1 -

Come on ... it took almost 1 eps to make a really bad joke ... they just trow a joke in your face and thinks that the joke is gonna be good ... after that they throw at you the "wierd" aspect of the main character whitout a good reason ... it´s just beucase the writter wants .
A ton of actions of the characters are just randon to get the history going, they have no reason to do it, they do just for the joke or the plot, just showing how awfull the anime is.


Overwall 1 -

The anime must be pretty good for the ones who laughts with the first big joke. But after that the anime just get worst and worst, it´s a comedy/romance anime, and it fails at both. You can try to watch, but i think there´s a lot of better kind of animes like this.

That´s all folks.

Oresuki started off as a harem anime with great potential for bucking the trend. However, any good credence it started off with was lost as the episodes went on, and by episode 10 I feel like it's lost its way and become somthing trope-y.

It weaves an interesting romance web, and then spoils it by linking everyone into it, which is it's major downfall.

Although the VAs, sound, art and production value are generally good, there are occasions when it doesn't quite mix properly, or where it's clear they skimped on art or animation, or prioritised some aspects over others.

In the end, it wraps up as ... being a promo for a second season or OVA, which, for a 12 episode run with as much content packed in as it has, could've been played out far better by stretching the first 8 or so into a longer run and saving the last few for a special OVA or small, second series. Instead, it's pacing ends up turning it into a steaming pile you wonder if it's actually a salvagable or redeemable anime.

How dare you! How can you play with my heart like this.

I still dont get it how first few eps are like different anime compared with what happened after ep3. First 3 eps were amazing, they had everything you would want to see after watching anime for decades and seen it all. It was funny, unpredictable and at the same time hilariously predictable. Characters were wearing "masks" so you had no idea what they really think or what will do. Using each other like sociopaths just to get what they want without caring about others. You had love triangle on top of love triangle ... on top of love triangle. You could have gone in so many directions with such start, but you did THIS?! I feel violated and need a cold shower.

First 3 eps gave me flashbacks of doki doki literature club. You have no idea whats going to happen next, maybe your childhood friend going to hang her self after rejection, maybe you would have to delete win32 folder to see the last ep. It had so much potential. Its like they fired everybody that was involved with first 3 eps and hired new people and they just copy pasted characters from any other harem club anime.

Ep 4 came and everything was dead, from characters to comedy and it got so predictable it was painful. If you are making fun of other anime where main character gets all the girls for no reason, why now he is pulling girls like he is some pussycat magnet. What happened to the characters, why they become generic clones of each other with personality of toilet paper (cheap one). Its like incel took control of the plot and characters and decided that if you are generic nice guy that does what ever others wants them to do he will drown in pussycats. He will fix all your problems and he will be extra nice at the same time. God damn it, I have seen it like 100 times already. All I wanted is something new and fresh. They even make the same stupid stuff where "your club will be closed" but for some reason its library ( but they used it like a club) because schools close libraries right?!?

So in conclusion, first 3 eps were great and promising, but after spending all budget on cocaine and hookers they had to copy paste characters and plot from any "club" anime and went with it.

I have only watched the second half of the first episode before I understood what this anime was really about, didn't read the description or the tags before so I thought it might be a laid-back back-to-basics "normal", cliche anime, but soon I realized how wrong I was.

In this anime the main protagonist is purely a joke and I have no doubt that beyond the second half of the first episode, he will continue to play the "joke" role simply being there to be made fun of, trampled and abused by his "best friend" and probably 6 girls that fall in "love" with the baseball ... team captain (the "best friend") for whatever reason (probably all 6 with the same reason AND at the same time somehow)

So yeah, the anime is not cliche except for all the bad parts, go figure...

The reason why I scored this anime on a 4 is mainly because of the side characters in this anime. The first episode was really enjoyable after the half way point because I didn't know that such a plottwist about the main character's character would be revealed. During the second episode it was also still okay but the side characters, mainly Himawari and Cosmos started to annoy me. The main character luckily also agreed that they were annoying and manipulative.

However after reaching episode 5, the main character made up with his friends and they sat together as if nothing happened. Sun, MC's best friend was ... a manipulative bastard, Cosmos and Himawari used their charms to get their way with MC, even taking him out on dates, making him feel bad if they were actually in the wrong etc..

I really liked MC's character, but the rest of the cast just made these series not enjoyable to watch, is why I dropped it early on.

My friends and I watched this anime together, none of us not knowing anything about it. The first episode sort of sets it up as a harem, but then puts a twist and the girls he went on a "date" with, actually just want his best friend. It was pretty funny and I thought it was different. I was enjoying it! I wanted to know what was going to happen, and the main dude turns out to be an a**hole calling all of the girls b*tches for leading him on and stuff and it was funny, I enjoyed it. And then I guess they just ... scrapped this whole idea and it pretty much just become a normal harem again.

The main girls were all pretty okay, enjoyable girls and I didn't really have a problem so far. (Although I was still more interested in the other story it set up)
But then the anime just tries to be like... super creative? Creative to the point that some of this stuff would never happen. The character just go to full out hating him, to loving him 3 mins later, to hating him again another 3 mins later for like, existing. It just made no sense and I was just like "what?" the entire time.

Even past the character being... the way they are, every time this anime ran out of an idea, they just add a new character. And this new character will barley even be important. They are just there for like, one issue, and once its over with, they pretty much are just there in the background. They even set up some character to be pretty important, and then are just there for pretty much no reason. A good way to explain this anime, is image an anime with 10 arcs, put into 12 episodes. And they hardly tie into each other.

The only thing I can really give this anime is that it kept us interested, but not for the right reasons. At the end we all agreed we were glad that it was over, and only kept watching because we were just so confused on what was supposed to happen. The ending wasn't even that enjoyable, it could have ended any other way and be more satisfying.

Since the overall score is a conglomerate of six different scores in a review, I gave it threes across the board because 1 things makes that the highest I can rank this anime. That's not the whole story, though.

Story 9 I liked the twist in the harem genre
Art 8 The character designs were spot on
Sound 5 What sound there was was good, but generic
Character 9 Funny twists on existing tropes
Enjoyment 9 I laughed through the end
Overall ... ???? And.... Here is the rub

We're missing one key rating. Ending. That's what throws the above numbers way off.

DO NOT WATCH THIS ANIME UNTIL THE OVA AIRS!!!!!

Saying "Spoilers" in a review is really pointless, but for people who think ANY review other than a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" is going to be spoiler free, I will yell "SPOILERS" and I have some lovely ocean front property in Nebraska I'd like to sell you.

They had a brilliant performance, but when it came to sticking the landing, they face-planted. Why? It's a cliffhanger that will be answered in the OVA, which do to unforeseeable event (ie, pandemic) might never air, or be delayed until next year. I might be around long enough to see it. I don't know. I'm on a borrowed clock and could literally die at any time in the near future. Maybe even before I finish f-ing this studio in my review as much as they f-ed me with their "edgy" ending.

Had I known about this wonder of a plot twist, I'd have waited to know if I'd have been able to complete it before shuffling off this mortal coil. Now it's a gamble, with the odds heavily in the houses favor. Yay!

And before ya'll start up with "just read the manga."
A) can't afford to waste money on books
b) couldn't read them if I wanted to. One of the things dealing with my imminent death. Long story.

I'm tired now. Hope I wake up in the morning.

Let's talk a little bit about wasted potential. In what might be the least controversial opinion of this entire review, I'm not a fan of that lingering longing for what could have been. Oresuki starts strong, but ultimately ends up drilling that thought into your head ad-nauseum.

The core idea of Oresuki is a concept that I love. I'm always a sucker for a good deconstruction or a good subversion of expectation, and at this point I'm pretty sure there's no better place to find either of those things than stories about the bad guys, and that's exactly what Oresuki is supposed to be.

What you're essentially ... looking at here is a conflict between two genre-savvy and downright rotten- though not evil- characters. Joro and Pansy, the two leads, are in a constant battle with each other. Wannabe harem-protag Joro is good at setting up contrived situations to try and get what he wants, and Pansy is even better at bursting his bubble and bringing him back down to earth in her quest to have him all to herself.

When Oresuki wants to use this concept, it can really use it well. The ways Joro tries to manipulate everyone and everything to his advantage would probably be horrifying if he himself wasn't fairly harmless, but because he is (and because you know his dreams are so unrelaistic), his attempts end up being more clever and interesting.

Part of the fun is Joro's inner monologue. His sheer mental brutality and inner sarcastic quips almost always land, either on their own merits or the constant jabs at stereotypical (or usubversive) actions and reactions,

Then, of course, when it all falls apart and the Harem targets end up further out of his reach, either by his own hubris or Pansy's intervention, and he reacts like Yosemite Sam might when outwit by Bugs Bunny, it's actually genuinely pretty funny. Even better, the few times something he does actually works out, he usually fails to take any sort of advantage of it. He's as dense in the payoff as the protagonists he's imitating are in the leadup- or sometimes he's just too savvy for his own good and misses out. Either way, it works well.

And you know what? That's fantastic. The running gags with it work, many of which I think are the basis of this series's popularity. The main two characters are clearly not ones you're supposed to be cheering for, but for my money, never became outright detestable. That's a hard act to balance, especially considering that balance holds up this whole show- if you never want to see Joro find a heart and Pansy find a conscience and ultimately end up together, the whole thing fails apart

Maybe the most important thing, speaking of which, the chemistry between Joro and Pansy is fantastic...in the early episodes. You can see why both characters would find some appeal in the other, but you can just as easily see why Joro wants nothing to do with Pansy. Their attempts to outplay the other are always interesting, even if a bit one sided. At least, initially.

Given the score of this review, you might be anticipating that inevitable "But," and I haven't really mentioned any of the other characters yet. Even in the part of Oresuki that the show's at its best, most of the supporting cast, especially the harem targets, are pretty flat. That's okay, though- they're pieces on the board, and they work well enough for that. I understand Joro's relationship with friend and target alike, and nothing is too unrealistic/weirdd about it. They're not the focus, so it's all good.

But, something happens after the first couple of episodes: Oresuki forgets its gimmick in its other pants and never bothers to retrieve it.

Pansy gradually turns into an infallible perfect girl who's just everything Joro could ever want, and he stops treating her as the barrier to Harem heaven (though they never really take the obvious route of him starting to pursue her instead). The side characters start to get more screen time, though no more characterization, and begin to swell in numbers. Joro loses his genre savviness and just becomes somewhat dense and somewhat pervy.

At first, I didn't really understand what was happening. Finally, when I saw the 7th episode, it clicked. By that point, Oresuki is no longer a parody or deconstruction of the traditional Harem/RomCom, but has devolved into a straight example of such. The problems then start to arise.

With Joro never having any sort of motivation to become a better person, his sudden turn to the super-helpful big-hearted dense lug that he's been imitating is fairly jarring. With the toning down- near outright removal, really- of the running gags in the second half of the show, the side characters (who almost triple in number) move from pieces for the two leads to place into interesting scenarios to the very tropes parodied battling it out in standard fashion. The last few episodes in particular are on the pre-flight checklist of every mediocre romcom, which is almost kind of brave and subversive in itself if you think about it.

Of course, it was going to have to ultimately get there somehow. Oresuki doesn't work if there's not at least a hint that the two leads will eventually get together, and that sort of thing is best played at least kind of straight. Keeping the cast at its original small side and trimming down rather than pursuing the harem elements would have been a good way to go about it- but sadly, the confused turn the show takes creates a lose-lose, where the good spirits of the first few episodes are buried under predictable drama. Only in the last moments of the final episode do things finally start to get back on track. Too little, too late.

It's such a shame. One of the biggest tropes about shows of this nature is, indeed, forgetting the main gimmick of the plot and just devolving into just the same set of tropes everyone else dabbles in. This show that seemed like it was going to lampoon them all just walked straight into that bear trap.

As far as everything else goes, well, there's a reason I haven't really been talking about anything else that much. The art style and animation is inoffensive, and was clearly not the main focus of this show- not to say either was bad, just not particularly noteworthy. Outside of near-copyright infringement, the same goes for the audio. It is what it is, from the VA to the soundtrack. Nothing is amiss, but nothing is that memorable.

Overall, I really did want to like this show, and it came frustratingly close to the potential that I think it had at times. The good is all front-loaded, and had I never known there was an episode past 4 or 5, this would easily score well higher. Those early ones might be worth watching. After that point, it's hard to recommend.

It was trash the characters were dumb af the story was shit and only the animation was good its a clear 4 if you want to waste your time with a bad way this anime is for you.

Also it has no romance in it dont know why it says its romace i only saw a guy who want to f all of his (friends) and also maybe his bro XD he is just a fuck machine who dont care for anyone a dickhead with few words

The sound was decent im not gonna lie but the most important part of the anime (The story) was fucked ... so even a high quality sound dont make it a good anime

Oresuki is a difficult show to review. The art looks quite good and I like the music as well, but this won't be my focus for this review.

I was initially drawn in by the premise of a non-ideal romcom, where our supposed protagonist Joro doesn't get the ending he was hoping for all that easily. This made the first few episodes, which adhere to this premise, quite enjoyable. However, soon enough this situation is completely thrown out of the window before the midway point of the season.

Suddenly we get served something that is closer to the shows that Oresuki seems to parody. The ... mask of the "NiceGuy" that Joro plays for personal gain seems to get stuck on his face, causing him to bounce back and forth between the selfish guy he is at the start to a friendly harem protagonist with the density of a neutron star. This neutron star then collapses into a black hole under the added weight of all the girls that keep falling in love with our protag for, in my opinion, shallow reasons.

During the final few episodes the show picks itself up a bit again. A new conflict emerges that does bring the show back to its beginnings, making it interesting enough to get my hopes up for a sequel.

Overall I would give the first few episodes and the last one something around an 8, with everything in between something like a 3 to 4. I wouldn't recommend skipping the middle parts as nothing would make sense. See it as a warning that you've gotta be willing to pull through some mediocre parts if you want to watch this show.