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...
