Eromanga-sensei OVA

After that recently very sh*tty Ore Ga Suki Nano Wa Imouto Dakedo Imouto Ja Nai, looks like it is time to do some little sister healing. By watching another little sister series! This time it’s Eromanga-sensei OVA. Haha. I didn’t think this was going to a couple of OVA episodes but I guess many animes these days to since Eromanga-sensei is quite popular and has its own followings. But hey, even if this series is cliché and cheesy, at least it is not sh*tty crap like the aforementioned one. Yeah, sometimes I can’t change how sh*tty I am but at least I can be the right kind of sh*tty. WTF did I just say…

OVA 1
Elf holds a celebration party over the success of her adapted anime. The usual gang are invited and even though Sagiri is also all dressed up, it’s a shame she is only dressed up for the monitor. Yup, she is still holing up in her room and is only ‘there’ via livestreaming. Elf goes down to greet the crowd and her friends who give her a gift and especially Masamune giving her a small flower bouquet. During the break, she teases him to help undress her dress zip and even her top. Until he got busted by Chris. Déjà vu? Of course we all know it isn’t Masamune’s fault. As they speak about their mother who will be coming, speaking of the devil, here she is. Firstly, she wants Masamune to break up with Elf. Somebody’s lying… Yeah, she posted on her social media those pictures but told a different story. Yeah, she painted Masamune as a pervert. I don’t know if mom is relieved or just freaked out when it wasn’t Masamune who was with Elf in the hotspring but Chris! Later, mother reveals she is here not to celebrate with her. In fact, once this event is over, she will pack her bags and go back with her. She will choose her future husband. Elf stands her ground and won’t do that. Mother can tell she likes Masamune but reminds her his heart won’t change. Elf hits her nerve when she mentions something similar about father. A short argument ensues before Elf dashing out. As the event begins, Masamune catches Elf sulking underneath the table. How she got there? Anyway, he listens out to her fight with mom. But she can’t stay sulked forever as she gets her groove back and heads back on stage before her cue is up. How she got out without anyone noticing? On stage, Elf ditches the script and gives her speech in her own natural way. Thanking everyone and including her family. The highlight of this episode is how Elf now sings in some Broadway drama musical style about the issues and challenges she is facing them and how she is going to tackle them. Yeah, she is addressing it directly to you mom. Man, it’s quite a creative and catchy piece if I must say. So much so at the end of it, Elf manages to talk to mom one last time and mom’s reply? Do as you wish. But of course. Can’t have mom being a selfish b*tch after all that effort, eh? After all, all she wants is the best for her daughter. After the event, Elf walks back with Masamune alone. After thanking how lucky she is for her to meet him, she finally confesses she loves him. Uhm, he doesn’t look that surprised and I’m not sure he replied but anyhow, Elf looks like the happiest girl ever.

OVA 2
Apparently Masamune is sick. Sure he won’t spread the germs, the way he is coughing all over the breakfast he made for Sagiri? He got it from Elf when he was visiting her while she’s sick. Oh dear. How is Sagiri going to live for today? Words are easy as she assures she will take care of him. But can she even step downstairs? Looks like Mission Impossible. But there she goes. Easy, wasn’t it? After giving his medicine and taking his temperature, she learns that he is supposed to submit his manuscript today. Now she knows nursing a sick person is a lot of hard work. And his fever is only going to get worse. As she doesn’t know how to cook, she thought of calling for delivery but her fear of opening a door to a stranger… I don’t think calling Elf will do too. So she does laundry and cleans the house? At least she did something. I guess she is at a loss now so she calls Kagurazaka for help. Apparently Muramasa is also there and ‘snatches’ the phone. Wow. She sounds desperate. Sagiri returns to help clean Masamune’s body. After he falls asleep, Tomoe is at the door. Sagiri trolls her that she isn’t home until she learns she is here to hand him some school notes and manga since the exam is coming up. Next up is Muramasa. She claims Kagurazaka put her up to this… Anyway, Sagiri won’t let her in. Muramasa claims that Elf always comes in but Sagiri notes she did it on her own. And so Muramasa tries to find her own way in. Luckily Sagiri locked the doors and windows. Man, this is getting tiring for Muramasa trying to get in. I guess today is not her today so she just leaves some vitamin drink and a letter that Sagiri must never see. Okay. Once those stuffs changed hands, Sagiri looks into the letter. WTF?! SEXY NURSE PICTURE OF MURAMASA!!!!!!!!!!! Even though I love maids, but I have a feeling this one would cure me instantly too… Anyway, Sagiri disapproves of this and will not give it to her brother. But she’ll use it for her ero references. Muramasa probably died standing where she is. At least the good news is that Masamune won’t be able to see this… Oh damn, that was supposed to be the intention… Sagiri remembers who Masamune took care of her when she’s sick. She is motivated to cook for him. Some mistakes here and there but she’ll get it. As Masamune feels better and tastes her cooking, it’s the best she’s ever made! I think it’s the only thing she’s ever made. Sagiri is shocked when he too had the same dream when they were young. With Masamune recovered, it’s Sagiri’s turn to be the queen of the house. Yeah, she got his cold now.

Ore Ga Suki Nano Wa Imouto. Sore Dake De!
Even if I don’t remember much about the TV series (which was more than a year ago when I watched it), these little OVA episodes are sure bring back the (vague) memories. But I guess it didn’t really ‘live up’ to its name because there aren’t any lewd bits here. At least in an erotic way. Elf’s dressing was just a very minor teasing and only some and the hardcore might get turned on with that very short cameo of Muramasa’s nurse picture. Yeah… But otherwise, they just feel pretty generic and my only favourite moments are Elf’s musical style singing as well as that Muramasa ‘dying’ when her secret nurse picture was being exposed for all of us to see. That was indeed hilarious in an otherwise boring nursing episode of Sagiri just trying to be brave and confront something we all naturally take for granted. And that is to just step outside her room. One small step for Sagiri, one big step for Sagiri’s future!

Back to Elf’s singing, I thought I find this part to be quite entertaining and very well thought out and creative. Although it does make me wonder if Elf really anticipated all this instead of doing it all spontaneous. Because of all the preparations to make it look oh so perfect, she’s got the backup dancers aiding her as well as the musicians playing smoothly to the tune of her dance. But the song is basically the summary of Elf’s story and life mission and from the looks of it, she’s got the all important permission from mom to take charge of her own destiny. After all, Elf’s confession shouldn’t come as surprising as she did something similar in the TV series (although it was short of confessing those magical words) and it was more of her real name reveal and hinting of Masamune to propose to her with that name when the time comes. Looks like she has up the ante with this confession and only time will tell if Masamune will break out from his imouto love and go for this spunky halfie.

Overall, nice and cute OVA but not really sure if they’re going to make another season or have any more OVAs. But my guts tell me that this isn’t the end of the little sister or imouto genre that we are going to see in Japan. There’s going to be more of it and it might get a lot worse than little sisters being perverts. Because the worst ones are viewers who continue to watch such piece of crap and complaining how sh*tty all these are. I guess no matter if it’s the right way sh*tty or the wrong way sh*tty, sh*tty is still being sh*tty. So more imouto animes, please?

Eromanga-sensei

This is what happens when you quickly presume things and start jumping to conclusions based on hype without doing any further research. Looking at the title’s name, Eromanga-sensei. I quickly thought it would be somewhat similar to that perverted series a few years back, Mangaka-san To Assistant-san To. You know, a manga author who is quite the pervert and thus the ecchi antics are often taken out on his assistant. Well, it wasn’t what I was thinking but the plot is something like that. No ecchi antics on the assistant despite technically the author can be considered a pervert. Furthermore, it won’t be as heavy ecchi and fanservice laden as I thought it would be because the titular character is not male but female! What is this stereotype that girls cannot be perverts? Or at least have dirty thoughts. And even more so she is the sister of the main protagonist. Imagine your sister drawing lewd drawings under an ambiguous penname or alias like that but very different in reality. Kind of reminds you of the internet…

Episode 1
A year ago when Masamune Izumi first met his little sister, Sagiri who was also brought to live together then, that was the last time he saw her cute face. Ever since, she has shut herself in her room and attempts to get her to come out has always been futile. So how does she eat? He cooks and leaves her food at her door. Masamune is a high school student but also works as a light novel author. He uses his real name as his pen name. Currently he works alongside a mysterious illustrator known as Eromanga-sensei and their successful erotic series, Silverwolf has just come to an end. Masamune attended an autograph session once the series ended and of course Eromanga-sensei didn’t show up. Strangely, Eromanga-sensei often disses Masamune’s work but in a happy fashion. There is a live streaming of Eromanga-sensei later in the evening so Masamune is going to watch it to see what kind of person this dude is. During the live streaming, Eromanga-sensei draws an illustration for fans. Although Eromanga-sensei makes an appearance behind a mask, suddenly Masamune starts to have this sinking feeling this person is Sagiri! That food he just cooked for her looks suspiciously similar in the background. Eromanga-sensei forgot to turn off the camera once the live streaming is done and is about to change. So Masamune rushes all the way banging on Sagiri’s door to stop her sister’s live stripping from being broadcasted. It is the first time he has seen her face in a year. When asked, she seems to deny ever knowing that person. He praises her illustrations and how it made all her fans happy but she shuts the door. Later Masamune goes to meet his editor, Ayame Kagurazaka and has already finished volumes of a couple of new series he has written. He has also finished the script if ever an anime is needed to be adapted. Wow. More headache.

Masamune tries to talk to Sagiri again and this time revealing himself as the self-titled author whom she has been working with. This time she lets him in. Her room’s pretty neat for a NEET. Sorry for the pun. But don’t push your luck getting too close to her or touch her things. After revealing how he found out about her identity (which she still denies), Sagiri too had suspicions the author was her brother but brushed it off as mere coincidence. Masamune enjoys talking with her as he would like to know more about her. Sagiri tells she started drawing because mom introduced her to it. She became a professional before she knew it. But after mom passed away, she couldn’t draw anymore and started shutting herself in. Till she saw someone drawing on live stream and chatting happily with others. She decided to try it out herself. Masamune also explains why he writes novels and posts them online. When he got his first fan, he was really happy. It made him continue and wonder if that fan is still reading his works today. When Masamune says he wants to get along with her because they are family, this kills her mood. She doesn’t like the idea they are family just because they live under the same roof. She kicks him out although he is happy for the illustration she drew for him. Next morning, Masamune is shocked to see Megumi Jinno at the doorstep. This chirpy girl is looking for Sagiri.

Episode 2
Megumi is Sagiri’s classmate as well as the class rep. She is here to bring her to school. Masamune is weird out when she tries to get all friendly with him. When Megumi notices her charms didn’t work, she asks if he is gay! Then she really says this: If he doesn’t react to her, his dick is useless! WTF?! And get this: She loves dicks! Did I hear that right?! Hope she is just trolling. After he lets her in, he can’t let Megumi go see Sagiri directly and lets her wait. But Sagiri is of course not happy he let her in and wants her kicked out. Even in the same house they are using handphones to communicate with each other… So Masamune puts the speaker on and lets her hear what he has to say to Megumi. Because Masamune’s goal is also to get Sagiri out of her room, Megumi suggests forming an alliance. Megumi loves making new friends. She has made friends with everyone in her grade and realizes Sagiri is the only one left. Oh, she looks like the troublesome type. Megumi goes as far as to suggest cancelling internet subscription! Monster! That is basic human right now! With Sagiri screaming, Megumi realizes the phone is on and that she could hear her. She starts to make ambiguous words and erotic sounds towards Masamune. His natural reaction is pretty convincing too. A loud crash is heard upstairs. I hope nobody died. Although she hung up, Megumi dials her number and lets Sagiri hear when she asks Masamune’s opinion about her. Lots of positive stuffs especially how good her lewd art is. Masamune also wants Megumi to stop assuming they have some sort of romantic relationship just because they live together. But if she doesn’t come out of her room, how can she make friends? Well, she does have lots of friends who treasure her. On the internet. No matter what Sagiri turns out, he will always be proud of her. Megumi leaves for now but won’t give up and come again.

Masamune has a classmate, Tomoe Takasago who also runs a bookstore whom he puts his works for promotion. Seems he didn’t like his works to be on the shelves and rearranges it to the front recommendation but she stops him from messing with her business since currently Elf Yamada-sensei is hot in the market now. Later when Masamune goes to see Kagurazaka, looks like she is in a middle of an argument with a petite blonde who claims she is the number one at Oricon, b*tching and threatening stuffs if she doesn’t get her way. Not that Kagurazaka cares anyway. Kagurazaka introduces them and Masamune is shocked to learn she is Elf. It seems she is here because there is a plan for her to team up with Eromanga-sensei for her next big story. She looks down on him as a lowly author. Pairing up with Eromanga-sensei means they will create the best and perfect story ever! Well, Eromanga-sensei hasn’t replied her yet so it’s still a possibility, no? Kagurazaka still doesn’t care and dismisses her popularity as fluke. Elf continues to gloat how she is the revolution of light novels. She is the light novel herself! So cringey… You lose. Now go home. Kagurazaka warns Masamune that she does have a valid point so buck up. Yeah, earlier on she did call him all his proposals are crap and rejected and hence to come up with new ones. So what does he do? He is screaming outside Sagiri’s door not to abandon him! She doesn’t know what he is talking about but realizes too late she opens the door easily for him. Not sure if Masamune should feel panic now that she wants to do her own laundry from now on. Because he can’t wash her panties anymore? Pervert!

Episode 3
Megumi is back! This time she brought the entire class to cheer for Sagiri to come out! I think it will only frighten her. Well, plan failed after Masamune tells them to leave. Later when he goes to knock on Sagiri’s door, she seems very shaken as she hugs him. No, she’s not in love with you. She thought she spot a ghost from the next door house! Wait, isn’t next door abandoned? Double wait. Is that the sound of piano coming from it?! Sagiri wants him to check it out as she is so scared she can’t draw. Consider it done. So as he goes check it out, he finds Elf playing the piano naked!!! So he has to call her to stop. She rushes to put on her clothes and then learns how he is her neighbour. She then annoys the hell out of him by bragging about her works all turning into anime. Viva anime! She bought this house with cash. Because thank you anime! She lets him into her Crystal Palace (that’s what she calls her home) and they started arguing about nakedness because it seems she has a fetish for it. No wonder her works have the heroine stark naked from the start. So it comes down to who will get Eromanga-sensei. They challenge each other to write a piece in which gets Eromanga-sensei’s approval will be partnered with her. All that confident talk has Masamune shrivelling up like a mole when he returns to Sagiri who was worried he took too long. Scared by herself? While he is explaining their neighbour, Elf starts shooting toy arrows at the window! He then harasses her by stripping his pants and showing his butt! However the real demon to face now is Sagiri. Who is that woman? You get along with her well? You saw her naked too? Get out. Pervert. You’re screwed…

Elf invites Masamune to her home office. From her veranda, they could see Sagiri’s room. Why doesn’t she draw her curtains? It seems Elf is going to deduce Eromanga-sensei’s identity from the internet, based on all the blogs. Her analysis is pretty accurate describing Sagiri’s character. Oh look. Eromanga-sensei is streaming now. Masamune looking worried as he peeks at Sagiri. Then Elf also takes a look. Could she have found the connection? She thinks his sister is having fun just drawing. Honestly she believes she can draw good art and if not for Eromanga-sensei, she would love to work with her. Elf cannot believe Masamune claims he is her fan. When something terrible happened to him, he was down. He read her work and found it funny. He felt at ease. He became her fan. Back then he really felt novels could save lives and has her to thank. She blushes and thinks perhaps he too has saved lives with his work. 2 weeks later, Masamune is not amused that Elf has been laying around playing games instead of working. What about their challenge? Don’t worry. It will come. She’ll write when she has motivation. She’s a genius, remember? When he tells her how he has to write every day because his works sometimes get rejected, she slaps him! Elf has a point too when she argues the reason why his work sucks is because he writes when unmotivated. If you aren’t motivated, don’t write! Shocked at her attitude for work, she replies she has never worked before. You see, being a professional author is just her hobby. The game she is hooked now is the most exciting thing in her life. He feels disappointed thinking he would get inspiration to watch her at work. So he wants to see her work? Come tomorrow. She’ll work. And so he returns only to see her greeting him as a house maid?!

Episode 4
Elf cooks a delicious meal for him. Apparently this also helps in her work because as gets to cook for him, she now understands how a heroine thinks when she cooks for other. She might write novels as a hobby but she still puts all her effort into it. Masamune goes home motivated. He goes to talk to Sagiri but she doesn’t seem happy he is getting along with the neighbour. Then he asks why she only draws her characters with small boobs. No real life reference? It dawned to him that all the lewd poses could be herself as reference. Masamune assures he won’t be horny no matter how erotic she becomes but she calls him a liar. Going back to the neighbour thing, he said they don’t get along but he has been going there every day. He will prove he isn’t a liar by writing a novel that is all about his sister as the heroine. She gets embarrassed and kicks him out. For 2 weeks he starts writing his novel. On judgment day, he goes to Elf’s house. He sees her pushing last minute her work. Once ready, they read each other’s work. Masamune is stunned by her interesting and super erotic story. A story that Eromanga-sensei would want to draw since all the heroines have small boobs. He thought his is a failure but Elf is putting up a frustrating act. How dare he made her read this. Is it that boring? She claims his work wasn’t written for the masses. It was just for one person. And with that, she can deduce Eromanga-sensei is his sister! It’s not fair! She won’t stand a chance against this super ultra passionate love letter. Masamune is embarrassed by it but feels disheartened when Elf shreds her own work since she admits her loss.

So Masamune jumps back to his home via Sagiri’s window?! Landed face first on her small boobs. Anyway, first she shows him a few drawings of girls with big boobs. She was practising the past couple of weeks and has become this good. It all boils down to this. Sagiri is worried and upset that he might have abandoned her and gone to work with a new author, thus the reason he goes over to the neighbour every day. That is why she practiced to ‘power up’ and not lose. Masamune also reveals his side of the story. They decide that they are best suited working for each other. Masamune gives her to read his winning story. Embarrassing but it’s interesting. Then she drops the bombshell that she has someone she likes. Masamune is in shock but he remembers as her brother he needs to support her as family. After that, Masamune tells his big dreams of how he will turn this work into anime, have everyone fall in love with the main heroine, learn lots of money that they can have anything they want. Sagiri takes the first bold step out of her room for the first time even if it is just outside her doorstep. But hey, it’s a start. Because Masamune always gives her dreams, she isn’t going to let him do it by himself. They are going to do it together. Let’s make their dream together.

Episode 5
Masamune seems to have an answer for Sagiri’s confession. First he says he likes her. However he wants to be her big brother. Romance between siblings is out of the question. She gets upset and locks herself in her room. But not before putting out the speaker, turning the volume up to max and screaming at the idiot. Later Masamune discusses with Sagiri that the first step to turn his manuscript into a real novel is a proposal. He wants her to draw lewd illustrations and of course she disagrees drawing lewd pictures of herself. She tries drawing but since he doesn’t find it suitable, she tries to make adjustments as per request. They hear thuds on the window. Masamune takes a look and it looks like Elf firing her toy arrows. He has to catch her when she jumps. In the living room, apparently she is running away from agents sent by her publishing company to watch her work. Looks like they’re getting serious. So she is begging him to shelter her but he isn’t interested. Unless she can help teach him how to write a proposal. Elf wants to meet Eromanga-sensei so they do so via video conferencing. The first thing Eromanga-sensei asks are lewd questions. Elf quickly pushes aside the proposal writing thingy and wants to play games with Eromanga-sensei. And with that the girls get underway with their video game challenge. After Masamune returns from shopping, he catches Elf in the act showing her panties to Eromanga-sensei! Apparently Eromanga-sensei said she would draw an illustration of her if she showed them. The agents come knocking on their door and Masamune returns Elf to them. Good riddance.

Later Sagiri shows the illustration of Elf she drew to him. He loves it and wants to make this character appear in his work. He asks if she can draw more illustrations like this because it might help motivate her. However try as she might she has hit a slump. She needs a big inspiration for this. In short, she wants to see girls other than Elf so she can get inspired so he can conjure up new heroines. To put in her own words, she wants to know if he knows anyone who is well endowed and willing to show her panties! Later Megumi calls Masamune. Time to bug him. I’m sure she isn’t calling just to tell him she is in the bath. No response… She is checking on Sagiri’s progress. He mentions she already made a first friend. Megumi screams in frustration. She wanted to be her first friend. Masamune also feels the same. Seeing she still wants to be friends with Sagiri, she wants him to meet up at the bookstore to discuss her plans. Tomoe can tell Masamune is here to find inspiration for Eromanga-sensei. So can she hop onto Skype and show her panties to her? Not so fast! Megumi is now here and she can tell Masamune as Eromanga-sensei’s author (there is a poster with his penname on it in the living room). Thinking that Sagiri also likes that kind of novels, she is going to start reading such creepy otaku novels. So that’s her plan?

Episode 6
Tomoe is most upset and almost beat her down for insulting light novels. Since Megumi wants to like what Sagiri likes, Tomoe has this devilish plan to slowly make her get hooked on them as she recommends the titles. After a while, Megumi calls Masamune to complain that all these books are so good but they are left hanging. She wants him to pressure those authors to finish it! No can do. So how? Read another interesting novel. But don’t you see that Megumi has reached her goal of liking novels? So now she wants to see her but since Sagiri isn’t too happy to do so, Masamune wants her to give Megumi a chance. She can come into her room but in exchange she pose as her model. Too be safe, Megumi is blindfolded and tied up. Sagiri instantly starts drawing passionately and this scares the heck out of Megumi as she feels those piercing lewd glares. Visually violated. It all reaches boiling point when Sagiri takes off her panties! I can see she is traumatized there. Sagiri feels sorry for her actions. So is friendship the ‘reward’? Well, not quite. Sagiri lends her favourite novels for her to read. Okay. Megumi is more than happy for it. Oh, please return her panties too. Sagiri, you were seriously trying to keep her shima pantsu?!

Masamune gives Kagurazaka see his proposal. She accepts it but can only publish it in a year! Apparently another famous author was quicker than him to get that approval: Muramasa Senju. Masamune goes berserk hearing that name again. Telling this to Sagiri, it seems that he lost out to this author in similar fashion a few years ago. Sagiri wonders if they will have financial problems but she is more than happy to help out by drawing lewd illustrations. That’s not the problem. Masamune made a promise to his aunt that if he can regularly show results as an author, she will allow them to continue their lifestyle. A year is too long and it will be breaking the promise. Plus, Masamune doesn’t know other publishing companies. This is where Elf comes in. Her brother is her editor. Outside the editorial office, they see a meek girl in kimono who accidentally dropped her manuscript. They think she is a rookie author as Elf warns her about the dog eat dog world and will be glad to have her tag along with them. They see Kagurazaka as Masamune asserts he wants his story published this year. She introduces him to Tenkaichi Budokai. A new project where 5 up and coming authors publish short stories and the winner gets the publishing spot. Masamune can’t technically enter since it is only open to rookie authors that just debuted but Kagurazaka can pull some strings. Masamune signs up for it. Kimono girl upon knowing who Masamune is then speaks up. She will not let his dream come true and will crush them. Who is she? She is Muramasa and also signs up the last spot for this competition.

Episode 7
Because Muramasa sells more copies than Elf, the latter has to shut up. Muramasa goes as far as to say she purposely got in his way to delay his publishing by a year because he got in her way of her dream. Masamune feels insulted and puts down the challenge that the winner will get the loser to do anything. Back home, Masamune feels a bit of regret for rushing. He doesn’t know what to tell Sagiri but she calls for him. It seems over the internet there have been rumours that Masamune and Elf are dating (they were going to the editorial office together). Sagiri doesn’t want him to date other women for the rest of his life. So now she controls his love life? Sagiri doesn’t want him to apologize for the challenge he made. They should take this head on. Masamune wants to use his sister story with his bout with Elf for his submission. However the story is too long and needs to be cut short. This is where Elf comes in to ‘train’ him. More like armchair critic… So eventually he is done but look who is at the front door? Muramasa?! She is here to give him the option to surrender and be hers. As in, write only for her. I thought she was going to crush his dream? She wants him to listen to her story. But the moment she steps in, she starts writing. As she is so deep in concentration, Sagiri wonders if he can flip up her skirt and reveal her panties! She heard that. When they think she is writing the continuation of one of her famous works, Demon Sword, Muramasa doesn’t remember! At least its title. She just write novels and doesn’t know what happens after that. This prompts Masamune to ask why she became an author. She just went with the flow after her debut when Kagurazaka told her to keep writing to avoid her family from bugging her all day.

Masamune thinks if she wants to read, she can go to the bookstore. However there are none that are of interest to her. The only way is to write it herself. Asking how authors rate their own works out of 100, it is without doubt they will always rate it 100. But her first fan mail rated it at a million. She then understood what it meant to be an author. Her dream is to write a novel that she can personally give a score of a million. That’s a nice dream but why crush theirs? She believes he got in her way by writing boring romantic comedy that she can’t write battled based stories anymore. This is when Elf tells her to cut the long winded story and be straight up. Otherwise this dense guy won’t get a thing or be motivated. Muramasa admits she is a big fan of Masamune’s works. She read every work of his and was sad when Silverwolf ended. So she diverted her sadness by writing more and more. She wondered why he hadn’t released a new title in a while so to stimulate him, she purposely made him angry by doing all those stuffs. She didn’t realize the situation he is in and would give her royalties to support him and his sister. This is when Sagiri for once bursts out of her room. She is screaming she will not hand her brother over to her. She will not lose him. Sorry Muramasa, even Masamune has to side with his sister. This isn’t a price high enough to defect. He wants to settle this fair and square and it will be his best masterpiece yet. Muramasa leaves frustrated but threatens to kill him if it’s not interesting. Later Masamune read Muramasa’s submitted work. He could tell it is about them. Muramasa then confesses she is in love with him, his writing and the person. His answer? Sorry, there is someone else he likes. The results of the competition is out. Masamune wins and relays this good news to Sagiri. Actually Muramasa won and garnered the most votes but was disqualified for rules violation. Later Muramasa leaves her manuscripts in Masamune’s post box. She gives his work as a million points.

Episode 8
Sagiri is in her yukata. Masamune praises how lovely she looks in it. Just like Muramasa. Care to say that again? He actually did! So hard to come out of her room and now she goes back in. She can tell Muramasa confessed to him but doesn’t know his answer. He says he turned her down. Happy? Even though he still likes Muramasa, she is only the second person in the world whom he likes. The first? Isn’t it obvious? It’s you, Sagiri. Cue to fluster in embarrassment. But all that mood ruined when he asks her why she is in a yukata in the first place. Sighs… Since Masamune will staying at the editorial office for some work, Sagiri claims she can be alright by herself. Yeah, she locks up everything and draws the curtains. But when a delivery comes ringing for a product she ordered online, she is too scared to open and wishes her brother would hurry come back. Later Elf meets up with Masamune. She has a message from Kunimitsu Shidou, the author who lost to him during at Tenkaichi Budokai. He hopes to do a wrap up party at his place. Why would a loser do that? Turns out his submission is also getting published because the publishers decided to publish the top 3 spots. All that hard work… He then calls Muramasa who is in the midst of a meeting with Kagurazaka to invite her over. Flustering at first but she soon finds her composure to accept his invitation. She might have been turned down but doesn’t mean her love will easily change.

Shidou arrives first at his place. Masamune is being too formal so he hopes they can drop the formality and be normal. Elf and Muramasa arrive. In their lovely yukata, they flank Masamune and argue the right to be by his side. Shidou is forgotten… The most pissed is Sagiri as she screams for them all to pipe down. The party gets underway with Sagiri constantly reminding Masamune about being in love with someone else. Each of them tell their dream of being an author. There is an additional dream for Eromanga-sensei: She wants to be the bride of the person she loves. After the guests have left, Masamune goes to be with Sagiri. She wonders if he was scared about that phone call during the other day since he sounded strange. He explains he is afraid of being alone. When his real mom died after getting into an accident while he was home alone, he is scared of being alone ever since. So when he got Sagiri as his sister, he was happy. Sagiri doesn’t view that as pathetic as her own will not to leave her room. She finally realizes that what he wants is a family. However she doesn’t think of him that way and doesn’t want to be his sister. But since he is hopeless, she’ll pretend to be one for a while. Good enough.

Episode 9
Elf suggests a summer data collection and writing camp. And so Masamune, Muramasa and Shidou are whisked away to a resort island owned by her family. Yeah… Also with them is… Legolas?! Actually he is Chris, Elf’s older brother. He is here to keep an eye on her in case she fools around. As expected, this is a fanservice obligatory episode because we have cutie pie Elf in her swimsuit teasing Masamune. So part of her ‘data collection’ would be for him to put lotion on her body. Chris is staring… Feeling so weird… Then they have the water splashing like lovers and also teaching how to swim (only, none knows how to swim). So when Muramasa has finally summed up her courage and put on a bikini, just in time to stop Elf and her evil plans to hold Masamune’s arm? When Masamune soaks in the bath, suddenly Chris screams to him about marriage! Shidou gets the wrong idea about them being gay! Actually Chris wants him to marry his sister. He thought they were dating since Elf was gloating on her Twitter about it. Obviously a prank. Chris is proud of Elf as she is good in a lot of things. Masamune also voices her good points. If he wasn’t in love with someone else, he would have fallen in love with her 5 times. Want to bet somebody was eavesdropping from the other side? After dinner and Masamune contacting Sagiri, Elf takes Masamune out for a walk to the firefly pond. It was the place her parents proposed. She continues by letting him know her father passed away quite a while ago. Before he died, he hoped mom could take care of the kids. She agreed and thus Elf started having lessons in almost about everything. Despite her strict upbringing, she loves her parents because she got to learn a lot of things. When mom wanted to arrange a marriage partner, that was when she drew the line. She will find happiness herself and pick her own partner. Cut things short, Elf considers Masamune to be her husband candidate. Is that a proposal? Of course tsundere caveats come with that since she quickly points out that she isn’t in love with him or anything. She just thought every day would be fun if they were married. So being married is like fun and games? But she is confident of making him fall in love with her. No, he will fall in love with her and nobody else. Also, she tells her real name is Emily. Please propose to her in that name when the time comes.

Episode 10
Masamune finishes his shelved Silverwolf story for Muramasa to read. Morning comes and he gets a rude awakening from Elf waking him up in a flirty way. This is data gathering? Flirting interrupted when Muramasa knocks her head with a ladle. After Muramasa leaves to cook, Masamune tries calling Elf by her real name and it embarrasses the hell out of her. Guess he couldn’t wait for the day to propose to her to call her that. Elf has got the entire day planned out for fun. Too bad she receives a knock on the head by Chris to get back to work. All work and no play… As everyone works on their manuscript, Muramasa is devastated that everyone including her readers know that she has a crush on certain someone based on her recently submitted work. Exploding with embarrassment, she decides to take the bull by the horns by admitting she loves Masamune and how she agreed to come with Elf to this island as part of the plan to be with him. Now this embarrasses Masamune. Elf also reveals how she fantasizes an imaginary version of him alone in her room. Muramasa is dealt a great blow when he wants her to stop that. The charade is interrupted when Chris wants them to get back to work especially Elf. When he notes he is going out for an hour, you can see the light in Elf’s eyes that it is time to play when the cat is away. She has everyone plays the king game and even has Muramasa conspiring to play so she can kiss Masamune. Not sure if Elf betrays her because she calls for the guys to kiss. See how Shidou runs away! Apparently Eromanga-sensei also wants in but how can she play via video conferencing? Elf suggests she will always be king. So we have Elf stripping (swimsuit underneath, don’t worry) and Muramasa embarrassed to tell what panties she is wearing because she isn’t wearing any!

Hate to break your fun but Chris is back. He chides Elf for goofing around and should follow Muramasa’s example. When he asks her next volume coming out, Muramasa says she has stopped writing novels. She explains about her dream to write as many novels. But today’s camp made her realize if Masamune writes novels for her, she no longer needs to write them herself. Elf dismisses that she won’t last a night and go back to writing since a novel nut like her can’t stop writing. Later Masamune talks to Muramasa alone. First he shows her fan letters from a particular fan whom has constantly sent fan mails ever since his debut. The latest one has 50 pages?! He always reads them as it cheers him up knowing that his stories are interesting and worth writing. He knows Muramasa has written these letters. Although she denies, he can tell by the same handwriting. He is showing her this so that he could thank her. He is glad his wish has come true. Although his dream is to have his works adapted into anime and watch it with Sagiri, this is just one of many dreams. So he feels it is a shame for her to stop writing just because one of her dreams is achieved. For him, he won’t stop writing even it that dream comes true. Muramasa overturns her earlier decision and will continue writing. Also, she has found a new dream. It is to make him fall in love with her.

Episode 11
Sagiri is trying to practise welcoming home Masamune. There is always that 1 perfect hit after many failures. But when the real deal comes, she runs back to her room. At least she wishes him from there. And all he got as reward is Sagiri showing off her swimsuit? Okay. Not bad. Later Masamune asks if Sagiri wants to go to a fair in Akiba that is releasing their latest series. Wait. Sagiri going out? Actually Masamune walking with a laptop while she live streams. Along the journey, we hear Masamune narrating about his past on how he came to take up this novelist job. After his mom passed away, his dad advised him to do something to cheer things up. Nothing seemed right until he saw how people wrote and posted stories on the internet. He did the same and at the same time, Sagiri became interested in his works. They communicated frequently and she sent him illustrations from time to time (at this point her drawings weren’t good and she was starting off to be a shut-in). Masamune gets his confidence renewed each time she praises his work. So much so he has decided to become a professional novelist and thinks he is a genius! Well, that’s a start. Dad bought him a laptop to help with his hobby. As the duo communicate ever more often, they try to get to know each other more. Masamune is being honest about himself but Sagiri lies she is a college student. When she learns about his late mom and why he started doing this and the main reason is because she likes his stories, this gives her a bit of motivation to go to school. By the time both graduate elementary school, Masamune has piles of stories ready for submission. Masamune is looking forward with optimism the bright future with this, though she pours cold water on it. Suddenly she tells him she will stop sending him illustrations, stop reading his stories and stop contacting him altogether. She needs to work hard to improve her drawings if they’re going to realize their dream of releasing a book together. Masamune also agrees to work hard and take this seriously. The next time they contact each other, they’ll be professionals. Arriving at Akiba, the siblings see the magnificent display of their new series. On his way back, he passes by characters from OreImo. Masamune is shocked that Sagiri stepped out of her room as far as downstairs! A miracle?! She personally congratulates him on their new series.

Episode 12
With the new series successful, looks like there is going to be another volume. If Masamune isn’t having a writer’s block now. So he needs some ‘advice’ from Sagiri as a little sister. Feeling the need to see her cute, he pets her head. However she cannot stand it and accuses him of being a pervert with lewd thoughts while patting his sister’s head. I guess that’s the end of it. Sagiri also invited Elf and Muramasa here as part of the deal for ‘lending’ Masamune during the data collection camp. They are to be her models. Apparently Muramasa didn’t hear of this since Elf agreed on her behalf. Is she pissed? Not if you say this benefits Masamune. They may start to regret this since Sagiri wants them to wear bikini and play Twister while she sketches the best erotic position. So if Masamune isn’t watching his, how is this going to benefit him? If Eromanga-sensei’s skills go up, then it would benefit Masamune as a writer too, right? Well… I’m sure Sagiri is having a swell time and I’m not sure if the duo can hold up. But I’ve got to be impressed with their flexibility and stamina… Sagiri then notices Tomoe at the door. As she doesn’t know her, she goes to spy her talking to Masamune. She is here to show him an erotic doujin work using Sagiri’s characters. When Tomoe leaves, she hints that if his works become adapted and make tons of money, she’ll consider marrying him! Is it just for the money? Now Sagiri bugs Masamune to see the work. He won’t allow her so she throws a tantrum she wants to see porn?! She manages to grab it when he gets distracted. Now there’s no going back. After looking through it, she is now motivated to draw lewd manga! Yeah, living up to her name. So once she is done with that lewd manga, she shows it to Masamune. He is going crazy not because of how embarrassing it is but rather the main characters having sex are modelled after the siblings! The worst part is that she doesn’t how a dick looks like and is in the wrong place! How do you explain to a girl about a dick? He tries to have Elf help out but she too doesn’t see the problem! Another girl oblivious about the male anatomy! It has come to a point where Sagiri and Elf are going to strip him and see the real deal! Who are the perverts now! So Masamune calls Megumi for help while the girls are pulling down his pants! Megumi sends her illustration but it is a dick of a child. Muramasa breaks her silence and sketches a surreal picture of a naked Greek statue to show them what a real dick looks like. Everyone is amazed! They see her in a new light! She is the most lewd! At the end of the day, I guess everybody had fun. Not sure if they want to keep those embarrassing Twister photos. They say goodbye to Eromanga-sensei but she still denies it.

Ore No Imouto Ga Konna Ni Ero Wake Ga Nai!
What a way to end the season with blatant fanservice and, erm, dick joke? I’m guessing that if more perverts like this series and buy more of erotic materials, I’m sure we’re going to get another season. Until Masamune can figure out another story for Sagiri to draw, I guess we’ll have to be content with this season of weirdness about a little sister who draws lewd stuffs and makes a living out of it. And then they try to infuse some harem and romance in it with other girls in the mix which makes it somewhat funny and weird altogether. It’s like people in the porn industry having normal romantic and polygonal relationships amidst it all like other normal people. It shouldn’t be all that bizarre but it is weird in that sense.

Even way before the cameo appearances of the OreImo characters in the penultimate episode and not doing any research myself at that point, a couple of episodes into the series I was already beginning to feel and having a hunch of how similar this anime is to that one. The plot and characters especially. Not to say that they are identical but you can see some sort of similarity in them. Heck, I even thought about a joke that the OreImo characters would actually pop up and make a cameo! And how true it turned out! And after that I did a little research over the internet (read: Lazy Googling) and found that this series and OreImo were in fact written by the same author. So there, the biggest mystery to the similarities solved. At least for me.

Thus there are tons of trivia for you to spot. If you are into the anime and manga world. From Sword Art Online to Shakugan No Shana to Toradora and even Ookami to Koushinryou (Spice And Wolf) making cameo appearances in posters in the background if your eyes are sharp enough to spot them. Since I am not such an expert here and do not possess that wide knowledge in this area, sometimes I wonder if the promotional posters of those works I do not recognize are made up. But I’m guessing they aren’t seeing they have so many works published over the years so I’m sure they won’t just go out of their way to make a spoof when legally they are allowed to display those works.

Compared to OreImo, Eromanga-sensei is less ‘fiery’ in the sense that the siblings in the former series start off having bad blood with each other. They aren’t on good terms and the brother is often being mad. Here, Masamune and Sagiri might feel estranged but otherwise they work together pretty well but just lack the ways of how brothers and sisters normally interact. Masamune is much kinder and would do all he can to help and treasure his bond with his sister despite not related by blood. After all, aside his father, she is the only other family member he’s got and one who helped him achieve his dream. This guy is pretty normal, caring and understanding that any girl would want as their brother. But still the weird thought that there might be some sort of incest since he is in love with Sagiri. Will they pull off that stunt they did in OreImo where the siblings hold a mock wedding? Only time will tell.

One of the biggest ironies with Sagiri is how she likes to draw ecchi stuffs and because of society’s perception on girls being lewd, it is odd to find her drawing panties of cute girls while not being a total pervert herself. She claims she likes drawing lewd stuffs but isn’t a pervert. Does that logic even hold up? Can you enjoy watching porn and yet be not a pervert to others? Hard to imagine… Especially hearing it from her mouth requesting other girls to show her their panties. Worst, she is only like what, 12 years old? To be drawing this kind of stuffs? Controversial but not my place to say. Understandably she has locked herself in her room for so long that she has zero sense of social skills. Even more surprising how she can always keep her room clean at all times. You’d expect to be somewhat a bit messy but it is clean like a typical girl’s room. So much for the stereotypic otaku shut-in. I believe to make Sagiri look as cute as possible and to enhance to moe effect, the reason she is awkward and clumsy at times. And hence this running joke that she keeps denying she is Eromanga-sensei whenever Masamune calls her so despite the obvious. Because the way she denies is so cute you’d let it slide. So she is like this Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality sometimes with her being the super erotic illustrator but sometimes she’s just an embarrassed little girl.

Other characters add a little flavour and supposedly harem factor to Masamune’s side. Like Elf being the liveliest and the cheekiest of the lot, that kind of act and treatment towards Masamune could only be seen from miles away that she would soon fall for him. What about Muramasa’s initial cold shoulder for Masamune? The seemingly rival who would stop at nothing to bring him down at first? Saw it coming from miles away too. That kind of tough act only hides her true feelings for him. Heck, I believe Muramasa’s love for him began so long ago that she when she chose this penname of hers (her real name is Hana Umezono) it feels like she took it after Masamune’s name. Because sometimes I too get confused when I type and say their name! So close! And hence to show the potential of these girls, we have episodes dedicated to them without all the interference from Sagiri to properly state out their feelings.

Not sure if I can discount Megumi and Tomoe from the line-up yet since it is too early to tell and that they aren’t much in focus. There could be another reason why friend-crazy Megumi keeps coming to visit Masamune’s house and there could be another reason why Tomoe always helps his publishing. If it sells. That final quip from her about marrying him may sound like a joke but my guts tell me that such words are to be taken with precaution because you may never know when a girl will use it against you, considering Tomoe isn’t the front runner, if you know what I mean. Even if they are part of the future harem, they are just minor dark horses unlike the heavyweight favourite duo. Yeah, maybe Shidou for some gay jokes? Well, at least he knows he doesn’t swing that way. I don’t think Kagurazaka would be interested either. She isn’t even that dedicated to her job. Just sufficiently enough to get by.

Coincidentally or not, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka who played the perverted main character manga author from Mangaka-san To Assistant-san now plays a novelist here as Masamune. Also strangely, Yuuichi Nakamura who played the main character Kyousuke in OreImo now plays as Masamune’s father. At first I thought it was Ayana Taketatsu who plays Tomoe (and so I thought I could point out she was also the main character Kirino in OreImo) but it was rather Yui Ishikawa instead (Mikasa in Shingeki No Kyojin). The other casts are Akane Fujita as Sagiri (Sistine in Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi To Akashic Records), Minami Takahashi as Elf (Megumi in Shokugeki No Souma), Saori Oonishi as Muramasa (Vigne in Gabriel Dropout), Ibuki Kido as Megumi (Claire in Seirei Tsukai No Blade Dance), Seiichirou Yamashita as Chris (Kakeru in Orange) and Mikako Komatsu as Kagurazaka (Tsugumi in Nisekoi).

More familiar feels that this series could be a spiritual successor of OreImo because the opening theme also feels somewhat familiar. Claris who sung the opening themes for both seasons of OreImo, reprise their roles for this opener, Hitorigoto. But unlike in OreImo which has different ending songs for each episode, we just have one for Eromanga-sensei. Adrenaline by TrySail is your typical lively anime pop. There is also a special ending theme for episode 8, the slow and lovely Natsuiro Koi Hanabi by Akane Fujita.

Tired of hearing and seeing shades or the fact that I’m mentioning how this anime is so closely reminiscence of OreImo? Well, here’s more. This time the art and animation department. A-1 Pictures who produced tons of animes like Sword Art Online, Ao No Exorcist, Nanatsu No Taizai, Kuroshitsuji, Saenai Heroine No Sodatekata, Working!!, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk, Senjou No Valkyria, Uta No Prince-sama series, Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso and Fairy Tail, they also did produce OreImo albeit the second season (the first was done by AIC Build). Cute! Everything is so cute here! So don’t be surprised to see similarities between the characters like Masamune and Kyousuke, Muramasa and Kuroneko, Sagiri and Elf and Kirino, Tomoe and Ayase. Except maybe for Chris whom I thought came out from some epic fantasy movie. Hmm… Long flowing blonde hair… Could he be Legolas? OMG! Legolas retired as an archer to be an editor! Also to note, Muramasa always in her purple kimono keeps reminding me of Aoi from Ai Yori Aoshi since she too is always seen in her trademark purple kimono and has short hair. Don’t tell me they take her design after her.

Overall, you will either love this anime or hate it. Especially those whose passion are in the otaku world, this could serve as some sort of motivation that being otaku is still niche and going strong. At least in Japan. But even those who love anime and manga might start to loathe the trend of where this industry is going when series like this are being churned out regularly. Whether the industry has fallen far from its grace or taken a different step towards greatness. If this kind of animes become acceptable, will porn be an open thing in the future? This series especially of this genre opens up for discussion a myriad of different opinions. While Eromanga-sensei may not be a masterpiece or surpass the popularity of OreImo, by itself is satisfying not because it is trying to make you love the otaku world and paint it all glitzy and nice but rather the inspiration to make one do whatever one can to achieve one’s dreams. Even more meaningful when you have something or someone in mind to work towards to. Now that you have little sisters drawing lewd illustrations, coming soon, My Little Sister Is a Porn Star!